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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 9, 1993)
ARTS®ENTERTAINMENT isSfe Different lifestyles add insight to writer’s short stories, novels By Marie Baldridge Senior Editor In Okemos, Michigan, near East Lansing, lives a writer by the name of Lev Raphael. His short stories have appeared in anthologies and in 1990 he collected some of them in a book: “Dancing on Tishah b’Av.” Tishah b’Av is the ninth day of the month of Av and a minor fast day in Jewish observance. It commemorates the destruction of Solomon ’ s Temple: not a day for dancing. But Lev Raphael is no stranger to paradox; he is both a religious Jew and an “out” homosexual. Being gay and Jewish offers him, one might suspect, a different view point — as a writer at least. “I do find that lots of lesbian and gay Jews are in the closet," he said in a recent phone interview. “They may fear losing positions or relationships,” if they came out, he said. “In some cases they may be right.” But any persecution he has suf fered from other Jews for his sexual preference must live under the shadow, in his own mind, of a much greater persecution: His parents survived the Holocaust. “For me to understand what it meant to be Jewish,” he said, “I first had to come to terms with what it meant to be a child of Holocaust survivors.” His novel “Winter Eyes” (pub lished late in 1992 and already in a second printing) deals with a young man whose Jewish survivor parents have raised him as a Catholic; the Holocaust a ncver-to-be-discovercd secret, a skeleton in the family closet. The novel look him 12 years to write. On the transition from short story to novel writing, he said: “A short story is like having a really charming weekend guest. A novel is like having a relative move in wiui yuu. And he commcnicd on the diffi culty of giving such a long piece structural unity. “I forget things that arc in the novel. Novels arc a lot more danger ous,” he said. But his most recent novel, a yet to Tired plot in 2nd try isn’t ‘Best’ ‘Best of the Best 2’ a,c v< If you saw “Best of the Best” and liked it, don’t go see “Best of the Best 2” (Plaza 4, 12th and P streets). It’ll break your heart. Instead of trying to make another decent movie with some character development, drama and incredible martial arts action, director Robert Radler (“Best of the Best”) uses an overused plot from the glut of bad action movies that have infiltrated our movie channels and video stores. But which bad plot, you ask? This is the plot that goes, “Friend shoots off big mouth, friend gets a crack at the top bad guy, friend gets stomped like a narc at a biker rally, friend gets neck snapped and dies slow-motion death, best friends of dead friend promise to avenge him.” “We gotta do somethin ’ Tommy,” says Alex (Eric Roberts), following the discovery of their friend’s death. Whoa. Powerful dialogue. Can you handle it? A few others from the original “Best of the Best” arc back, including Alex’s best friend, Tommy Lee (Phillip Rhcc, who also co-produced), the loud-mouthed cowboy Travis (Christopher Penn), and Dae Han (Simon Rhec, who also did stunt cho _ Courtesy of Lev Raphae Lev Raphael reads his fiction tonight in the Georgian Suite of the Nebraska Union. be published mystery, took him con siderably less lime—about 12 months — to write. “Winter Eyes” was well-received and Raphael seems happy with the attention it’s won him. Its publication accelerated his career. He is commit ted to writing full time. “I’m in it for the long haul,” he said. “I quit teaching in ’88. “I was 35 and I decided I had l have a book out.” Raphael will read from his storie tonight at 7:30 in the Georgian Suit of the Nebraskan Union. The engage ment is sponsored by the Engltsi Department, Women’s Studies ani the Research Council. Courtesy of aw Movie Group Best of the Best H reography). We have some new bodies on the screen as well. There's Brakus (Ralph Moeller), the unbeaten gladiator that kills whoever he fights, and the ring announcer Weldon (Wayne Newton), in a role that will remind some mov iegoers of Richard Dawson in “The Running Man.” In another round of the “Isn't That . . .” department, we see Nicholas Worth (the fat, bald guy from the movie “Swamp Thing’*) as one of the bad guys, and former adult film star Jennifer West as a dancer. The only thing worth seeing in this flick is the martial arts work (although I'd have to put Tommy's forward flip kick in the same category as Van Damme’s propeller-spin kicks). Check it out only if you absolutely have to. — Gerry Beltz Courtesy of Buena Vista Pictures Olympia Dukakis, Ellen Burstyn and Diane Ladd drink a toast in “Cemetery Club.” Widows discover new life in film aimed at older set The Cemetery Club’ The folks in Tinseltown have made yet another movie about aging Jewish women in the throes of a midlife crises. “The Cemetery Club” (Edgewood 3, 56th and Highway 2) is one such movie, but it’s more than just that. It’s a movie about living. Esther (Ellen Burstyn), Doris (Olympia Dukakis) and Lucille (Diane Ladd) arc three lifelong friends who end up seeing themselves as middle aged widows tossed back into the game of life without a rule book. The cemetery club is how Lucille describes them — three members of a I group whose other three members can’t talk back anymore. Or do any thing else anymore since their dead husbands make up the rest of the group. ) Doris is eternally grieving. Lucille is eternally seeking the zest of youth, s and Esther is teetering on the line 5 between them. Danny Aiello is Ben, a retired cop I turned cabbie and a widower whose 1 chance encounter with Esther in the cemetery threatens to knock her life off balance — and break up the cem etery club. The movie has a lot to say about letting go and living again after the loss of a loved one. It has some very funny moments with a little sadness and inspiration thrown in for good measure. And it also has a scene dealing with safer sex and condom use — a rare thing for mainstream pictures, espe cially for a film aimed at the 50-plus crowd. The leads arc all wonderful. Burstyn and Aiello make an interest ing pair and have a nice chemistry. Ladd and Dukakisarc delightful,also. The cast is rounded out by a talented ensemble cast, including Lainic Kazan as an often-married friend and Wallace Shawn as an irritated wedding con sultant. The movie’s real drawback is iis subject matter that probably will not appeal to the primarily young, main stream movie-going audience. But that’s also kind of a plus be cause it deals with the realities of growing older, and it shows that grow ing older doesn’t necessarily mean losing passion for living. “The Cemetery Club” may not appeal to everyone, but it should ap peal to the young at heart. — Anne Steyer t Comedy has few humorous moments ‘Amos and Andrew’ With “Amos and Andrew” (Cin ema Twin, 13th and P streets), what we have are lots of misses, but a few hits. Samuel L. Jackson (“Loaded Weapon 1 ”) plays Andrew Sterling, a writer, filmmaker, Pulitzer Prize win ner and a self-proclaimed “thorn in the side of the white man.” He has bought a summer home on Matauga Island and has moved there in hopes of escaping racial tensions and stereotypes from the big city. Unfortunately, a couple of nosy neighbors (Michael Lcmer and Mar garet Colin) think that Sterling is a thief and call out the police, who ventilate his new home with about a zillion bullets. In an effort to cover up the bl under, the politically ambitious police chief (Dabney Coleman) hauls out two-bit crook Amos Odell (yet another sleazy role for Nicholas Cage) to take Ster ling “hostage” and set the whole situ ation right (for the chief). However, both Odell and Sterling find out what the real deal is, and the comedy tries to go from there. Director E. Max Frye forces the comedy of “Amos and Andrew” on the moviegoer, and that shoots most of the comedy right out the window. Jackson is extremely underplayed, and Cage has most of the humorous scenes, which arc few. Lemer and Colin also share in some of the laughs as the mega-WASP neighbors. One person that is notably comedic is Bob Balaban as a kooky hostage negotia tor. Rated PG-13 for language and the “tovs" that the neighbors have in their nightstand, this one is questionable for the little ones. Check it out if you feel that you should. — Gerry Beltz Strange flick features strange situations ‘Mad Dog and Glory’ Sr8r§r “Mad Dog and Glory” (The Lin coln, 12th and P streets) is not a film about drinking cheap, disgusting wine and waking up with a strange feeling in your belly and a splitting headache. Although it kind of feels like that. Instead, it’s a strange liule movie about guts, glory and love. And it shouldn’t feel so strange or so little,considering the powerhouses involved: producer Marlin Scorcesc and stars Robert DeNiro, Bill Murray and Uma Thurman. DeNiro is Wayne, aka Mad Dog, a detective in Chicago’s police de partment who investigates the late night homicides. Wayne knows his surff, but he lacks the typical, ballis tic, wild-eyed, crazy heroics of most on-screeijcops. He’s sweet and a little on the old-fashioned side. One night, after photographing and examining the site of a double homi cide, Wayne chances upon a murder/ robbery-in-progress at a comer con venience store. While he doesn’t get the bad guy, he docs save the life of would-be Mafioso Frank (Bill Murray). A few days later, Glory (Uma Thurman) turns up on Wayne’s door step. She’s an aclress/bartcnder who owes her brother's life to Frank, and she’s paying off her brother’s debt to Frank the hard way: doing whatever he says for as long as he says to. And that makes her Wayne’s week long thank-you present. She and Wayne have a whirlwind relationship and fall in love instantly. Well, maybe not instantly. It takes two days. “Mad Dog and Glory” has some laughs in it It has some romance in it. It has some blood in it, and there arc some nasty punches thrown in it It’s a weird mix of everything—difficult to describe but worth seeing. — Anne Steyer
