The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 14

THE AGE, Friday 27 November 1987 Arts Entertainment Edited by MICHAEL SHMITH 14- Science is not yet alien to arto China epic takes an intimate approach 7 Films we wish to find an image of those fling conceptual matters I alluded tj-earlier? Which work, in short, is tistic equivalent of a black hole? 'r' I have no ready answer, but I sufstsV we could consider Robert Owen's receat sculpture, 'Holding Down a Shadow That small cast-iron globe covered gold-leaf which holds down the leaden cut-out of a shadow why, evea.ic: description it begins to play havoc with-? the plain sense of things. i GEOFFREY BARTLETTS of sculptures at Pinacotneca standout among the other four exhibitions, listed above. You don't need to consult Bartlett's titles to understand that manvx. of these seemingly works are quite explicitly concerned, with the life of the body. What Bartlett intends these works to incarnate is, I suspect some sense flexibility and gestural ease of the', ideally supple body.

I particularly 'Athlete', one of the larger works show. The three elements supported fcy its willowy stem can even be read'as'iT hip-bone, rib-cage and shoulder, respectively. AKIO MAKIGAWA-S sculptural, eft sembles are not to my taste. These four works which each contain a tree standing element or group whose basic, configuration is echoed in a compie-, mentary relief are obviously Intended, to be experienced as places of content-, plation. While they indeed allow this re4 sponse, they do so in such a way tat fails to satisfy the full range of one's-r TTTT THEN I received the invita- A tlon to 'What is this thing WW called Science' (sic) I im-V mediately formed the expectation that this would be a show I'd not like.

My eye scanned the list of its Included artists and encountered far too many names whose works had failed to inter est me in the past And where, I won dered, were the names of those older artists who have long demonstrated an interest In science? The portents were far from auspicious. But now that I've seen the show I'm happy to say that It's a fine one. Naomi Cass, its curator, has selected 28 works which, for the most part. Indicate that science and art are not wholly Irreconcilable enterprises. They do no, they can have a spirit in common.

It would, I think, be interesting to discover just how science is now seen by the general public Many of the phenomena that science has either discovered or hypothesised recently certainly do violence to our common sense view of the world. Tasmania, we know quite clearly, exists but so, we are told, do such things as black boles and antimatter. My guess is that these deeply eccentric phenomena have, at one level, failed to disrupt the way in which science has long been regarded. Science, we instinctively feel, still entails the collation of cast-iron, verifiable facts about the world. The artistic equivalent of this empirical enterprise is doubtlessly found in any naturalistic painting.

One such work (a still life of a fish and some prawns AS its publicity blurb notes, "The 'Last Emperor' is both an epic drama about national upheavals and tbe intimate story of a man's journey of self-discovery. It is a film with a cast of thousands (or perhaps millions, since much of it was shot in China), but its main concern is with one introverted, isolated man. "The Last Emperor is a contradiction in itself; it is a widescreen miniature, a 160-minute saga whose sweep is often static This dichotomy gives the film much of its fascination, and loads it with some problems that have not been fully resolved in the attempt to make it a big-budget blockbuster with mass appeal. Tbe impression one gathers from this film is that its Italian director, Bernardo Tango in Paris', '1900') Berto-lucci. and his British co-writer, Mark Peploe, have been fairly faithful to historical facts and have used dramatic licence to dress them up visually rather than to distort them.

The central character is Pu Yi, who in 1908, at the age of three, was enthroned as Emperor of China. In 1912, when China became a republic, he was made to abdicate, but until 1924. confined within Beijing's Forbidden City and still surrounded by hordes of courtiers and eunuchs, he and his two wives were allowed to maintain a pretence of imperial status. Then he was banished to Tientsin, later to become the Japanese-puppet emperor of Manchuria. He was captured by the Soviet Army and sent back to China for punishment, or reeducation.

