The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 24, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February 12, 1985 Page: 5 of 12
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WRESHER FINE /4RTS
Excellent cinematography helps Paris, but acting lets it down
Paris, Texas
Directed by Wim Wenders
Paris, Texas, this year's winner
of the Palme d'Or at Cannes, is a
film of magnificent vistas, delicate
acting and no real purpose. The
film motors along the seemingly
endless vistas of the American west
yet never really gets anywhere
(although it goes nowhere
beautifully.) Sam Shepard's
screenplay is sadly lacking the
sense of direction so strongly
implied by the rolling, moving
nature of both the film and the
cinematography.
The film opens in the mountains
around Terlingua, with Harry
Dean Stanton appearing on the
imposing landscape, a milk jug of
water in hand, gazing towards an
unknown destination, his only
accompaniment the haunting solo
blues guitar of Ry Coder and an
eagle. Coder's guitar gives
Stanton's character the proper
mood of solitude, being down on
his luck, and quirky humor to
make the relationship "click"
throughout the film.
Stanton portrays Travis, a
classic loner, eccentric, silent and
withdrawn. He imbues the
character with a strong aura of
mystery that demands answers
from the moment Travis appears
on screen. Nobody, the audience
included, knows just where Travis
is going, or why. Everyone is
scrambling for the same
information and even the
appearence of Travis' brother,
Walt, does little more than provide
some background information as
Travis remains a taciturn enigma.
Eventually, through Walt's
quizzing, we learn that Travis has
been missing for about for years,
leaving behind a four-year-old son
and no forwarding address.
Walt undertakes the task of
bringing Travis back to reality.
This is a very funny process since
Travis has lost all sense of reality,
doesn't understand airplanes, can't
handle a different rental car than
the first one they had, and has a
habit of wandering down the
nearest railroad track, headed into
the distance. During the lengthy
drive to L..A., we learn more about
where Travis has been and the
circumstances of his disappear-
ance. Once Travis reaches the real
world, he still lacks a certain sense
of reality, adopting a pair of
binoculars and shining shoes at 4
a.m. However, his son's presence is
undeniably real, and he begins the
slow process of readjustment.
Throughout this introductory
phase of the film, there are
beautifully shot vistas of western
society and landscape, each shot a
masterpiece of composition and
movement. Harry Dean Stanton is
masterfullv blearv. confused, vet
Percussionists, singers perform well
The Shepherd Singers &
The Alumni Percussion Ensemble
February 6
Informal, dry-run concerts can
be entertaining. The Shepherd
Singers, directed by Gwyn
Richards, and the Alumni
Percussion Ensemble, directed by
Richard Brown, proved this to be
true at a Brown-Bag Lunch
Concert held in the Rice Memorial
Center Grand Hall at noon,
February 6, as a dry run for their
performances in San Antonio the
next day at the Texas Music
Educators' Association Convention.
The first half of the concert
belonged to the Shepherd Singers.
Those who find the formality of
evening concerts stuffy and
uncomfortable should have
delighted in the jeans, sweaters and
sneakers. The appearance
immediately put one at ease and
brought forth the reality that this
was indeed a dry-run concert. For
a trial run, the quality of the
performance was adequate. The
group at times did not blend well as
an ensemble, possibly due to
distractions from Sammy's next
door. But still, the musical quality
and entertainment value was high.
The program itself seemed
oriented toward 20th Century
French compositions. The opening
piece, "Ubi Caritas" from Quatre
Motets sur des Themes Gregoriens
by Durufle, created a dark, quiet
feeling. This was followed by the
lighter, more energetic "Sanctus"
from the Messe en SoI Majeur by
Francis Poulenc.
"Dieu! qu'il la fait bon
regarder!" from Trois Chansons de
Charles d'Orleans by Debussy
followed the Poulence. The singers
did a marvelous job of preserving
and communicating the liquid
quality that characterizes
Debussy.
In contrast to the Debussy, the
English glee "Foresters, Sound the
Cheerful Horn" by Henry Rowley
Bishop bounced along, and
Messiaen's "O Sacrum Comviv-
ium" sounded much like a pipe
organ in richness and harmonic
power. To end their half of the
program, the Shepherd Singers
performed "The Promise of
Living" from 7he Tender Land, an
opera by Copeland. The tolksy
American sound of this work
conjured up images of the
hardworking Midwestern farmer
striving for a living. It made one
want to go out and plant a row of
potatoes.
Richard Brown, a former
percussionist with the Houston
Symphony Orchestra, after five
years' absence from Houston, has
returned to his position as a faculty
member in the Shepherd School.
Regular SSSO attenders might
have noticed the relative weakness
of the percussion section of the
orchestra, now composed of
conducting majors. This
performance pf the Alumni
Percussion Ensemble is an attempt
on the part of Professor Brown to
revive the percussion program at
the Shepherd School by exhibiting
past products of the once existing
program and to attract new talent.
The visual image of a stage set
for percussion ensemble in itself is
quite fascinating. Performances of
such groups are exciting just in the
movement and the energy exerted.
"Ionization" by Edgard Varese
began the performace. One
member of the audience described
this piece as sounding like a fire
engine racing to extinguish a fire.
