a= a REE SUMMER FILM FESTIVAL The Center for Japanese Studies kicks off the Free Summer Film Festival 1996 this Friday with a screening of Shiro Toyoda's 1957 film, "Snow Country." Showing is at 7 p.m. at the Natural' Science A uditorium - admission is free. ARTS 'Hunchback' has Disney charm, lacks in animation Sil rts Wrt voiced well by Jason Alexander, Charles Kimbrough and Mary Wickes, whose perfor- It's summer, so it must be time for a new mances keep the film from becoming unbear- Disney marketing blitz, uh, I mean animated fea- ably tense. The heroic leads are all voiced ture. The heavy-handed message-bearerthisntime acceptably, although Hulce and Moore's is Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." voices are a little uninteresting, with Kevin It's the story of Notre Dame's deformed bell- Kline providing a moderately more entertain- -ringer Quasimodo (Tom Hulce) and his journey ing performance. out into the world of medieval Paris that has The animation, however, is very uneven. been denied him by his The opening sequence repressive, gypsy-hating mas- EVI Ew seems second-rate as far ter Frollo (Tony Jay). Quasi is , The Hunchback ofNotre Dame as Disney animation lured out by the raucous glit- S isrted by Gary Trousdale and Kirk goes. Much of the ter of the Festival of Fools, with the voices orom Huce, emi movement is unconvinc- and meets the beautiful gypMy MoeKvin Cline andonyJ ay ing and the colors are Esmerelda (Demi Moore, in *** especially unsatisfying. her first of two exotic-dancing The animation improves roles this summer). Quasi falls in love at first fairly quickly, but the colors in the film are sight but Esmerelda thinks he's wearing a great terrible, conveying none of the Gothic intent mask. Frollo ends up taking undue interest in of the story in scenes with any amount of Esmerelda, and sends his gallant Captain of the light. Low-light scenes have satisfying hues, Guards, Phoebus (Kevin Kline), after her. but there aren't enough of them. They seemed Esmerelda escapes to Notre Dame and is given to be trying to make too much of the film too sanctuary there, and Phoebus and Esmerelda start happy. taking undue interest in each other. Frollo wants The misuse of computer-generated images to either have Esmerelda for himself or destroy (CGI) is also troublesome. In the last scene, her. The movie progresses relatively predictably a CGI crowd is milling around and is sharp from there, underlining the old Disney moral that and clear, while the painted buildings around it's what's inside that counts. them are hazy and out of focus, making for The voices in "Hunch" are done very well. an unacceptably incongruous effect. Notre Tony Jay's Frollo is typically villanous and Dame's facade itself is fairly sharp and clear, authoritative, and is very effective. The but is afflicted with some nasty CGI effects, comic-relief gargoyles of the movie are found largely in the glinting of the sun off of one of its stained-glass windows, but also in some disastrously jarring twirling-perspec- tive shots that don't mask their technology at all. "Hunch" is a Disney movie, and as such, has all the usual charm. But with nine ani- mated feature films in the last 10 years, and another on its way next year, it seems like Disney's animation department might be get- ting stretched a little thin in order to produce movies. Still, Disney's animation is of lesser quality only in relation to its own previous output. Disney just hasn't reinvented the wheel this time around. Dances of India Troupe tells legend of Gauthama Bi By Anitha Chalam R r wBuddha" which featured her own dance bration of Prince Daily Arts Writer and the Prince troupe in a difficult yet beautiful drama- during which a wise Western society often looks to the Budha tization of the life of the Buddha. the child would on East for various aspects of the humani- choreographed by Malani "Illusions and the Prince" was a por- great king or a great ties, such as folklore and dance. The leg- V Suday.Je 29 trayal of the life of Prince Siddhartha, The next few s ends of the Gauthama Buddha are [mwse Auditorium from his birth until the time he left his Siddhartha's life in t among the more interesting tales, espe- ** castle life. The audience followed the scene featured a raas, cially the story of Siddhartha, a prince ways the antithesis of ballet, is equally story, divided into seven scenes, in dance, indigenous to northe who turns down his life of riches for graceful, and comes complete with the which began with the Dashavatara, in fourth and fifth greater enlightenment as the Buddha. exoticism of the East. On Saturday which the dancers described the various Yashodara, a young g Another interesting Eastern tradition evening, choreographer Malani Srirama avatars, or incarnations, ofVishnu, one of Siddhartha fell in lovi is Bharatanatyam, the classical dance of combinedthe two for a spectacular show, which was Buddha. The sixth scene w, India. This earth-bound dance, in some "Illusions and the Prince: Gauthama In the second scene, we saw the cele- in which Siddhartha Wednesday 1 July 3, 1996 10 Ella Fitzgerald dies at 79 One of the grand old folks of jazz passed away quietly in he4 home this week. Ella Fitzgerald was 79 years old and left behind a legacy that more than filled her long life. In a world where careers are meteoric and brief, Ella hung on like a champ. Her most brilliant and popular recordings, such as the Cole Porter songbook and her collaborations with Louis Armstrong, were very much an ideal of this era of music. Her approach was twofold. First, technique: Ella was one of the most tech- nically gifted jazz singers ever. Second, style: Ella imbued her music with an emotion that went far beyond rattling a fe notes at the end of a phrase. 1 There's not much left to say that isn't being said by others this week. She had a career that befitted an artist of her stature, and she deserved no less. So long Bess, and thank you. - By James Miller; Daily Arts Writer uddha Siddhartha's birth, s' n4 sage predicted that te day be either a monk. cenes focused on he palace. The third or lively stick dance m India, while the The dance troupe in performance attire scenes told about the castle walls for the first time and irl with whom Prince encountered old age and death. Upon e and married. questioning his charioteer, Siddhartha as the critical scene, discovered that suffering comes to all. journeyed outside In the final scene of this dance drama Siddhartha returned home, distraught by what he had seen outside and realized he HTS't' must leave his home. The dance at this NTS!!! point featured Mlani Srirama herfin the role of Siddhartha's step-mother, try- ~ ILA LE' itg to convinve her son to stay B "Illusions and the Priice" ended with J the departre of Siddhartha. Hle sat UNDING . neath a papal tree indclassical medit tive position. His step-mother, wife and . ~attendants all came to him, offering praise. The music in this scene was sun 2435) in Pali, the language believed to have beet spoken by the Buddha during his life. The Dances of India Troupe and Malani Srirama have worked very hard for many months to put together this amazing show. tests for Home "Illusions and the Prince" featured a num- 'S5oftware hber of dancers, including Mrs. Srirama herself. All of the dancers worked to the Gore Improvements last minute to put on a great show, and their effort was evident. Though the ne/ scenery was a bit lacking, the ornate coO tomes and excellent dancing, combined begin with a fascinating story, made for a bril- 15th liant performance. The Dances of India Troupe puts on such a performance every year. If you missed it ths year, it would be a shame to make the same mistake twice. 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