Eyes Without A Face

Who Are You? Who Who? Who Who? No, this is not CSI.

A few weeks ago I watched this old Japanese movie called The Face Of Another. It was made in the 60's in black and white with an intriguing plot about a scientist who has become facially disfigured in a lab accident. The disfigurement causes the scientist to be bitter, paranoid and alienated from all around him including his wife. Then a doctor offers a new experiment in the form of a lifelike facial mask that can be worn for a few hours at a time and give the appearance of being "normal". The story overview reminded me a lot of Sam Raimi's Darkman so I gave the movie a shot.

The Face Of Another turned out to be a truly haunting movie, an extended trip through the dark side of the meaning of identity. The scientist is miserable and harsh towards his wife, accusing her of wanting to be away from him and needling her with references to his plight. Meanwhile the wife displays understanding while stating the films central message: that everyone wears a mask of some type, whether it's facial bandages or women's makeup, just some masks are more visible than others.

Unknown to his wife, the scientist takes up a doctor's offer for a lifelike mask. The doctor wants to see how the mask affects the scientist, with a mask the scientist becomes a person with no past. Will the scientist return to his old life, start a new life, what morality will the new man have? The scientist starts a new life whose sole purpose is to have emotional vengeance on his old life, he wants to have an affair with his own wife.

At the same time there is a story of a young woman who is physically beautiful except for burn marks on her right cheek and ear. She hides the burns with her hair leaving others to believe she is a stuck up pretty girl until they see her burn marks. The shame she feels causes her to be reclusive from almost all but her brother as society judges her for being both beautiful and unattractive at the same time.

The twisted soul of this movie is brought to life with compassion and power by the filmmakers. Black and white helps heighten the stark mood. How much of identity is dictated by how you are viewed versus who you really are? The Face Of Another explores this question with disturbing directness. Because the ugliest thing can be cold indifference or spiteful hatred. If you're a fan of films that are provocative without being prurient, this is a good flick.

Freakin' Sweet

The man, the myth, the legend...Matthew Sweet livens up the power pop pack in the Grunge era.

I'm a big 'ol fan of power pop maven Matthew Sweet ever since his breakthru CD Girlfriend (1991). Even though he can get a little repetitive, when he matches the right bright pop hook with the right chiming guitars and bittersweet sad sack lyrics it's aural awesomeness. With a long career spanning two decades in the can, I'm going to break his retrospective into two sections: the 90's and the 00's.

The first time I (and maybe a lot of his current fans) heard of him was with the release of the song and album Girlfriend. An album reportedly borne from his divorce, it had an emotional immediacy packed in craggy guitar licks and pristine harmonies. The title song was an alternative radio hit, a punchy slice of catchy garage rock that would make the next generation flail their plastic guitars in a Guitar Hero frenzy. The Byrdsy follow up single I've Been Waiting was another winner. For me, the mix of upbeat pop rock ("I Wanted To Tell You"), sad guy balladry ("You Don't Love Me") and pop culture fixations ("Winona", "Evangeline") was spellbinding. And did I mention the heavy use of anime in his videos? How could a geek refuse?

The attention Sweet got from Girlfriend gave him the juice to bring in Fleetwood Mac producer Richard Dashut for the follow up Altered Beast (1993). I think I read an interview once where Sweet said he was hiding on this album, it certainly feels that way. His voice seems low in the mix amid Dashut's smooth production. The hits were just OK with me, though I did like the video for Ugly Truth Rock with it's Vanishing Point influenced fast car driving. What stuck with me was an almost self loathing attitude on the best songs like "Someone To Pull The Trigger" or "Dinosaur Act". And Mac fan that I am, I played "Reaching Out" a lot because of the Mick Fleetwood guest appearance. "Devil With The Green Eyes" and "Fallen" were the two other songs that made my CD player regularly back then. Altered Beast kept my interest although I didn't like it nearly as much as Girlfriend.

Sweet rebounded by snagging hard rockin' producer Brendan O' Brien who quickly injected a more muscular sonic sheen. 100% Fun (1995) was exactly that, Sweet's songwriting had sharpened to give potency to the new uncluttered approach. The singles Sick of Myself and "We're The Same" even made alterna rock radio play just as the early 90's breakthru artists were starting to fade away. Always the video genius, there's a bit of 70's glamourpuss fantasy in the clip for We're The Same. The softer moments came across really well with one of my favorite Sweet songs, "Not When I Need It", with it's yearning melody and lush background vocals. The man looked unstoppable as this album was played regularly in my car.

Around 1996-1997 Sweet became affiliated with Mike Myers and Susannah Hoffs to form Ming Tea, a band that would play background and interlude music for the Austin Powers movies. The fun infectious nature of the 60's throwbacks like BBC added a bit of flavor to the franchise. This should have set up for another round of glorious power pop, yet Sweet decided to challenge himself with a stripped down approach to Blue Sky On Mars (1997). Mars had a self contained mood with Sweet playing a lot of instruments and spare arrangements. Although the Cars-sy single Where You Get Love and the rushing opening number Come To California played well, much of the album felt underdone for my taste. I can't say it was bad, just dull. So dull it put me off Sweet's music for about five years or so.

Which is why it was just a few months ago I picked up his 1999 release, In Reverse. It got good reviews but I still ignored it thinking he had lost his mojo. Hearing it now, In Reverse is actually pretty good. The lushest of his albums, In Reverse finds Sweet on a serious Brian Wilson binge with some Byrds and Eric Carmen mixed in. "If Time Permits" is like the Fleet Foxes a decade ahead while "Hide" recalls ELO. It also contains some of Sweet's most pleasantly self aware writing, making the clever "Untitled" or the critic kiss off "Write Your Own Song" late inning finds.

It was the end of Century, Sweet would take a break at the first part of the new millennium before returning to his prolific self again. Fortunately I wasn't listening to his music at this point anyway until he would become a Thorn in my side.

I Guess It Was Inevitable...

Allison Iraheta goes home sweet home.

Tonight my favorite of the American Idol season, Allison Iraheta, was sent home following the episode I liked the most (naturally), Rock night. I knew she had no shot at winning, but she hung around longer than I thought she would given her Classic Rock leanings. Hung around so long in fact, I thought she would have a chance at the finale. At least she made it to Rock night, while Adam Lambert reigned supreme with a blasting "Whole Lotta Love" Iraheta delivered a strong version of Janis Joplin's "Crybaby" that in terms of quality was way above her other competitors.

Yet Iraheta was never able to fully capture the audience's attention for whatever reason (her off stage persona of acting like a normal 17 year old I guess wasn't interesting enough) . When she cuts an album hopefully it will be in that blues rock style she specializes in and she doesn't get Bo Bice'd into doing generic modern rock for her debut. Anyway, I'll miss her weekly performances, particularly after last night's blazin' Lambert / Iraheta duet on Foghat's "Slow Ride". I don't think I've heard "Slow Ride" done with that much fire since the 70's. So I'll leave off with an audio recording of that version posted on You Tube. Slow Ride! Take It Easy!