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‘Mother’ serious, yet comical film
By Josh Nichols
Staff writer
Spanish filmmaker Pedro
Almoddvar has been making movies
about the extreme lifestyles including
drug addicts and drag queens since the
1980s.
His reputation for producing wild,
off-the-wall screenplays is upheld in his
latest serious yet comical film, “All
About My Mother.”
The initial setting of this film is in
Madrid, Spain, and the story centers on
single mother Manuela, played by
Cecilia Roth, and her insightful, cre
ative teenage son, Esteban, played by
EloyAzorin.
Almodovar is able to bring out an
unusually tight bond between mother
and child in the film’s first 10 minutes.
This is all the time allowed to get to
know Esteban before he is struck and
killed by a car shortly after the film
begins.
This dark, rainy scene, in which
Manuela runs to her son’s side after he
has been hit, is seen through the eyes of
Esteban as he lies on the ground dying.
Esteban’s sideways view of his
mother kneeling next to him ends when
he closes his eyes to die.
At least, he kind of dies. His brain
dies, but his heart continues to beat,
which brings about the first of the
film’s many coincidences.
Manuela, who works as a nurse in
an organ transplant hospital, must sign
the forms agreeing to have her son’s
heart transferred to a person in need.
She is usually the person consoling
and convincing the family member of
the deceased he or she is making the
right choice, but now the roles.are
reversed.
Pretty ironic.
During her time in the hospital,
Manuela reads the last entry in her son’s
journal, which the aspiring writer car
ried with him at all times.
It refers to a conversation she and
Esteban had the previous evening about
the father he did not know.
It read, £1 want to meet him, I don’t
care who he is, or how he behaved with
my mother. No one can take that right
away from me.”
This note sends Manuela on a jour
ney because she feels obligated to find
the father and inform him of his son’s
death.
This journey leads her to
Barcelona, where she encounters her
old life as a young actress - a life she
ran from 17 years ago.
It is at this point in the movie when
you know you’re at an Almodovar film.
The characters in the rest of the
movie include a transsexual prostitute,
a pregnant nun dying of AIDS and a les
bian actress addicted to heroin.
The role that draws one in more
than any other is that of the transsexual
prostitute, Agrado, played by Antonia
San Juan.
Agrado is an old friend of Esteban’s
father and of Manuela.
Agrado repeatedly says that she’s
^All About
My Mother
I
i „ | DIRECTOR:
Pedro Almodovar
STARRING:
Cecilia Roth,
Marisa Paredes,
Penelope Cruz
RATED:
R (language, brief nudity)
GRADE: B+
FIVE WORDS:
Tragic plot provides
lUt I funny moments
been named Agrado because “she’s
always tried to make life agreeable for
others.”
It’s hard not to love Agrado and her
off-the-wall, foul-mouthed remarks.
In one scene, after having quit pros
titution because of Manuela’s influ
Please see MOTHER on 11
True story of ‘Hurricane’lost in Hollywood glitz
By Shelley Mika
Staff uniter
In 1976, Bob Dylan wrote the epic
song “Hurricane” about framed boxer
Rubin Carter with a swift story line and
original lyrics.
Had the movie done the same, it
would have been a success.
The story is a good one, not only in
its plot twists, but also in its inherent
exposure of a racist atrocity.
The gist is this: Rubin Carter
(Denzel Washington) is a boxer who
has been framed for the murders of
three white bar patrons. Although sev
eral people have vouched that Carter
and his friend John Artis (Garland
Whit) were not the suspects, a detective
with a racially motivated grudge
against Carter implicates him in the
murders.
After two all-white jury trials,
Carter’s guilt is assumed by the public.
Despite the help of famous personali
ties like Dylan and Muhammad Ali, the
|
•> ... j . y.i I .wwng,1.
475-RIDE
Every Thursday, Friday and
Saturday night
11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.
Must present NU student ID
HOW TOOK
MUON WHEELS: j
' l..
1) Can 475-RIDE.
2) Give your name, pick-up
location and exact
home address.
3) Wait at pick-up location. i
Be watching for your taxi!
4) Show your NU student ID to
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student ID is required!
5) Ups are appreciated!
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
E-mad NU on Wheels at
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or catt 472-7440
jjRjjfcjiApwgwwo>ftiiiK>CAWEwdlwUliw*fHiJ:
■UPUR Otnttf.UNLiinondMnMoqMMon.
innocent Carter faces the reality of life
imprisonment.
The basic story line suggests a soul
searching biography with political
roots. By nature, tike film can’t avoid
this. However, it doesn’t exactly come
off as strictly a biography.
Instead the film begins in a “cops
and robbers” fashion. This is
Hollywood, remember? A scene can’t
go by without bits of overly dramatic
dialogue and intense stare downs.
For example, Carter has just discov
ered that he’s been set up. While the
average citizen would be sweating bul
lets, Carter shoots a round of way-too
catchy expletives at the detective’s face.
The dialogue just doesn’t ring true.
The film is full of these sensational
dramatic moments, and the translation
from real life to Hollywood gets lost.
Some dialogue is realistic, but it’s either
narrated directly from Carter’s book or
is stolen from Dylan’s song: actual lines
are played off as exchanges between
characters.
First and foremost, the film is sup
posed to be a biography, not an action
flick. Unfortunately, these objectives
are reversed, and the viewer is distanced
from the main character.
Because the emotional scenes are
more frequent, the true goal of the film
comes back into play. Performances by
Washington, as well as the supporting
cast, lend to the shift in mood.
But the strong cast isn’t enough to
sit through this movie for more than
two hours. With the emphasis on drama
and action one might think the film
moves along quickly - but not quite. An
imbalance of important and unimpor
tant material from beginning to end
burdens the beginning and sells the end
short.
1116 entire plot is more or less given
in the first third of the movie.
Thereafter, the audience is retold the
same story with more detail. Though
details are important in a story such as
this, does the audience really have to be
fed the plot twice?
The repetition would have been tol
•s^The Hurricane
DIRECTOR:
Norman Jewison
STARRING:
Denzel Washington,
Vicellous Reon Shannon
RATED:
R (language and some
violence if boxing is
considered violent)
GRADE: C+
FIVE WORDS:
important biography
distorted by Hollywood
erable if pivotal victories hadn’t been
overlooked in the end. By this time, it
feels as if the director starts to cut cor
ners. After so much background detail,
it seems a travesty to skip over emotion
al triumphs.
Despite these skipped moments,
the end is rife with cheers for the con
tender Carter as the final third of the
movie provides enough sentiment for
the audience to empathize.
“The Hurricane” is a feel-good film
for movie-goers with patience. For
those who lack that virtue, check out
Dylan’s song: it tells the story short
er...and sweeter.
X
I 0011
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