The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, October 30, 2006 - 5A
Playing
with
'Fire'
NOYCE'S LATEST
EFFORT LESS ABOUT
FORCE THAN MORALS,
By IMRAN SYED
Daily Arts Writer
It seems that movies are forever trying to
make up for our mistakes. Every era, every
place has its fair share of
social wrongs, and no one ikki
can deny that worldwide
it's a growing list. Every Catch a Fire ;
time a new film spotlights At the Showcase
yet another inhuman and Quality16
transgression, it's easy to Focus
become overwhelmed by
our inability to right them all.
But Phillip Noyce's "Catch a Fire" is not just
another movie about Apartheid or Africa's
well-publicized yet never-fixed plight. The film
keeps its narrative scope simple and triumphs
with a delicate portrayal of an era that is, in its
unabashed embrace of savagery, matched by
only a handful of others.
Set in 1980s South Africa - a time when the
institutionalized segregation of Apartheid was If looks could kill, y
fading yet still bitterly upheld - "Fire" tells the indicate that th
story of Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke, "Glory of such a portra
Road"), a black man who seems to have beaten While "Fire"
the racist system. Patrick has an ideal job, house gruesome tortu
and family; he has learned to negotiate his life ily-man sentim'
within the Apartheid system and carve out a hammy acting
little place for himself and his family around it. overwrought.
But barbaric systems don't smile upon those Any discussi
who somehow escape the impossible odds. After Luke, the young
he is wrongfully accused of terrorism, arrested heads with this
and tortured, Patrick sees that there is no nego- at this point is m
tiating with mindless discrimination. At risk of emy robbed Do]
further harm to himself and his family, he joins perhaps the aw
the underground African National Congress, Luke is an earl:
the nationalist group headed by an incarcerated how to balance
Nelson Mandela that seeks to return to black pressible vengea
South Africans their homeland. man, and Luke i
For the explosive events it chronicles, "Catch And speaking
a Fire" is surprisingly subtle. While alluding to Luke's instinct:
all the monstrosities we can only imagine Apart- Oscar winner T
heid must have entailed, it never tries to parade remarkable sim
its moral righteousness like so many films about of Apartheid. I
atrocity often do (meanwhile, Djimon Houn- life he dismantl
sou and Leonardo DiCaprio's desperate roars resolve.
in trailers for the upcoming "Blood Diamond" The true trag.
MUSKC REVIEW
Raline's debut
doesn't get there
'Caesar' a little
light, still bloody
ou'd be dead, son.
at film will feature the opposite
yal.)
certainly features scenes of
re, and is unabashed in its fam-
ent, it nonetheless avoids the
which might have rendered it
ion of acting must begin with
actor who is sure to turn some
performance. While Oscar buzz
eaningless (and since the Acad-
n Cheadle for "Hotel Rwanda,"
ard itself is something similar),
y contender. Few people know
the infinite doubt and insup-
nce that dominate an oppressed
s one of them.
g of underhanded players, even
ive performance can't match
im Robbins's ("Mystic River")
plification of a demonic agent
Every man he destroys, every
es seems only to strengthen his
edy of such agents of evil is that
DIRECTOR PHILLIP NOYCE: REDUX
"The Bone Collector"(1999): Angelina Jolie, pre-Brange-
lina, doing her bestinvestigator-with-great-lips.
"Sliver"(1993):Sharon Stone and William Baldwin fuck. A
lot. The end
"Dead Calm"(1989): Nicole Kidmansand Billy Zane combine
sexual domination, the high sea and psychotic shipmates.
they honestly believe that they're doing the
right thing, and in capturing that idea, Robbins
delivers a performance worthy of his consider-
able reputation.
But even if the story is simple and the perfor-
mances low key, "Fire" pulls no punches in its
morals. We as a society believe in negotiating,
compromising and justgenerally "talking it out,"
but there are times when that just isn't good
enough. Triangulists among us may cringe, but
sometimes you just have to stand and fight. This
is the bravest of the film's conclusions, but by no
means its only important one. Equally vital for
peace is forgiveness, a realization that empow-
ered Mandela and his followers to finally defeat
the menace of Apartheid.
By KRISTIN MACDONALD
Daily Film Editor
When it comes to performances
of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar,"
there's no such thing as defini-
tive. The power
struggle between Julius
a handful of Caesar
Caesar's squab- Royal
bling underlings Shakespeare
leaves much of Company
its morality up
to interpretation, and it speaks to
the richness of the play that you
can never quite tell which side will
emerge with audience sympathy
intact. The Royal Shakespeare
Company, in the midst of its cur-
rent three-play residency here on
campus, offered a solid take on one
of Shakespeare's most ambigu-
ous plays at its Saturday matinee,
although the production ended up
relatively safe.
An overtly political parable,
"Julius Caesar" often survives as
a modern update, transported to
the present-day reality of business
suits and briefcases where back-
stabbing is still an appropriate plot
point. The formidable RSC, how-
ever, wisely kept the play in toga-
inspired antiquity,withastrikingly
spare set as its only modern touch.
A lobby model spells out the
stage's simplicity in terms of a box-
ing ring or wrestling mat - a clear
space where the political players
can duke it out without distraction.
While the device proves especially
effective in the play's battle-heavy
second half (since nothing shows
blood splatters quite like blank
white), it's somewhat gimmicky at
the play's key moments, stranding
Mark Antony's famous speech on
a slim diving-board-like platform
and leaving the stage too empty
for the mostly mano-a-mano open-
ing acts. The performers must not
only flesh out the story, but addi-
tionally fill a resoundingly hollow
space.
"Julius Caesar" opens with its
title character arriving trium-
phant in Rome, fresh off a vic-
tory against his enemy Pompey.
