2B - Thursday, November 2, 2006 {the b-sideT
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
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A Woman Under the Influence (1974) FILM
Directed by John Cassavetes Steven Soderbergh, the recluse: The former
Starring Gena Rowland, Peter Falk king of all things indie, now slightly washed-up
studio filmmaker, will devote his next couple of
years to back-to-back projects chronicling the
By BLAKE GOBLE life of Ernesto "Che" Guevara ("The Motor-
DailyArts Writer cycle Diaries" be damned). The two films,
"The Argentine" and "Guerilla," will begin in
Mabel Longhetti is the most 1956 with the beginnings of the Cuban revolu-
socially awkward wife you'll ever tion and span to his assassination more than a
meet. decade later. With Benico Del Toro in the lead
She does just fine with her hus- and major supporting roles in talks, the two
band Nick. When they're alone, films are set for production starting in May in
it's one of the sweetest, most ten- Mexico and South America.
der relationships imaginable. But
around others, Mabel's just nuts.
"A Woman Under The Influence"
is a brilliant showcase of Ameri- In a move that surely has to do with the
can melodrama, held together by film's artistic integrity and absolutely noth-
its heart-breaking performances. Nj ing to do with the fact that the "Superman
Released in 1974, the film strug- Returns" DVD is set to hit stores the same day,
gled commercially but was met Warner Bros. will release a new director's
with widespread critical success. cut of "Superman II: The Richard Donner
It garnered lead Gena Rowlands Cut," on Nov. 28. The new cut will feature
("The Notebook") and her director/ early Donner footage before he was replaced
husband John Cassavetes Oscar [ . by director Richard Lester during the 1979
nominations for their spellbinding production. Early reports indicate that the cut
collaboration, now considered part is messy and disjointed, the fault of Warner
of the foundation of independent domestic observation piece and as Bros., which required Donner to work only
cinema. a useful lesson in acting. Contem- with the footage on hand, including early
Nick Longhetti, played by Peter porary filmmakers owe a lot to Cas- screen tests, to craft the new version.
Falk ("The In-Laws") is a city con- savetes; considered a godfather of
struction foreman. After an incred- American independent cinema, he's ...
ibly long shift, he brings his tired the creator of such classics as "Shad-
coworkers back to his house for ows" (1959) and "Faces" (1968), and Australian actress Abbie Cornish (yeah,
something to eat in the morning. helped define a generation of low- we've never heard of her either) has released
"Want some spaghetti?" a shrill key filmmaking. To most, he was a statements through her publicists denying
Mabel shouts. successful movie actor, appearing rumors that she is romantically involved with
Safe and kind enough, yes. But in hits like "Rosemary's Baby" and Ryan Phillippe and was not responsible for
then,Mabelbeginstoalienate Nick's "The Dirty Dozen." Phillipe's recent split with his wife, Reese
friends. She hugs a man far too long Cassavetes's style was unique, Witherspoon. Cornish, who is on set with
and nearly makes out with a worker because, well, his movies looked Phillippe filming "Stop Loss" in Texas, is just
at the meal. shitty. Shot on a shoestring bud- 24 years old. Not that we're suggesting Phil-
Oh, I neglected to mention that get, with actors repeatedly encour- lippe, 32, left his Academy Award-winning
she went out the previous night, got aged by the director to improvise, wife, 30, for a nubile no-name.
loaded and slept with another man. his movies are singular for their
The film eventually implies that realism. Cassavetes shot on loca-
Mabel is sent away to a mental hos- tion without permission in friends' M USIC
homes, with natural light and poor
sound - "A Woman Under The As if he hasn't offended the public enough
She's under the Influence" is no exception. This is with his "album," denim cut-offs and prolific
about as honest as movies get. And tendency to propagate his genetic material,
influence, or at that's hard. But Cassavetes got it. Kevin Federline recently told the New York
Quiet moments, such as Mabel Post that he is planning on writing an autobi-
least we hope so. smoking alone, isolated in ahallway ography. The trophy-husband-cum-recording-
to the sounds of classical music, say artist has said his sure-to-be-award-winning
so much despite their limited scope. literary gem "will be a biography of my life
pital. So Mabel's crazy, right? It's near impossible to find moments until I met my wife, so people will better under-
But what's to be said for her hus- like this today. stand who I am." Thank God he also divulged
band? Nick is sporadically violent Thanks to Cassavetes, we have his plans to hire a ghostwriter, who we'd guess
and prone to bad judgment. He great minimalist maverick direc- will do less "ghosting" than the job description
eventually pulls his three kids out of tors today. There'd be no Lars Von implies.
school, giving them beer and taking Trier ("Breaking The Waves"),
them to the beach. Hypocritical? Mike Leigh ("Vera Drake") or Sofia ...
Insane? Those come to mind. Coppola ("Lost In Translation").
