12 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, June 4, 2001 iviULIN Continued from Page 10 writes a musical that closely mirrors his own life with Satine. Reality and performance during the film are sometimes confused - Satine's life as a courtesan requires her to convince every man that she loves him, whether she is offstage or on. Her entire emotional life is an act until she meets Christian. Through the entire film, there is a sense of constant voyeurism, as the audience's own sense of reality is confused with that of the Moulin Rouge. The writers developed an original musical through bizarre means - the setting is 1900, but the music is con- temoorary. It ranges from David Bowie's "Nature Boy" to Madonna's "Material Girl," mostly performed by the cast and reinterpreted in ways appropriate to the plot. "Moulin Rouge" is romantic in the classic sense, while drawing on more contemporary elements. Itsis comedic and campy, with its shameless use of love cliches and camera shots under dancers' skirts. The character Harold Zidler even seems to draw some inspi- ration from Dr. Frank N. Furter of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Like any good cabaret show, the film is visually entertaining with its music and dance numbers. Unlike many musi- cals made into movies, "Moulin Rouge" is truly interesting in its con- struction, to the point where a simple plot is a nositive thing. ARTS iffy' slays vampires, suspens By Laura LoGerfo LFor the Daily "It's a drag to be the Chosen One. Occasionally a girl would rather be at the mall ... or even doing homework than saving the Buffy: The worid from untop- Faith Trials pable evil." Finally, a character J. Laurence whose dilemmas Grade: C+ mirror my own: Pocket Books Study for class, or slay vampires? If your name is Buffy, the answer's clear. The first volume of the "Faith Tri- als" in the "Bufly the Vampire Slayer" book series opens with a new slayer's arrival in pleasant Sunnydale. The new slayer, Faith, a sexy and mysterious brunette who enjoys staking vampires in the nude and long walks on the beach, inspires Buffy and her gal pals' envy. Let's face it: Faith oozes chic cool, while the often tightassed Buffy takes her role as civilization's savior way too seriously, and she even hesitates to date anyone new. Only a few months previous, she gave her love a one-way ticket to hell because he turned into a vampire. Talk about a trau- matic breakup. No pint of Chunky Mon- key will make that baggage disappear. To Faith and Buffy, slaying vampires becomes routine, almost boring. However, all hell breaks loose when the Jabba the Hut of the vampire underworld arrives in town, seeking an extraordinary glove - apparently they heard about the return of the blue light special on Isotoner gloves -that holds the power to "ascend." And therein lie the primary problems with this fantasy. First, I never discovered Casual dining at its best! YOURSELF! Corner of lst and Huron St. Downtown AA (734) 623-7400 "Exceptional!" www.damatos.com Ann Arbor observer ****Detroit Free Press Piano Bar Thurs- Sat 9 out of 10 Ann Arbor News 1 the alluring qualities of this uber-gl Second, the book fails to build to any max. The author creates "suspense refusing to divulge the point of the b Ever Beyond Faith and Buffy, few chara ever develop. Most personalities inge less than a page before they die or sin disappear without explanation. AA grace is the liberal use of witty as castic lines by most characters. Mv lines elicit hearty gsffaws and susta laughter. One agent of evil pulls a Man; in her thrilling moment of triur as she stretches one arm towards the she sneers, "Faith, a word of ads You're an idiot." That's not one word, that's not even advice, just a pretty a rate comment on the obvious. Another favorable factor rests in quickly moving plot. I could not pu book down, not for the aforeme4 suspense (or lack thereof), but for kee track of the plot. Plot lines I had folkc for a paragraph, in which I felt de, invested, started and finished within same page. My eyes wandered f moment. Returning to my page, acci tally beginning a sentence below wb had stopped, cost me Faith's selling soul to the dark side and the stunning elation that Bufoy's ex is actually 4 guy. In its greatest moments, this I offers solid laughs and reassures its z ence that life as a student can be bala with life as a Slayer. And I was stresse If you think you're pregn ca us-we ifsten, we care PfOBLEM PREGNANCY1 975-4357 Any time, any day, 24 boy FUHy tonfdential. $ervin" $tudents :since 1970, I fro Here's the place to find energy & excitement. Our state-of-the-art facilities offer employees a unique place to work. Sharper people, hipper atmosphere, better benefits.. it's all at CPK! There's an opportunity for everyone to find a great job with growth & support! CPK team members enjoy: flexible schedules; great pay; excellent training; immediate health benefits. NOW HIRING IN BRIARWOOD MALL! SERVERS - HOST STAFF - COOKS - BUSSERS - DISH WASHERS Apply in person, Monday-Saturday, 9am-7pm Briarwood Mall - Between Pearle Vision & World Nails in Sears Corridor Ph: (734) 327-0255 Or apply on-line at www.cpk.com I 0 -;