Monday, August 29, 1983The Daily Tar Heel3B
Sayles film
a realistic
George Lucas returns
to galaxy of soap operas
teens
tory
By STEVE CARR
Staff Writer
Only a handful of American films have '
defied the movie industry's penchant for
portraying teenagers as either dekdor
horny. And that's too bad, considering'
that teenagers are Hollywood's biggest
customers. Only a few films, such as
Frank Perry's devastating Last Summer
and Peter Yates' completely winning
Breaking Away, have explored the forbid
den regions of how teenagers really talk
Review
ft
and act. So when a film like John Sayles'
Baby It's You contains that special adoles
cent authenticity and also bears the 20th
Century-Fox logotype, there is reason to
rejoice.
Sayles is probably the hottest American
director working now. His sharp, savvy
screenplays have become his trademark in
independent releases which he also
financed such as Return of the
Secaucus Seven and Lianna. Now, with
Baby It's You, he has produced another
terrific "Sayles" film, but this time with a
studio gloss.
With somewhat more than his usual
anemic but always well-spent budget,
Sayles tells the story of a boy and girl who
fall in love their senior year of high school,
only to fall into their separate, inevitable
futures afterward. Jill Rosen, the daughter
of an upper-middle-class Jewish family,
becomes enchanted by a macho, self
assured character who calls himself the
Sheik. Jill is accepted by Sarah Lawrence
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Rosanna Arquette as Jill and Vincent Spano as the Shiek in John Sayles'
"Baby It's You," a realistic look at the problems of growing up in troubled times.
College while the Sheik quickly becomes a
victim of his family's lower-class status.
He leaves home for Miami so he can be
near his idol, Frank Sinatra, and gets a
dishwashing job in a restaurant that lets
him lip-synch Sinatra records on the
weekends.
Much of the movie's charm lies in its
nostalgia. The conservatism of the '50s
and the growing turbulence of the '60s are
accurately yet subtly displayed. However,
this accuracy if anything distances the film
from the audience. It serves as a frame for
the similarities of growing up in the '60s
and today. Both Jill and the Sheik fear
their unknown futures and the film ex
plores their insecurities in a language so
fresh it seems almost anachronistic.
There are more minute details that are
brought out, such as Jill's embarassment
of her parents when they help her move in
to her dorm. These touches contain a cer
tain deja vu that indicates a universal
adolescent experience behind the measured
hemlines, the souped-up hot-rods, and
then later batik shirts and frizzed-out hair.
Then there are some not-so-nostalgic"
events portrayed as well Jill's drunken
binge and the Sheik's departure from
home these rituals are still acted out to
day with the same desperate hunger for ac
ceptance and the same clawing restlessness
for independence. The appeal of Baby It's
You lies not in its accurate depiction of a
time in the past, but in the similarities of
emotion that rest behind that time.
As usual, Sayles' presence is felt
throughout the movie, so it is basically his
film. Rosanna Arquette, however, delivers
a bravura performance in the difficult role
of Jill. She admirably transforms her
character from a clunky but wise school
girl into a woman who arrives on the
threshold of her own awareness. Vincent
Spano also does a good job as the Sheik, a
loser only because of circumstances he
cannot control.
The breathtaking cinematography by
R.W. Fassbinder's longtime cameraman
Michael Ballhaus suggests that pale pinks
and blues are not solely attributable to
Fassbinder's genius.
Baby It's You is a total triumph. College
students from any time period can learn
much from it about where they've been
and what the future holds.
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By DAVID SCHMIDT
Assistant Arts Editor
Gotterdammit, these insipid soap operas
are already becoming mightier than
Wagner's most apocalyptic operatic spec
taculars! By the end of 1984, only four
things will have pre-empted the hallowed
Summer Olympics in America: World War
I, World War II, a Soviet invasion and All
My General Hospital Children With One
Commentary
Life to Live. Yet soaps probably reached
their universally popular peak this summer
when at the movies I discovered they were
first warped a long time ago in a galaxy
far, far away.
While mastering the ABCs of movie
making, George Lucas obviously plagiariz
ed that network when working late after
noons on Return of the Jedi. He
discovered that soap doesn't necessarily
leave a film but can become one itself.
What he finally gave me was Return of the
Red-eye, a soap-box soap opera where the
suds don't shine and neither do the
stars.
General HospitaPs ratings soared when
Luke and Laura saved the world and the
Ice Princess. Or was it Luke and Leia, a
princess herself? No, that was Star Wars,
when the dashing rogue Scorpio helped
them blow up the Death Star. Sorry, I
forgot Solo was that star in Star Wars. But
which Death Star did he blow up in which
movie? Now, had Dr. Rick Webber
diagnosed Yoda's illness, I'm sure he could
have miraculously saved the sage Muppet's
life, but I doubt even Yoda could
straighten out this mess.
The lord of the Dark Side was disap
pointingly impotent. He hissed, but so do
old men with old dentures. Bolts of elec
tricity flew from his fintertips, but I've
seen more sparks leap from those of
cookin' jazz pianists. After all, Luke
withstood his power just by standing,
although I suppose his attempt at looking
majestic had something to do with it.
Even the droids were void of the charms
which made them such perfect foibles in
the previous two episodes. Call them The
Yawn and the Rustless.
Astronomers here on Earth have plotted
many stars since Darth Vader shed his
sheel. Lucas couldn't even plot one. The
situations involving his characters grew so
thin by Jedi that they repeated themselves.
Like all successful soaps, we could have
missed an entire episode without actually
missing anything at all. In fact, cut Return
of the Jedi to 20 minutes, splice it to the end
of The Empire Strikes Back, and Lucas
would have an excellent series of two.
Tolkien's tradition of trilogies would be
shattered by a third, but then again J.R.R.
... a soap-box soap opera
where the suds don't shine
and neither do the stars.
never met a high-tech special effect, and he
got by without commemorative Burger
King glasses.
When a useless bit of plot popped up
like Luke's mysterious sister, it was time to
lose all hope even Ryan 's in creative
storytelling. Gee, let me guess. Who is
Luke's sister?
"It's Leia, isn't it?" Luke solemnly in
toned. Just as solemnly, Obi-Wan replied,
"Your insides serve you well, Luke."
Well guys, my insides were ready to
serve up something quite different. Sur
prise, surprise, Leia is the walk-away
Skywalker. So what, and who cares? Did
it ever matter? A more interesting revela
tion would be the identity of Luke's
mother. I'd like to meet Mrs. Vader once.
And once and for all, what will Lucas
do next? Reports say his nine-part story
will end early at three. Maybe it's time he
moved on to another story, another time,
Another World.
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