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Show tAIM MSCOXID SECTION O ' - - - - n 11 jark Record Thursday, January 1 4, 1988 Page B1 "Aii revoir les enfants" opens fest By RONGEORG Record staff writer Louis Malle, producer of "Pretty Baby," the 1977 story of a girl growing grow-ing up in a brothel, once again demonstrates his exceptional ability to document the traumas a child must face and overcome to develop in society with his United States Film Festival premiere, "Au revoir les Enfants." The film is even more poignant than "Pretty Baby," as it is an autobiographical interpretation of an event in Malle's life more obscene than anything which goes on ina brothel. The setting is January, 1944, at the beginning of the second semester at the Petit College in Fontainebleau, a Catholic boys boarding school. Julian Quentin, Malle's reflection, is a 12-year-old boy at the school, the youngest student there. The movie centers around Julian's perceptions of the school, and Malle uses a wonderfully light touch in portraying por-traying his own youth without attat-ching attat-ching too much retrospective inspec "Moonstruck' a fatalistic attraction By RONGEORG Record staff writer Everyone with a bit of imaginative freedom knows the feeling. It's like a mystic bubble bath, washing over you with waves of irreverance, cleansing inhibitions, leaving your soul open and receptive and all you can do it blame it on the moon. "Moonstruck" is the name of the ailment, and of the film starring Cher and Nicolas Cage which will be sort of premiering during the United States Film Festival. Sort of, because ; the film was not only . premiered in Salt Lake last week, it opens Jan. 15, the day before its film festival premiere. MGMUA's unfortunate choice to move up the release date, however, shouldn't dim the opening of this exceptional ex-ceptional comedy. Not only will the Park City premiere be In the Egyptian Egyp-tian Theatre, writer John Patrick Shanley will introduce the film. "Moonstruck" is a comedy along the lines of Sam Fuller's "After Hours." In "Moonstruck," however, the lives of an entire family are mischieviously and haphazardly rearranged, instead of just twisting one life, as in "After Hours." The film takes place over three days, while the moon is full, naturally. natural-ly. The characters involved are all from an Italian neighborhood in New York City, thick with old-world ambiance. am-biance. Cher demonstrates her versatility in this film. She has transcended her "Half-Breed" image of the seventies to create this completely convincing Italian woman. Her character is a practical woman, apparently an accountant by trade. She wears her hair up, indifferent in-different to the gray sprouting Dramatic competition The focus of the United States Film Festival is the independent film competition. The festival attracts at-tracts some of the most vital and interesting documentary and dramatic films in the world, and the competition is a chance to honor these accomplishments. Tickets are still available As of press time, ticket sales for the United States Film Festival are going quite well, but there are still a good number of tickets available for those of you who've been putting off making your reservations, whether you want to spend $5 or $750. If you're the idle rich sort, and you'd rather not be bothered with choosing your films, or even with having your butler do it, you can buy a Fast Pass any time. This is just like a first-class plane ticket, you board at your leisure, avoiding the ticket desk and going go-ing straight for the gate, for only $750. On a more pedestrian level, there are still a few package deals left While there were three packages, A, B, and daytimcrs, we can ignore B, It's sold out. Package A allows you entrance to the Opening Night Party in Salt Lake City, 15 CompetitionArgentina CompetitionArgen-tina Special Screenings, two premiere screenings, three seminars, all scheduled receptions, recep-tions, and admission to the Hospitality Suite. Package A runs from Jan. 15-19, and It costs $250. tion of his own character, In doing so, he creates a real child. Julian is on the verge of adolescence, and he will have grown tremendously by the end of the film, but he is still very much a child. His understanding of the world around him, deeper than that of most of the boys around him, is still quite colored col-ored by his hormonal changes. This depth of character is revealed reveal-ed through Julian's relationship with another student, Jean Bonet. Bonet is a new student. Thin of face and body, and academically inclined, Bonet is at first mistreated by his classmates. Prodded by Father Jean, the headmaster, head-master, Julian befriends Bonet. Soon, however, Julian discovers Bonet is actually not his friend's name, that he is hiding. Julian recognizes the name as Jewish, and he keeps' Bonet 's secret despite some of their childish squables. While he is at times tempted temp-ted to reveal it, Julian feels the weight of Bonet's dilema when he sees Bonet's reaction to German soldiers. The movie is extremely subtle as it winds through a short time at the 4 I - if' l"!r .... Cher and Nicolas Cage, after through. 