The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 30, 1980, Page Page 10, Image 10
Bertoli
By David Baker
Gamecock Staff Writer
For those who haven't heard and
for those who can't tell from the
movie's ad campaign, Bernardo
Bertolucci's Luna is about the
near-incestuous relationship
between a mother and son.
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planted (when the son is still an
infant) and proceeds to the point in
time, 15 years later, when the
relationship reaches its most
dangerous stage.
The mother, Caterina Silveri
(Jill Clay burgh, who was
nominated for a Golden Globe
award as best actress for her
performance), is a world-famous
opera diva who transplants her
career, along with her son Joe
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to Italy when her husband suddenly
dies.
The move is hard for Joe, and
son after it 's complete, he becomes
addicted to heroin. "I just don't
care ... about anything," he tells
Caterina. after she catches him
with a needle in his arm.
It's when Caterina tries to get
Joe off the drug that their
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Bcrtolucci is deliberate in exposing
every moment, situation,
word and nuance which draws the
couple together sexually, but he
neglects to fill in the gaps in the
world that surrounds them.
The pre-title sequence and the
major plot angle that goes with it is
not clarified, or even alluded to,
until the very end of the film, and
by then it seems more like a copout
than a credible explanation for
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By Michael J. Margotta
Gamecock Staff Writer
After only seven weeks on the
market, The Wall had planted
itself as number two on the sales
chart. This rapid advance on the
charts is not restricted to Pink
Floyd fanatics, nor is it uncommon
to the band. Once again, Pink
Floyd has been able to produce an
album displaying great effort,
artistic talent, and those unique
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commercially successful.
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anything. Also, at two hours and 25
minutes, the film is much too long
lo Keep me viewer interested in
what it has to say.
The most serious misstep
Bertolucci made with Luna,
however, is that he neglected to
balance the melodrama with some
lighter moments. There's not a
touch of comedy anywhere in the
film, a fact which is all the more
disappointing when one thinks
back to Bertolucci's 1900 and the
delightfully daffy character played
by Cominique Sanda, that of a
spoiled socialite who often decided
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injustices and so would close her
eyes and pretend to be blind ?
once while driving down a busy
street.
The cinematographer of 1900
(and Apocalypse Now), Vittorio
Storaro, also photographed Luna
and his work is nothing short of
magnificent. Bertolucci's beautiful
imagery, coupled with Storaro's
camera movements and framing,
is breathtaking. If onlv the storv
had been worthy of the visuals,
Luna wouldn't be such a waste of
time.
But at least Luna aims for
quality.
The only thing Rene Cardona
Jr.'s Guyana, Cult of the Damned
aims for is being remembered as
the most hysterically distasteful
piece of exploitational garbage to
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And though the decade has nine
for the band, this double album,
consisting of relatively short cuts,
is the first album Floyd has
released since 1977. Animals was
cut early in that year, and was
somewhat of a departure from
earlier albums. Animals broke
some traditions and precedents
that the band had previously set
for their music. It rocked harder,
and the dreamy, acoustic tunes
that make Pink Floyd sound so
uniquely pleasant only .opened and
closed the album.
The Wall has returned to the
_ placid and sometimes illusionary
qualities of the acoustic based
melodies, and incorporated them
with the best of the high energy
""ideas that were brought to life in
Animals. In The Wall, there is a
controlling theme or thought
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years and 11 months to come,
there's no reason to think the
movie will not score a bull's-eye.
The only trick it missed was
having a musical group called the
Kool-Aides sing a song called
"Disco Suicide" over the main and
pattern, common in many of
Floyd's previous works, holding
the album's diversity in sound
together.
The lyrics on the album were
written by Roger Waters. David
GilmOur, lead guitarist,
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of the cuts. Although Waters wrote
the majority of the material on the
album, Gilmour produced the
album, therefore, in reality, it is
more of a joint effort on the part of
Gilmour and Waters than one
might originally think.
Structurally the album is sound.
Although the album is dominated
by short cuts, it is in no way a
commercial pop attempt, ine
common theme of the wall ties the
work together.
"The Wall" itself is an existen
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end credits.
Stuart Whitman, in a careerkilling
performance, stars as the
Rev. James Johnson (read Jim
Jones), a mad messiah who leads
his followers from San Francisco
to Guyana, where he instructs
I a
tialistic entity. It is not necessarily
representative of one particular
thought; instead it has a fickle _
character that makes "the wall"
symbolic only of a force that has an
incapacitating quality to it.
In some cases on the album, "the
wall" is merely a material object;
in others, it is a metaphysical idea
that has a profound impact on the
victim.
Yet, at other times, this fickle,
illusionary quality of "the wall"
ran also m?kp "thp wall" a
desirable goal. Due to a continual
melody line throughout the tunes,
the image of "the wall" becomes
almost haunting to the listener.
The album proves that the music
of Floyd can still cause the mind to
travel off into space. On side three
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them first to kill a US senator and
then to kill themselves.
One thing is for sure ? if such
things as ghosts exist, Cardona and
every executive at Universal
Studios are being haunted by 913 of
them twice nightly.
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of the album, Gilmour takes
melodic guitar into oblivion. Yet,
Floyd is attempting to communicate
this message of "the
wall" to a wider audience. So
Gilmour runs tend to instill a
tranquil, contemplative feeling in
the listener.
'The Wall' is meant to be listened
to, and then related to. If one
cannot relate to the album, on
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one form of "the wall." But, if you
happen to buy it, you will meet
more than a form of "the wall" ?
" you will have found your own.
As an added note to avid concert
goers, Pink Floyd will appear in
-only two cities this tour. They will
open for seven shows on February
7th at the Sports Arena in Los
-Angeles and arrive at the Nassau
Coliseum on the 23rd for seven
more shows. Floyd's members
..explained this shortened tour is
due to their "ridiculously
elaborate" special effects show. It
_appears the premier band in light
shows is about to set yet another
trend in concert entertainment.
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