The Michigan Daily - Friday, May 16, 1986 - Page 9 'Ro 'gvsrefrehn ieW B Kurt Serbus than about 80 percent of the the film mainly through her talent The lion's share of the applause, fun, which is more than you'll current round of movies. or her earthy, pre-adolescent however, should go to director en route to the equally predicta It's hard to decide where to par- beauty is hardly relevant - she James Ivory, who manages to climaxes of mainstream fod A Room With A View is cel out credit for the success of A blends into her character take all this histrionic greatness like Legend and Band of the Ha cinematic adaptation of one of Room With A View, but the cast is seamlessly and weave it into a rather simple, those stuffy Victorian novels that a good place to start. Helena old-sounding story-line, making you probably had to read in high Bonham Carter is mesmerising as The rest of the cast - including the film come out crisp, fun, and, So s yourself a favor this school; the kind wherein the Lucy, the young English girl torn such veteran greats as Maggie above all, accessible, without so -Pass poffs ate bat-pach author (in this case E.M. Forster) between her proper engagement Smith and Denholmm Elliot - is much as an Alister Cook for tran- Rambo rioffs and brat-pack s intersperses a tale of lurking to a rigid, snobbish dead battery so flawless that it is virtually im- slation. Ivory never drops a stitch offs and catch A Room With passion and unrequited love with a (Daniel Day Lewis) and her own possible to single out any one per- as he proples his characters at an View at the Ann Arbor Theate few well-aimed barbs at the feelings newly stirred by the som- formance, although Simon Callow admirable pace towards the You'll see a lot more class, he British uppperclass. Strangely ber yet impulsively exciting man manages to steal quite a few ultimate triumph of heart over and humor in this one film t enough, it's also fresher, funnier, (Julian Sands) she meets in scenes with the inspired looniness head. Sure, the ending's predic- Hollywood is likely to churn out and more genuinely entertaining Venice. Whether Carter carries of his Reverend Beebe. table, but getting there is a lot of summer. get ble der nd. eek of pin- A ers. art han all Pryor, By Stephen Gregory I t seems as if fast-paced Holly- wood is moving a bit faster these days. In the past an auteur (one who is an integral part of a film's production throughout) was a title achieved through much hands-on work and dedication. What happens, then, when someone dons the robes of "auteur" without having un- dergone the ripening process? A bad fruit, perhaps? Well, not always. Richard Pryor's direc- ting, writing, and producing debut, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling, is not a wholly tasty fruit, but it is not a bad one, either. One of the songs of the film's sound track, "Mannish Boy" by Muddy Waters, carries a dual meaning in its title. As Pryor is a mannish boy to "auteurship", so too is Jo Jo Dancer, the main character played by Pryor, a neophite to life. Jo Jo Dancer is looking for something different in his life. New experiences lead, on to others, leaving Jo Jo feeling awkward. But you see, Jo Jo is a comedian and knows how to han- dle his awkwardness by masking as 'Dancer,' oversteps himself it with humor. He soon, however, replaces humor with drugs, and becomes increasingly dependent on them to deal with his life. This, in fact, is where the movie begins: Jo Jo, now thoroughly hooked on cocaine, burns himself severely while free basing. What happened? Why did this promising young comedian literally let his life go up in smoke? The rest of the film attempts to answer this question in a manner reminiscent of a cross between A Christmas Carol and All That Jazz. From boyhood to adulthood and through four marriages, the audience witnesses the successes and failures of Jo Jo's life, looking for the moment he made the wrong turn and headed down a path of self destruction. Unfor- tunately, the audience is never made aware of when it occured. In this way, the film fails in what it sets out to accomplish: detering others from taking a similar cour- se. The audience also has a hard time distinguishing between Pryor and Jo Jo. The viewer feels as if he is watching Pryor simply relive his own life. Jo Jo asa character is never fleshed out, and this is the one main weakness of the film. The funniest scenes of the movie are shots of Pryor as Jo Jo per- forming his comedy act and using the same jokes Pryor himself is famous for. In fact, the movie is a series of comedy performances connected with a story line. Within this story line, however, Pryor has employed an im- pressive supporting cast that ac- tually makes the film enjoyable. Debbie Allen, who plays Jo Jo's third wife, Michelle; Carmen McRae, who plays Jo Jo's spirited grandmother; and Paula Kelly, who plays Satin Doll, Jo Jo's early mentor, give performances that compensate, but unfortunately not fully off-set the weakness of the film. Richard Pryor is no auteur. The crudeness of the film verifies this. Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling has all the right ingredients of a good film, but Pryor, like a fruit too young to eat, lacks ripening. Windbreakers -0- SA LES.-3 Nti1N RING~4 1I ' 1 I HOW TO GET THERE FROM HERE SEE HOW AT THE BusinessWeek's Job Search Workshop Michigan Union Pac: Anderson D Date: May 20,1986 Time: 3'PM sponsored by iChrser Division of Chrysler Corporation (Continued from Page8) straightforward. The main reason, beyond the obvious business aspect, that in- dependent records don't get played on commercial radio is that many don't sound very good, production-wise. I'd hope our next record (which Everett will produce) will sound as good as anybody's." On the band's influences and the genesis of the WB's sound: "We're all people who grew up listening to music nonstop, all kin- ds. I was, as a teenager, into all kinds of hard rock, Southern rock, but was also into the New York Dolls, the Stooges. Velvet Un- derground records changed my life, but I still listened to Thin Liz- zy and Black Sabbath. We're pret- ty '70s influenced, because it's when we grew up. We probably have more in common with Mott the Hoople than with the Byrds." On performing live: "We're supposed to play a long set in Ann Arbor. We like playing long set - we like playing, period! With this band (touring) is fan- tastic. Touring itself is a drag, you get in the van and drive... but for that hour and a half in the evening it's worth it. I like the Blind Pig. Last time we were there we played our asses off and people would sit and stare at us - we thought they hated us! - and then go into mad applause. We loved it, it was just weird. This time I'd hope we'd get people throwing their bodies around." Not a bad aspiration. Help Tim and the WB's out. Stop by the Pig Tuesday and throw down with one of current pop's most promising acts.