/+)

[WretchAwry <vickie@pilot.njin.net>]

Just something I wrote.  I stole the "...Miranda *can* act & Kate *can*
sing" line, but forgot who said it. Thanks.  I'm a terrible reviewer,
but I hadn't seen anyone else say anything about it elsewhere, so I
thought I'd post it anyway.  Flames in e-mail please.

--------------------------------------------------

From: vickie@pilot.njin.net (Vickie Mapes)
Date: 1 Nov 1994 09:37:44 -0500
Newsgroups: alt.music.ecto,rec.music.misc,alt.music.alternative,alt.music.alternative.female,rec.music.video,rec.arts.movies,alt.cult-movies
Subject: The Line, The Cross & The Curve



"The Line, The Cross & The Curve"
A musical/fantasy film by Kate Bush

Starring:
Kate Bush
Miranda Richardson
Lindsay Kemp
Lily
Stewart Arnold
Peter Richardson

Written and directed by Kate Bush.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of seeing this 43 minute film at a theater
in Chicago.  The film print was gorgeous, and we sat right up front so we
could bask in the glorious color and detail.  In my opinion, the film isn't  
anywhere near brilliant, but Kate doesn't pretend to be Kubrick.  Also,
Kate's not a very good actress, and there are a couple of bits that are
downright embarrassing, even to huge KB fans.  Still, Miranda Richardson
*can* act, and Kate *can* sing, and there's more than enough here in other
areas to make it a treat for the eyes and ears.

Kate knows she's not an actress, and wisely lets Miranda chew up the scenery
and steal the show.  Even if I weren't a Kate fan, I'd love this film just
for Miranda's evil character.  Kate's strengths are her voice and music, her
sense of color and style, and her wonderful facial expressions.  Speaking
of facial expressions, this film could (and surely will) provide a wealth
of still-frame gifs and jpegs.  Those eyes!

Kate's idea of humor is sometimes roll-your-eyes slapstick silly and at 
other times weird, and the film provides lots of laughs.  The film can also
provoke a few tears too, at least for me, during the "Moments Of Pleasure"
section.  I don't know that that part would affect non-Kate Bush fans in
the same way though.  To be honest, I have no idea what non-Kate fans would
even think of this film as a whole, and I'm curious to know.

All the songs in the film are from Kate's album _The Red Shoes_, which 
isn't a concept album.  Kate had to work out a story linking 5 other
unrelated songs to the title track, which was itself inspired by Michael 
Powell's film _The Red Shoes_.  Kate decided to make the film after the
album was finished, but before it was released to stores.  Some of the 
videos in this film were shown on MTV and various music video shows, while 
others are specific to the film.

**** SPOILER **** What follows is a synopsis of the film.  Since TLTCTC (or
/+( or /x) among other variations) is basically an extended music video, and
the ending is never in question, I give more and complete details wrt the
plot than I normally would with a "regular" film.  It might be more than 
some people want to know though, so read at your own discretion.


The film opens with the song "Rubberband Girl" and "Kate" is shown in
a dance studio with a group of musicians and another dancer (Stewart
Arnold). They're all rehearsing a dance routine for the song.  The key-
word here is "rehearsing" and I emphasize it because it has a loose and
"unfinished" look.  This portion was shown as a video in the UK and I've
heard complaints that it looks unprofessional.  Of course!  It's supposed
to look like that.  There are even a few scenes where Kate stands there
doing nothing but fiddling with her sweater.  My take on it is that those 
are bits to be "filled in" later by other dance moves.  This seems to be 
confirmed when, after the rehearsal is cut short (by some silliness involving
a huge runaway fan and Peter Richardson), Kate asks Arnold to show her a
dance move he had in mind.  They rehearse it in front of the very large 
mirror that lines one wall of the dance studio.  It's obvious that Kate's 
not happy with her dancing, and she seems tired and depressed.  The rehearsal
is further delayed when the lights go out because of a thunderstorm, and 
everyone leaves the room except for Kate. 

