Wednesday, May 5, 1993 - The Mchin Day Summer Weely--11
Hearts' failure

By MICHELLE PHILLIP
Part I: "Three of Hearts" is a ro-
mantic comedy with a twist. Every-
one who has seen the trailer knows
Three of Hearts
Directed by Yurek Bogayevicz;
written by Adam Greenman and
Mitch Glazer; with William Baldwin,
Kelly Lynch and Sherilyn Fenn.
that it is girl meets girl, girl loses girl
sogirlhiresboy togetherex-girlback
for her. This is probably the first
mainstream movie to deal with ho-
mosexuality in which the hero is not
an axe-wielding maniac. Tht is a
noveltyin itslf.
Connie Czapski (Kelly Lynch)
gets dumped by her girlfriend Ellen
Armstrong (Sherilyn Fenn). Connie
goes through all the stages of
dumpedness and eventually becomes
obsessed with Ellen. She sits in her
room and watches videotapes of her
and Ellen on vacation. Prior to the
breakup Connie was going to take
Ellen to her sister's wedding and use
the occasion to come out to her fam-
ily. Enter Joe Casella (William

Baldwin). On the advice of a friend
Connie hires Joe to take her to the
wedding and save her some embar-
rassment. Connie andJoe have a good
time and, inadvertently through Joe's
own words ("Most guys are assholes
... one of them will fuck her over"),
they stumble into the idea of getting
Joe to break Ellen's heart. Joe meets
Ellen, goes out with and falls in love
with her. Of course, Joe realizes he
can't break Ellen's heart and reneges
on his deal with Connie. The rest you
can figure out since this movie is es-
sentially a no-brainer.
Part II: Now, this is the way it
should have gone. (After all, it wasn't
a bad flm; it just needs minor adjust-
ments.) First, can Sherilyn Fenn's char-
acter.Sheisthe objectofdesireandit's
unclear why anyone likes her (being
beautiful is not a satisfactory reason).
Ellen is a personfied plot point, pop-
ping up only at key moments to force
either Joe'sor Connie'shand. She's an
English T.A. and she drags Joe (and
us) through all the boring existential
crap that English majors, writers and
critics are so fond of. "What do you
fear?"Ellen repeatedly asks Joe, which
is redundant since he already worked

Billy Baldwin and Sherilyn Fenn get up close and personal in "Three of Hearts."


all his angst out with Connie.
Speaking of Joe and Connie, their
relationship should be expanded by 50
percent. Connie is the film's truly cool
character and she is not in it enough.
This is a film about relationships and
Joe and Connie are the only people
who have one. They are funny and
exciting - not to mention cute. Their
platonic friendship is refreshing be-
cause they can actually be friends.
They are not on the make for each
ogy for an Accident," and he sounds
like he means it. Seriously, this man
has more pain than Morrissey ever
dreamed of and it sure seems more
genuine.No whining or wallowing for
Mark; when he moans, "You were a
scarecrow looking for a bonfire to lie

other and thus have the only honest
interaction in the film. Through each
other, Joe and Connie discover just
how dishonest they are with others.
Now to make these revamped charac-
ters work, change the plot so both Joe.
and Connie are chasing the same girl
and they discover that they are each
other's competition.
One more thing: a minor subplot
change would improve things. Joe has
this kooky side thing going with some
down on," it's hard not to cringe; and
when the last strains of the acoustic
album-closer "Will You Find Me?"
fade into oblivion, it's hard not to want
to do the same.
It seemed for a while that Dinosaur
Jr.'s "Where You Been" would run

guy named Harvey and his boss
Mickey. Let's make Harvey gay too
and let's make him want Joe's ser-
vices and let's make the money really
goodandlet'smake Mickey amoney-
grubbing scumbag (oh, wait, he al-
ready is)and let's get Joe Pescitoplay
Mickey since it is obvious that actor
Joe Pantoliano's performance is based
on various Joe Pesci characters.
THREE O 7HEARTS is playing at
Showcase.
unopposed as album of the year. Not
so. American Music Club has just
upped the ante with "Mercury." It's
quite simply the best piece of depres-
sion and hurt to come along since
Nick Drake released "Pink Moon."
-Dirk Schulze

t 0

Chapin and Bergman
Inversions
MU Works
Some find disorganization appall-
* ing;others befriend chaos, challenging
their casual conceptions and daring to
redefine order. Some hear only noisy
unlogicinThomasChapin'sandBorah
Bergman's music, while others find
the few comfortable reference points
in the music which don't deviate too
far from the norm.
Their music is an exercise in inver-
sion, supplanting conventional melo-
dies with free improvisation and ato-
nality. They also seem to invert West-
ernperceptionsofmusicthroughpraxis
theory.Theprocessofcombining spon-
taneous inspiration takes precedence
over the recorded product. But, as al-
ways, this leads to the free music para-
dox: recording (digitally notating) the
musical event preserves that which
was meant to exist as a diachronic
transformation of potentialities into
actuality. But theory makes a meager
meal. Besides, the fast food and social
alienationofaneverendingtourwould
send anyone to an early grave.
Their music stems from a Cage-
like affinity for the randomization of
notes and the indeterminacy of each
performance. But this wily pair blend
this aesthetic with a jazz penchant for
individuality. Both fuse jazz explora-
tions with the unconventional rhyth-
mic phrasings pioneered by this
century's innovative composers, unit-
ing control and flexibility.
Throughout the pieces, they dis-

tance themselves from the comfort and
stability of habit. Bergman's choppy,
anxious piano comping is intertwined
but independent from Chapin's alto
whirls. The sounds create a composite
mood without interrupting each
player'sstreamofconsciousness. They
share an occasional relenting sympa-
thy. Bergman's disassociated notes
spill out of the piano. Chapin avant-
bop approach exercises all ranges of
his sax, with occasional bursts into
squeals and polytones.
"Propulsion" shows both throwing
themselvesintothe other'secstatic flow
with fantastically frenetic results. The
interplay is dizzying, so set your mind
on tumble dry.
-Chris Wyrod
American Music Club
Mercury
Reprise Records
MarkEitzel's lifestillsucks,praise
the Lord, and he and the other mem-
bers of American Music Club are still
making top-notch music out of it. The
latestreleasebythecritically-acclaimed
LA band, "Mercury" continues in the
vein of such previous outings as
"Everclear" and "California." Eitzel
rants his way through his confessions
inatorturedhowlwhilethe band whips
up a country-flavored ambient post-
punk brew that prefers toremainssubtle
andmid-tempo, butisjustascapable of
flailing intocrazyexcess, as on "Chal-
lenger."
"I'm an expert on all things that
nature abhors," Eitzel sings on "Apol-

i. _ _ _ __ _ _ 1

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