He died in 1967. The film opens in 1950, with Pu Yi's return home and his attempted suicide. Throughout its 160 minutes the film moves back and forth in time. The flashbacks are well-placed and deftly managed, though the accompanying dialogue occasionally slumps into potted history lectures. The concentration is nearly always on the emperor rather than the events surrounding him.

The result is a tendency to inertness that might not have mattered in a film of smaller scale, but here comes across like chamber music played in the middle of the MCG. Yet the film gets by on the oddity of its story, the quality of the acting and its good looks. Bertolucci, his designers, Ferdinando Scarfiotti (production) and Great music, tackled with reticence Emperor': from divinity to mortality. vulnerable and as cute as all get out, a sort of hybrid of Marilyn Monroe and Judy Holliday. It is a gruesome sight Opposite her.

Griffin Dunne is content to flirt with impersonating Dudley Moore in one of his less hysterical moods. Nikki (Madonna) is fresh out of jail after being framed for murder or something, and Loudon (Dunne) Is a rich New York lawyer who is about to marry the boss's daughter. That is the set-up for what is supposed to be a series of crazy adventures as Nikki and Loudon, in a Rolls-Royce with a cougar in the back seat (a novel touch which does put some fun into the proceedings), hurtle round New York, pursued by Keystone Krooks. Will Loudon get to his wedding on time? Will he help Nikki clear her name? Will they fall in love? The predictability of the answers in the slack script is a handicap that director James Foley does not overcome. Television pjHE pleasures to be had at this concert were quite reai, out measured.

The program was too long. and could have done without the eight movements of a ballet suite. The Elements', by Destouches, dainty and trivial music well played in the modern understated fashion. Daniel Mendelow was an attractive and fluent soloist in tbe Telemann Trumpet Concerto. He also appeared in the Bach cantata, 'Jauchzet Gott in alien Landen', handsomely and accurately sung by the soprano Jennifer Bates, with an excellent soprano voice that coped perfectly well both with the opposition of the trumpet and with the virtuoso nature of the writing, set in a very high and demanding texture.

NEIL JILLETT The Last Emperor (Hoyts); Who's That Girl (Village). James Acheson (costumes), and photographer Vlttorio Storaro have, particularly in the early scenes of imperial splendor, made the most of the huge cast of extras provided by the Chinese Government and the access they had to the Forbidden City and other original locations. Although there is often surprisingly little movement within the frame, the set-pieces the golden glow of the palace apartments contrasting with the blue-grey bleakness of later scenes have a richness and austerity that are equally impressive. The performance by Chinese-American actor John Lone in the title role is impressive too. As he showed in 'Iceman' and 'The Year of the Dragon', Lone, with his handsome face and fine voice, is an extraordinarily strong screen presence.

He has toned it down for this film, to meet Bertolucci's apparent view of the emperor as a man in whom arrogance was instilled rather than natural and who coped philosophically with his long, slow transformation from semi-divinity to almost insignificant mortality. Lone is at his best as a young and middle-aged man; his portrayal of the old, bumble Pu Yi is sometimes unconvincing. Peter OToole, who in recent years has been inclined to parody himself, gives a disciplined performance as the emperor's Scottish tutor. (One of the film's best scenes is his departure from Tientsin to the accompaniment of 'Auld Lang Syne' played by a band on traditional Chinese instruments.) Bertolucci has made much of the cooperation and lack of interference by Chinese authorities in the making of 'The Last Emperor'. So it is tempting to speculate on how much the liberal humanist stance of the film, particularly its tolerant attitude to the emperor, was a response by Bertolucci to current official thinking in China.

