6 - The Michigan Daily Summer Weekly- Wednesday, June 3,1992
committing a social crime and, also, usually an error.'
1- Tracy Young 0
Venus, a dance, Dust & an Alien
A look at the endearing, intolerable and yukko of summer film
Meeting Venus
dir. Istvan Szabo
Meeting Venus is a funny, behind-
the-scenes look at a problem-plagued
European production of Wagner's
Tannhauser. Based upon the experi-
ences of director Istvan Szabo
(Mephisto) - who once directed the
opera himself in Paris - the film cen-
ters around the relationship between
novice Hungarian conductor Zoltan
Szanto (Niels Arestrup) and
tempermental Swedish diva Karin
Anderson (Glenn Close). The multi-
national cast includes actors from
France, Germany, Holland, Czecho-
slovakia, and Italy; Szabo meant his
film to reflect the ambivalence cur-
rently being felt in Europe, as more and
more barriers break down and the com-
munity progressively becomes more
united. At times, the dueling accents of
the players are difficult to understand,
and the "comedy of errors" that our
hero Szanto must face wears thin near
the end. But Venus works well as an
endearing study of two passionate art-
ists. And since behind-the-scenes op-
era movies are few and far between
(nope, Yes Giorgio doesn't count), the
film's worldremainsacompelling one.
Meeting Venusplays through Saturday
at the Michigan Theater.
-Mark Binelli
The Waterdance
dirs. Neil Jimenez and
Michael Steinberg
The Waterdanceisalsobasedon the
experiences of one of its creators, co-
director Neal Jimenez. The writer of
The River's Edge - the definitive ho-
micidal headbanger flick - Jimenez
was confined to a wheelchair after an
accident In The Waterdance, the same
fate befalls Mask's Eric Stolz, who
plays a young writer coping with his
new life in a rehabilitation hospital.
Born on the Fourth of July without the
politics? Hardly. Jimenez (and co-di-
rector Michael Steinberg) abandon all
that melodramatic, triumph-of-the-
spirit crap we've all come to expect
from "poignant" films that deal with
bad things happening to good people.
First-rate performances from Stolz,
Helen Hunt (as Stolz's married girl-
friend),andward-matesWesleySnipes
and William Forsythe push Jimenez's
intelligent script to its proper limits,
making for a powerful character study
ratherthan amovie abouta spinal-cord
injury. The Waterdance is playing at
the Ann Arbor 1 & 2.
-Mark Binelli
Daughters of the Dust
dir. Julie Dash
Writer/director/co-producer Julie
Dash's period piece, Daughters of the
Dust, simultaneously disconcerts and
overwhelms in its telling of the story of
an African-Amnerican Gutlah family liv-
ing on the islands off the coast of the
Carolinas and Georgia around the turn
ofthecentury.Likethatlong andtwisted
sentence, thecharacters' dialectis hard
tounderstandandthetale wovenaround
them coils almost indiscernibley. Un-
like most English-speaking accent-in-
flected films, Daughters of the Dust
features characters with many versions
of the same accent, especially across
thegenerations. Itshard tofind agroove
in the lingo that can explain the barrage
of visual strings that link the plot to-
gether. Though many of the film's im-
ages are stunning -especially the lush
setting and well-crafted Edwardian-era
costumes -it is not until after the film
is over and a discussion ensues that you
understand how who is related to who,
and why who feels what for whomever.
And why is that women in the yellow
dress there to begin with (It's Trula
played by TrulalHoosier, Yellow Mary
Peazant's (Barbara-0) lover)? On a
See MOVIES, Page 10
Day
Apocalypse 1992
Curve's live soundtrack to Armageddon *
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Write:
The Americas
Foundation
4716 Bram Ave.
Bonita, CA 91902
La
fRosa
cLtartca
Summer Building School
Tijuana, Baja California,
Mexico
June 29-August 29
Organic architectural solutions to
probcms of third world dcvtlopment,
hands-on construction of primary
school; and artisans workshops.
ct: $800-$000
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Phone: 665-9200 Fax: 930-2800
Curve
St. Andrews Hall
May 27, 1992
Storming St. Andrews like a virtual
realityApocalypseNowintheyear2010
on board the mothership from Close
Encounters of The Third Kind, Curve
emerged from ashroud of smoke, dark-
ness, and the hype of being the best live
band in England, to kickstart their vir-
gin U.S.tour. Over thenext45 minutes,
they very nearly lived up to these lofty
expectations.
Literally assaulting the crowd with
a whirlwind rush of sexnoise, (and a
light rig that would put Spielberg to
shame) it took a couple of false starts
before the Curve machine finally got
their psychosexual love thang in gear.
Led by the perfectly delicious Toni
Halliday, Curve burned through a fren-
zied version of "Split Into Fractions,"
which crashed into a sonically mon-
strous "Isn't Anything."
Halliday is anicegoddess daydream
onalevelpeople likeSiouxsiecanonly
wish for.Evenwhenshestops abotched
song tostartagain,Hallidayonlyneeded
toflashoneof those dagger-sharpangel
smiles, and all was forgiven (as well as
melting hearts at 50 paces).
Arushed"HorrorHead"wasstillan
eye-wateringorgasm, whileaswaying,
sensual "Coast Is Clear" reduced the
awed crowd into a gooey, sweaty mass
of undulating flesh.
At times, their total audio-visual
attack was a bit overwhelming. Songs
like "Arms Open" were pummeled to
their knees, a whirlwind of sound lack-
ing any dynamics or room to breathe.
But when you want to leave an audi-
ences ears bleeding, subtlety is the first
thing to go.
Locals Majesty Crush opened the
show with their moody, cerebral
guitarwash. They featured songs from
their forthcoming 5-song CD, most
notably the gorgeous "Fan," and the
poppy "Penny For Love," which
soundedlike the Beach Boys on arainy
day hanging out with My Bloody Val-
entine.
- Scott Sterling
0