Page 8 - The Behrend College Collegian Thursday, February 5, 1998
New Film lives up to Great
as inn a
York in Great Evectations
Music Review:
Jean presents The Carnival
by John Amorose
staff writer
A hip hop album that's violence
free, keeps the obscenities to a
minimum, and shuns the art of
sampling? That's unheard of in the
19905. Why be original when you can
take the beat from a record that's
already a hit (how many times can an
artist sample "The Jungle")? It's just
too risky to make your own music, it
might not go quadruple platinum, and
everybody knows "it's all about the
Benjamins, baby."
If you've nodded your head to any
of these questions, don't buy Wyclef
Jean's new album The Carnival. ,
Wyclef ridicules the hip hop
establishment, and with guitar in hand
and dreadlocks twisted, he has
changed the face of rap.
The Carnival is a circus of sound;
combining Caribbean beats, live
guitars, and the occasional symphonic
accompaniment, all under one
ethnically rich, yet universally
appreciated big top. The opening
track, "Apocalypse," is a simple,
stripped-down rhyme, backed by a
haunting female vocal from Christian
Langlade's "Concerto for One Voice,"
giving the song a middle-Eastern,
western-Jersey feel.
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"Gone 'Till November" is where
Wyclef truly shines. Finally he
unleashes his Marley-esque singing
voice that made him famous with the
Fugees. The song features Jean's
acoustic guitar jelling with members
of the New York Philharmonic
The Carnival is a circus of sound;
combining Caribbean beats, live
guitars, and the occasional
symphonic accompaniment, all
under one ethnically rich, yet
iuniversally appreciated big top.
Orchestra, creating a miasma of sound
that overwhelms the senses and
tickles the emotions.
The catchiest tune on The Carnival
is "We Still Trying to Stay Alive," the
one and only cover song on the album;
a groovier, funk-loaded version of the
legendary Bee Gee's hit "Stayin'
Alive." With a masterful baritone
appearance by fellow Fugee, Pras, and
that ever present, infectious guitar rift,
this is a track that will he heard at
parties and weddings for the next ten
years, and is worth the price of the
Chicken pox is
"crusted
Sponsored by
The Health and Wellness Center
ye a passion
Wyclef
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behrcoll4 @ aol. corn
lesions
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Features
evening toge
album itself
The only problems that I have with
this effort by Wyclef is the various
"intro's" spaced throughout the
album, especially the ongoing "trial"
of Wyclef. These breaks in the music,
although extremely popular in rap
today, are completely
unnecessary and take
from the flow of music.
The attempt at a cheap
laugh is not worth
compromising the
credibility and
seriousness of the
work.
The Carnival also
f6fitre§tauryiv Hill of
the Fugeeg, as well as
the sultans of sap the
Neville brothers, in a surprisingly
catchy and almost completely un
nauseating love song, "Mona Lisa."
The album, as a whole, is a variable
roller coaster of tempos, and should
he recognized along side the best rap/
hip hop albums of all time. On my
classes-I'd-skip-to-go-see-him-scale,
Wyclef Jean receives a four and a half
out of five. He's the Bob Marley of
our generation, and his imagination
and musical genius is unmatched in
modern hip hop.
Featured in next
week's issue...
Jon Stubbs' review of the
new film Sphere
John Amorose's review of
Pearl Jam's new album Yield
by Kristi McKim
features editor
What originally is a fine novel de
picting one boy's encounters with
Britain's social classes has been tre
mendously altered into an American
ized, 'loosely adapted' cinematic ver
sion of Great Expectations.
This transformation of Charles
Dickens' classic focuses not so much
on the conflicts between the working
class and aristocracy, as it highlights
the dynamics among levels of artistic
impulse and capitalistic success.
Directed by Alfonso Cuaron (A
Little Princess), who proclaims David
Lean's 1946 version of Great Expec
tations as one of his favorite films,
this 1990 s self-termed "elaboration
rather than adaptation" of the novel
proves entirely magnificent for its fine
cinematic achievements.
Cuaron's Great Expectations, as
opposed to Dickens', will not he re
membered for its linguistic depth or
literary greatness; the script is not
particularly memorable or fantastic.
Rather, this 1998 version lives as a
classic for our time—as an epic of
film-making, an exotic spectacle, an
entirely sensual, tasteful rendering of
unrequited love and fulfilled dreanis.
This film explores timeless themes
of subversive wanting and suppressed
passion— the ways in which love can
render one entirely numb to all other
previous desires, and sometimes-dan
gerously cause one to hold too 'great'
of 'expectations' for oneself.
Ethan Hawke stars as Finnegan
Bell, the movie's version of Philip
"Pip" Pirrip. As the charming Finn,
Hawke proves his versatile acting
ability: he retains child-like inno
cence and curiosity while expressing
a rugged, intense sensuality.
As the artist who paints out of pure
impulse and inspiration, Hawke jux
taposes elements of his best roles
(from Dead Poet's• Society and Before
Sunrise) to present the complexity of
a character at once naive, spontane
ous, and fun-loving. Sufficiently ren
dering his character's absolute des
peration and longing for the unattain
able Estella, Hawke seems natural as
the lovesick, almost-pathetic Roman
tic hero.
