University of South Carolina Libraries
Stoned *Ki] k ' STEPHEN BROWN Staff Writer NATURAL BORN KILLERS ir-kif h (out of four stars) Mickey and Mallory Knox are popular beyond their wildest imagination. Talented at what they do, admired by millions, and very much in love, they lead a pure untainted existence. Adorning the front covers of magazines, pursuing their mission through cross-country travel and exploring new ways they can make a difference in peoples' lives, the couple has never felt as free to seek out the American Dream as they do at this moment. But Mickey and Mallows line of work might be shocking to the average citizen. In Oliver Stone's gripping new adap tanon or a yuentin i arantino story, iNaturai rsorn tuners , these two main characters are mass murderers who capture the imagination of the American people during their massive killing spree. Traversing the American landscape, the two kill 52 people in three weeks, are arrested, and thafs just the beginning. The hallucinogenic images Oliver Stone puts on the screen simply have to be seen to be believed. Employing a mixture I of color with black and white cinematography and stylizing the film through the calculated randomness of switching from 35mm to grainy 16mm, old film reels, super-8mm, and home video style cameras, Stone plays with the audience as if he were the media manipulating viewers to keep watching. He motiw linhelievahle efforts as illuminated words annear on bodies, as heads take on wavy morphing forms, and as gory footage is laid in motion behind current action. During one sequence, Mickey and Mallory make love in -a neon-lit motel room with the television on and a stripped c female hostage gagged in the corner. Outside the window, 5 Stone shows us footage of Nazis troops marching down a street To these natural bom killers, everything around them, inside and outside their minds, is comprised of systematic violence and abuse. This sequence serves to demonstrate the unending chain which continues today as strong as ever. Stone switches dramatic tone of voice by using varying formats to avoid straight narrative. Depicting criminal acts as if they were part of a wicked game show, or a '70s adult Bakshi cartoon or even re-enactments on a tabloid news program, Stone lures viewers to focus their attention on the stars of his visual media circus. Stone's most memorable tool to satirize the tragedy of his events is an early sequence modeled after a classic sitcom. Titled " Love Mallorjr and featuring Rodney Dangerneld and Edie McCluig as her parents, this absurd sequence gives insight into Mallor/s years of sexual abuse and systematic verbal torture. To the rhythm of canned laughter and live audiencejnlarity, the spotlighted family makes incest jokes around tne dinner table and gawks at Mallory's sexuality. Both awkward and relentlessly audacious, this sequence works equally well as satire and domestic tragedy of stupefying proportions. Later when Mickey and Mallory kill her parents and head out on their acid road-trip, Stone switches tone again in his depiction of the savage and brutal revenge the stars exact on their parental enemies. Within minutes of the film's opening credits, Mickey and Bob & Son's Bicycle & Small Eng Serving Columbia for over 55 y 51 OS. Beltlir Corner of Devir n n_l.l? & oemine Hours: T - Fr 9-6 Sat 9-5 782-3932 | Sales and Service New Mountain bikes starting at $209 also inc off all parts and accessories for the first: purchase of any bike. OLDEST BIKE SHOP IN COLUN *Step reservations must be made the daj the Office of Campus Recreation, 777-52 your step. Steps are limited, so reservatic first come first serve basis. AEROBICS FEE: There will be a $10 charge per f semesier 10 taxe aerooic classes ottered by Mtness t register and pay in the Office of Campus Recreation Center. The schedule is tentative. Changes may be made dui facility conflict, or level of interest in the class. Con Campus Recreation, Blatt P.E. Center, Room 202, 7 further information. The University of South Carolina System provides e and affirmative action in education and employmeni persons regardless of race, sex, religion, national ori * veteran status. The Universtiy of South Carolina Sy designated ADA and section 504 coordinator the Ex to the President for Equal Opportunity Programs. Ai needing special assistance for a disability, please coi of Campus Recreatioh at least 48 