There is some obvious Mao-bashing that is at odds with TeleScope BARBARA HOOKS in the script and characterisations, right down to the air-brushed health and nature magazines of the day, father's ach-ingly boring obsession with the various species of the merchant navy offshore, and mother's preoccupation with pushing a shy and socially awkward only child into making new friendships. It's a most engaging amble through an album of memories shared in similar shape and form by every generation. NINE seems to have cornered the market on spoofy send-ups. After 'Code-name: Firefox' comes 'Misfits of Science' (tonight at 8.30), another variation on 'The A-Team' theme. 'Misfits' features a cast of socially-outcast super-heroes who set out to save the world: Billy (Dean-Paul Martin, the famous croon-" er's fifth-born) a scientist whose mother is ashamed that he's not a yuppie yet; his colleague Big El, a giant who can shrink himself into Ken Doll's designer gear with a special serum; Johnny a hot musician who took 20,000 volts at a rock concert and now transmits electricity, Beef, a cryogenic popsicle with a fixation about Amelia Earhart; Gloria, a telekinetic teenager with a talent for clearing public places at a point of a finger; and her pretty probation officer.

With the help of their new friends, Billy and Big El take on their former employer, a technocrat who is developing a neutron beam for a Dr Strangelove character played by Larry Linville, 'MASH's' super wimp, Frank. 'Misfits' revels in some unashamedly corny lines and some cute, over-the-top sight gags. But it would have been better if the writers had gone all the way and had the courage to give their crusading freaks the odd grudge and base motive instead of such klutzily-expressed social consciences. Fit and miss, as they say. Calling up the horror of wholesome holidays Art GARY CATALANO 'What is this thing called science' (University of Melbourne Gallery, until 18 December) Geoffrey Bartlett (Pinacotneca.

10 Waltham Place Richmond, until 5 December) Akio Mafcrgawa (Christine Abrahams, 27 Gipps Street Richmond, until 19 December) resting on a piece of silver foil) by Brian Dunlop has been included in the show. But the assumptions behind this modest still life are also evident in other works with which, at first sight, it has nothing in common. We can see that Robert Rooney's 'Garments', ostensibly a piece of conceptual art, is equally empirical in its spirit How else should we regard a work which, both verbally and visually, itemises the clothes the artist wore over a four-month period? There are grounds for assuming that many of the 23 artists here have at some stage taken an interest in one or other field of scientific Inquiry. The exhibited works of Howard Arkley, Dale Hickey, Robert Hunter, Jan Nelson, Mike Parr and Peter Tyndall all suggest that their makers have had some interest in the psychology or physiology of perception, while that of Fiona Hall indicates an abiding interest in the exploration of space. But to which work should we turn if Music KENNETH HINCE The Australian Chamber Orchestra, with Christopher Hogwood (Great Performers Series, Concert Hall, Wednesday) Louise Johnson's harp playing in tbe 'Sacred and Profane Dances' of Debussy was thoroughly pleasant and Hog-wood's orchestra produced some vigorous and attractive tone to accompany her.

But the great music at the head of the program, the P. E. Bach Symphony and the splendid minor Quintet (K.516) of Mozart, seemed to me to suf 6.00 Early Morning News with Eric Waiters. 6.30 Business Today with Michael Pascoe. 7.00 Today.

9.00 Here's Humphrey. 9.30 The Young Doctors. (R) 10.00 The Sullivans. (R) 11.00 Home Shopping Show. 11.30 News.

Afternoon 12.00 Waterloo Station. (PGR) (R) 1.00 Life With Lucy. New US comedy series starring Lucille Ball. 2.00 Days of Our Lives. (PGR) 3.00 The Young and The Restless.

(PGR) 4.00 C'mon Kids. (C) 5.00 Kathy And Bugs. (C) (R) 5.30 Ask The Leyland Brothers. (R) Evening 6.00 News, Sport, Weather. 6.30 Willesee.

Final program for 1987. 7.00 Sale of the Century. Game show, hosted by Tony Barber and Alyce Piatt. (S) 7 JO Adventure Bound. Part eight of the documentary series tracing Alby Mangels and Judy Green's gruelling trek across South America.

