u n i v e r s i t y d a i l y k a n s a n
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6A
Entertainment
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Monday, February 17, 1997
Absolute Power ends with a whimper
Despite compelling premise, Eastwood film lacks intrigue
By Jeff Ruby
Kansan staff writer
Absolute Power is anything but. Clint Eastwood's newest film, if you believe the title and the TV trailers, is a thriller intending to explore the intriguing issue of abuse of authority. Instead, the surprisingly low-key film baffles the viewer with watery ideas, flimsily developed characters and an ending so anticlimactic you can't help but feel unfulfilled as you shuffle out the theater.
Eastwood, who produced and directed this half-hearted effort, also sleepwalks through his starring role as Luther Whitney, an accomplished thief. While Whitney is robbing the home of Washington, D.C.'s pre-eminent power
broker, he witnesses a rape attempt that ends in bloody murder.
Of course, important government people are involved and a smoke screen emerges involving the Secret Service, the White House chief of staff and a highranking official played by Gene Hackman.
When those entangled in the murder find out Whitney witnessed the crime and confiscated a key piece of evidence, they attempt to bump off Whitney. Then, inexplicably, they give up, instead opting for his estranged daughter, played by Laura Linne.
The audience expects some twists, exploration of issues and a stimulating finale. But none materialize. Where the ending could have been shocking and powerful, instead it is a lame punch line.
Usually when a movie concludes and the credits roll, its final scene should leave an aftertaste in the viewer's mouth, sometimes savory, sometimes bitter. We
need some sort of flavor, or we have gotten nothing out of the moviegoing experience.
But Absolute Power ends so abruptly, the bewildered audience hasn't even swallowed the half-baked offering vet.
The supporting cast is full of top-notch actors, including Ed Harris as the detective trying to break the case, Judy Davis as the chief of staff and E.G. Marshall as the powerful owner of the home where the crime occurred. But their characters are so one-dimensional, their characterization so bland and routine that they become caricatures falling into uninspired roles.
Absolute Power is one of those movies that the more you discuss it, the more you realize how inadequate it is. While developing sympathy for Whitney and disgust for the government, Eastwood absentmindedly left too many questions unanswered.
It is the mark of a lackluster film when we realize that those questions are not even worth asking.
Clint Eastwood stars in Absolute Power, a film that examines authority, corruption and politics in Washington, D.C.
Mexican serenade
Mexico's Juan Carlos Laguna is one of the leading guitarists of his generation. In 1991, he won the Tokyo International Guitar Competition. He is playing a piece by Gerardo Tamez for the Mexican Festival in Bales Organ Recital Hall.
Alice Melip/KANSAN
Aristophanes' Birds to take flight at Lied Center
Contributed Photo / KANSAN
Actors from the Aquila Theatre Company of London will perform Aristophanes' "Birds tonight at the Lied Center.
By Doug Weinstein
Kansan staff writer
The Student Union Activities' fine arts committee, typically known for its poster sales and gallery exhibits, will bring Aristophanes' Birds to the Lied Center tonight with help from the Classics department and the Western Civilization program.
But having to compete with a KU men's basketball game has a few people concerned about lack of attendance.
"I just hope we can fill it out," Tony Corbeill, assistant professor of classics.
Corbeill said that the last time he spoke with SUA, they had only sold 90 tickets.
The performance begins at 7 p.m.
and costs $7 for KU students and $9 for the public. It runs approximately one hour and 45 minutes.
"I think an average student would want to see this because you'll never see anything like this," said Shannon Hart, Gladstone, Mo., senior and SUA fine arts coordinator.
Birds will be performed by Aquila, a London theatre touring company, which has a great reputation in the Midwest. Hart said.
"They've been to Iowa and Missouri and keep on getting invited back," she said.
SUA has brought the company to *the University for $3,700.
Birds was first performed in 414 B.C. by the Greeks.
"You wouldn't expect a Greek play written 2,500 years ago to be anything like this." she said.
Aquila doesn't use elaborate sets in its production, instead it emphasizes costumes, masks and lighting.
"They have very elaborate costuming and at least one of them is trained in Greek. Some, if not all, have worked for the Royal Shakespeare company." Corbell said.
The play is set in a city stuck in civil strife and corruption. Two men decide to move out in search of a better life and encourage birds to aid them in their quest to build a new city.