hours pr ior to the < Hers' a nati i 11 i it ' H'?. jik 1' I &> ^iSSliilEl KILLER STARS: Juliette Lewis and Woody Harrelson star as Mallory an Mallory play target practice at a roadside diner. When a redneck harasses her as she dances beside a jukebox, he becomes one of their next victims. We watch a bullet speed towards ? woman's head. Then a close-up shows us a cartoonish bullei come to a complete stop before it continues between her eyes The bloodthirsty duo dance like they just stepped out o a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical and write poetr] to each other as if their love was as pure and natural as th( American flag and apple pie. Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis are engaging as th< two leads. Because Stone spends most of the time he focus es on characterization developing Mickey and Mallory, the) are the only two characters with which the audience can sym pathize. Completely absorbed in their romance with sex anc violence, they create their niche in society by destroying others. Harrelson gets to spray some unforgettable one-liners as he basks in the media limelight. As if he were the featurec act in a comedy club, he mutters, This is a tough room" dur ing an interview. Like a preacher of evil, he tells the work that "Love kills the demon" and that "If s just murder man all species do it." And like a wise sage who has knows his wa) is the right way, he says, Td take an instant of my purity k a lifetime of your lies." ines ears! use INTRA* LOOK WH ) WAITING - Team and indi inmy ~ Meet new peoj [llffl - Employment o - Have fun. Jg Co-Rec Softball Sand Volleyball Flag Football Tennis Singles Owner Team Tennis Frank Varn Soccer & Used Bikes ...AND TH ludes 10% THE BE 10 days after ^ ajj even^s times. Campus Recreatio Tn rprpivp a frpp i 161 A! Office of Cair 202 Blatt PE Cente i Fall 199' ^^Monday^ ^TXtesdaj^ Wednesday Th 11:00 | ~ Step* Lower Half* 70/20/20* "b^ \ I 12:30 Gym 307 Gym 307 Gyro 307 G 7, ^ , Faculty 4SUIT Faculty &StafT Fat 1-W3 Enricbmcat Enrichment En Gym 308 Gym 308 C r of class. Call 2;00 61, to reserve _! >I1S are on a 4:00 Lower Half* 20/20/20* Body Sculpting Lo Gyro 308 Gym 308 Gym 308 C Tnnrj ? ? I >CrSOIl, per 5:15 High Energy Step* High Energy Hi 'rograms. Please Grm30? Gym3o? Gym 3o? c 1 202 Blatt P.E. S;30 High/Low H20 High/Low H20 High/Low HIO High Pool Pool Pool 6:30 20/20/20* High/Low Step* 20/: e to budget, I GT,n3M GTm3M GT"308 Gy tact the Office of 77-5261, for One Free At jqual opportunity i t for qualified Use thlS COUpOn tO ? gin, disability, or , 0 stem has I Program s 27 weekly a< ecutive Assistant I . r, iy persons | sign a waiver of 1 ilacl the Office | Coupon expires 9t. ^vent. | 'P iral born bl< iAf fflH % %k J|p^p^^g^^pPjmsfflBk ^f ":'c v:* 5 -^aJ^lllrlMBIWBl^^''' ia8SSti?w^^.v:.,:,.. ...... Wamw Bros. d Mickey Knox in Oliver Stone's "Natural Bom Killers." This charismatic criminal even argues semantics with i his interviewer, saying he is technically not a serial killer but i only a mass murderer. A classic moment involves a lively dist cussion between Mickey and the interviewer about who was a bigger sensation, Mickey or Manson? Stone reflects back f to us a world where we actually rate our society's villains ac! cording to entertainment value! 5 Lewis is especially effective as she uses her sexuality to J .. .. o lu. ?v.. j u.. i r_i.i L:I J uiaw 111 iici picjr. ocAuaiijr auuseu vy iici miner as a ciiiiu i and teenager, she redeems her jaded soul by doing unto oth ers what has been done to her. Seducing and destroying are j her addictions. Stone often depicts Mallory as an innocent girl, dancing about with an angelic glow around her skin un1 der a dark sky. Her paradise lost, replaced by the newfound - wonders of sexual battery and ultraviolence, is tragic indeed. Stone gives us glimpses at the inner states of these shat3 tered minds occasionally through flashbacks but mostly I through media-enhanced case histories which seem all too - familiar to a culture gorged on this madness. 1 Everything is violence in their world, and even the date; lines of the film's activities range from "One Year Later" to i "Super Bowl Sunday," showing how society even structures ) life around violent sport as much as they do around religious holidays. 