Page 4
The Banner
March 23,200
Features
"Ninth Gate" a waste
By Lena Burns
Staff Writer
“The Ninth Gate” is supposed to
be a thriller. Instead, the film proves
to be a two hour long snooze-fest
that leaves the audience with sore
butts and backs, mumbling that
they just wasted $6.75.
The film, directed by Roman
Polanski, is entirely too long, and
lacks in dramatic momentum and
special effects. The grim atmosphere
of the scenery gives the film the
darkness and mystery it needs, but
the film is a total waste of time and
money.
The film
. Johnny Depp,
Lena Olin, Frank
Shadow Kingdom,” and wants
Corso to locate the other two of the
remaining three copies. Corso is to
compare Balkan’s book to the other
copies because it is rumored that
only one is authentic.
Supposedly, Lucifer himself co
authored the book back in 1666
(go figure) with another man who
was burned at the stake with all the
copies of the book. Only one was
salvaged.
“The Nine Gates of the Shadow
Kingdom” is a highly sought after
book, because, supposedly, the book
contains engravings that are signed
“LCF” and, when interpreted, can
summon Lucifer and open the gates
of hell.
Balkan ^nds
Corso on an all-
Review
trip to Europe to
locate the other
copies
However, little
(Polanski’s real-
life wife), James Russo, Barbara
Jefford and Jack Taylor.
Polanski, John Brownjohn and
Enrique Urbizu wrote the film.
“The Ninth Gate” is based on the
book “The Club Dumas,” by Arturo
Perez-Reverte.
Dean Corso (Depp) is a skilled
know that the widow of the ex
owner of the book. Liana Telfer
(Olin), is stalking him. Telfer will
do absolutely anything, including
seducing, assaulting and trying to
kill Corso.
Guided by an omnipresent guard
ian angel (Seigner), Corso narrowly
“book detective” who researches and escapes diath throughout the film,
locates rare books for wealthy col- His mission is dangerous and some-
lectors. Corso is well known for his
knowledge of books and the ability
to locate them, so Boris Balkan
(Langella), an avid book collector
and expert scholar in demonology,
hires Corso to do some dirty work.
Balkan has recently purchased a
rare copy of “The Nine Gates of the
how people seem to turn up dead
that have any association with
Corso. Pardon the cliche, but all
hell breaks loose when Corso gains
possession of the book.
Ironically, the people die in the
same order and fashion as the pic
tures in the book are. A complete
rip-off of “The Bone Collector,”
anyone?
The most depressing thing about
this film is that I had high hopes
for devilish special effects, hell
fire and brimstone and demonic
possessions, but no. The previews
made it seem like some sort of
“Devil’s Advocate” or even “End
of Days,” but the actual movie
was a letdown.
Polanski teases us with the hopes
of suspense and seeing Satan in
the movie, but instead our high
hopes fall as the film digresses
into a plethora of stalking, mur
der, car chases, beatings and un
necessary glimpses of Olin’s and
Seigner’s body parts.
The closest Polanski got to spe
cial effects was when Balkan tried
to summon Lucifer and. . . well I
won’t spoil it but that’s about the
extent of the special effects.
The only good thing about “The
Ninth Gate” is the acting. It does
not take much acting to run
around cities trying to locate a
400-year-old book and escape
Each scene in “The Ninth Gate”
makes it seem as though some
thing really cool is about to hap
pen, but instead it goes right back
to that stupid book.
For a movie that is labeled a
thriller, there are no thrills or feel
ings of suspense. About the clos
est I got to suspense is the car
chase scene. Ooooooh.
Everyone left the theater com
pletely disappointed with con
fused and empty. And let’s not
forget what I mentioned before—
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Experimental artist N
shows film talent
%
■ PHOTO COURTESY OF KIRSTEN PETERSON
Kirsten Peterson’s experimental film, “Summer’s Last Hurrah,” was filmed in Europe
in 1993. Peterson showed the film, along with “Asheville Hose,” at the Asheville
Pizza & Brewing Company on March 16.
By Kay Alton
staff Writer
Because I love kaleidoscopes and
all things beautiful, my evening
spent with the crowd at the
Asheville Pizza & Brewing Com
pany on March 16 was an eye
The event was a film presenta
tion of two experimental films
produced by Kirsten Peterson of
Asheville. When I mention that
Kirsten graduated from Asheville
High School, we should be very
proud to have a native who has
developed her film artistry so
quickly. Peterson attended Bard
College, in New York, on an aca
demic scholarship. She earned a
degree in filmmaking.