8.30 Misfits Of Science. Pilot episode of a new US comedy series about two scientists who recruit freaks with supernatural powers to combat crime. The superheroes race against time when a colleague's blueprint for a devastating neutron beam is developed without his knowledge. It stars Dean Paul Martin and Kevin Peter Hall. (PGR) 1040 Newsbreak.

1045 MTV: Music Television. Music Vdeos, interviews and music news, hosted by Richard Wtfkins. (PGR) 245 FILM. Mayflower The Pilgrim's Adventure. 1979 drama tracing the Pilgrims' 60-day crossing of the Atlantic in 1620.

It stars Anthony Hopkins and Richard Crennff (PGR) (R) 445 Bonanza. (PGR) (R) 540 Animal Express. (R) REPORTER) By BARBARA HOOKS Just Good Friends (2, 8pm). Misfits of Science (9, 8.30pm). Aspei and Co (2, 9.40pm).

Callan (2, 10.20pm). TV stars as follows: worth considering kit excellent not to be missed John Lone, right, in the title role of 'The the film's generally calm tone. For instance, on his return to China tbe emperor is interrogated by a shrill, irrational official, played by Rlc Young, who was presumably cast because of his resemblance to Mao, and this character is contrasted with a kindly prison governor who later becomes a victim of the Cultural Revolution (another dig at Mao). The governor is played by Ying Ruocheng, who, as well as being a good actor, just happens to be China's current Deputy Minister for Culture. These contemporary political touches emphasise that 'The Last Emperor" has a personality split not only between the epic and the intimate.

In Australia and most other parts of the world the film will be judged on how it works as entertainment But in China it perhaps has greater significance as educational, or propaganda, material. HROUGHOUT the would-be screwball comedy 'Who's That Girl' Madonna tries to look sexy. 5.00 Learning Network. 7.00 Children's Programs. 10.32 Schools Programs.

Afternoon 12.00 Countrywide. (R) 12.30 Babies Need Books. (R) 1.00 Parental Guidance Recommended. 1.15 Plug It In, Switch It On. 1.30 The Beast Of Monsieur Racine.

1.40 For The Juniors. 2.00 Writing. 2.20 Game of Life. 2.50 The Australian Eye. 3.00 Sesame Street 3.55 Thomas The Tank Engine And His Friends.

(R) 4.00 Play School. (S) 4.30 Mr Squiggle and Friends. 5.00 Earthwatch. 5.30 Metal Mickey. (R) Evening 6.00 Ghostbusters.

Cartoons. 6.30 EastEnders. BBC soapie set in London's East End. (S) 7.00 News, Sport, Weather. 7.30 The 7.30 Report 8.00 Just Good Friends.

New episodes of the BBC comedy series about a gullible woman and her incorrigible boyfriend. 8.30 Minder. British comedy-drama series. Arthur's plans for the Daley Health Dub flounder when Terry intercedes in a tug-oHove dilemma. (PGR) (R) (S) 9.20 Harness Racing.

Direct telecast of the Miracle Mile from Sydney's Harold Park. 9.40 Aspei and Company. British interview series hosted by Michael Aspei. With guests: Jan Francis, Clive James and Omar Sharif. 10.20 Callan.

British drama series. Callan comes face to face with one of the East's top agents. With Edward Woodward and Russell Hunter. (PGR)(R)(S) 11.10 News. 11.15 Golf.

Highlights of today's play in the 1987 Australian Open, from the Royal Melbourne Golf Club. 11.45 Rage. AH-night music video transmission. With Rue Getty. 8.00 Kate series their apartment Last 6.00 Calvin 6.25 6.40 The 9.00 The 9.30 TV Romper Kitchen.

(PGR) Afternoon 12.00 FILM. 1952 Judy Holliday (PGR) (PGR) 3.00 for the Bewitched. 4.30 The 5.00 Wheel Press Your Evening 6.00 News, Includes No. 1067. 7.00 Terry 7.30 The comedy between and a house born flirt, niece's Bea Village.

her his for James 8.30 FILM. western and an officer counter stars Burt Davison. 10.30 11.30 First Voyage. 12.00 News news Today. and The Colonel.

