Gerry Beltz
Movie critic
discovers
film classic
I have a confession to make.
(No, this has nothing to do
with that incident involving the
Dijon mustard and the leaf blower.
Besides, I was young and needed
the work....)
I’m talking about professional
ism and credibility here.
Something that may surprise,
shock or even offend certain read
ers.
Until this weekend, I had never
seen “Casablanca.”
Yep. In all this time as a film
critic, I’ve never seen
“Casablanca.” Same thing goes for
“The Godfather,” “Bambi” and
“The Wizard of Oz.” Moreover, I
have no desire to see the latter two
(something which has, at times,
caused my mother to assume I
wasn’t her child).
Many of my friends, family
and co-workers would say, “YOU
haven’t seen ‘Casablanca’?!? Oh,
you’ve just GOT to see it, Gerry!”
Other critics also have said the
movie is a must-see, but I don’t lis
ten to critics. They’re not trustwor
thy, have bad taste and sing Tito
Puente love ballads in the wrong
key. (At least, I’m told that I ...
well, that’s another story.)
Still, some people have asked
me (sarcastically) how I can con
sider myself a movie critic when I
haven’t seen classic movies like
“Casablanca” and “The
Godfather.”
Well, I can’t really come up
with a decent answer to that,
beyond just saying, “I haven’t real
ly wanted to see them.” Actually, a
large part of not seeing “The
Godfather” has been intimidation;
my usual schedule doesn’t have
open blocks of time long enough
to accommodate such a monstrous
undertaking. How long is that
beast anyway, four hours or some
thing like that?
To me, there are no set require
ments to being a movie critic,
beyond the ability to express an
opinion well in a particular medi
um (in this case: print) and having
a better-than-average knowledge
of the cinema.
All of this was going through
my mind as I was waiting for the
beginning of “Casablanca.” After
what seemed like an eternity (10
minutes), the movie started. No
previews, just that cheesy “gosh
we’re-so-happy-you’re-here” trail
er, then it’s off, to black and white
we go, traveling to “Casablanca.”
(One quick note: Colorizing
movies should be considered a sin
against God, right up there with
ordering anchovies on pizza and
defining foreplay as “the drive
home.”)
The movie started out a little
slow, but by the time Peter Lorre
slithered on-screen, I become
Please see CRITIC on 16
I
Carnatic
musician
mixes style
By Jim Goodwin
A&E Editor
Music crosses boundaries. In the
case of Indian musician Kadri
Gopalnath, oceans and traditions are
bridged.
While Gopalnath plays the tradi
tional Carnatic music of his southern
Indian heritage, he does so with a
very Western twist: He plays the alto
saxophone.
The 47-year-old Indian resident,
recognized globally as a master of the
Carnatic style, will perform at 7 p.m.
Wednesday in Westbrook Recital
Hall.
For Indian residents of Lincoln,
tjie ocpasipp will typ.a. tiny, tas^e.pf
home. For others, it will integrate
Eastern and Western styles, said B.
Radha, an associate professor of
Russian and faculty advisor for Raag,
the student group sponsoring
Gopalnath.
“Because the saxophone is a
Western instrument, it will act like a
bridge to evoke an interest in music
they’ve never heard before,” B. Radha
said.
Violinist Kanyakumari and mri
dangam player Guruvayur Durai also
will perform Wednesday. The mri
dangam is a two-headed drum.
Carnatic music, the south Indian
style of classical music, traces its
roots to the oldest Hindu sacred texts,
composed about 3,500 years ago.
Stressing melody, not harmony,
and based on a scale of 22 notes rather
than 12, the form widely differs from
its Western classical counterpart.
Photo courtesy of Kadari Gopalnath
ALTO SAXOPHONIST Kadari Gopalnath brings his style of southern Indian
Carnatic music to Westbrook Recital Hall Wednesday at 7 p.m.
While instruments such as the
veena - a seven-stringed instrument
featuring a bowled body - are more
traditional to Carnatic music, using
instruments indigenous to other cul
tures is an acceptable variation of a
musical style steeped in thousands of
years of tradition, said Ramakrishna
Prasad, a chemical engineering grad
uate student and Raag president.
The reason, Prasad said, is
because Indian music is an expression
of spirituality, and its musicians play
the instruments best suited to a partic
ular piece.
“It has more to do with the mood,”
he said.