The two films presented were
very different. The first, “Asheville
Hose,” was filmed in black and
white I6mm film. It takes the
viewer on a chaotic ride through a
virtual tornado of images from
locales in and around Asheville.
Peterson did her filming during
1997 and 1998.
A lot of energy went into the
editing of the film. It was about
15 minutes long. The images
blurred and intersected into one
another at breakneck speed, pre
senting a very disturbing dark
Eerie black and white jagged
edges, outlines of buildings, grave
yard tombstones and statuary, di
lapidated and abandoned facto
ries, dirty interstate underpasses,
and huge antennas were overlaid
in various tones ofshadowing pat
terns. Through the use of overex
posure, all these elements were
gathered into the final seconds to
represent a scene reminiscent of a
Review
nuclear holocaust. I’ll leave the
interpretation to another.
The musical mix accompanying
the silent film magnified the dark
mood. James Anthony Owen,
from Hendersonville, produced
the score. He improvised during
the viewing by playing different
percussion instruments. Owen
played intermittent loops of taped
samples as -well as pre-recorded
tapes by Asheville artists.
Because the music was equally
as dominant as
the visual film
on the movie
screen, it made
the audience.
Owen said he used “dark, spooky
and sometimes noisy” tapes.
“I have recorded NASA mag
netic tape noise from outer space,”
said Owen. He also used music
from Celtic chants and from a
circumcision ritual in Uganda.
This should give you a clear un
derstanding of the assault
launched on the ears of the audi-
The second film, “Summer’s Last
Hurrah,” was first shot in Super 8
film and transferred to video just as
the first one had been. Peterson
said that she shot the footage in
1993, during a vacation in Europe.
“Summer’s Last Hurrah” was
filmed in color. Oh, what color.
Peterson said the film was so good
that her editing process produced
the rich water color images.
But those are not the only render
ings achieved in the film. Stain glass
windows filmed in ancient cathe
drals displayed brilliant hues ofclear,
jewel tones through which light
shone. First, light and shadows
played between diffuse and stark
representations of architectural ap
pointments in a collage. Then, spi-
raling kaleidoscopic gargoyle
heads intersected with statues of
angels in earthen tones.
Peterson captured shapes and
sculpted them into Picasso-like
cubic representations. Some de
veloped into tile-like repetitions
while whirling in a constant
Especially powerful
Peterson’s use of hard metal gird
ers (maybe the Eiffel Tower) and
railroad tracks, which she skill
fully balanced with hard boulder
surfaces and deli
cate colors from
beautiful chande
liers dancing
aloft.
While viewing
the 30-minute film of “Last Hur
rah,” I could not resist thinking that^
Peterson has achieved in her film
ing an artistic dimension painters,I
strive for to interpret their ideas. A
compulsion overtook me, almost,j
to be standing insidea virtual reality
demonstration of the sights and
movement of this film. What an
experience of flooding rainbow col
ors and images the senses could
Again, the music was like nothing
I’ve ever experienced. At least, nota
sound I purposefully would selea
It closely replicated a screeching cat
perched on a metal trashcan. You
knowwhatlmean. Itwas the kind
of noise that wrinkles your bones
and makes you want to drop 4
piano on its head.
However, the films showed the
work of a talented person. Peterson
will be seen more in this area, as well
as in a wider audience. Her artistry
as a filmmaker is undeniably bril
liant. This young adult has innate
talent. It was clearly demonstrated
in these two films that she pro
duced this year. We will hear about
her and should keep an eye on the
film releases for along time to come.
The Banner \s also available in an on
line version at www.unca.edu/banner.
CELEBRATE YOUR FRIENDS!
Academic and Leadership Awards Presentation
May 3, 2000 Wednesday 7:00 p.m.
Grove Park Inn
Freida Roos-Van
Hessen, a Dutch ^
opera singer and !
holocaust survivor,f
will speak at UNCA
on March 29 from 7-9
p.m. in the Humani*.4
ties Lecture Hall. The
event is sponsored
by the Baptist StU' i
dent Union, and is
free and open to the ;
public.