The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 21, 1997, Page 5, Image 5
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TRENHOLM NINESTEIN Suff Writer
SHINE
(out of four stare)
When the Academy announces its
winners for the most prestigious awards
in cinema next month, the current highestgrossing
film of all time will not be called
after the words, "And the Oscar goes
to...".
Twenty years ago, Star Wars may
have been a Best Picture nominee, but
even the all-powerful Faroe was not strong
enough to sway votes from one of Woody
Allen's best creations (and Best Picture
of 1977), Annie Hall. In fact, the huge
blockbuster films racking up the megabucks
like your Independence Days and
your run-of-the-mill natural disaster
flicks do not fare well in the eyes of the
Academy (except for perhaps Best Visual
Effects or something).
Just look at the films of Steven
Spielberg before he made his masterpiece
Schindle/s List. Recently, the independent
film has stolen the spotlight from the
muti-budgeted, and recycled, studio films
pumped out each year. This year in
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good year for the "indie" flick at the
. Academy Awards. Four of the five
nominees for Best Picture are "indies."
One of these is Scott Hicks' film Shine,
the real-life story of piano great David
Helfgott and his emotional descent caused
by music.
. The film opens on a dark, rainy night
in Perth, Australia, where we are
introduced to David Helfgott (portrayed
stunningly by the award-winning
, Australian stage actor Geoffrey Rush),
a fast-talking, mentally unstable man
who comments he "must stop talking,
it's a problem" to the patrons of the piano
bar he has just stumbled into.
During the ride to David's abode,
which the patrons graciously offer, the
first of a series of flashbacks occur,
unfolding the events leading up to the
mental state in which David now wanders.
The first flashback takes David to a
local talent show he competed in at around
the age of eight (acted by Alex Rafalowicz),
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where he astonishes one of the judges
and piano teacher Ben Rosen (Nicholas
Bell) with his performance of Chopin's
arm n_i _ n
ine roionaise.
After the the talent show, in which
David does not place, his father and piano
instructor, Peter (Armin Mueller-Stahl),
gives his son the usual talk of "how lucky
a boy" he is to have music in his life and
from now on David must "always win."
Following this, Ben Rosen tracks
down the young prodigy and offers to
continue David's lessons free of charge.
However, he does not fulfill his father's
request to teach David Rachmaninoff s
Piano Concerto No. 3 (the Rach. 3 for
short).
Not only is this the hardest piano
piece to play, filled with more notes per
second than any other concerto, but
performing it requires a passion equal
to acting Shakespeare. Mr. Rosen says
the young boy lacks this passion.
After a quick jump back to the present
David sleeping on the floor alone in his
room, there is another flashback to David
as an awkward teenager who appears
to be most comfortable on the bench
behind a grand piano.
Ben Rosen has molded the young
pianist into the state champion, where
David is given an offer to study music
in the United States. However, David's
stern father will not allow this event to
"destroy his family." David finds solace
in an elderly woman, well-to-do socialite
Katherine Pilchard, whom he chats with
and performs for on ha- old upright piano.
Katherine advises David to follow his
dream and to go to the Royal College of
Music, where he has received a full
scholarship. David leaves his house to
go to the college, ignoring his father's
promise he will never be allowed back
into the family.
While studying at the Roval College,
David takes on the emotional strain of
learning the ins and outs of the infamous
Rach. 3. Upon performing this difficult
piece, David is both physically and
emotionally strained and experiences a
mental breakdown. The next years of
David's life are spent in and out of mental
institutions away from his "one true
friend," music.
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As the film surges forward in David's
life, it is music he once again discovers
to help him climb out of his emotional
pit. It is this movement forward in the
film, and in his life, which helps to
demonstrate the strength of the bonds
of love and the power of the human spirit
Geoffrey Rush's depiction of David
Helfgott earned him a nomination for
Best Actor, and Armin Mueller-Stahl's
performance of the stem, yet loving father,
was given a nomination for Best
Supporting Actor. The entire film is edited
beautifully, especially the transitions for
David's flashbacks.
The man responsible for this editing,
Pip Karmel, is also up for an Oscar in
the Best Editing category. The music of
the film is definitely a unifying force and
speaks with its own voice in conveying
the emotions of the characters and,
(wouldn't you know it) this film will
appear in the Best Original Score category
at next month's Oscars.
All these talents are combined under
the direction of Scott Hicks, who is up
for Best Director. In a quote from the
soundtrack of the film, Hicks writes,
"Music and film share a common
language, one that can dissolve
international barriers and speak to all
people.
They are more closely related to each
other than perhaps any other two art
forms, sharing the ability to stir powerful,
irrational feelings: great longings and
fears, great losses and triumphs. Cinema,
1*1 j m 1* f*
iiKe music, is not primarily a medium 01
the intellect, it is about the emotions and
agitation of the mind."