"They take the play and translate it from the original copy into an actual script and update it so that it's relevant to the nineties," Hart said. "Success or not, we think it's a cultural experience."
Shakespeare huge this year in Hollywood
Some worry that Bard is forgotten; to others he still shines as a star
By Nicholas C. Charalambous
Kansan staff writer
He's been dead for almost 400 years. He writes in a language few of us understand. He's English — and he's huge in Hollywood.
Shakespeare has inspired a glut of movies lately, but his greatness may not be all that it seems, a KU English professor said.
"None of this has to do with the 'quality' of the writing," said associate professor of English Philip Barnard, who teaches literary theory. "It's a question of cultural power."
Twelfth Night, Richard III, Looking for Richard and Romeo and Juliet all hit the big screen in 1996. Now it's four-hour long Hamlet, the latest offering from English actor-director Kenneth Branagh that combines three versions of the play. Hamlet opened Friday at the Liberty Hall Cinema, 642 Massachusetts St.
Shakespeare is not just a dead playwright, Barnard said, but a cultural institution that has a life of its own. Movies, like Bazz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet, which modernize the plays and make them cool, are the engine of a "Shakespeare industry" that profits movie studios, academics and journalists alike, stopping us from questioning how strange the Shakespeare phenomenon is, Barnard said.
"To look at Shakespeare as great or not great is not an interesting way to look at it. 'Good for what?' is the question," said Barnard, who prefers a social and historical approach to Shakespearean studies.
That attitude has sparked a turf war between those literary scholars who argue for Shakespeare's preeminent status and those who want to take him down a peg or two — a debate likely to be played out at the conference of the Shakespeare Association of America this April in Washington, D.C.
The Bard was in danger of being buried, warned the National Alumni Forum, a nonprofit group concerned about declining academic standards, in a January survey. Only a third of the nation's 70 "top colleges" still require their English majors to study Shakespeare's plays, according to the survey.
A semester's study of Shakespeare still is required for English majors at the University of Kansas, but KU English professor David Bergeron, a Shakespearean expert, said that he wouldn't be surprised if a future departmental vote recommended dropping that requirement.
Bergeron said that he could never convince his students that a particular play was as good as it was. But the Bard deserves his special status, he insisted.
"I don't think you can continuously prop up a writer after 400 years who has nothing going for him."
Richard Hardin, professor of English, said that Shakespeare was undeniably a master dramatist who could still speak to us because the ideas and feelings expressed in his plays, like the desire for revenge, are shared by everyone.
Shakespeare should be required. Hardin said.
"What we're telling them is: 'You really will like this once you read it, but you just have to make the leap of faith,'" he said.
"Teaching Shakespeare says to kids: 'Our culture is based on elite British culture — that's the truth, know it,'" he said. "Even if they still can't read standard English."
James Hummell, Minneapolis, Minn., junior, said that Shakespeare was a stand out for his era, and contemporary drama drew a lot from his work.
"Whether he deserves a class of his own — that might be another question," Hummell said.
KU PRE-VETERINARY CLUB INTRODUCTORY MEETING
Are you interested in the field of Veterinary Medicine and the opportunities it has to offer? Now there's a club for you here at KU, the Pre-Vet Club. Whether your interests lie in attending vet school or interacting with other animal lovers, come and join us!
and join us!
OPlace: 2025 Haworth
Time: 7:30 p.m.
For more information, please feel free to contact Matt Riegel at 833-2293, or mrigel@falcon.ceu.kans.us.
ODate: Tuesday, February 18
QDate: Tuesday, February 18
Are you carrying around enough Dead presidents? If not...
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NABI Biomedical Center 816 W 24th (Behind Laird Noller Ford) 749-5750
USING THE INTERNET IN THE JOB SEARCH
A workshop on conducting an electronic job search.
Monday, February 17, 1997 - 3:30pm 149 Burge Union
Tuesday, April 15, 1997 - 3:30pm 149 Burge Union
These workshops are meant to expose students to the Internet as it relates to the job search process. Participants will be given a brief overview of the Internet and an introduction to the types of resources available online to assist them in their job search. There is no charge for attending this workshop.
Sign-up at the University Placement Center
110 Purdue Union, 864-3624, www.purdue.edu
110 Burge Union 864 - 3624 www.ukans.edu/~upc