(Just to make it clear, I put quotes around "Kate" because, of course, it's 
a character after all.  She's not playing herself.  Unfortunately, no
character names are ever given, with the exception of Lily, so I have no
choice but to use the real names rather than character names)
 
Kate lights a candle, which marks the beginning of "And So Is Love" with
the character singing of the sadness in life and love.  There's a beatiful
section involving a disoriented bird....(hey, it's a synopsis, not a play-by-
play)...and at the end of the song Kate is shocked by the Miranda Richardson
character who runs out of the mirror (from the "otherworld") in a wild
costume and with her hands bandaged.  Miranda is under the spell of The Red
Shoes, and she tricks Kate into helping her break the spell.  (The spell
is that the shoes can't be taken off and anyone who wears them *has* to dance,
no matter how tired.)  The trickery involves Kate drawing a line (signifying
a "path") and a cross (signifying the "heart") and a curve (signifying a
"smile") on 3 pieces of paper and giving them to Miranda.  This leads into 
the song "The Red Shoes."

Unfortunately, the spell is then transferred to Kate.  Miranda disappears
back into the otherworld and Kate follows, where she is suddenly turned into
a witchy dance diva.  Her dress is transformed, her hair is wild and loose,
and she dances like a madwoman.  Luckily, she's helped by a mysterious and
kindly man (played by Lindsey Kemp) who has just enough power to temporarily
calm the dancing shoes, but not enough to break the spell.  He knows what 
Kate has to do though, and he takes her to an elderly mystical woman named 
Lily who also knows all about the spell and who helps Kate.
 
Lily tells Kate that she (Kate) must "sing back the symbols" and starts
her off on her quest to break the spell by teaching Kate a ritual.  This 
ritual (inspired by a real pagan ritual) invokes the protection of Kate's
four guardian angels, and helps lead Kate on her "path."
 
"Lily" (the song) is followed by "Moments Of Pleasure" after Kate is told 
by Kemp that she must call upon the ones she loves.  Remembering and singing 
about the people she's loved and lost (those who've died) helps to give Kate
back her "heart."

The last symbol Kate needs to get is her "smile" and it's not easy consid-
ering the odd and alien situation she's in, not to mention Miranda's taunting.
Kate's realization that she's getting stronger and that Miranda is "losing," 
plus a large helping of voodoo during "Eat The Music" finally breaks the
spell.  

There's more to the film, but that's enough of the "plot" to give an idea of
how it all fits together.  And it *does* work, at least for me.  The film has
some major flaws, to be sure, but who cares?  There's more than enough here
to enjoy and have fun with.  It's packed with details, color, motion, music,
and lots of fun references to other films/works ranging from "The Red Shoes"
(of course), "Curse Of The Demon," "Twin Peaks," "The Company Of Wolves,"
a bit of Hitchcock, a bit of film noir, and all kinds of other things.  Kate
has lots of friends in the film business, including Terry Gilliam and Julian
Doyle (the director and editor of _Brazil_ respectively) and they've had a
great influence on Kate.  (Btw, Julian helps out as technical advisor and
Gilliam has some fun as a cameraman on the film).

Kate does show promise as a director, and has a *great* sense of color and 
style.  It's a beautiful movie to look at, and many scenes and details stick 
in the mind long after the film is over.  For me, a few of these would be
the wonderful costumes (by Hazel Pethig), the crazy slow-motion "air dance"
in the first musical section, the beautiful candlelight-and-lightning 
lighting during "And So Is Love," Miranda and Kate's back and forth singing
(Miranda lip syncs) at the beginning of "The Red Shoes" and Kate's wild
dance-on-the-skulls in the last part of that same song, Lily's "circle of
fire," the floating snow scenes at the end of "Moments of Pleasure" and
the disorenting voodoo swirling during "Eat The Music" among many, many 
other scenes.

We've been lucky enough to see it in the theater twice; once at a theater in
a London suburb, and again Sunday.  We've also seen it on video many times;
once at the Konvention in May (where it was introduced by Kate herself), a 
few other times with friends, and a couple more times by ourselves.  Even
though we bought the video, we'll also buy the laserdisc. I just can't see 
us getting tired of it.  Sure, we're hard-core fans, and it's a treat for us,
but I do think there's lots here to recommend it to the casual (or new, or even
potential) fan too.  As Lily says in her song, "take what I say with a pinch
of salt" and just enjoy the visuals and music without analysing it to death.

Vickie

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Vickie Mapes               irc ---> #ecto     "My ears are lucky to hear
vickie@pilot.njin.net      alt.music.ecto       these glorious songs" HR
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