The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - 7A
FILM REVIEW
Big laughs, big heart,
CONCERT PREVIEW
Quartet strings'
By PHILIP CONKLIN
For theDaily
At first glance, "Heartbreak-
er," the first feature from French
director Pas-
cal Chaumeil,
seems like *
another stale Heartbreaker
Hollywood
romantic com- Thursday at
edy.But the film the Michigan
is everything FC
that recent Hol-
lywood roman-
tic comedies aren't and everything
they're trying to be - romantic and
funny.
Romain Doris ("The Spanish
Apartment") stars as Alex Lippi,
an expert seducer who profes-
sionally breaks up relationships in
which the women are "unknow-
ingly unhappy." Alex is hired by
a millionaire, whose daughter
Juliette (Vanessa Paradis, "Girl on
the Bridge") is set to marry a rich
Englishman. He only has 10 days to
breakupthe couple, who seem tobe
blissfully in love.
While she plot is convoluted and
ridiculous, it's one of the movie's
only flaws. The outline of the story
is somewhat preposterous, but the
heart of the movie is brilliant. It's by
turns hilarious and tender, moving
seamlessly between the two thanks
to an exceptional script and stellar
acting.
Duris gives a nuanced perfor-
mance that accentuates the depth
of his character. Alex is easily
charming, disarmingly handsome
and sophisticated, but he's not the
archetypal macho hero.
Unlike most male characters in
romantic comedies, he has a sense
of humor about himself; while the
film emphasizes his suaveness, it
1 also pokes fun at it, making him
more emotionally relatable.
Also, in a refreshing derivation
from romantic comedy convention,
he is as vulnerable, or possibly more
so, than his female counterpart.
And though his profession, which
involves learning intimate infor-
mation about women so that he can
seduce them and break up their
relationships, sounds sleazy and
misogynistic, he is actually doing
his clients a service: He "wakes
them up," making them realize they
Ne
ob!
will
It's
the b
block
of th
greate
quarte
violist
joining
celebr
salem
for its
cert
been a
Aft
all-ma
salem
violist
accept
violist
w violist assures Kam, who has toured extensively
and won several international
scure repertoire music competitions, was an ideal
replacement for Grosz.
still be relatable "I've known these guys almost
as long as they've been playing
By JOE CADAGIN together," Kam said in a phone
DailyArts Writer interview with the Daily. "I met
them a long time ago, and we sort
hard being the new kid on of had a musical relationship from
lock, especially when the time to time over the last 15 years.
is one So joining the group was not the
e world's most unnatural or strange thing
ast string ... I expected it to be much harder
ts. But for Quartet than it has been."
Ori Kam, Thursday In its third University Musical
g Israel's Society appearance on Oct. 21, the
ated Jeru- at 8 p.m. Jerusalem Quartet will perform
Quartet Rackham two standards of string quartet
2010 con Auditorium repertoire as well as a lesser-
tour has known gem.
painless transition. First on the program is Men-
er 17 years together, the delssohn's String Quartet No. 4
le award-winning Jeru- in E Minor. Composed in 1867, it
Quartet was recently left was the second in a series of three
-less when Amihai Grosz quartets dedicated to the Crown
:ed the position of principal Prince of Sweden.
of the Berlin Philharmonic. "Mendelssohn is an important
U' along.
and pivotal composer," Kam said.
"On the one hand, he's very much
aclassical composer ... with a clar-
ity of form and a clarity of ideas
that comes in classical music
like Beethoven and Mozart. On
the other hand, (his music) has
the emotional impact and com-
plexity of the Romantic Period,
with composers like Brahms or
Schumann. And he's very much
the missing link between these
two periods."
Kam also pointed out that
though Mendelssohn's family con-
verted from Judaism to Lutheran-
ism, there isstill a kind of "Jewish
thread" running through the
composer's music to which the
Israeli-based Jerusalem Quartet
can relate.
Also on the Jerusalem Quar-
tet's program is Brahms's String
Quartet in C Minor. Composed
in 1873, the piece is the second
of only three string quartets that
Brahms ever published. Brahms
See JERUSALEM, Page 8A
TV REVIEW
Anorexia is too painful to watch
The woman whose armpits your woman's armpits could smell like.
aren't happy in their relationships micky.
and that they deserve better. While "Heartbreaker" is a
The rest of the characters in huge departure from the mod-
"Heartbreaker" are equally like- ern romantic comedy, it is still,
able and wonderfully portrayed. through and through, a part of
Paradis's Juliette is beautiful, but the genre. But rather than try too
hard to be something it's not, the
film embraces its place in cinema.
i Despite containing things that on
French rom antic the surface seem incredibly cheesy
(for example, a reenactment of the
comedy boasts famous dancing scene from "Dirty
actualrDancing"), the characters are so
rom ance engaging and their relationships so
and comedy. authentic that the movie is never
sappy or forced.
The film maintains a rapid pace,
and much of it plays more like an
also refined and independent, action film than a romantic com-
which is uncommon among female edy. There are "Ocean's Eleven"-
characters in the movies these style heist sequences, complete
days. And Lippi's colleagues, sister with tapped phones and hidden-
and brother-in-law are excellent, camera surveillance. There's even
bringing levity and humor to all a gangster-type moneylender to
their scenes without being gim- See HEARTBREAKER, Page BA
By ALEX RUSS'
Daily Arts Writer
A lot of people have issues with
eating. Maybe it's difficult to put
down that last
chocolate chip *
cookie. Maybe
you walk away V
from the restau-
rant knowing EatIng You
you should haveW
ordered a salad Wednesdays
instead of a bacon atlO p.m.
double cheese- E!
burger. But these
problems are nothing compared to
the real eating disorders displayed
on the new E! television series
"What's Eating You" While the
show provides a genuine and often
scary look into the lives of people
afflicted by eating disorders, it has
an overwhelmingly downbeat tone
that's almost impossible to over-
come.
The first episode follows the
lives of Adrienne and Dannie.
Adrienne lives in Phoenix and is a
highly talented yet grossly under-
weight dancer who considers a full
meal to be two spoonfuls of plain
oatmeal. Danni lives in New Jer-
sey and fell into anorexia due to
the stress of her brother's medical
problems, as well as falling short
of becoming cheerleading captain
in high school - which was her
aspiration for her entire four years
there. The two girls are brought to
therapists to help cope with their
issues, but the sessions don't go as
smoothly as planned.
"What's Eating You" does a fan-
tastic job of giving a personal look
at the lives of everyday people and
their struggles with this disease.
This is not taken from some celeb-
rity's point of view. Watching the
girls deny that they have problems
or attempt to refuse treatment can
be difficult to watch, but it's indica-
tive of the power and influence eat-
ing disorders can have.
On that note, though, the show
is almost too depressing. Eating
disorders create a lot of problems
for the people they afflict, as well
as the people around them. But
that doesn't mean there can't be
some happy moments within the
show. All that was shown was how
the disorders hit the girls and their
families from all sides. Not only is
Adrienne's health in danger, but so
is her relationship with her fam-
ily, as well as her job as a dancer.
We needed a little room to breathe
and relax; there's enough stub-
bornness, crying and feelings of
helplessness to make us consider
turning the TV off because it's just
so painful.
Least sensitive
show name ever.
"What's Eating You" is a fas-
cinating series, but one can only
hope the show decides to be more
heartwarming than heart-wrench-
ing in the future. This show gives
testimony to the fact that eating
disorders are never to be taken
lightly, but at the same time, it's
impossible to really enjoy.
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