(R) Huckleberry Hound. (R) Cartocn Connection. Trivial Video Show. (R) Education. 10.00 Room.

10.55 Fun In The 11.00 Eleven AM. The Marrying Kind. comedy-drama starring and Aldo Ray. (R) 2.00 Airwolf. Going Strong.

Series over-50s. (R) 3.30 (R) 4.00 Wombat (C) Littlest Hobo. (C) (R) of Fortune. 5.30 Luck. Sport, Weather.

results of Tatts 2 Draw Wiltesee Tonight Golden Girls. US about the relationship two widows, a divorcee her mother who share hi Miami. Blanche, a objects to her favorite flirtatious behavior. acsiuciit expectations. fer from a thin-blooded and reticent approach.

The Mozart was played with truth affection, but very quietly, and on its own scale the Bach had much the same kind of treatment I gather that this kind of underplaying is very much in vogue in Europe at the moment perhaps as another gesture in the direction of authenticity. It does not have much to recommend it It gives the performance an arch, scented and affected air, and robs tbe music of much of its native robustness. Outside this, it was quite hard on Wednesday to estimate the contribution of the genial Christopher Hogwood. This is normally a conductorless orchestra, and I could not imagine the sound's having been greatly altered by Hogwood's conducting. Cut and paste on jaded herd! Review MICHAEL SHMITH WHAT can one say about '25 Years of James Bond' (Channel 10, 8.30pm), other than it represented a shaky, not stirring, cocktail of a quarter of a century's worth of film clips? A scissor-and-paste job that celebrated one of the cinema's most cardboard heroes.

Mind you, having Roger Moore appearing in between the clips did not exactly help. Moore, whose stretched, cadaverous face, with its wide-open eyes and permanently tanned hide is now so rigidly set he finds it difficult to raise that Saint-like eyebrow, introduced various stunts, villains tfod? women, with the slightly jaunty air of a superannuated tour guide let out for tbe day with a bunch of naive tourists. The' power of villainy," he said, "is like some rare and exotic aftershave: subtle, unmistakeable, unforgettable." With that there appeared a flickering selee-, tion of Bond baddery (always sore, interesting than Bond himself), including the remarkable Oddjob (the Korean, fatty with the full metal hat). There was Sean Connery (whose name went uncredited and unmejKV tioned by Roger Moore), a passing glance at George Lazenby, and an extended advertisement for the latest Bond, Timothy Dalton, who told us how he liked Ian Fleming's original books So do I. All this ridiculous compilation achieved was to remind one how well the early Bond films kept to the sprritof the books, without deviating into a series of car chases, limp seducOojos, and gadgetry: things the later films overdo relentlessly.

The whole style of Bond (perhaps the whole age) riorated. Green baize has given way to Laminex; pickled onions have been dropped into the dry martinis. BetM's- currency has dwindled: from 007 to 0.05. TO iffrO 4 2 6.00 Daybreak. 7.00 Good Morning Australia.

9.00 Good Morning Melbourne. 10.00 Fat Cat and Friends. 10.30 Daywatch. 1 1.00 Another World. (PGR) Afternoon 12.00 Santa Barbara.

US drama serial. (PGR) 1.00 The Bold And The Beautiful. US drama serial. (PGR) 1.30 FILM: The Miracle Of The Bells. 1948 drama about a miracle which takes place when a dead actress is returned to her home town for burial.

It stars Fred MacMurray and Alida Valli (PGR) (R) 4.00 Ridgey Didge. Australian children's variety series. (C) 5.00 The Brady Bunch. (R) 540 Perfect Match. Quiz series.

(R) Evening 6.00 News, Sport, Weather. 7.00 The Facts of Life. US comedy series set in a grrfs boarding school in upstate New York. 7.30 Highway To Heaven. US fantasy drama series.

