20
Monday, November 22, 1999
.Bntertainment
CDonarch CDessen^er
Look And Ye Shall Find .. .But We Can Help
By Joel Stanford-Asiyo
StaffWriter
Here we go again ladies and gentlemen.
I do hope that I can find something to your
likmg. Let me caution you to call to confirm
all dates and times. All clubs listed are gen
eral admission (no under 21). Some bits and
pieces will have my special seal of recom
mendation, so keeps your eyes open. If we
happened to have missed anything, do let
us know, and we’ll get the word out! But
enough babbling: ON WITH THE LIST!
In the ‘ville
Fourth Friday
Dream Girls: Images of Women in Ad
vertising
10/22-1/7
Raleigh
Berkley Cafe
217 West Martin St.
Raleigh 27601-1323
tel: (919) 821-0777
12/10- 12/21 Acoustic Open Jam
01/06- 12/28 Acoustic Open Jam with
Mike Pitts
01/07-12/29 Scotty Miller Sit Down
Show
08/25 - 12/29 Second Stage Acoustic
Jam
Chapel Hill/Carrboro
Cat’s Cradle
300 E. Main Street
Carrboro 27510-2359
tel: (919)967-9053
11/23 Tyfli Single Release Party
11/26 Joe Louis Walker
11/27 The Promise Ring with Burning
Airlines
11/29 The Bouncing Souls with H20,
Casualties, and Vision
12/03 Luna
12/04 Gran Torino
©Edward
McKay
used Books & more...
B24- Santee Dr. Fayettevil.ue, NC 28303
(□ff Yadkin rd.) (91 □) B6B - 1 □□ 1
w
Buy Sell Trade
fiction
nonfiction
youth
textbooks
audio books
music cds
video games
cd roms
movies
... pass the word
H/
WWW
Local 506
506 W. Franklin Street
at: Roberson/Graham
Chapel Hill 27516-2317
tel: (919) 942-5506
12/18 Alabama Thunderpussy
The Ritz
2820 Industrial Drive
Raleigh 27609
tel: (919) 836-8535
11/27 Ratdog
11/30 Megadeth**
12/08 Fugazi with the EX**’**
Fugazi is a band worth checking out!
The Power Of A Moving Picture
American Beauty
Dreamworks SKG. Rated R. 1 hour 53 mm.
By Dr. Mary Wheeling
Assistant Professor of English
A videotaped conversation opens the
story. Teenager Jane Burnham (Thora
Birch) lounges in her underwear, wishing
out loud that someone would put her dad
“out of his misery.” An off-camera male
voice asks, “You want me to kill him for
you?,” to which she replies, “Yeah, would
you?”
Thus begins the film American Beauty,
the hilariously dark and moving tale of im
age versus substance, which urges us to
“look closer.” Jane’s forty-two-year old fa
ther Lester, soulfully played by Kevin
vSpacey, has decided that his yuppie life
has become unbearable, so he quits his job
to take up outrageously adolescent pur
suits: smoking pot, drinking beer, and lust
ing after Jane’s classmate Angela (Mena
Suvari). A riveting Annette Bening is Jane’s
mother Carolyn, a by-the-book career
woman who believes that “to be success
ful, one must project an image of success
at all times.”
The intrusion of new next-door-neigh
bor Ricky Fitts (Wes Brantley) into the al
ready sputtering Burnham family dynamic
guides the story to a graceful climax. Ricky
views the world, and in particular his ap
parently normal neighbors the Burnhams,
through a tiny Sony video camera. Despite
the violent paranoia of his repressed father
and the mental absence of his quiet mother
(Chris Cooper and Allison Janney), eigh-
teen-year-old Ricky has managed to as
semble both a life-sustaining philosophy
and a sizable bank account. Out of a past
colored by military school and mental in
stitutions, he has located beauty in what
most Americans neurotically shy away
from— death.
In one of the most engaging film mo
ments of recent years, Ricky shows Jane
“the most beautiful thing” he has ever
filmed. This surprising footage and his
soothing explanation of the captured mo
ment draw the audience into his peaceful
vision, Buddhist in its benevolent empti
ness. Screenwriter Alan Ball convincingly
illustrates v/ith American Beauty that mov
ing pictures provide the dominant medium
of communicating truth in our late-twenti-
eth-century society, and his script alludes
to such important cultural markers asCitizen
Kane, Lolita, and Blue Velvet.
Ricky Fitts gives Ball’s view a young
voice, veteran cinematographer Conrad Hall
(Cool Hand Luke) supplies the gorgeous
images, and first-time feature film director
Sam Mendes coaxes from everyone in
volved brilhant performances that should
someday receive the same reverential nods
this film gives earlier icons of American
tragic beauty.