The next two numbers were jazz
soeoaoooeosoGoeosoooos*
works by J. (Billy) Ver Plank,
arranged for marimba ensemble by
Mr. Brown. It's great to watch an
ensemble enjoying its own
performance, as this group
certainly did.
Alberto Ginastera wrote the
final and most impressive work of
the hour, "Cantata par America
Magica,"a piece orchestrated for 13
percussionists, three pianists, and
dramatic soprano. Ginastera
turned to the Indians of Pre-
Columbian South America for
subject matter, expressing the love
these people possessed for their
land and life and the pain it caused
them when they approached the
end of their existence. Lynn
Grieblin Moores performed the
soprano solos beautifully,
although her cold was distracting
to the audience and led to a
disjunct performance. The colors
created by the group demonstrated
musical sensitivity within the
ensemble.
But of course, this was only a
dry run, and for a dry run it went
well. The percussion program at
Rice should be something to look
forward to in the future if the
quality of the alumni holds true l or
students to come.
— Maribeth Clark
SQOOCOCCCQOOS00006CCCC9
OWLCON VI FEB 15, 16, 17
Gaming and Films
Tournaments:
D & D, TFT. Traveller, Car wars, Third Reich
Diplomacy, Civilization, and Kingmaker
Competitions:
Rune Quest, Star Fleet Battles, Squad
Leader, illumanat. Civil war, Empire of the
Middle Ages, and Empire of the Petal
Throne.
Registration opens at 5 p.m. Feb. 15
in Sewall Hall
Fees:
3 Day Pass
l Day Pass
Tournament
(ea)
Competition (ea)
Rice
$4
2/2.50/2
$ 1
S.SO
Non-Rice
$6
3/3.SO/3
$2
$ 1
determined. His brother (played
by Dean Stockwell), is suitably
perplexed, yet determined to bring
his brother back to the world ol the
living.
Once Travis' son. Hunter, re-
enters his life, Travis realizes that
he should reunite his son with at
least one, if not both, of his natural
parents. Stanton performs this
transformation from dazed hobo
to responsible parent with
considerable skill and humor. His
quest for acceptance is convincing
not only to his estranged son, but
to the audience as well.
Hunter Carson is one of the
most charming kids I've seen on
the screen, far less cutesy than
Drew Barrymore and with a talent
for being a real-to-life kid
onscreen. Hunter handles the role
of a remarkably grown-up kid with
flair, as he deals with weighty
decisions in an endearingly
straightforward manner. He
discusses the origins of the
universe through a walkie-talkie,
accepts Travis'strange manner as a
matter of course, and follows
Travis to find his mother just
because that's how he thinks it
should be.
Hunter and Travis travel to
Houston, arriving, appropriately
enough, in a traffic jam. They begin
the search for his mother at a local
drive-in bank, where she
contributes to an account for her
son on a monthly basis. They
manage to find her and in the
ensuing freeway pursuit, make a
mincemeat of the Houston freeway
system. (Clearly, this had little
impact at Cannes, but to the
Houston audience, it produced
snickers and laughter as the car
teleported back and forth across
the city.) Eventually, they find
their way to her place of work and
like the cars in the parking lot, the
movie grinds to a complete
standstill.
Here, at a supposed modeling
studio, we learn how it is that
"Hunter's folks split up. Nastassja
Kinski. as Jane, is a passable
Texan, although her pseudo East
Texan drawl carries European or
English overtones. Throughout
the course of the long
conversations, the cinemato-
graphy is dull, the settings plain
and the performances uninspired.
Let's face it, how do you shoot a
long conversation taking place on
a phone line across a pane of
reflective glass? The movie gets
really tedious until we get out ot
the modeling studio. During these
scenes, there's some good acting,
but the fact that the setting is so
static forces Stanton and Kinski to
act with a minimum of action.
We visit the studio twice, with a
drunken interlude filling the gap.
while Travis sorts out his emotions
and his course of action. During
the second visit, Jane figures out
that Travis is the voice on the
phone and after learning that
Hunter is in Houston, decides her
place is with her son. Some of the
film's earlier magic returns for the
closing scenes, as downtown
Houston becomes the backdrop
for Hunter's reunion with his
mother, and Travis' subsequent
departure.
The actual Paris. Texas, is never
seen in the film. It is instead a sort
of mythical place, referred to
constantly but always as a place in
a story, on a map or in a picture. In
many ways the film is true to its
name as we are led across the epic
landscapes while Travis searches
for a happy ending that never
comes.
Paris, Texas is an entrancing
film... most of the time. The sheer
strength of the early scenes allows
the faults of the weak ones to
amble past while one is still
impressed by what one has seen
The film's major flaw is that
Travis' motives, reasoning and
objectives are never realk dealt
with in the film, yet his story is the
film. It is fortunate for Director
Wenders that the Paris Chamber
of Commerce wasn't voting at
Cannes, for like the town of Paris.
Texas, the story in Paris. Texas is
never allowed to take center stage
— Bev D. Blackwood II
0 * 3 Day Pass Required
acoocoooocoooosoooooocooooooooooooococoocooo^
%
Thresher
, NOW INTERVIEWING
for Business Manager
for next academic year
Call Todd Cornett at 527-4801
The Rice Thresher, February 12, 1985, page 5
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Havlak, Paul. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 24, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February 12, 1985, newspaper, February 12, 1985; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245586/m1/5/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.