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University Daily Kansan, April 2, 1981
On Campus
TODAY
THE STUDENT BAR ASSOCIATION FORUM on "Alternatives to Traditional Legal Practice—The Public Interest Law" at 12:30 p.m. in 104 Green Hall
THE UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S CLUB
IN THE WARNING Room at the Kauai Village
3 p.m. in the Waiting Room in the Kaulau Village
THE UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL FORUM WITH
EXECUTIVE UNIVERSITY CORPORATE OBTAIN AT 2:30
PM THURSDAY, JANUARY 17
THE LIFE-ISSUE SEMINAR ON SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES will discuss "Submission" at 7 p.m. in the Ecumenical Christian Ministries Center.
THE UNIVERSITY COUNCIL will meet at 3:30 p.m. in 108 Blake.
THE HPER DANCE FILM SERIES will show "Mercie Cunningham" and "Invention in Dance" at 9:30 a.m. in 303 Bailey Hall. They will also be shown at 2:30 p.m. in 13 Lipincoch Hall.
THE ART HISTORY COLLOQUIUM with
Ilya Repin* in 211 in the Spencer Museum of
Ilya Repin* in 211 in the Spencer Museum of
THE AEROSPACE ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM will host Harry Johnson, program director of NASA general aviation research, on "Engine Stability and Instabilities Due to Flow Distortion and Other Disturbances" at 3:30 p.m. in 1340 Wescoe.
THE HUMANITIES LECTURE by Hayden White on "Narrative Modes and Ideological Strategies" will be given at 8 p.m. in Woodruff Auditorium in the Union
A STUDENT RECITAL by Jon Lown,
the author of a p. 81 in the Swarthout
Recital Hall in Murphy.
'American Pop' has predictable plot
American Pop, written by Ronni Kern,
directed by Ralph Bakihi.
By MIKE GEBERT Contributing Reviewer
Ralph Bakshi wants "American Pop" treated like film, not like a cartoon. Woolf, sink映 with their plots and screenplays And on that basis, "American Pop" sinks.
The film that "American Pop" most resembles is not-as you might expect—"Fantasia." It is "the Godfather" Now imagine the six and one-half hours of the two "Godfather" films reduced to one hour and 40 minutes. How would you understand "American Pop" story problems.
Zalime emigrates from Russia during a pogrom in which his father is killed. When his mother dies in the Triangle Shirt-Wait Factory fire, he becomes a vaudeville singer, but gets shot in the throat while touring during World War II. He becomes a comic and tries to be a great singer while nurturing mob contacts; she gets killed in a gang war.
Their son, Benny, grows up to be the white front of a black jazz band, marrying the godfather's daughter and getting blown away in World War II while playing the piano. Zalmi finally gets his chance to "sing"—to a Mafia poetage him. Benny's son becomes a beatnik poet and he plays Dylan songs for a Jefferson Airplane-like singer who—did you guess?—QD's shortly after she switches from Grace Slick to Janis Joplin songs. Meanwhile, he had left some
poor waitress in Kansas—which is all corn-helds, you will be pleased to note—with an excellent job.
The kid joins up with his dad in Kansas City, Dad cracks up but leaves Junior the family cocaine business, and Junior uses that leverage to gain a recording contract. Here he joins the punk music scene by singing Bob Seger's "Night Moves."
DOESN'T SOUND like your cup of arsenic- laced tea? Well, it's not so tisque as all the lice.
The film's plot doesn't take much time on cell screen that it did in this review. In fact, the plot is just a bit more clichéd.
told in abbreviated form, 80 years in one-hundred minutes. It's the only movie I've ever seen that has the pace of the short films of the past. But length probably wouldn't help. Brow
Kern's screenplay (written under Bakshi's guidance) is bad enough at under two hours. Don't think I spilled anything by telling the whole story. Every ecliche and every plot turn is visible 10 minutes before it creaks onto the screen.
