Monday, May 24, 1999 - The Michigan Daily - 9

COsd eso r o hPo omCeasscs
Crosby befriends Nimoy so she doesn't have to do anymore soft core on Showtime..,

Trekkies
Paramount Classics
\t Showcase
It is a dubious week to release a docu-
*tary about "Star Trek." With the
elease of" The Phantom Menace,' "Star
Wars" fans add some muscle to their rel-
ttively small galaxy compared to the
'Star Trek" universe that spans four TV
eries and nine movies. "Trekkies"
educes "Star Wars" to a mere fad as it
akes us into the hardcore sub-culture of
Star Trek" fandom.
"Trekkies" moves from hilarious to
f tening as Denise Crosby ("Star
11K: The Next Generation") interviews
>oth Trekkies and actors about their
xperiences with "Star Trek" Most of
lhe fans interviewed are of the 20-"Star
Trek" conventions-per-year persuasion.
Trekkies are shown to wear Star Fleet
mtiforms at both home and work, drive
heir own "Enterprisenobiles" and are
even literally out for blood as they follow
'Star Trek" actors with empty syringes
'equesting samples of their hemoglobin.
even as the documentary celebrates
I nd ividualism of the fatts, it generates
many laughs: As actor George Takei (Mr.
Sulu) said at the very first "Star Trek"
:onvention, "These people are foolish."
Takei relates how he has been drawn
into this world, though, and now speaks
at over 40 conventions per year.
In "Trekkies," both actors and fans
:iscuss the "Star Trek" philosophy and
ideals. They look at how the original
sly helped bridge the racial gap and
how the entire "Star Trek" canon has
influenced their individual lives. The
non-English speaking interviewees are
clearly translated for those who. do not
speak Klingon.
"Trekkies" is even moving at times
with James Doohan's, better known as
Scottie, tale of how he helped a fan avoid
suicide. The documentary "Trekkies" is
remarkably uplifting and may prove to
be one of the funniest films-of the sum-
* It's definitely worthwhile viewing

Metroland
Lions Gate Films
At the State Theater starting Friday
**
Have you ever wondered, "What if I
hadn't messed things up in that relation-
ship?" Chris Lloyd (Christian Bale) of
"Metroland" asks himself this exact
question.
Chris and Tony (Lee Ross), his best
friend, both of whom grew upin
Eastwood, England, or "Mettoland,"
despise their bourgeois upbringings and
often talk about their dream of living in
Paris.
This dream comes true for Chris: He
is a struggling photographer who falls in
love with Annec (Elsa Zylberstein).
During this relationship he begins seeing
an English woman who will become his
wife, Marianne (Emily Watson), thereby
loosing his first love, Annec.
After eight years of marriage and liv-
ing in "Metroland," Chris gets a 5 a.m.
phone call from Tony, whom he hasn't
seen in five years. We learn that the trav-
eling, swinging and happy Tony is soon
to be non-monogamously married.
Tony's carefree life and happiness
forces Chris to question his own happi-
ness. He asks himself, "Did I choose or
settle for Mariannc?"
"Metroland" moves slowly and is dif-
ficult to understand. There are no "oohs"
or "aahs" in this film, it just monoto-
nously moves along. It is also difficult to
decide whether Chris was hapy with his

marriage prior to reuniting with Tony.
Overall, this film tells a somewhat inter-
esting story in a very boring manner.
BritsAn is
Open Your Eyes
Artisan Entertainment
At the Michigan Theater
**
With his acclaimed film "Thesis,"
young director Alejandro Amenabar
landed a spot on the filmmaking map.
His foray into the world of fantasy,
"Open Your Eyes," though, lacks a
coherent and consistent closure.
The film begins realistically enough,
with "Thesis" co-stars Eduardo Noriega
and Fele Martinez as friends Cesar and
Pelayo bantering about girls. Nerdy
Pelayo can't seem to get any, while hand-
some Cesar just seduced the mysterious
Nuria (Najwa Nimri). On the night of

Cesar's birthday party, Pelayo serendiyi-
tously meets the gorgeous Sofia
(Penlope Cruz), and loses her to Cesar.
After seducing Sofia, Cesar runs into
an angry Nuria, who convinceshjoto
get in her car and then crashes through
the median. Cesar awakens frorn the
crash to find himself disfigured and on
trial for Sofia's murder, of which he has
no recollection.
The remainder of the film shirls
Cesar into a perpetual nightmare, where
he encounters Nuria and Sofia, both sup-
posedly dead, metamorphosing into each
other. The process, while unintelligible at
the time, is riveting and would have been
worthwhile had a cohesive endingien
closure to the whole ordeal.
Alas, Amenabar chooses a cryptic and
somewhat unrelated ending that weakens
the entire two hours he struggled to
build.
Jewnj Curren

for fans and non-fans alike. George
Lucas and company: beware of a sequel.
Jonah Victort
Hideous Kinky
Stratosphere
At the Michigan Theater starting Friday
We're caught in a desert whirlwind
- a southern Californian cloud of dust
spinning into a titanic tornado.
Hollywood's upwardly spinning special
effects have become bigger, badder,
more in-your-face, making for a fun
ride that sometimes is even worth the S8
it costs. And because of this trend, there
often is the unfortunate lack of artistic
cinematography.
Enter "Hideous Kinky," a refreshing
glass of ice water in the hot Hollywood
sun that dazzles the eye. Winding cam-
era shots move in and out of doorways,
span horizons of beautiful North
African countryside and dance through
shadows.
Separating the cinematography from
the rest of the movie's elements, howev-
er, reveals "Hideous Kinky"'s Achilles'
heel - puzzling character develop-
ment. The story centers around Julia
(Kate Winslett) and her two daughters,
Bea (Bella Riza), and Lucy (Carrie
Mullan), a broken family coming from
middle-class English society. They
struggle through the hardships as for-
eigners with no money in Northern
Africa. Yet the love between them and a
traveling roadside entertainer, Bilau
(Said Taghmaoui), provides a sense of
iope.
Unfortunately, the plot as a whole is
choppy and piecemeal because of the
poor characterization. The emotional
transition of Julia's character is espe-
cially odd. Granted, the role of Julia is a
bit tumultuous, so odd behaviors and
emotions are a bit more justifiable for
her character, but these unexplained
reactions and feelings are a large prob-
lem.
Jeetmny S/ial tori

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