University Daily Kansan
Thursday, June 28, 1975
3
Film tense, sporadic
By CHUCK SACK Kansan Reviewer
Watching the characters in a film directed by John Cassavetes is like watchdogs in a court crawl through a mine field. The occurrences of bursts are painful because of the destruction they cause, and yet they are strangely soft, and they afford a temporary break in the tension.
Cassavettes's most recent effort, "A Woman Under the Influence," is filled with explosions that tear at the viewer's sensibilities.
Like "Scenes from a Marriage" and other recent pictures with strong female roles, these scenes have been a staple of the show.
REVIEW
sop operas. It concentrates on few days married couple, Mabel and Nick Longethi.
The first days take place just before Mabel's mental breakdown; the last afternoon is set six months later, when she returns from a mental institution. What raises "Woman" above its soapy subject is Cassavette's approach to directing.
Like several of his contemporaries, Cassavetts relies on improvisation during filming to arrive at the focal point of his scenes.
Instead of asking his actors to play directly to the camera, Cassaveves gives them the chance to direct the characters and uses the camera to follow where they lead. Such a style requires creative, concentrated acting, and directing skills, which are essential to the presence of Gena Rowlands as Mabel.
Mabel's breakdown is almost complete when the movie opens, so that Rowlands' wild gesturing, all thumbs and forefingers, never seen the character acting normal,
Rowland is very effective in capturing the manners of a woman who lacks an understanding of what she is doing.
"I can be anything you tell me, Nicky," she moans.
Yet she is equally convincing when she confides to her three children, "I never did anything in my whole life except I made you guys."
Peter Falk is less satisfactory as Nick. Perhaps because his acting resources are so familiar from "Columbo," Falk never seems natural.
The contrast between Falk's acting and that of Rowlands, who was nominated for an Academy Award, is indicative of the texture of the film as a whole.
His portrait of Nick, a man who loves his wife so desperately that he tries to ignore the signs of insanity and pretend that they are normal. He screams "Be yourself!" at Mabel, one wishes that the actor would settle down in the calmer passages and follow his wife.
Cassavaethes, also nominated for an Academy Award, pursues the improvisation so fiercely that some scenes feel unfocused and tedious. Such periods are usually succeeded by sequences of raw power that are given from precisely the same source. Consistency may seem to be inhabited by manic-depressives.
"A Woman Under the Influence" is the type of film that one would hesitate to recommend to friends, because it is a collection of moments rather than a sustained presentation. However, those moments, as in the scene where Mabel is permitted to play a role, are imprinted in the type of improvisation used, in more controlled form, by such directors as Robert Alman, Bernardo Bertoluci and Martin Scorsese, will not dare miss it.
Although Bavarian gentians, a rainbow and a cow named the Jack of Hearts taught by an author who created these images had a common purpose behind their works, Doug Mackey, Lawrence graduate student and instructor of transcendental meditation,
D. H. Lawrence, author of the poem "Bavarian Gentians," Tom Pynchon, author of the novel "Gravity's Rainbow" and Bob Dylon, writer of the song "Lily, All Descended to Hearts" all deserved the quest for the higher form of consciousness, Mackey said.
These writers, Mackey said, prophesied the coming of Jesus to that is peculiar American society.
Pyronch, on the other hand, believes that higher states of awareness are available to the masses but not to the aristocracy, according to Mackey.
Lawrence, according to Mackey, was constantly seeking higher levels of consciousness from which a rich perception of the world would be available.
Mackey said that Lawrence thought attainment of higher levels of consciousness wasn't for the masses and that only a few could transcend reality.
Pynchon tithed his novel "Gravity's Rainbow" because gravity represents the compelling force exerted by the select group who rule the world and the rainbow as a rocket manned by the masses trying to escape the pull of gravity, said Mackey.
Like Pynchon and Lawrence, Dylan also the consciousness explosion, said Mackey.
Mackey said Dylan characterized the undertainability of the 1960s in the song "Blowin' in the Wind," and the disillusionment of the band a recently released song, "Idiot Wind."
Three writers find awareness out of chaos
By JAIN PENNER Kansan Staff Reporter
BILLY SPEARS BAND—At 8:30 p.m.
tomorrow at the Free State Opera House.
