Page 12
Daily Nebraskan
Thursday, April 29, 1982
Arts & Entertainment
Artists travel far,
deep, into visual
adventures of film
By David Thompson
"Any way you look at it, this is the way it is," says a
camera in one of James Broughton's films. In reply to
that, the sky answers, "Everything is a little bit different."
Broughton believes the sky, not the camera, and this
weekend he will be at the Sheldon Film Theater, along
with fellow filmmaker Joel Singer, to describe just how
different that view can be.
Their visit accompanies a retrospective of their films to
be shown at Sheldon, the final filmvideo showcase pre
sentation at the theater. Broughton and Singer do not
make conventional, 90-minute, storytelling films. Instead,
L- -
Movie Review
they make short creative exercises, 27 of which will be
shown in the retrospective. Stopping by Sheldon you can
obtain a schedule of the films, a map of Broughton and
Singer's kaleidoscopic world.
A step into this world yields a variety of forms. The
world is wide because Broughton has been around for a
while. He was a member of the Art in Cinema group at the
San Francisco Museum in the late '40s, and he made his
first film, Mother's Day, in 1948. The retrospective will
include films Broughton has made throughout his career
as well as Singer's solo efforts and films the two have
collaborated on.
It is interesting to note the differences in the styles of
the two filmmakers and to observe the results of a com
bination of those styles. Broughton's films are often
whimsical examinations of people while Singer's arc
cinematic experiments.
In Broughton's 1968 film The Bed, for example, the
character in the title role wanders down a hillside, coming
UNL Orchestra,
Chorus to give
concert Sunday
The University Orchestra of the UNL School of
Music, directed by Robert Emile,and the UNL Ora
torio Chorus, directed by Ed Bruner, will present
Haydn's "The Creation" and other works during a
free 3 pjn. concert Sunday in Kimball Recital Hall.
Performing with the University Orchestra and
Oratorio Chorus will be soloists Lila Olson, soprano;
Scott Miller, tenor, and Charles Austin, bass, all
graduate music students.
"The Creation," which will be sung in English,
tells the traditional story of the creation found in
Genesis. Haydn considered the music one of his
finest works and its first performance was one of
the most successful concerts in the history of Vi
enna. In addition, the University Orchestra will per
form Telemann's "Concerto in D for Trumpet,
Strings and Continuo," with senior Tim Andersen
as trumpet soloist.
Also on the program will be Poulenc's "Concerto
in G Minor for Organ, Strings and Timpani," with
graduate music student Pat Murphy as organ soloist.
The Nebraska Choral Arts Society will present
a concert of choral music by Johannes Brahms,
Randall Thompson, and Tom Johnson, Saturday at
8 p jti. at UNO Performing Arts Center, and Sunday
at 8 pjn. at Plymouth Congregational Church,
20th and D streets, Lincoln. This is the last concert
of the 1981-82 season and will include "Peaceable
Kingdom" by Randall Thompson and "Fest und
Gedenkspruche" by Johannes Brahms. The final
work, "The Four-Note Opera" by Tom Johnson,
is a comic look at opera and opera singers. Soloists
for the "Four-Note Opera" are Mary Gundlach, so
prano; Dianne Jones, alto; Rick Miser, tenor, and
Chris Bradt, bass.
Tickets are available through Brandeis ticket
outlets and the Nebraska Choral Arts Society,
5312 Underwood Avenue. Omaha, or hv callina
402-558-2330. In Lincoln tickets are akn avaihhlp
throueh Dietze Music. Dirt Cheat) Records and
Hospe Music stores. Special rates are available
for groups of 10 or more.
Nebraska Choral Arts bociety is directed by Tho
mas A. Brantigan.
Photo courtesy of Sheldon Film Theater
James Broughton and Joel Singer will discuss their films after they are shown tonight through Sunday at the
Sheldon Film Theater.
to rest in a wooded area. Then Broughton proceeds to
show us just how big a role beds play in our lives. We sleep
in them, we have sex in them, we are conceived in them,
we play in them, we pray in them, just to name a few of
the amusing things that go on in this forested four-poster.
Singer's films are strikingly different. He focuses not
on the action going on in front of the camera, but on the
action of the camera itself. While Broughton usually
narrates his films with his poetry, Singer's films are silent
aesthetic examinations.