Ragas, which are the pre-defined
Please see MUSIC on!6
Midwest molds artist’s vision
By Liza Holtmeier
Senior Reporter
Tim Herwig grew up thinking
nothing important ever happened in
his hometown of Albert Lea, Minn. He
assumed the things that did occur were
not interesting enough to be told.
When Herwig attended college,
his professors reinforced that idea,
making him feel he never could equal
the poets and authors included on the
syllabi.
It was not until Herwig attended a
performance art work at the age of 30
that he discovered the importance of
his life experience.
“I realized that I do have some
thing to say,” Herwig said. “I found
that my experiences growing up in the
Midwest could provide interesting
material that people wanted to listen
to.”
Herwig then decided to create his
own performance art pieces. He
enrolled in a storytelling class and
examined his life for experiences on
which to base his plays.
“I came out of the closet to tell the
world I was a performance artist,”
Herwig said. “I realized that we all
have life experiences that have the
possibility of being turned into perfor
mance material.”
This week, Lincoln audiences can
see Herwig relay a few of his life
lessons at the Wagon Train Project,
504 S. Seventh St., in his one-man
show, “Esker.”
For almost 10 years now, Herwig
has used his pieces to explore the con
nections between growing up in the
Midwest and his interests in art.
An esker is a long, narrow ridge or
bank of boulders, gravel and sand
deposited by a river flowing within or
beneath a stagnant glacier.
“I use the geographical formation
of the esker as a metaphor for one
66
We all have life
experiences that
have the possibility
of being turned into
performance
material”
Tim Herwig
performance artist
man’s journey,” Herwig said. “The
piece deals with some really interest
ing poetic connections between the
land and my interest in ecology that I
had made as a boy.”
Djola Branner, the director of
Please see ESKER on 16
Bp
Duchovny
saves ‘God’
from ruin
By Cliff Hicks
Film Critic
It’s not high art, but it’ll do.
Those of you who are frustrated
because “The X-Files” doesn’t start
until November:Take heed. Your
answer is here. David Duchovny,
aka Fox Mulder, has done a film.
“Playing God” isn’t the best
written film, doesn’t have the best
acting and doesn’t have the best cin
ematography, but it isn’t all that bad
either.
The plot is simple. Eugene
Sands (Duchovny) is an ex-doctor
turned drug addict down on his
luck. As he stands in a club buying
his next hit, he sees a man shot
down right next to him. Sands, who
lost his medical license for operat
ing under1 the influence of narcotics,
is forced to act and saves the man’s
life.
Seeing how a doctor on a leash
could be handy, crime lord
Raymond (Timothy Hutton)
“befriends” Sands. Raymond’s girl
friend, Claire (Angelina Jolie), saw
Sands at work at the club and intro
duced him to Raymond by using
two bodyguards/gangsters to take a
drug-influenced Sands to him.
Quickly, Sands finds himself
caught hi the middle of a turfjwar
between Raymond and a group of
Russians over a Chinese client. He’s
retained by the FBI to help catch
both Raymond and the client, and
then things get incredibly messy.
Duchovny is the film’s star -
something obvious throughout the
surreal underworld ride. Not only is
Duchovny’s acting 12 steps above
everyone else’s, but his presence
overwhelms almost anyone with
whom he’s on camera. Let’s face it,
even though he’s not playing
Mulder, Duchovny still holds our
eyes because of his sheer talent.
He also, thankfully, doesn’t
recycle Mulder’s character. Where
Mulder would be nervous, Sands is
angry. Where Mulder carefully con
trols every movement, Sands is a
drug addict spiraling out of control.
The two bear vague similarities, but
they are most certainly not alike.
Director Andy Wilson also
makes a smart decision in letting
Duchovny do a suave narrative
overdub. While this trick has been
used in both “The X-Files” and
Duchovny’s first series, “The Red
Shoe Diaries,” it is one he’s mas
tered to perfection. Without it, thb
film would have been sorely lack
ing.
“Playing God” also has some of
the most distinct music any film has
had in years. A sort of western
gone-gangster-gone-noir blend lit
ters the film, with traffic noises and
twangy guitars filling the ears. It
adds a strong sense of character to
the film, enhancing that
gangster/westem-meets-morality
play feel.
The film also contains a good
smattering of humor, which helps
the film from taking itself too seri
ously in the moments where the dia
logue and plot fall shallow (and the
film does have them). Duchovny
can crack wise with the best of
them.
Whose head the blame should
Please see PLAYING on 16