Meredith Herald
March 7, 2001
8 Campus Reviews
The Mexican less than smokin’
JENNIEFER BCIYCF
Slatt Writer
It's about time. We've been
wondering for ages when i(
was going lo happen. She’s
been seen with Hugh Grant.
Richard Cere and nearly every
other pretty boy in Hollywood.
He’s been on screen with
Geena Davis. Susan Sarandon
and many other Hollywood
Venuses. And now, finally, it
has arrived—Julia Roberts and
Brad Pitt are starring in a
motion picture together What
should audiences expect?
Roberts and Pitt star in the
new movie The Mexican,
which hit theaters last Friday.
This movie is rated R and is
directed by Gore Verbinski.
A young man named Jerry
(Pitt) is a small-time criminal
who has one last job that he
must complete. His girlfriend.
Samantha (Roberts), on the
other hand, is ready to settle
down and threatens to leave for
Las Vegas if he lakes the final
job.
The job is to go to Mexico in
search of a special antique pis
tol called ‘The Mexican.” This
pistol is cursed because whoev
er comes in contact with it usu
ally ends up dead, either
because the gun backfires or
something goes wrong.
For instance, the gun was a
w'edding gift to a nobic man
from a gunsmith. However, the
marriage of the noble man and
his bride never occurred as a
result of the curse of the pistol.
Jerry’s last a.ssignment is (o
retrieve the gun. Samantha
does not want him to leave
becausc the last job that he had
was supposed to be the final
one before they settled down.
He leaves in search of the pis
tol, and she leaves for Las
Vegas.
Beware, this movie is a long
one. The search for the pistol is
extended far beyond the length
that is necessary and practical
for keeping the audience’s
attention. The comedy is also
very dry.
Sure, the audience laughed
occasionally, but it would be a
stretch to call this movie a
hilariously funny comedy.
Perhaps the end is the best
part of the entire movie.
I was highly disappointed
that a talented actor and actress
such as Pitt and Roberts would
star in a movie with such an
insignificant and low-quality
plot.
Oveiall, The Mexican was
not worth the $7.25 that
most theaters arc currently
charging.
However, if you are inter
ested in seeing Roberts and
Pitt star in the movie togeth
er and can tolerate dry com
edy and a lengthy, ongoing
adventure with a plot that
lacks complexity then this a
movie that you should defi
nitely go see.
Hopefully. the next
attempt of Roberts and Pill,
should they decide to co-star
in a movie again, will noi be
such a disappointment.
See, believe at NC Museum of Art’s latest
exhibition—and it’s free
I.AUKA WEI.COS
Guest Writer
it has been said that the best
things in life are free, and the
Museum of Art on Blue Ridge
Road in Raleigh exemplifies
this adage. There is no admis
sion charge for the museum’s
current exhibition, which runs
through Apr. I. 2(X)1. The
exhibit—entitled Is Seeing
Believing? The Real. The Sur
real, The Unreal in Contempo
rary Photography—presents
works by twelve contemporary
photographers.
^Before you walk through the
exhibit of 30 large-formal pho
tographs, prepare to embark on
a journey of visual and mental
intrigue. If you expect to see
the natural beauty found in
An.sel Adams’ wilderness land
scapes or the stark realism of
Dorothy Lange’s Depression
portraits, then you may be sur
prised.
These photographs have
been crafted using costuming,
props, set design and sculpture
10 create abstract visual
images. Allow yourself time to
spend with each photograph,
deciphering what is real and
what has been manipulated.
At the entrance of the exhib
it hall, there is a comfortable
viewing room where you can
sit and watch tapes of the pho
tographers at work. The film of
William Wogman working with
his canine models is worth the
40 minutes it takes to see it.
The portraits of Wegman’s
Weimaraners, which have
graced postcards, calendars
and the cover of the New York
er. are perhaps the most famil
iar photographs in the exhibit.
Another tape shows the
tedious and precise creative
process that Sandy Skoglund
uses to make
her pho
tographs,
Skoglund’s
sets are labori
ously arranged
to create
detailed
scenes that
look like lucid
dream scapes.
In Fox Games,
b I o o d - r e d
sculptures of
foxes in vari
ous action
poses are scat
tered through
out a mono-
chromatic
gray dining
room .scene. In
this photo
graph, the
fleshy tone of
human faces is
the only ele
ment that
evokes an
image of reali
ty
Each artist
uses a unique method to create
his or her images, Laurie Sim
mons fabricates costumes for
her human subjects out of inan
imate objects, and u.ses them to
crcate fictional characters seen
in her photographs Walking
House and Walking Camera I
(Jimmy ihe Camera).
Patrick Nagatani uses docu
mentary-stylc photography to
reinvent histor-y and make a
cultural statentent. And James
Snitzer illumi'nates environ
mental and social concerns by
combining text with fabricated
landscapes.
In their collaborative works,
Valeriy Gerloving and Rimma
Gerlovina use portraiture,
words and
abstract
symbols to
give their
artwork a
mythologi
cal feel. My
favorite
print by
these pho
tographers
is a profile
of a
woman's
pale face set
against a
black back
ground. A
hand and an
arm, which
seem
unconnect
ed lo her, or
U) each
other, are
suspended
in Ihe dark
ness, Her
face is
framed by a
hammock
of hair.
which has a fiame burning at
the tip.
Many of the photographers
capture their own image in
their works.
In her series of self-portrails,
Cindy Sherman borrows iden-
tilies from the subjects of ihc
old masters’ paintings. The
elaboralely designed costumes
and sets lead one to believe that
these pictures are traditional oil
portraits, Bui on clo.ser exami
nation, you see that the hands
of the model are real and that
the picture is a photograph
rather lhan a painting,
Janieta fiyre also u.ses sell-
portrails in her photographs.
Through double exposure, she
creates twin sisters whose iden
tities seem similar at first, until
the intricate and unusual details
in the pictures draw your atten
tion to the differences.
The self-portraits that are the
most unusual, bui perhaps the
most realistic, are Chuck
Close’s holograms. The set of
holographic images show the
photographer's head, in vari
ous positions, suspended in
space inside of four consecu
tive boxes,
I left this exhibition ponder
ing my perceptions of reality.
The photographers have suc
cessfully used their craft lo cre
ate a perspective of photo
graphic art work that reveals
more layers lhan ihe eyes can
see.
William Wegman's Segovia is just one of the pieces on dis
play at the North Carolina Museum of Art.
pHo ro CoijRTESV NC Mii.seijm oi- Am