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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 1991)
contents 201 Live Oak College Station, TX 77840 Behind La Quinta 696-3411 cover story Black History Month A celebration of heritage with a look at the kick-off event “Your Role in the Dream” and students focusing on the benefits of events to be held during the month. 6 features A farmer’s daughter: A profile of Sunny Nash, a local writer and photographer. 3 Foxworth fights the image of blacks portrayed in the me dia 9 reviews Jack Kerouac Collection preserves classic recordings. 4 film “Green Card” may be French actor’s pass to success in the United States. 11 “Silence of the Lambs” thrills with psychotic psychia trist. 11 live music Dream Horse and others performed at Coffeehouse at AnNam Tea House. 3 Band With No Sleep wakes fans up at Kay’s Cabaret 3 around town 12 LIFE ^ mifliiln* editor Kristin North associate editor Cindy McMillian art director Phelan M. Ebenhack feature writers Yvonne Salce Terri Welch reviewers John Mabry Rob Newberry Julia Spencer contributing writers Donna Banse Kathy Cox Pamela Lee Kevin Robinson Lisa Young Life Style is a weekly publication of The Texas A&M Battalion. The publisher and edi tors are not responsible for unsolicited material. For advertising information please call (409) 845-2696. For editorial information please call (409) 845-3313. Cover Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack Mr. and Mrs. Carnell Nealy Sr. from Texas City pose in front of the E. Martin Luther King street Church of Christ where Mr. Nealy is a minister. page 2 February 7,1991 to mainstream moviegoers By Julia Spencer ment furnished with exotic plants and only the props they have in the apart- a splendid greenhouse. The only ment. problem is that U.S. Immigration Serv- In many ways this is a delightful ices is clamping down on this sort of movie, a diverting foray into the high- in-name-only marriage. They are concept land of what-if? In the last 15 sending a couple of delegates to minutes, however, the audience is check and see if it is truly a bona fide asked to believe in the sudden blos- relationship. soming of love between two people Thus, Georges and Bront, as differ- who up to this point have not been ter- ent and as intolerant of each other’s ribly loving or lovable, habits as Oscar and Felix, must some- Andie MacDowell’s character espe- Green Card starring: G6rard Depardieu, Andie MacDowell now showing at Schulman Six rated PG-13 Although burly French actor Gerard Depardieu is already well-known to American foreign film devotees through his masterful portrayals of characters such as Martin Guerre, Jean de Florette and most recently, Cyrano de Bergerac, Green Card marks his Hollywood debut. Especially created for him by direc tor Peter Weir ("Dead Poets Society”), the film is a showcase for the actor's considerable charisma and rough- hewn charm, but the ferocious inten sity which has made his French films so powerful is largely held in check here. Only a very few scenes allow him to let loose and dazzle us with his ability to careen from the forceful to the tender, from the sweeping to the precise and to enthrall us with his command of the French language. Green Card’s catchy plotline, which is sketched out on the movie posters, goes something like this: boy marries girl, boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love. Huh? Well, it's like this. Georges Faure (Depardieu), a disheveled French composer, wants a green card so he can stay in New York. Bront Par rish (Andie MacDowell), a genteel horticulturalist, wants a greenhouse so she can garden to her heart’s con tent. So, a mutual friend arranges the de tails, they marry one afternoon; and af ter the ceremony, eagerly go their separate ways. Georges’ immediate resident status gives him his all-im portant green card, and Bront’s mar ried status nets her a beautiful apart- how get to know each other well enough, and get along convincingly enough to survive close scrutiny and a barrage of detailed questions to per suade the officers that they are indeed a happily married couple. This process is the basis for some hilarious and touching situation com edy, as the two try to become accus tomed to living with their opposite. In my favorite scene, Georges unnerves the guests at a fancy dinner party with his percussive piano playing, and then surprises them again with an un expectedly tender and poetic selec tion. Here, Depardieu is in his el ement, and he displays all the strength and vulnerability of his formi dable talent. Another funny sequence occurs when the two attempt to create a photo album of vacations and special occasions in a single afternoon, using dally, while beautiful and believably portrayed, comes off as being overly frigid and uptight, and Georges’ “French-ness” and artistic skill, while fairly captivating, do not entirely coun terbalance his obstinacy and careless habits. In one sense these shortcom ings are refreshingly real, and take off some of the Hollywood gloss which spoils many a cinematic romance; it’s always nice to know you don't have to look like Tom Cruise to get a girl like McDowell. I also realize that opposites do frequently attract, but here it seems a bit