Almost immediately, a mutinous
plot begins circulating among
his Senators, envious of Caesar's
growing power and concerned his
ambition might soon step on their
toes. Spearheaded by Caius Cas-
sius (Finbar Lynch), the conspira-
tors' ranks quickly swell, including
most notably the man who lies
famously close to Caesar's heart
- Brutus (John Light).
The production underplayed
Caesar's so-called tyranny, how-
ever, making it difficult to pinpoint
how much of the conspirators'
complaint was based on fact or
rhetoric. James Hayes turned his
Caesar into a leader grown soft
by either comfort or senility, and
whether he was shrewdly sizing
up his men or being gruffly affec-
tionate with them, any pathos left
to mere foreboding for his inevi-
table fate.,
For "Julius Caesar" is about
an assassination, not an attempt.
Title figure though Julius may be,
it's his favorite who bears the bulk
of the play's moral complexities,
and John Light embodied Bru-
tus with all the earnestness the
character deserves. Brutus broods
himself to sleeplessness over the
conspirators' impending assassi-
nation, drawing the concern of his
loyal servant (an endearingly boy-
ish Craig Gazey) and admirable
wife, Portia (Mariah Gale, whose
strength pulled an affecting pres-
ence out of the small and often
overlooked female role).
When push comes to shove and
then to stab, Rome lies as muti-
lated as Caesar. Robed in white to
emphasize Caesar's copious loss
of blood, the conspirators stared
around at one another in various
states of shock, some stunned into
silly smiles and others - including
Brutus - stoically looking ahead to
the next step. They announce their
deed as a necessary evil and even
address the public with still bloody
hands, convinced that the people
will see their reason and acceptcthe
sudden death of their leader.
But Shakespeare's tragedies
never end so easily. Mark Antony,
another of Caesar's favorites, soon
rallies the people against the con-
spirators' murder, and an all-out
civil war makes up the rest of the
play. There are battle cries, sui-
cides, ghosts and plenty of broth-
erly love, all culminating in the
grand finale tableau of carnage
you'd expect from a Shakespear-
ean tragedy.
For the RSC,
safe does not
mean boring.
The RSC didn't skimp on the
bloodshed or the speechifying,
though the company didn't always
keep the famous words fresh. The
conspirators' personalities are
more convincing than their cause
(particularly Lynch's prickly Cas-
sius and Joseph Alessi's comically
self-absorbed Casca), while the
opposing side's Antony (Ariyon
Bakare) and Octavius (Nick Court)
come off somewhat flat, lacking
a deeper sense of the men behind
the names.
The production moved at an
absorbing clip, sliding through
scene changes and never losing its
stride even through the last fever-
pitch of battle. With a quick pace
and driving sense of urgency, the
show paused for breath only where
the audience needed it most. When
Antony first came upon the fallen
body of Caesar, he slowly took
stock: "O mighty Caesar! dost
thou lie so low? / Are all thy con-
quests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
/ Shrunk to this little measure?"
That assessment fit equally at the
play's closing, withbodies liberally
strewn across the otherwise bare
stage. The survivors stood survey-
ing the wreckage of so much mis-
placed loyalty and pride, and the
production ended with silence.
By DEVIKA DAGA
For theDaily
As the entertainment industry
often proves,
it doesn't hurt
to have friends
in high places. Joshua
Though Josh- Radine
uaRadinprob-
ably would We Were Here
have made his .m
way without
them, it can't
have done much harm to have been
chummy with actor/director Zach
Braff and singer/songwriter Cary
Brothers back in college. Braff in
particular is much accredited for
Radin's entrance into the music
scene: The NBC hit "Scrubs" is
laden with his mellow tunes. A few
of his ballads have made it onto
"Grey's Anatomy" as well.
On We Were Here, his major-
label debut, Radin calls to mind
the folky sensitivity of Paul Simon
and James Taylor as much as the
alternative radio variant offered
by Elliott Smith to produce a sound
that, while soothing, is hardly
original.
Ballads made for
coffeehouse
backgrounds.
The album invokes an intimate
setting, but it lacks an overall inti-
mate emotion. Though the lead
track "Sundrenched World" is
beautiful in orchestration, its over-
bearing cello drowns the vocals in
typical coffeehouse-background-
music fashion. The ditty-like "Star
Mile" follows with a Simon and
Garfunkel-like whispered har-
mony, which once again features a
prominent cello.
The album simply lacks flair.
Instead, each track continues on
with a barely-audible voice, vary-
ing only in accompaniment to the
acoustic guitar (a violin here, a
glockenspiel there). On the whole
there is very little vocal differ-
ence.
"Way down in New York town
thinkingaboutthewaysheleftme,"
Radine sings on "Everything'll Be
Alright." "There's a hole in my
pocket that's about her size / But
I think everything is gonna be
alright."
This seems sum up the album:
not overly distraught about lost
love, but not overly happy about it,
either.
If there's any emotional high-
point of the album, it's on the
first single, "Closer." There are
moments in the song where you
could almost visualize Radin
wincing as he sings - or is he just
trying to hit a high note? In any
case, if anything substantial could
be taken from the song (or the
album, for that matter), it's that
after heartbreak, "All you have to
do is cry." Mad Radin taken his
own advice, listeners might have
been spared eight tracks full of
self-deprecatory whispering about
unrequited love.
"I scream that I wanna be any-
one but me," he whines on "Amy's
Song" - but Radin never rises an
octave over a whisper. Instead,
he continues with a soft plea that
doesn't resonate any feeling or
soul.
Though a thoroughly mellow
album that would sit comfortably
with fans of the "Garden State"
soundtrack, We Were Here never
seems to go anywhere emotional-
ly. By the 11th track the light mood
and intricacies of the music leaves
listeners feeling - like Radin - not
supremely content, but not com-
pletely disappointed, either.
A r?
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