ARTS
Monday, January 14, 1991
The Michigan Daily
Froml
Russia House
dir. Fred Schepisi
by Gregg Flaxman
n the Glasnost era, with the world
ying to adjust to the thaw in su-
perpower relations, the spy-game de-
volves into a mockery of itself. At
least, that's the way director Fred
Schepisi's Russia House sees it.
In John Le Carr6's best-selling
novel, now adapted for the screen,
,#ritish Intelligence, the KGB and the
IA are the organs that still vie for
supremacy in a body that finds them
Oimost atavistic. Perhaps that's why
Schepisi's newest film is so decep-
tively good: it's particularly aware
that all the stealth and mechanic
omniscience of the intelligence
tagencies are now somehow worth-
less in the human world.
- Of course, the film's protagonist,
Barley (Sean Connery), knows this
all along. A publisher whose life has
one to pot, Barley finds the collec-
Nive intrigue to be pretty inane.
From the point at which he's re-
criuited by British Intelligence, Bar-
ley - greying, British and just
enough of a nihilist to irk the intel-
ligence community to no end -
couldn't give a damn about the po-
tiential gains or losses of grand
Mother England.
Okay, the documents smuggled
*ut of Russia - their release appar-
ently inspired by Barley - are like
divine revelations to the CIA. They
seem to suggest that the Soviets
weapon arsenal is the nuclear equiva-
lent of Milton Bradley's Electronic
Battleship. And the British and
American forces are eager for Barley
to find out exactly how genuine and
accurate the material is. But Barley's
not captivated by the documents, but
ather by Katya (Michelle Pfeiffer),
Russia
the single mother who helped smug-
gle them out.
Connery's creased, aging face and
slovenly appearance speak of a typi-
cal Britsh cynicism; moments of
sensual rapture - playing his clar-
inet, half-drunken musings - reveal
as much a passion as a void. But
when Barley meets Katya he is re-
suscitated in a way that only a man
who pronounced his own death and
lived to recant it can be. He may be
working for British intelligence, but
he's living for himself. His trans-
formation culminates one night at
Katya's apartment when Barley, see-
ing Katya in the kitchen, confesses
in giddy disbelief his love for her.
She shrugs it off, but Connery is
enormously appealing because we
realize that the admission is as much
for him as for her.
Nevertheless, The Russia House
isn't so much about a burgeoning af-
fair as it is about human relations
through the overly-confident, spec-
tral eyes of the intelligence commu-
nity. Schepisi's film is especially
complicated at its beginning, as he
cuts between a number of scenes
past and present. But this isn't a
simple case of overwrought, overly-
complex filmmaking. Schepisi man-
ages to capture the intelligence
community's insistence on a me-
thodical reconstruction of events past
and the perverse desire to shape life
in the present. The director has
crafted a film that articulates the
human emotion that lies outside the
tunnel-vision of these dinosaurs that
call themselves secret services.
It might be justifiably said that
the film is plodding, but what The
Russia House lacks as a thriller it
compensates for in subtle deliberacy.
Le Carr6 refuses to rehash the
anachronistic espionage formula: the
cyclone of suspense and unexpected
twists are not to be found. The grand
with cynicism
Page 5
Just Kidding...
no, seriously
It was a weekend of buying
books, seeing friends and laughing
with Just Kidding. This originally
locally-based comedy troupe
performed Saturday night, bringing
to the Power Center their own brand
of sketch comedy. They successfully
blended intellectual humor together
with puns and physical slapstick.
For Just Kidding fans who had
seen previous shows, last night's
performance was a welcome change
- it was almost all new material.
Besides uproarious laughter, audience
reactions ranged from healthy groans
at the many puns to friendly hissing
at the sharp social commentary.
Two main themes surfaced in this
production of Just Kidding, religious
references and social commentary.
There were many biblical allusions,
such as "From Your Mic To God's
Ears," an entire piece devoted to God
doing talk radio. "I love your work.
I've read all your books," gushed one
caller. Another was "BSPN"
(Biblical Sports Programming
Network), with biblical figures
playing sports. "He makes the
conversion!" A crucifix was
incorporated into several sketches,
mocking the Sports Illustrated free
gift phone for subscribing to the
magazine. "Honey, you'll never
guess what I'm calling on! It's a
crucifix!" It also turned up as one of
Q's inventions for James Bond in
confession in "'Shaken, Not
Stirred."
Social issues were the second
theme in this winter's show. "A
Public Service Announcement" drew
the audience's attention to the
conflict of how to address females,
as women or as girls. The political
humor in "State of De-Union"'
satirized Congress; a Senator wished'
to amend the Constitution so that a
fireman has to save red, white and
blue thread from a fire, to avoid
killing an "unborn flag."
Just Kidding delicately took
controversial ideas and brought
humorous insightful comedy to the
stage. Some of the sketch material
that bordered on absurd did not gq
over well, and was more confusin&
than humorous. "Hedgehog Heaven,'
a dialogue between two parts of
speech, was funny, but the characters
exchanging clothes and dancing were
unrelated to the material to the point
of distraction. Overall, this
collection of twenty-two sketches
was performed smoothly and with,
professional ease, and although past
shows have been more consistent,,
Just Kidding has retained its funny.
edge.
-Diane Frieden
Now that the Cold War is over, what'
Keep on making spy movies, like The
played a Russian sub captain.
spy game that worked in covert fury
underneath the mundane world, the
duels that secretly decided the fate of
civilians and the free world- The
Russia House will have none of
these clichds.
In the midst of intrigue and en-
tropy, Connery and Pfeiffer enliven
the film in a way only two such ca-
pable actors could. Pfeiffer's Katya
- Russian accent unwavering - is
adorned with a wonderful caution
through which glimpses of trust and
affection glow. Connery's perfor-
s a guy like Sean Connery to do?
Hunt for Red October, in which he
mance is a subtle, marvelous turn.
Panoramic Russia never really re-
moves the focus from the couple.
The supporting cast is equally good,
with the possible exception of Roy
Scheider as a top man in the CIA.
His foul-mouthed, exasperated char-
acter never rings as true as he should
and seems entirely too blatant and
witless in comparison with his Bri-
tish equals.
THE RUSSIA HOUSE is being
shown at the Showcase.
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