In the role of the icy Estella
Dinsmoor, Gwyneth Paltrow acts ex
quisitely as the long-time recipient of
Finn's passions. Paltrow talentedly
transforms a rather shallow, flatly
written character into a three-dimen
sional rendering of one woman's pres
sures to remain numb to love's warm-
Finn (Ethan Hawke) is shocked when, several years later, Lustig (Robert De Niro) visits him in New York
Expectations
ing qualities
Conditioned to behave with indif
ference toward men, Estella gains a
greater depth with Paltrow's fine de
piction of the opposing pressures of
womanhood: to remain independent
and self-sufficient, while being open
to love and marriage. As the glam
ourously-sophisticated Estella,
Paltrow has never looked more stun
ning. But on the other hand, she has
never acted more obnoxious or con
ceited; in the space of her character,
though, such annoying traits are jus
tified.
The film relies on the tension gen
erated between Paltrow's and
Hawke's characters; Hawke's intense
passion versus Paltrow's subtle, un
spoken desire provides for a remark
ably-breathtaking dynamic of sensual
spontaneity.
In a supporting role as Ms.
Dinsmoor, a wealthy and hitter re
cluse deserted twenty years earlier on
her wedding day, Anne Bancroft de
livers a rather gaudy adaptation of the
novel's Miss Havisham. Since
Dinsmoor offers nothing more to the
film than her cosmetically-plastered,
elaborately-costumed presence, her
character grows increasingly irritat
ing and repulsive. Bancroft, though,
in her experience and talent, is capable
of squeezing out of her utterly bland
character some scenes of genuine
warmth.
In the film's version of Magwitch,
Robert DeNiro plays escaped convict
Lustig. Though far too easily
enamoured with Finn's generosity,
Lustig proves to be an otherwise be
lievable character. DeNiro does as
best he can to portray the pitiful hope
lessness of this ex-mob-assassin. As
always, DeNiro delivers a fine perfor
mance, regardless of the predictabil
ity of his character.
Nonetheless, the splendor of
Hawke and Paltrow overshadow the
less-developed plot lines of the sup
porting characters. While such a
chemistry can be attributed to the ac
tors' talents, the directing also contrib
utes to the particular fineness of the
film.
In Great Expectations, Cuaron fo
cuses on the minute intricacies of
character interrelations—and makes
the subtle passions or unspoken words
resonate far beyond the realm of ver
bal capacity. The power of merely a
look to convey years of repressed pas
sions, the delicate beauty and fervent
longing which a small breath, a shared
glance can evoke, the freedom of
uninhibition and spontaneity—all of
these otherwise indescribable mo
ments are captured eloquently within
the frame of the film.
In addition to the visual spectacle,
this film includes the sultry sounds of
Tori Amos ("Siren"), the groovy tunes
of STP's ex-vocalist, Scott Weiland
("Lady, Your Roof Brings Me
Down"), classic rock of the Grateful
Dead ("Uncle John's Band"), the in
tense driving melody of Pulp ("Like
A Friend"), and the breathily-chilling,
nearly-intoxicating sounds of
Soundgarden's Chris Cornell
("Sunshower"), providing for an ap
propriately amazing soundtrack to
accompany the gorgeous scenes. The
score, composed by Patrick Doyle
(most noted for his work in Sense &
Sensibility, Henry V and Handel), is
also expectedly fine.
The photography and cinematogra
phy serve to showcase nicely the well
produced/directed scenes. Director of
Photography Emmanuel Lubelli
(who also did exquisite work with A
Walk in the Clouds and Like Water
For Chocolate) coordinates the ele
ments of production, making fine use
of shadow, space and lighting to pro
duce an overall magical effect.
With such a tremendous Hollywood
spectacle inevitably comes the Hol
lywood-esque problems as well. Such
are obvious in the far-too-easy narra
tive and the overly-pared-down plot
lines. While the film is gorgeous for
its visual strengths, beautiful acting,
and musical components, the actual
plot has no complexity, not to men
tion an absolute lack of overall devel
opment whatsoever.
Granted, Hawke's Finn is central to
the film; but it should not be the case
that the film's conclusion should con
sist of thirty minutes in which each
character has his/her epiphanic mo
ment in the arms of Finn—a far too
easy ending for an otherwise gorgeous
picture.
Aside from the simplistic narrative
and shallow plot (a far cry from
Dickens' complexly-structured
novel), Cuaron's Great Expectations
holds an overall grace which over
fiholikowiriihe film's faults.
With its fine directing, superb act
ing, and effective mixing of
soundtrack with visual image, Great
Expectations delivers a luscious spec
tacle of breathtaking scenes, beauti
ful pieces of art in themselves—and
when considered together (with the
exclusion of a few overly-melodra
matic, far-too-easy scenes) provide
for a tremendous work of art—abso
lutely worth seeing. (three stars)