Album goes through motions, fails to inspire
By Matt Burton
Senior Reporter
Scott Merrit
“Violet and Black’’
I.R.S.
When most people think of Cana
dian music, images of Triumph and
Bryan Adams plague their brains.
Now a new Canadian artist is trying
to make his mark on the international
music scene.
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Scott Merrit, after apparently be
coming a fixture in the Great White
North market for over a decade, has
released his I.R.S. debut, ‘ ‘Violet and
Black.”
‘‘Violet and Black” is an album
inspired by Merrit’s hometown of
Brantford, Ontario. Merrit’s songs
could be considered folk-rockish and
very mainstream. Merrit continually
goes through the folk-rock motions,
failing to inspire any strong feelings
at all.
The songs on ‘‘Violet and Black”
could be rendered meaningful to
someone, but the similarities between
each song become tedious to listen to
as the album drags on.
Merrit’s lyrics fall short of crea
tive intelligence. As Merrit puts his
small town experiences to music, lis
teners can’t help but ask “so what?”
“Violet and Black” takes no
chances. Merrit tries to be very emo
tional, and as a result, takes himself
way too seriously.
Merrit’s voice strongly resembles
Jackson Browne’s voice; the sound
makes comparisons even more bla
tant.
For instance, the album opens with
“Burning Train,” with an abstract,
melodic and slightly spiritual New
Age mood.
One of the Brantford experiences
that Merrit addresses is the local flood
ing of the Grand River Valley with
“Are You Sending,” arguably the
most inspirational song on “Violet
and Black.” The instrumentation is
similar to the rest of the album, but
creates a much stronger, thoughtfully
tighter feel.
Again Merrit takes himself too
seriously, on “Sweet Accident” when
he continually sings “I am the one.”
Good for you, Scott
With all of the songs sounding
much the same, listeners who like one
tune probably will like the whole
album.
Acoustic guitars augmented by
slight chordal electric guitars embel
lished with modem synthesizers cre
ate a ’90s sound — and it’s all made
complete with Merrit’s precocious
lyrics.
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Sheldon film plot is difficult to understand,
contains bizarre and unimaginative storyline
By John Payne
I Staff Reporter
Words like “quirky” or “off-beat”
simply do not begin to describe a
movie like Fernando Birri’s “A Very
Old Man With Enormous Wings,”
which is as bizarre a film as viewers
likely are to see. It brings to mind that
old adage about ‘‘art for art’s sake,”
and while it may be art, it is more
often an exercise in pointless filmmak
ing.
Based on the story by Gabriel
Garcia Marquez, the fable opens in a
small Colombian village, as a village
peasant named Pelayo (Asdrubal
Melendez) discovers a strange crea
ture washed up on the shore during a
movie*
—- i ;viEw i—
typhoon. Mystified, he and his wife
Elisenda (Daisy Granados) soon real
ize that the thing actually is a very old
man with enormous wings (Birri).
The only thing that Pelayo has
ever seen with while feathers are
chickens, and so he puts the old man
in his chicken coop. The couple tries
to communicate with the old man, but
he docsn ’ t speak. Nor does he seem to
mind being kept in a chicken coop,
and when word of the bird/man spreads,
the locals start to come around to take
a gander at the being.
Many believe thattheold man is in
fact an angel, and soon Pelayo and
Elisenda begin charging admission to
what is at this point an all-out freak
show. Blind men, crippled children,
lepers, they all come to pray to the
“angel” in hopes of a cure for their
ailments.
The premise certainly is original,
and interesting enough, but the prob
lem with “A Very Old Man” is that it
goes in 100 different directions. The
only thing more difficult than figur
ing exactly what is going on in the
movie is figuring out why anyone
should care.
Things get further muddled when
a traveling carnival arrives in the vil
lage, setting up a rivalry between
their main attraction “The Spider
Woman” and Pelayo’s “Angel.”
The point that Birri and Marquez
arc trying to make is clear enough: If
a heavenly being was to descend to
earth, it would have a relatively insig
nificant effect on the world.
But the plot simply is too outland
ish to successfully convey that point,
or make anyone care. Birri’s direc
tion is often unimaginative and usu
ally annoying. His attempts at experi
mental sequencing and shot selection
are just too artsy for the movie’s own
good.
“A Very Old Man With Enormous
Wings” plays as part of the five-part
film series entitled “Dangerous
Loves,” which is playing at the Shel
don Film Theater this weekend.
Screening times arc at 9 p.m.
Thursday and Friday, with two screen
ing times at 3 and 9 p.m. Saturday.
October
Continued from Page 9
a man that only wants to live in the
wilds of Montana, and Arana, as the
evil Loganov, is the Soviet cook who’ll
be damned if he is going to let anyone
on the Red October defect.
Putting in commendable perform
ances as well are Courtney B. Vance
as Seaman Ronald Jones of the U.S.
Navy, Scott Glenn as Capl. Bart
Mancusoof the U.S. Navy and James
Earl Jones as Admiral James Greer,
the CIA Director of Naval Intelli
gence.
The film was produced with the
full cooperation of the U.S. Navy,
which helped out on an earlier top
grossing Paramount film, “Top Gun.”
Sales of Clancy’s book have now
lopped 6 million copies. It remained
on the U.S. best-seller list for more
than 100 weeks. It remains an inter
national best-seller.
When Tom Clancy wrote ‘‘The
Hunt for Red October,” many top
U.S. Navy officials believed he had
somehow gained access to classified
materials. The book was that accu
rate.
The movie is just as accurate, just
as compelling, and that is a tribute to
the cast and crew that helped put it
together.
“The Hunt for Red October” is
playing at the Plaza 4 Theatre, 12th
and P streets, and at the Edgewood 3
Theatre, 56th St. and Highway 2.
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Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) stalks a KGB agent in the nuclear submarine Red October.