4URAL SPORTS AT WE HAVE INT FOR YOU... vidual sports offered. FOI ipportunities. ENTRIES OPEN ENTRIES CLOSE ||^^S 8/29 9/1 Yi 8/29 9/1 " 8/29 9/1 9/12 9/15 9/12 9/15 IP* 9/12 9/15 IS IS JUST r-GINNING. J and dates are available in the n Calendar/Handbook. calendar, stop by the lpus Recreation, L mm r, or call us at 777-5261. _________ 4 Schedule 1 mrsday Friday Saturday Sunday High Energy Gym 308 Ej y Sculpting High/Low *J ym 307 Gym 307 Pj 20/20/20* M Cym 308 P j :ulty AStafT richmcnt Ml iym 308 |J Step* I j Gym 308 wer Half* 20/20/20* ||j lytn 308 Gym 308 ||| High/Low jj rtr"i?M. ? n igh/Low Step* iyai 308 Gym 308 /Low H20 Kj Pool MN 30/20* j W m 308 j N i | API! &WAK2ACS riAAA i M / % %! **v?wivo vi?aa : jj ?|/ 01 ;et into one of Fitness I EJ ^robic classes. You must ( mEEEEEI iabilty at the class. 2/94. No exceptions. . y Dckbuster Their cross-country car rides are surrounded by a quagmire of crimson skies and clanging noises. Their journey is like a carnival tunnel of love, and they are intentionally oblivious to the harm they are doing. As they kiss in front of a drapery of human carcasses, hung like dead meat from blooddrenched walls, Mickey can only tell Mallory how much he loves her. Other fine performances are added by Tom Sizemore as a headline-grabbing cop and Robert Downey Jr. as an Aussie auteur of sleaze journalism out to get the story of the century. His character shoots too, but his shooting of film is considered just as dangerous to American society as anything the mass murderers do. A telling moment tor tne ratings-obsessea reporter is when he becomes a victim of the madness he has helped create, and he begs for life by screaming all the "good" stories he has done over the years. His conjuring of positive credentials for himself is a stretch indeed. LikeKubrick did with his visionary film A Clockwork Orange, Stone makes all the characters except the central stars obnoxious and uninvolving. Each slaying of a human being seems but another killing of some mindless idiot. Stone gives insight into the terrifying childhoods of Mickey and Mallory, and as they throw all artifacts of childhood off into a deep chasm, the audience understands the pain which has dehumanized them, rendering them immune to emotions and numb to society. Hurting others seems a fitting alternative to suicide or incarceration. For Mickey and Mallory, they have already lived lives in hell and revel in the spiritual fulfillment they find in a comforting violent American tradition. Unfortunately the film's ultimate message is clouded by Stone's ambiguous ending. Perhaps he was afraid of becoming too preachy as he has before in Born on the 4th of July and JFK. Stone's failure to give the audience a crucial final punch leaves this biting commentary without bite. The haunting images and visually exhausting juggernaut seem little more than a glorified depiction of rampant massacre without a final blow. Instead Stone uses the film as an all-out indictment of the media throughout the movie. Portraying the scattershot method of conjuring up news items, the hypnotism of the population who are persuaded to keep watching, and the extent to which unscrupulous scavengers will go to dig up more fool's gold, Stone connects his allegory to today's most preposterous headlines to cement his point. A world in which Buttofuoco and Bobbitt get more press for their scandalous lives than national leaders get for their agendas affecting national policy is in desperate need of re-examination. In a world saturated with violence and terror, when American Gladiators is a popular television show and the murder trial of 0 J. Simpson captures more headlines than national health care reform, Stone reminds us how far society has skewed in defining its promises of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Ignoring the sketchy finale, "Natural Born Killere" is the most uncompromising film by a major studio in years, and the credit goes to a director unflinching in the face of controversy. Taking our society of spectacle just one step further than today's reality yields what could undoubtedly become any day now the most frightening and riveting piece of nonfiction produced in years. WANTED: I RAMURAL SPORTS OFFICIALS * THE FOLLOWING SPORTS: ^ FOOTBALL SOFTBALL SOCCER gj VOLLEYBALL JA. :-UP YOUR APPLICATION TODAY^ AT THE OFFICE OF CAMPUS RECREATION 202 BLATT P.E. CENTER 777-5261 i/XLE I /t> rk AA H 1 All Long & Short Sleeve rj Fashion Shirts n (Compare From $16-$32) M tfY-NAVY STORE | Main Street 252-1350 n f f