1 She has had bad luck in marriageher mar-riageher husband was hit by a bus. At 37, she is about to marry again. This time, however, everything will be just right. Her first try was jinxed, because she was blinded by love the first time. She married in a hurry then, ignoring tradition, and she wants to head into her second marriage with more dignity. Since she doesn't love her fiance, that seems easy. Chosen by five members of the cinematic community, the dozen films in the dramatic competition have been narrowed from dozens, and they are an eclectic representation of what independent indepen-dent film makers are doing. The dramatic competition is The cheapest package is the Daytimer's, at just $100. For that, you can go to 15 Competition ArgentinaSpecial Screenings before 6 p.m., as well as four seminars before 6 p.m. The pass also admits you to the Hospitality Suite. ..- Aside from the packages, there are still lots of tickets left for people peo-ple who just want to see one or two movies. Some of the evening tickets are going quickly, but most of the daytime shows have a good bit of room left. Except premieres, which are $10, all presentations are $5. All of the premieres have been sold out, but reserved tickets which have not been claimed 15 minutes before a show will be sold to the public on a first come, first serve basis. According to ticket sales people, there are usually at least a few no-shows for each performance. , Tickets are available locally at Treasure Mountain Inn, or at show box offices before a screening. screen-ing. Reservations can be made by calling 322-1700. boarding school. Much of the film is i devoted to life at the school during the war, reflecting much of the sacrifice even children had to make for the war effort. The frivolity of children's lives is shackled by the war at times, but the children's understanding of war is always blurred by their youth. Playing Play-ing war games in the woods doesn't present any conflict for these children who are subjected to the horrors of war. Eventually, the war interrupts their lives in a tragic and powerful way. The movie is destined to be a classic examination of prejudice, as it examines the depth to which the subject can penetrate the normally shallow soul of a child. Tickets to "Au revoir les Enfants" are still available for the opening night at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake, Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m., for $20. Tickets to the Park City showing, Jan. 23 at 4 p.m. in the Egyptian Theatre, are sold out. Unclaimed, reserved tickets, however, will go or . sale at the Egyptian box office fifteen fif-teen minutes prior to the screening. . , . wis. their encounter with lunar forces. Then comes the moon. It brings with it her fiance's hot-tempered, opera-loving, brother Nicolas Cage. From there on out, the characters lose control, starting with Cher and Cage. It's not their fault, of course. Nor is it mass hysteria, they're simply overflowing with the animal side of humanity. The moon is pulling their collective tide, so to speak. It would be silly to really delve into in-to the plot here. It is a movie full of offerings also a showcase for the actors who work with the independents. While the movies will feature a number of stars, from Sonny Bono to Kevin Bacon, part of the charm of these films is the introduction in-troduction of new faces to the screen. Film Festival organizers have made some changes in the dramatic line-up since publishing their Film Guide. "Made in U.S.A." which had been billed as an environmentalist's "Easy Rider," has been canceled. "Valentino Returns" has also been canceled, and its place has been taken by "Avalon." Avalon "Avalon," a film by John J. Anderson, looks like the most poetic offering of the festival. Its setting is a fifteenth century village. A young man of the village is troubled by prescient images of disease, and his fellow villagers run him . off when' his prophecy turns real. Fenian, the young man, has a revelation while on his journey. The revelation can't be expressed, express-ed, but it has something to do with Avalon, a island outside the realm of time. The movie's producer aims to make a film "intended to read like a myth or a book of illumination illumina-tion with the action moving through a still landscape." See DRAMA on B2 ST ' 4r " i .'