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(11/26/02 4:28am)
The Japanese movie "Ugetsu" played as the second to last installment of this semester's City Lights film series. The series screens films free to the public 7 p.m. every Friday in Ballantine Hall, Room 013. \nBased on two stories by Akinara Ueda, this landmark film centers on the lives of two peasants in war-torn, 16th century Japan. Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, "Ugetsu" (1953) stands as a classic of Japanese cinema, and is a must see for fans of foreign or classic cinema. \nThe two male characters suffer from the follies of ambition. Tobei (Sakae Ozawa) is a bumbling fool who dreams of becoming a great samurai warrior. At first his ambitions are merely comic. After the successful sale of wares in a neighboring city, he begs a powerful samurai clan for admittance, prostrating himself on his knees, donned in peasant clothes. His rejection only spurns him on. \nWhile more balanced and disciplined, Genjuro (Machiko Kyo) falls under the spell of the lovely Lady Kuwasa, who mysteriously appears in the town while he is selling his hand-crafted pottery. Neglecting his wife and child, he sets off in pursuit of fortune, getting tangled up in the supernatural on the way. \nNothing good can come of this. Genjuro's child actually seems more dead than alive after Genjuro leaves. Usually he's cradled in his mother's arms, and he never speaks. And Tobei's wife ends up in a saddening fight for survival. \nHaunting images and (at the time) innovative camera work are speckled throughout the picture. Director Mizoguchi even managed to make a shot of two sandals stuck in a muddy riverbank strangely moving. \nThe horror and chaos of feudal Japan is depicted through the restrained dignity of the characters, rather than an appeal to flashy battles. Excellent performances were given all around. Especially from the bereaved wife of Genjuro (Masayuki Mori). The actors maintained a controlled style that showed the stark world around them, and was still human enough to convey genuine hope, and compassion. \nOn Friday, Dec. 6, the City Lights series concludes the semester with a special double feature of Howard Hawks movies. At 7 p.m. "To Have and Have Not" plays, starring Lauren Bacall (her debut) and Humphrey Bogart. Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway. At 9 p.m. you can see "The Big Sleep", based on the novel by Raymond Chandler, and again starring Bogart and Bacall.
(11/13/02 3:51am)
Buster Keaton was a creative giant of the silent film era. His subtle, dead-pan humor ranks with the best of comedy. A single twitch of his eye says a thousand words. \nLast Friday you could see Keaton in one of his best films, "The Cameraman" (1928), which played as part of the City Lights Film Series. The series plays classic movies every Friday at 7 p.m. in Ballantine Hall, room 013. All viewings are free to the public. \nKeaton plays a sidewalk New York photographer making a grim living taking "tintype" pictures of passersby for dimes. He runs into the beautiful Sally (Marceline Day) in a crowded parade. He instantly falls in love, offers to take her picture, and tails her like a young puppy to her workplace. Sally works as a secretary in a newsreel office, and Keaton throws himself into the business in an attempt to win her affections. He buys a beat-up movie camera and takes off to the streets of New York in search of stories. \nUnfortunately, he's a bumbling fool, but at least he's a loveable fool (that's the best kind). In one sequence he heads off to the Yankee's stadium when the team is playing in St. Louis. Not wanting to waste the day, he decides to play out a whole game by himself, pretending to be all the players. \nHe does end up winning a date, but everything typically goes wrong. And Keaton spends the remainder of the film hilariously trying to redeem himself. He gains a monkey for a sidekick, films a crazed gunfight in Chinatown and still manages to save the day. \nLike Chaplin, Keaton is a classic charming but poor and none-too-bright hero. But his is a controlled humor. He expresses his characters more through patience and silence than through excessive action. \nThis is the last film Keaton had total creative control over. And it's a testament to his greatness. If you enjoy classic movies, or even romantic comedies, consider watching "The Cameraman"
(11/07/02 5:43am)