TREE FROG—At 8:30 p.m. Saturday at
the Free State Opera House.
GRADUATE RECTAL-Carol Franklin, organist. At 8 toight in Swanktout Recital
ramage. This movie should frighten most people, and after all, isn't that what we want? Directed by Steven Spielberg, a 28-year-old actress who is the director Dreyfuss, Roy Schieder and Robert Shaw.
IN CONCERT
CHINATOWN—One of the best movies of 1974 is back for a second time. With Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Cusack, it portrays Andy Warhol, who also portrays a professorial nose silencer.
AMERICAN KEYBOARD MUSIC-
Lawrence Chamber Players. George
Bobber, conductor. At 3 p.m. Sunday in
Snooner Art Museum.
FRENCH CONNECTION II--Atlantic
his a sequel to "French Connection," this
movie was directed by John
Brown, raw director of the
first one. William Friedkin.
ON SCREEN
SIX-DAY BIKE RIDER--Mediorec 1984
film starring Joe E. Brown. Directed by Lloyd Bacon. At 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in Woodruff Auditorium.
Check advertisements for the time and place of the following movies;
BAMBI-One of Walt Disney's finest. Delightful for kids and adults.
GONE WITH THE WIND - Superlatives are superflous to describe this 1939 film *Superman*, Clark Gayle and Victorian Leigh Directed by Geoffrey Fleming. p.m. Saturday in the University Theatre.
THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF
ZARA! This is your idea of eroclism,
[for solstice]
[for solstice]
THE GENERAL-This 1926 Buster Keaton film is considered by many to be one of the greatest silent movies ever made. At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Wooldorf Auditorium.
A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE—
Another one of John Cassavettes' searing
portraits of people under pressure. See
review.
JAWS—Flipper as a shark and on a
1
Good from Thurs.,
June 26 to
Thurs.,
July 3
"SIZZLER SPECIAL"
$ \frac{1}{2} $ lb. Super Burger and French Fries 88° with coupon reg. $ 1.59
1518 West 23rd St.
SIZZLER FAMILY STEAK HOUSE Locally Owned & Managed Catering & Banquets
NEW HOURS:
11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sun.-Thurs.
11 a.m.-12 p.m. Fri.-Sat.
FALL SPECIAL OFFERS 1975
Architectural Digest 6 | 12 issues $15.95
Argosy 8 | 12 issues $3.95
Atlantic Monthly 10 | 12 issues $4.80
Boating 12 | 12 issues $4.50
Bombardier 8 | 12 issues $3.99
Car & Driver 12 | 12 issues $3.99
Children's Digest 12 | 12 issues $4.98
Ebony 12 | 12 issues $8.00
Esquire 12 | 12 issues $5.88
Health 12 | 12 issues $3.98
Fortune 21 | 12 issues $16.75
Glamour 12 | 12 issues $7.97
Golf Digest 11 | 12 issues $3.97
Harper's Magazine 11 | 12 issues $4.49
Housing & Garden 12 | 12 issues $7.97
House & Garden 12 | 12 issues $7.97
Humpty Dumpty's 12 | 12 issues $4.98
McCall's 12 issues $4.95
Modern Photography 12 issues $4.95
Modern Screen 15 issues $5.98
New Times 16 issues $6.00
Outdoor Life 12 issues $3.27
Parent's Magazine 12 issues $4.88
Popular Photography 12 issues $3.99
Popular Science 12 issues $3.47
Popular Today 12 issues $3.97
Redbook 12 issues $5.97
Rudder 12 issues $3.98
Skling 7 issues $3.49
Stereo Review 12 issues $3.99
Tell it Like It 7.77
Weight Watchers 12 issues $5.95
Young Miss 14 issues $4.98
ADVENTURE a bookstore
Hillcrest Shopping Center 9th & Iowa
843-6424
These offers good from July 1, to Dec. 31, 1975
When We Have a SALE. . .
We Have a SALE
DRESSES up to 40% off many under $10.00 longs and shorts
PANTS 20% off includes denims and shorts
HALTERS from $2.99 Super for Hot Summer Days
TOPS 15%-40% off all kinds blouses T-shirts Halter Sets
SLEEPWEAR 30% off famous maker
BAGS, HATS & JEWELRY up to $1/2 off or more
SHOES 1/3 off or more