-. i, f ir . ; V Raphael Fejto and Gaspard (Goodbye, children)" love, silliness, and the pragmatic acceptance ac-ceptance of how love and silliness affect af-fect us. Tickets for "Moonstruck" and all other premieres are sold out. However, unclaimed, reserved tickets will go on sale 15 minute before any given screening. "Moonstruck" opens Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Egyptian Theatre, and can also be seen, if you can get a ticket, Jan. 17 at 10 a.m. at the Aston Genesis Theatre. Tickets are $10. (, ' v i . This is one of the sketch's by John Lennon brought to life the best of North American animation." . Cartoons find a place in The films produced for the United States Film Festival are produced by independents, but none are as independent as those in "Picture Independence: The Best of North American Animation." Anima-tion." Animation expert Charles Solomon has gathered 13 shorts from this program of the unltimate in independence. These filmakers are not only free from the constraints of a large studio, Manesse, the young stars of Quick sell-outs: Film Festival premieres The United- States Film Festival will preview three movies other than "Moonstruck" and Au fevior les Enfants including in-cluding a recent entry, "Zeily and Me," which la not listed in the Film Festival's Film Guide. ZeuyandMe - Like "Enfants,' the new entry centers around a child's discovery of some inner truths. Starring Alexandra Jones, as the girl, as well as Isabella Rftfisillini, the film was directed by Tina "ftatbbortie: Jones;" Ralhborne; Rossillini, and producers Tony Mark and Sue Jett are all ' scheduled to be at the show's opening Jan, 23. ' Tapeheads - , Also premiering at the festival is "Tapeheads,' an appropriate offering from the man who collaborated col-laborated on songs like ''Auntie Grizelda," and dressed up as part of a gang of unlikely super -beros called "Monkey Men." That man is Michael Nesmith, former member of one of history's oddest concepts, the television-rock band, the Monkeys. Nesmith is the ex ecuti ve producer of "Tapeheads," a movie about some entrepenuers who work by - the slogan, "We do what we gotta, got-ta, so we can do what we wanna." With Nesmith's backing, It's not hard to believe organizers' they are also free from the constraints con-straints of physical law and theory; they are dependent only on imagination. Some of the shorts assembled are abstract, including Sara Petty's "Picture Window," a study of cubist forms in motion. Amy Kravitz's, "The . River Lethe" uses graphite and aluminum powder to create wind and water which suggest some other forms. Bob Kurtz, in "Drawing on My . i-- - 1 1 . i 1 '' fmmmm ' VS inn mi i .1 niiiil I1 1 "Au revoir les enfants ? claims the movie is as eccentric as Rocky Horror, The film is irreverent ir-reverent slapstick, with a vital story line which goes where it pleases. Hopefully, the movie will be every bit as silly, but more well produced, than Nesmith's legacy. "Tapeheads" will be preceded by a ten minute film called, "Not Just Any Flower, a short about what happens when a rose shouldn't be a rose. Ben-Hor Finally, this year's restoration premiere Is an offering from' archivists ar-chivists Kevin Bronlow and David Gill, who have restored Fred Niblo's classic epic, "Ben-Hur" "Ben-Hur" to its 128-minute glory. Originally produced in 1925, the film was dne of the last great epics of an era which began a decade earlier with D. W, Griffith's Grif-fith's controversial, "The Birth of a Nation." ;? ? Created at the height of the art, "Ben-Hur" has left a cinematic legacy for its proportion the sea battle and the chariot race are two of the most spectacular undertakings of the time. Organizers hope to provide live score for the Jan. 20 screening at the Egyptian Theatre. Unfortunatly. tickets to all screenings of each of these premieres are sold out. However, unclaimed, reserved tickets will go on sale on a first come, first serve basis fifteen minutes before each screening. ' in "Picture Independence: festival Mind," combines his animation r with George Carlin's often unusual humor to create a comic collage. M One of the more intriguing entries en-tries is the "John Lennon Sketchbook." Sket-chbook." Lennon has been praised prais-ed by some as a talented artist, and he enjoyed creating cartoon characters. Animator John Canemaker has brought life to some of these characters in this short. |