ARTS Tuesday, February 19, 1991 The Michigan Daily Page 5 Innocents abroad still appeal Landscape in the Mist dir. Theo Angelopoulos by Brent Edwards There is one long shot in Land- scape in the Mist where a giant hand, broken off of some enormous ancient statue, is lifted out of a bay by helicopter and slowly transported over the modern city of Thessaloniki until it can no longer be seen. At this point, the camera pans down to reveal the main characters watching this Magritte- like event in silence. It is a simple but visually striking scene, encap- sulating all of the qualities of this slow-moving but thoughtful film by the European master director Theo Angelopoulos. The film is about a voyage, in which 14-year-old Voula (Tanai Palaiologou) and her five-year-old brother Alexandros (Michalis 1 Zeke) run away from their home in Athens, taking a train to Germany to find their father, whom they've never seen. Like many films of this genre, the children's quest can never succeed, for the audience learns early on that their mother made up the story about their fa- ther to pacify them, since she has no idea who their father really is. Thus the film becomes a journey of experience, with the children traveling through the desolate modern world, both of them grow- ing up quickly through random, and sometimes harsh, experiences. Like in the scene with the giant hand, the children, and thus the audience, are frequently observers of unexplained events that they encounter: a dying horse, a wed- ding party dancing through the streets, a town transfixed by the ar- rival of snow. Angelopoulos presents most of these scenes with one prolonged shot, many lasting well over a minute. This "unblinking eye" technique creates a cinima veritu feel, as if the camera is happening upon this moment as a silent ob- server. The shots are thoughtful and, although many focus on the mystery of the landscape through which the children are moving, there are both touching and power- ful scenes involving the children themselves. In the most moving scene, the camera remains transfixed on the back of a truck, while the truck driver throws Voula behind the covered opening and follows her inside. The camera continues to stare at the flapping tarp as cars drive by until the driver reappears, and finally Voula crawls out, the camera zooming in until it shows only the blood her hands have left on the truck's frame. Both Palaiologou and Zeke are impressive, evoking child-like un- certainty and resoluteness that is a refreshing change from the cutesy, too-sweet-to-be-real kids seen in Hollywood films like E.T. or Three Men and a Little Turd. Alexandros experiences his own "awakening," as far as a five-year-old can, but it is Voula who changes the most through the film, from getting over a crush on an older homosexual to accepting what she might have to do in order to obtain money for her and her brother's travel. Although Landscape in the Mist has won many major European awards, as have many of An- gelopoulos' past films since 1970 have, he has remained virtually unknown in America. This is per- haps due to the fact that this style of film has never been as popular as the more plot-oriented Holly- wood films. (How many average moviegoers have seen Truffaut's masterpiece The 400 Blows?) Those who can enjoy a more alle- gorical film, however, will be amazed that Angelopoulos has re- mained hidden for so long. LANDSCAPE IN THE MIST is being shown tonight through Sunday at the Michigan Theater. Tanai Palaiologou and Zeke Michalis in Theo Angelopoulos' Landscape in the Mist. The sequel, already in the works, is to be directed by John Hughes; Voula and Alexandros get left behind in Athens when mom goes away on vacation, and that's when the wackiness begins! w .. .N eview You might need helmets for your ears Sanborn gets crowd movin' without Paul Shaffer When thinking about jazz concerts, one usually thinks of a calm atmosphere where most peo- ple are stationary in their seats, silently listening or verbalizing nothing more than an "oh yeah" every once in a while. But saxo- phonist and composer David San- born has a reputation of being more than a jazz musician, and his concert at Hill Auditorium to a packed house was more than a serene jazz concert. There are many different kinds of jazz, and Sanborn incorporated rhythm & blues, some urban- contemporary strains, and, at times, a Latin-American rhythm. Although a regular on Late Night With David Letterman, the com- mercialism of television has not dulled Sanborn's ear or tamed his style. The music on Saturday was not simple pop music with a per- cussionist keeping the beat, a bass player emphasizing the harmony, and Sanborn carrying the melody. He utilized the other instruments to the fullest, often playing melody simultaneously, especially with keyboardist Ricky Peterson and bassist Tom Barney. Sonny Emory's performance on drums was exceptionally impres- sive, especially on the congos. When he was joined by Sanborn on the saxophone, the two sounds blended together so that it became ambiguous as who was playing melody and who was playing harmony. But it was the guitarist Hiram Bullock who really got the crowd moving. About midway through the concert, during his main solo, Bullock jumped off the stage and roamed the aisles, daringly playing on the edge of the first mezzanine, up and down the aisles, and straddled between two seats on the main floor