Before he broke box office records and wowed audiences with "E.T." and "Jurassic Park," Steven Spielberg started out like almost all other directors: cheap and simple. \nLast Friday at 7 p.m., the City Lights film series showed Spielberg's first film "Duel" (1971) as part of its weekly screening of classic films in 16mm. The series runs every Friday in Ballantine auditorium and is free and open to the public.\nDennis Weaver plays salesman David Mann, a regular guy attempting to drive on the highways of '70s California to keep a work appointment. Suddenly his life is thrown into chaos when a psychopathic truck driver passes Mann in his giant rig and then slows down to a snail's pace. \nBut every time Mann passes the guy, he's immediately overtaken again, and soon it becomes clear that the driver will stop at nothing until Mann has been run off the road in a twisted game of cat and mouse.\nThough originally made for TV, the movie was so successful that in 1973 it had a limited screening in Europe, garnering much critical praise.\nIn many ways, "Duel" is nothing like Spielberg's later blockbusters, like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" or "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial." It's a low-budget thriller with no glitzy special effects or saccharin endings. The tense, fast-paced drama shows signs of his budding talent. This energy is evident four years later, when he exploded onto the movie world with his first hit, "Jaws" (1975), another Spielberg classic.\nThis is a remarkable debut for a 24-year-old director, whose previous work was limited to various TV episodes. The audience is immediately wrapped up in Mann's fight for survival. The barren roads of California become a frightening wilderness, and one gets a clear sense of the hopelessness of Weaver's position. What do you do when a madman decides to run you off the road? \nAll you see of the truck driver is his creepy, waving arm and a pair of brown leather boots. His nameless character is developed solely from his behavior while driving, an extremely difficult task. But Spielberg pulls it off nicely. What first appears to be a not too rare case of road rage suddenly becomes a deranged, modern-day duel. \nBy the time our hero decides he's not just being paranoid, there's no one in sight to call for help (remember, there were no cell phones back then). And, as a side note, this is one of those rare movies that actually makes believable use of an inner monologue -- the only thing Weaver has to console himself with.
(11/04/02 4:51am)
Yes, there are Italian horror films. There are even good ones. \nOn Halloween, the biweekly Italian Cinema series continued with "Suspiria," a cult classic which somehow combines creative gore with genuine art film qualities. The film series plays every Thursday evening at 7 p.m. in Ballantine Hall, room 330. \nJessica Harper stars as Susy Banyon, a young American ballerina who enrolls in a famous dance academy in Germany. Almost as soon as she steps off the plane she becomes tangled in a conspiracy of bizarre murders and disappearances. Susy slowly discovers the academy itself is steeped in evil -- even witchcraft! \nSo the plot's, well … not too original. And if you're looking for a horror flick devoid of clichés, "Suspiria" probably isn't for you. There's even a brutish butler from Romania, and the head dance instructress is one of those stereotypical, authoritative Fraus who are always shouting commands and being generally heartless. \nAlthough most of the 30-odd member audience found much of the gore more amusing than frightening (I laughed too, at times), "Suspiria" is generally considered one of the best horror films ever made, and it's one of my personal favorites. Admittedly, it's difficult to scare a twenty-first century audience with a 1977 picture that didn't have the financing of Hollywood. And besides, although most people today don't find "Psycho" that unsettling (or the remake, thank goodness), many viewers still appreciate and enjoy it, regardless of the fear factor. \nLoosely based on essays by Thomas de Quincey, "Suspiria" is the first part of a planned trilogy, but, sadly, the third installment was never filmed. Director Dario Argento filled almost every scene with lush visuals and unforgettable images. Everything about the picture is excessive, from the graphic murders -- the very first death involves the stabbing of an exposed and beating heart -- to the open, gothic sets. \nBut what really sets "Suspiria" apart from other horror films is how purposefully incomplete the story feels. One young student dies and is never again mentioned, the creepy supernatural powers are never fully explained, and some disturbing scenes don't have anything to do with the plot; they just stick out like weird moments in a nightmare. \nIf you like horror and you haven't seen "Suspiria," consider renting it. Also try "Inferno," the equally off-beat sequel.
