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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 5, 2000)
______________ ^nnn j—»—ri37 : r S tage ■the world needed an updated version ■f Fame, here it is, with a dash of A Khorus Line thrown in for good mea- L Center Stage is a new film that foi ls a group of young dance students Jo have defied the odds to enter the Stigious American Ballet Academy. If r can survive love affairs, bulimia, y bloodied toes and their own egos, ' may even learn to help each other h their goal: the end-of-the-season brkshop that will gain them entrance > working ballet companies. I Although the teachers include film ^Jirs Peter Gallagher and Donna Mur- H by, the young cast of Center Stage is V H most entirely unknown outside the Bullet world. Yet, despite their on- fl imera inexperience, many of them ■ :quit themselves admirably in both Mmce scenes and dramatics. Spotlit in ^ie film is sexy ballet superstar Ethan teifel playing a teacher who sleeps pith his students—but only to help I lem reach their true potential. Interestingly enough, with their (air pulled back into tight buns and 1 dressed alike, it’s hard to tell the ad white-girl characters apart, so it’s propitious that one of the leads is a I eisty African American named Eva ■ Zoe Saldana) whose attitude I ¡oes against tradition. And, ■ nevitably, one of the I nale dancers is gay: ■ vivacious Erik ■ (African American ■ dancer Shakiem ■ Evans), who I enlivens each scene he’s in. Although pre dictable, Center Stage is an enjoyable mix of ballet and teen drama. Even without anybody dancing on taxicabs. —Andy Mangels an angry D.J. for a week end at their lakeside cabin to “have a talk.” I Unexpectedly, D.J.’s younger brother, Campbell (Jason Behr), is already at the cabin and is clearly unhappy to see his fam ily. There is tension between the three; con frontations break out. There are flashbacks, accusa tions and confessions, with each fresh piece of cliched emotional bag gage furthering the film’s insipidity. R ites of P assage After more than enough implausible emot ing from our dysfunctional protagonists, the fter writer-director Victor Salva’s last film, convicts from the beginning of the film turn up Powder, was released through Disney in at the cabin, and we realize that Campbell is in 1995, it was revealed that long prior to the film’s release Salva had been convicted in an cahoots with them and that the cabin is their meeting place, though he never suspected their incident of child molestation. The press had a scheme might involve his family. The story field day, giving Salva’s sub-Spielbergian film twists, turns, swerves and veers even more (which did contain very mild undertones of wildly after that, all pointless complication and teen-age male homosexuality) a loud round of undeserved publicity. Needless to say, it wasn’t needless “action.” The overly obvious themes of Rites of Pas good for his career, and he hasn’t been heard sage are dysfunctional families and the harm from since. Until now. that comes from an outmoded code of mas His latest film, Rites of Passage, which culinity (one that, though certainly insidious, recently surfaced on DVD and video, is not the may no longer even be dominant). Video store tortured, soul-searching work one might expect shelves offer plenty of Bergman and Woody from someone who’s been in Salva’s position. Allen dramas for acute portrayals of familial Rather, it’s a conventional flick about an emo strain, and the films of Neil Labute for scathing tionally unresponsive father, his two sons—the visions of testosterone run amok, eliminating older a lawyer who’s a sycophant for his father’s any excuses for renting the bland, tedious piece love, the younger a gay man who doesn’t fit his of work that is Rites of Passage. father’s macho view of what a man should be— —Christopher McQuam and the events that occur during an impromp tu weekend on the lake, bringing them to a ■ A ndy M angels is a longtime Portland enter new appreciation of their family. tainment writer with three books and hundreds of At the beginning of the film, we see two comic books and magazine articles to his credit. recently escaped convicts (James Remar and You can write to him at AMangelsSW@aol.com. Jaimz Wolvett) murder some campers in cold Wood. Then, we’re introduced to D.J. Farrady C hristopher M c Q uain is a Portland-based (Robert Glenn Keith), a lawyer, who runs into free-lance water and tireless observer of pop cul bis father, Del Farrady (Dean Stockwell), by accident at a hotel and discovers that Del is ture. cheating on his mother. Del subsequently takes Columbia County’s Premier Real Estate Resource. Country living only 20 minutes from downtown Portland. John L.Scott REAL ESTATE g . I www.columbiacountyhome.com www.johnlscott.com jenniferpugsley@johnlscott.com 503-543-3751 (o) 503-313-8130 (c) PUT SOME GRAB AN PACK! A call 233-WNBA I