In Glyphs and Fractive Clusters, for example, images of
nature are caught in Singer's eye. He shifts focus,
exposure and the position of the camera, presenting
images in rapid succession. Fish in pools, the shadows of
clouds sliding over hills, the movement of water and the
light that plays upon it. All are woven into a montage of
shifting forms.
A meeting of the styles yields interesting results, as in
their 1977 film Windowmobile. The film was made in the
mobile home where Broughton and Singer live. They
filmed it by placing the camera in various positions in
front of windows, arbitrarily filming bits and pieces of
life that went on outside as well as reflections of life on
the inside.
Perhaps the most beautiful of all of Broughton and
Singer's excursions into the realm of sight are their ex
plorations of the human body. In films such as Erogeny
and Song of the Godbody, the shape of the human form is
shown in shifting crescents and the texture of the body is
traced. Prairies of skin and forests of hair are traversed. To
the words of Broughton's poetry the camera moves over
the shapes that are us. "We are hemispheres ebbing and
flowing, we are continents meeting, discover my oases,
explore me," he says. While these explorations may not
excite the viewer who expects traditional films, for those
who look they yield visual adventures.
Mr. Wizard supports civil rights law
TOMMY: Say, Mr. Wizard!
MR. WIZARD: Hi, Tommy.
TOMMY: Last week I got so wound up in your ex
ample of what happens when you use statistics alone to
determine family relationships, that I forgot to ask you
how you do solve the issue of legislating rights for homo
sexuals. Now, I understand what you're saying about statistics
but how do you figure it out? Hunh? Hunh? How do ya?
Hunh, Mr. Wizard!?
MR. WIZARD: Gosh you jump around a lot for such
a hot day! Can't you learn to ask a question and keep
Chuck Jagoda
both feet on the ground at the same time?
Humph! I'll answer your question but you have to
phrase it. Exactly what question do you want me to
answer?
TOMMY: What kinds of laws should we have about
homosexuals? Are you in favor of the amendment to
promote civil rights for homosexuals?
MR. WIZARD: There are two ways you can look at
this. First of all, you can try to use the law to eliminate
homosexuality. On the other hand you can try to use the
law to guarantee rights for homosexuals.
The first approach is hopeless.
TOMMY: Why do you say that? If you outlaw certain
people or certain behavior won't that eliminate it?
MR. WIZARD: No way. You can't legislate away peo
ple with one type of affections any more than you can
legislate away those affections.
TOMMY: But down through the ages there have been
laws against people's vices.
MR. WIZARD: About other people's vices. The laws
liave always been passed by one group of people against
the behaviors of another group - which the first group
considers vices. And those laws have always been dis
obeyed.
Changing human nature through the law isn't very
efficient. And then if you try to enforce the laws against
non-traditional sex and gambling and the like - that be
comes a colossal waste of time and money. Not to
mention the disregard of the civil rights of homosexuals
and others as well.
TOMMY: Wait a minute. How did the civil rights of
others get mixed up in this?
MR. WIZARD: Well, on the specific level, how do you
think the police enforce such laws? They use wire taps,
informants, bugging and spying techniques. Let's face it,
they're investigating people's most private behavior. To do
that they have to be sneaky and they're going to end up
spying on at least some people who are not homosexual.
TOMMY: And where does the waste come in?
MR. WIZARD: Well, that kind of investigative work
requires a tremendous amount of time and money. And it
just doesn't accomplish anything. There have been practic
ing homosexuals back as far as the Old Testament and the
ancient Greeks. People like Hitler have even tried to
eliminate them in extermination camps and that didn't
work. You think some laws are going to do it? Not only
that, the laws not only don't eliminate it, they drive it
underground and cause more of the frustration that leads
to violence and criminal behavior. If homosexuals do
commit a larger share of violent crimes it's probably be
cause of all the frustration they feel in a world where they
feel they have no rights. 3
TOMMY: So I guess you're in favor of the amend
ment? In order to guarantee the civil rights of homosex-
MR. WIZARD: And of all the rest of us. Tommy we
bTo rR Tll makC SUre ?Veryone has as rnuch of the
BUI of Rights as everyone else. If one group can deny the
nghts of another group it's not much more trSe to
deny the rights of other groups and other groups ; unS
your own group has its rights denied. V P
tJ 1M,Y: Even, the Ti&ts of Naz and people who are
trying to deny rights to homosexuals?
tSSB8sues