before taking a backwards roll onto the stage again. After Bullock's perfor- mance, percussionist Dan Alias' tricks with his drumsticks were tame in comparison. But when Sanborn did take center stage, it was magical. There was only one slower song during the evening, purposely played early on so that the crowd left in an up mood. The song, which Sanborn hadn't named yet, seemed to last for hours, catapulting the imagination towards summer evenings in a New York cafe. Although he was tightening screws on the saxophone during the first half of the show and seemed flustered while talking to the audience - "I've been in the recording studio for three weeks... and I'm blowing so hard on this the screws are popping out" - Sanborn was definitely not flustered while he was playing. Although I was disappointed that there weren't more slower songs, it was obvious that Sanborn's intention was to get the audience moving. And he did. - Mary Beth Barber If you can't take the heat, get out of the Kitchen Mix together a neurotic college See WEEKEND, Page 7 by Greg Baise Helmet plays spastic metal filtered through your favorite albums in the Blast First catalog. Examine, for instance, Helmet's part-time resemblance to Big Black, minus Roland the Drum Machine and the moronic cartoonishness of Steve Albini. In Albini's place is Page Hamilton, once a member of the Band of Susans. Hamilton sings, plays guitar, and also writes the mu- sic for Helmet. His unobtrusive lyrics stand clear of interfering with any headbanging enjoyment on the part of the listener. In Roland's place put John Stanier, who steadily pounds out some levee-breaking Bonhomies. To Hamilton and Stanier, add bassist Henry Bogdan, who completes this band's integral rhythm section, and Peter Mengede, who doubles Helmet's guitar crunch. Grunge czar Tom Hazelmeyer re- leased Helmet's debut album Strap It On on his Amphetamine Reptile la- bel. "Repetition," the first song on the album, serves as a Helmet primer. It opens with a brief second or two of intense guitar scratching, followed by a few seconds of a bass and drums interlude before the frenzy of instrumental aggravation again ensues. Finally, the chaos settles into the headbanging start-stop groove that dominates the rest of the song. Of course, there are some obligatqry guitar solos from this band th are too cool, too powerful, and too dangerous to be on Head- bangers' Ball. Unconventionally, the guitar solo comes just before the end of the song, and it sounds like it was recorded by a microphone inside of an unplugged vacuum cleaner while the standard "Repetition" crunch con- tinues outside. Metal mayhem continues in the prime instrumental Sabbath-cum- Prongisms of "Blacktop," while the indie-grunge contingent can feel the satisfaction of idly dangling over the precipice of "Sinatra," perhaps while See HELMET. Page 7 I, Napoleon I, Napoleon Geffen Any band that is named for that little Corsican runt with an attitude problem (especially since the band leader/vocalist/keyboardist Steve Napoleon apparently re-named himself after Napoleon) and thanks the pathetic band Bang Tango along with Mozart in their liner notes and thinks it is playing heavy metal/hard rock cannot be very exciting. I, Napoleon should have stayed in their parents' basements. I don't understand why this album was released in 1991; most of the songs were written in '88 and '89 and sound like stan- dard commercial pop-metal fare. Steve Napoleon (please get a new name) tries desperately to sing like Jon Bon Jovi, to capture that growling-yet-feeling inflection. The band makes music that sounds like Poison and Motley Crue without the flashy guitars and moving-somewhere songs. At other points, most notably on songs like the power ballad "Don't Want to Sleep Alone" and the most metallic song on the album, "I am the Idiot," I, Napoleon sounds like a fair American version of the Scorpions. The major problem lies in the subject matter of the lyrics being sung over the blah power ballad to straight ballad tunes. There are too many stupid songs about love that re-hash feelings expressed more constructively ages ago, and these are the songs that lead off the album. They progressively become harder and harder, but five songs like this in a row is not the way to get people to want to listen to your album. The sixth song is the funniest of all. "Love I Hate" is actually not really a love song, but there is only one love song. But the token social-consciousness mostly it's because of the gem, "I song, featuring the most inane yet am the Idiot," featuring the line, insightful comment: "The church "Life's a bitch and I'm a whore." is so rich/ it's so damn ill/ It takes Lyrics about Napoleon aside - your money/ and says no pill." whether it's Bonaparte or Steve or The second half is slightly bet- both is never made clear - the ter than the first, in part because See RECORDS, Page 7 .ANN. AboRl&21 5TH AVE. AT LIBERTY 761-9700 ITIAIJ DAILY $2.75 SHOWS BEFORE 6 PM & ALL DAY TUESDAY* (*EXC 'TION Goodiellits GREEN CARD Th ri i hi s Inir, ad LndrtheMeiffva Bringi in this entire ad and receive one Do you think UAC/Viewpoint Lectures presents The Media's Coverage of doc ?e ale yout ')ecaust 2 d ,pANCE V " vWt nreeA oL es r our MSA is wasting YOUR MONEY or blowing a lot of hot air? Well don't just tell The Daily and your friends about it .. . Tell us. Call our complaint line and tell us what you think! 763-3241