Shine is an emotional tour de force
of cinema, and its marriage to music in
the film helps emphasize these feelings.
So this weekend, when you are
deciding whether or not to see Star Wars
for the fourth time, you can leap to the
front of the line with a ticket for Shine
or another independent film (perhaps
Secrets & Lies, Ttye English Patient or
the renting of Fargo ?the three other
"indies" up for Best Picture), clutched in
your hand and experience a film that
touches your heart, not your wallet.
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JOHN LYONS FeaturesEditor
So, the other day I was driving down the
road, flipping the channels in my car radio, when
on WUSC-FM 90.5,1 heard the crackle of an
old record.
I continued to listen and found the radio
program was something called the Blast from
the Past, which airs Wednesdays from 6 p.m.
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the college station for years.
I listened for a while and was surprised to
find the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Beach Boys
weren't the only bands to record music in the
1960s.
After the show, I was so excited I decided to
ask the shows host, Dr. Jimmy Fever, a few
questions.
Evidently, the idea behind the show is to
highlight, those artists who aren't typically played
on other oldie stations.
"The commercial oldies stations generally
play top 10 or top 20 hits from the late 50s and
early 60s," he said. "We do a little of that, but
we try to concentrate on things you don't hear
or can't hear other places."
Some of the styles of music Dr. Jimmy focuses
on include instrumental music, surf guitar music,
doo-wop music and a capella. In addition, he
said the Blast from the Past highlights artists
other oldies stations tend to glance over.
"I try to focus on the people who were onehit
wonders," he said. "The people who didn't
make careers in the business. I try to stay away
from artists like Elvis, the Beatles and the
Rolling Stones because you can hear them
elsewhere.
"And I like to feature artists whose work was
covered by more famous artists," he continued.
"People like Chuck Berry who really gave birth
' to the rock'n'roll sound in the mid to late 50s.
If s that sound, Chuck Berry's sound, that made
big impressions on band's like the Rolling Stones,
the Beatles and even Pat Boone."
Well, all of this came as quite a surprise to
me since all I had ever heard from the 50s ahd
60s were top 40 artists, so you can imagine my
surprise when I was told that some of the artists
were even considered as controversial for the
times as many bands today.
"I think rock'n'roll has always been a
performance kind of music," Dr. Jimmy said.
"If s always been much better live than recorded.
The difference today is that the performance
has become more extreme; musically, theatrically
and in terms of the personalities of the audience.
And it is interesting to watch the evolution of
that process from the early 50s when early
rhythm and blues artists were pushing the
envelope of acceptable behavior and acceptable
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lyrics for that time. It continues in today's music,
which is still pushing the envelope."
Dr. Jimmy Fever is a faculty member of the
university, and he has been the host for the
Blast from the Past for almost four years now.
He said the show has been a regular feature on
WUSC since a DJ called Free Wheeling Frank
started it in the late 70s or early 80s.
Dr. Jimmy said the constancy of the Blast
from the Past and other specialty shows has
been an important thing for the station's
cohesiveness.
1 think the continuity is important," he said.,
"There is a tradition behind specialty shows
that can be passed down from one DJ to the
next. And more than that, I think the ethos of
the station, the whole atmosphere, is something
that needs to build slowly and be kept carefully,
because as we saw with the shutdown last year,
that ethos can be destroyed very quickly.
"I think it's important for the station to be
something important to the people who are
there," Dr. Jimmy said. Tm concerned with us
being interesting to ourselves, to each other and
to the Columbia community. I think ifs important
that we challenge our listeners and their musical
tastes and that we give them the opportunity
to hear things they can't hear anywhere else."
Dr. Jimmy said he strives to offer his listeners
music from the 50s and 60s that they can't find
on other stations. He said the show has grown
in this respect since he took it over.
"At fist, I was drawn to the music I was most
familiar with," he said. "And that was top 10
music when I was a teen. But playing that music
fhroo Honrs a wppIt T soon otpw ho rod with it.
and I wanted to hear those things I hadn't heard
before and that most other people hadn't either.
"So now, my shows tend to feature more
obscure artists and different styles of music that
were not quite popular in the 50s and 60s but
are still quite typical of that style of music."
Dr. Jimmy said that it is this effort to play
obscure artists and different styles of music that
defines WUSC. He said the station is defined
by it's effort to be something different.
Td call it something extremely different,"
Dr. Jimmy said. "That's what each of us strive
for in our shows, and the specialty show is a
continuation of the idea of playing something
really good that other people have overlooked."
And according to Dr. Jimmy, this attitude
has caught on in recent years.
"I think the audience has grown in the last
three or four years," he said. "I think part of
that is a desire to experience something new."
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