That's a key to the whole film, to Bakshi's black-tinged vision of America—you gota make it or you die, and then you die anyway. Well, if the characters had some decent dialogue, you could care. But it's ironic that his characters are as flat as the drawings that they are, and Bakshi's vision seems gloomy for gloominess's sake.
THE MUSIC is less complicated, and Bakshi's choices are pretty good. One problem is that the best American music was written as often by blacks as by whites until the 1960s—when the best American music was predominantly British.
However, Bakshi's musical choices are pretty good, considering that he shows acoustic guitar music played on electric guitars and is a representative of the punk music scene. If you can accept Bakshi's characters writing music by everyone from Scott Joplin to Bob Dylan, it certainly does descrive the music the band "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" did
But for me, the most depressing moment in the film is when the "Doors" people are shamed. "Women can't do that," she says.
for *Children.*” If that music, performed by the snot-nosed pusher who knows nothing of his ancestry, is the pinnacle of American pop culture, to maraphrase Mort Salar, Dawin was wrong.
The other advantage that the film has is the animation, of course. And even mediocre Bakshi (as this is) is something to cheer, when surrounded by the Saturday morning dreck that one animation veteran called "radio with pictures."
However, I have definite reservations about the animation as well. Bakshi's art direction is nearly flawless, but the animation is not. Each part of the story is keyed to a visual color scheme—amber for Russia to bright the '60s—and Bakshi's backgrounds are exaggerated so they are filled with little grotesque that add a lot of character. His main characters, however, are all rotocoped—traced from live-action film—in an attempt at realism.
REALISM? The cartoon's greatest asset is surrealism, unrealism—the ability for a coyote to fall a mile, disappear in a puff of smoke, re-appear, ready for the chase in an instant.
There is irony in the fact that audiences seeing "American Pop," if they are lucky or don't pay much attention, will mostly ignore Bakshi's message and enjoy the music and brightly colored animation. There is a lesson in that, which goes right along with the one Bakshi wants to teach: Success kills. Music kills. Happiness kills.
And good music and generally fine animation obscure stupid moralizing.
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SVA FILMS
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Presents
A knockout of a movie
The utmost in suspense
Yves Montand in
STATE OF SIEGE
From the team that made 'Z'
Any resemblance to actual events or to anyone living or dead is not accidental.
from Cinema 5
Thursday, April 2 7:30 p.m. $1.00
ACADEMY AWARD WINNER
Best Foreign Language Film 1979
Produced by FRANZ SELTZ VIRKER CHUNDRIF and ANALEIL DUMAN
Directed by FRANZ SELTZ VIRKER CHUNDRIF based on THE TIMBURR GRAN
Scrubbing by FRANZ SELTZ VIRKER CHUNDRIF
and FRANZ SELTZ in collaboration with UNITED GRANS
RESTRICTED A New World Paper Release
Woodruff Aud. $1.50
Friday and Saturday, April 3 & 4 3:30,7:00,10:00 p.m.
No refreshments allowed
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Thursday, April 2 State of Siege
(1973)
A film by Costa-Garas, director of "Z," A U.S. film is kindled by a group of Latin American revolutionists, placeboeers of Michelle's role in their society. A arriping political drama, with Yves Montan, 7:19 min. (Color, French subtitles, 7:19)
Friday, April 3 The Tin Drum
(1979)
Oscar-winner for Best Foreign Film, Palm D'or winner at Cannes. Based on the Gras surrealist novel, this is the story of a girl who must be revengeed by the world, will himself not to grow up, and it is through his jaded eyes that she learns the Nazis. A perverse, grotesque, brilliant work by Voker Scholldorf (Young Tor), who is a former child star in Angela Winkler, "Scholldorf has created a film that has the dislocating imprint of a childhood friend, anywhere might conjure up." - Richard Schinkel, Time. (142 min) Color. Geer. 7:30-10:00. Friday—7:00 in Bairro.
Unless otherwise noted; all film will be shown at Woodford Auditorium in the building on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday, Saturday, Popular and Sunday films are $2.00 midnight films are $2.00. See your local theater for information as union 4th, level information 864-No smoking or retreats alloweds