(10/22/02 6:39am)
We all know the scene: late 60's, disillusioned youth, free love; these themes have become well-established cultural icons of yesteryear. There are so many examples of movies which cover this subject matter that there's almost a '60s genre. \nBut "Zabriskie Point" (1969) did a nice job of staying away from heavily explored territory and focused more on the psychology and atmosphere of the time, without bogging the viewer down with moralizing ideas or one-sided characters. \nAt 7 p.m. last Thursday, the French and Italian Department's Italian Cinema series played the film, which was the work of director and co-writer Michelangelo Antonioni. The picture starred Mark Frechette, Daria Halprin and Rod Taylor. This semester the biweekly series showcases the work of master Italian directors, works that were filmed in the United States and spoken in English. \n"Zabriskie Point" is a relatively unknown movie by the great Antonioni. This was only his second venture into the English language, and it had the big-budget backing of Hollywood. The film was not a critical or commercial success, partly because of its weak structure. It's also clear that the director hadn't quite mastered the rhythms and details of English. The characters often spoke flatly and unnaturally, and the long pauses in dialogue which could have been reflective more often than not ended up sour. \nFrechette plays a rebellious youth suspected of shooting a police officer during a Berkeley riot. He flees by steeling a plane and then flies over Death Valley, where he chances over Halprin driving on the highway. They spend the day at Zabriskie Point, one of the lowest places in Death Valley, have a brief but passionate romance, and then part before evening. Then they both return to the world. \nThe simplicity of the plot doesn't limit the film's intensity. The in-between moments of the scenes are often the most memorable, and the substance of the film comes more from details and images rather than from themes or ideas. In one haunting scene, Halprin chases a group of outcast children through the desert, and then passes a boy who plucks on the strings of a broken piano. \nMost interesting was a long, dreamlike scene of a house blowing up in slow motion. \nI know; it sounds lame. But all the items of the house, even a loaf of "Wonderbread," performed a beautiful and explosive ballet of motion. And it clearly highlighted the frustration the youth felt with the world in the '60s -- where human warmth had to be searched for far away from the competitive confines of the modern world.
(10/16/02 5:11am)
Anna Edey, activist, lecturer and author of a book titled "Solviva: How to Grow $500,000 on one Acre and Peace on Earth," spoke at the Collins Living Learning Center last weekend. Friday night she presented the contents of her book, and she gave lectures on self-sustainable living Saturday and Sunday. \nIn her presentation Friday, Edey explained simple, cost-effective means for maintaining self-sustainable, ecologically friendly living environments. \nEdey's own discoveries began in 1976 on Martha's Vineyard, where she still resides. After working as a successful craftswoman, she became increasingly unhappy with the irresponsibility she said she believes our society holds when generating power, food, transportation and other such environmental issues. \nShe first experimented with her backyard garden, discovering that human urine was a marvelous fertilizer because of the high nitrogen content. Soon Edey had discovered natural ways to heat her water, manage her waste and generate heat and energy. Her house runs on solar panels and uses natural ventilation for cooling. An alternative to a septic tank was an insulated box with compost and earthworms. \nGreenhouses were built and maintained, using only the body heat of chickens and rabbits, an occasional heated tank of water and solar energy. \n"Living this way creates up to a 90 percent reduction of waste, sometimes more," Edey said. \nHer presentation displayed the results of a 20-year history of success. Little upkeep is needed, and the result is a number of self-sustainable, ecological environments. \n"What she's doing is very important, because it's creative and new and it opens up people's minds," said junior John Whitman, who had brunch with Edey Sunday. \nOn a single acre of land she was able to generate more than a year's worth of food, without the use of pesticides. Pictures of her house revealed a microcosm of a natural ecological system, with large vegetables growing year round and dangling from the rafters of rooms open to sunlight. Even the bathroom looked as though it came right from a Massachusetts forest. \n"Miss Edey combines a practical wisdom with the boldness to do what that wisdom needs to be accomplished," said graduate student Chris Donovan. "Her genius is not in her theories, but in her willingness to take the action which those theories require." \nAlthough she had no formal training in the subjects she has worked in, Edey contends this fact has served far more good than might \nbe thought. \n"My mind was never cluttered with this or that being impossible," Edey said. \nHer innovative methods have garnered her much praise, including recognition from the United Nations, lectures around the world and appearances in magazines, newspapers and on National Public Radio. She said her hope is that her methods can be brought to the public, which she illustrated with hand-drawn pictures of possible schools, restaurants and even cities. \n"This isn't impossible or difficult," Edey said. "Nothing new has to be invented." \nEdey said business is the biggest deterrent to these dreams becoming realities. The status quo essentially cripples healthier alternatives to present lifestyles from being implemented on a large scale. \nThere was urgency in her voice when she spoke about the immediate future, as most of the resources we rely on, such as oil, are quickly being used up. \n"This isn't about our planet dying," Edey said. "Our planet will not die. This is about saving ourselves." \nFor more information on Anna Edey and her work, visit www.solviva.com.