more iike perversity than affec tion; the movie doesn’t last long enough for the characters' motives to really jell. In any event, it's a lot of fun, and there are some wonderful supporting players, inclt ling a tiny, inquisitive old neighbor woman and a worldly friend of Bront’s, pertly played by !?n tov ?Ph erth ' ? e,ter known a s Lilith on TVs Cheers. iwimy i iwi l^cjjcuuiyu s greatest role since he is essentially playing himself If you want to see him at his best, run don’t walk to see him quip and swash buckle as the ultimate Cyrano de Ber gerac, now playing at the Greenwa^ III in Houston, or rent one of his man^ films out on video. A Golden Globe for Best Picture is similarly misplaced: this movie is pre tty good and frequently amusing, but to be really good, it should have made up its mind what kind of movie to be and where to focus. It is not entirely original, either; the plot is strikingly similar to that of "Come Live With Me,” a charming ’40s classic starring Jimmy Stewart, with Hedy Lamarr sim ilarly playing herself as a Viennese ref ugee. The bittersweet conclusion to “Green Card" is appropriate and very French, but may prove something of a surprise to Americans seeking purely escapist entertainment. For those wanting to know more about the great Depardieu without reading subtitles, this is the perfect introduction. ‘Silence of Lambs’ thrills with psychotic psychiatrist In Jonathan Demme's psychological thriller “Silence of the Lambs," based on the novel of the same name, veteran British actor Anthony Hop kins creates what may well be one of the most memorable madmen in recent cinema history. Hopkins is Dr. Hannibal (Hannibal the Canni bal) Lecter, a psychiatrist with a passion for Dvo rak— and devouring his patients. Hopkins, with a true Truman Capote-like wit and style, latches onto the dichotomy with per fectly nasty ease. Although his psyche is masked by an intensely cool and charming outer shell, audiences will never once forget that it houses the innards of a bloodthirsty demon who de scribes eating a census taker’s liver “with some fava beans and a nice chianti." Hopkins is, in the course of two hours, terrify ing, abhorrent, elegant and funny; and so be comes the hero of the film — the killer you hate to love. Lecter’s perfect alter-ego is F.B.I. intern Clar ice Starling (Jodie Foster), who has been re cruited to visit Lecter in his high-security cell to solicit his understandably expert advice on a se rial-killer case. Starling, unlike Lecter, is undeniably honest, grounded in reality. Although Hopkins is behind bars (or glass, rather), she is putty in his brilliantly manipulative hands. Not surprisingly, Foster once again shows she By John Mabry is one of America’s best straight actresses. Like Hopkins, Foster shows herself capable of playing a psychologically complex, real person, as she did for her Oscar-winning role in 1988’s "The Ac cused.” Foster, newly dark-haired for the part, manages to simultaneously play the reserved, immutable exterior and the vulnerable, weak little girl "with second-hand shoes” that she attempts to cloak. Her description of a traumatic childhood experience, a sexual turn-on for Hopkins, is es pecially poignant. Together they manage to create a most un usual and surprisingly touching psychological love affair in their wonderfully intense scenes to gether. During one of their cat-and-mouse sessions, Starling discovers that Lecter not only under stands the killer (dubbed “Buffalo Bill" for his pen chant for skinning his female victims), but he knows him. With this startling information, Foster and the F.B.I. hound the elusive Hopkins for more infor mation — all the while Buffalo Bill, a.k.a. Jame Gumb, has struck again. This time he has kidnapped a senator's daughter and is going through the ritual of starv ing his size-14 victim to loosen her skin for his rather irregular taste in boots and clothing. While Hopkins is a coiled spring, Gumb, played by Ted Levine, is a tormented wildcat. His performance is highly sexual and uncontrollable, and although he is nowhere near as menacing as Dr. Lecter, he adds a physical perversity that keeps the film from being all mindgames. Up until the film’s brilliantly macabre one-liner finale, “Silence of the Lambs” is a highly engag ing, sometimes horrifying, puzzle-piece thriller that keeps a discrete balance between the mental and the monstrous. Most of the film operates at high voltage, with Demme giving the audiences a few rest stops in between. The suspense is enhanced by his use of several mind-teasing cutting effects that keep you hopelessly drifting between suspense and relief. “Silence of the Lambs” also is, not surprisingly, violent. In a movie dealing with this subject mat ter, blood and guts are unavoidable. Demme does, however, keep most of the ketchup bottles in the refrigerator. Keep in mind that the real fear Demme tries to create, in true Hitchcock fashion, is what is inside your imagination. Lots of animal imagery, stark visual contrasts and harsh lighting enhance the film’s haunting subject matter and prove Demme to be a director with an eye for theme and detail. Should film-goers decide to devour "Lambs,” they will surely walk away on a full stomach. page 11 Life Style magazine x: i film