The movie still is "A Woman Cassavetes's films are classic pro- It's official: "Tonight's the night / We're
Under The Influence," and Mabel ductions of chaos and creation, and gonna celebrate ... " Or, at least, Ricky Martin
is that woman, but her children, her "Influence" is a sterling example of is. The musician was honored yesterday with
peers and especially her husband all his work. the "Person of the Year" award by the Latin
play parts in that influence. It's aptly titled, too, considering Recording Academy in a ceremony, which
"Influence" has been said to be that it remains on of the most influ- took place in New York. Martin, in addition to
a struggle with modern marriage, ential and important films of the his dance-heavy pop singles and tight leather
and has been viewed both as a 1970s and even today. pants, is also known widely for his humani-
4
courtesyof WarnerBros.
Superman really doesn't look dignified in those hotpants, but he thinks he does, and that's what matters.
4
tarian efforts. The musician is a U.N. Goodwill
Ambassador, joining the fabled ranks of stars
like Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman, and
runs his own charity, the Ricky Martin Foun-
dation, which concentrates efforts on putting a
stop to human trafficking. He will also release
a concert performance, "Ricky Martin: MTV
Unplugged," set to come out on CD and DVD
Nov. 7.
TELEVISION
Overtly obsessive fans of "The O.C." - and
we know you're out there - needn't worry: The
show is back tonight for the premiere of its
for-high school teenagers are finally back in
a season that is reportedly less melodramatic
than last year's scandal-ridden episodes. And
as for the question all viewers are burning to
have answered: Yes, Marissa really is dead, and
no, it was not all a dream. According to state-
ments given by the show's creators and stars,
Mischa Barton's character will not be return-
ing to the show to sleep with any more gar-
deners. But as a consolation prize, you've got
Benjamin McKenzie's character channeling
his grief through cage fighting. Because that's
totally plausible.
- Compiled by Bernie Nguyen
and Jeffrey Bloomer.
CARGO
From page 1B
Also, it's a good idea to write your
name all over everything so that
the music will be ruined for her if
things between you ever go sour.
Just kidding?
No mp3s. A CD burned from
mp3s played on a proper stereo
just sounds bad. This is an indis-
puted fact, even if you are using
as little compression as possible.
Even better still, take the ectra
time to rip the songs as .wav files.
It'll take a few extra minutes, but
trust me, it will be well worth it.
Plus, if she likes the CD enough
she'll probably want to rip it onto
her computer, and no one needs
third- generation mp3s.
Sometimes you have to just put
yourself out there, and there are
far worse ways than by making a
mix for someone. It might be ini-
tially awkward, but what is embar-
rassing for you might be endearing
to her. It's almost winter, every-
body is looking for someone to
keep them warm, so what have you
got to lose?
-E-mail Cargo at Ihcargo@
umich.edu. He's looking for
someone to keep him warm.
4
MtvU unveils Woody awards
THE FIRST
TIME, IT'S AN
By CAITLIN COWAN
Daily Arts Editor
it's time to
CONNECT
WITH SI
Discover what a Master of Science in Information can do
for you. With our multidisciplinary approach, SI is the perfect
place for you. More than 70 academic majors are represented
by SI students. Our flexible master's program is the right degree
for the Information Age.
School of Information "Connect with SI"
1-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11
RSVP: si.umich.eda/connect or (134)063-2285
ACCIDENT. There's a channel tucked away
in the listings that still plays music
and music vid-
eos in heavy Woodie
THE SECOND rotation. In Awards
Ann Arbor, Tonight at 8 p.m.
TIME, IT'S that channel is tvU
No. 76, and the
NEPOTISM. station is mtvU: MTV's college sat-
ellite station. Tonight at 8p.m. the
network will broadcast its annual
Woodie Awards - the network's
H own breed of music video award
show.
IT'S AILY ARTS. sh"This is the only award show
100 percent voted on by college
students," mtvU network head
413 E. HURON ST. Stephen Freidman said. "The
nominees are really a result of the
music you guys have been telling
us you've been listening to."
The Woodies are tailored spe-
cifically for college audiences in
their media scope, too: The awards
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ting processes in order to There are all sorts of unusual
te technology-driven, on- Woodie Awards, like the Good
festyles of campus dwell- Woodie award for socially con-
s the country. scious music, the Alumni Woodie
award for artists who have been
around the block a few times, the
gine: A musiC Left Field Woodie award for the
group that seemed to come out of
ion that plays nowhere and, of course, the cov-
. ieo, eted Woodie of the Year award,
uSiC videos. given to the band whose song
played like the soundtrack of the
year for the college students who
year's nominees include voted.
'a Airwaves, Taking Back Held Oct. 25 at New York's
Imogen Heap, Lupe Fias- Roseland Ballroom, the Woodie
Sovereign, Wolfmother Awards will be broadcast tonight
ny others. Former Blink at 8 p.m. Beck and TV on the Radio
:ber and current Angels & will perform and dozens of other
s frontman Tom DeLonge celebrities and Internet personali-
expressed gratitude for ties will present awards. So log off
d's nomination, saying "I that indie fanlisting and tune into
ally think that any award mtvU tonight to see ifyour favorite
'alid unless we get nomi- artists take home some Wood(ies)
r it. So now that we've been in real time.
I