Jonathan and Mark try to counsel a family and residents of a neighborhood thrown into turmoil. (R) 8.30 FILM: My Friend Flick. 1943 drama about the strong bond between a boy and his rebellious horse. It stars Roddy McOowall and Preston Foster. EVERY family has its fund of retrospectively funny holiday anecdotes, be it driving up the main street three times, conspicuous under a pink-tarpaulined pack-rack, or exploring "interesting" roads which always lead to the local tip.

Monty Python's Michael Palin clearly has his collection of wince-inducing holiday memories too, and he recalls them expertly in 'East of Ipswich', a BBC telemovie which goes to air on the ABC tomorrow night at 8.30. While it is a marvellous evocation of time the 1950s and place a sleepy British seaside resort 'East of Ipswich' is universally recognisable. His central character is 17-year-old Richard (Edward Rawle-Hicks), who is dragged away on holiday with his parents, (Pat Heywood and John Nettleton Sir Arnold Robinson, "Jumbo" of Yes, Minister') to the "unspoilt" Suffolk seaside. "I want to go somewhere spoilt" he mutters disconsolately. They settle into a faded guest house run by a taciturn and cantankerous Mrs Fawlty type played by Joan Sanderson, who, in a nice twist of casting, copped the full brunt of Basil in 'Fawlty Towers', but as one of his guests.

Richard's prospects look grim indeed but they brighten when he meets Julia (Oona Kirsch), a sweet-natured and pretty brunette with a randy, sulky Dutch exchange student in tow, and Eddie, a girl-mad. trainee spiv. 'East of Ipswich' evokes it all: memories of late-night whisperings in the dorm; dancing class stumblings; adolescent tumblings; a sense of urgency about making contact with the opposite sex; dreary traipses round "interesting" ruins; disconcerting dining rooms devoid of sound save those of cutlery on crockery; unidentifiable cream soups; ghastly fellow guests; sausage sizzles; party games and blustery beaches. Michael Palin and director Tristram Powell have paid fine attention to detail Arthur. Betty White, McOanahan, Estette (PGR) and AtlievUS comedy about two divorcees and children who share an Afternoon 2.00 Golf.

Direct telecast of the 1987 Australian Open, from the Royal Melbourne Golf Club. Evening 6.00 Brook side. British soapie set in a Liverpool housing estate. 6.30 World News. 7.00 Office Gossip.

German comedy series. (R) 7.30 Queen Bona. Polish drama series set during the 16th Century when Poland was a large and powerful country, and Europe, a system of competing sovereign states which aimed to establish and maintain a balance of power. (R) 8.30 Showbiz. Entertainment news, presented by Zuzartka Kutena.

9.00 Worldwide. Current affairs, presented by Christina Koutsoukos. 9.30 FILM. Come And See. 1985 USSR drama about a young Byelorussian peasant fanner who joins a group of partisans in order to fight the advancing German army.

12.00 World News. (Repeat of the 6.30pm newscast) 1240 Close. in Greei 10.21 3.20 News Update. Emma's fathek gives piano before he leaves California. With Susan Saint and Jane Curtin.

Ulzana's Raid. 1972 about an Indian scout inexperienced cavalry who are sent out to I an Apache attack. I Lancaster and Boicsf 10.35 FILM. Twelve Angry Men. 1957 drama about ofje man who tries to convince fellow Jurors on a murder trial to reconsider their guilty verdict It stars Henry Fonda and Lee Cobb.

(PGR) (R) 1240 Nightshirt. Rock clips, videos and artist profiles. Hosted by David White. Alt-night transmission. (AO) 5.00 Blank ety Blanks.

Australian game sbow. (R) 5.30 Superman. (R) (AO) (R) NewsworkL Fleet Re-Enactment Report Overnight All-night transmission including 1 1 ithet: I JiJ "Funniest of the new yeaf (HOLLYWOOD.