THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
A film review by Eugene Miya
(As per Government regulations, this note is in the public domain)
As a warning, I saw the play twice (the second time in the first row; much better!). I also have Jane Wagner's book of the same title. A documentary on Lily Tomlin (PBS) describes the development of this play. The film is an adaptation to Tomlin's successful play of the same name. The title is intriguing, especially since the real "Search" work is done here at Ames. The "Search" in the film is the alien search for intelligent life.
The interest in the film is to see how she takes the one-woman play and adapt it for the big screen with costumes and makeup. The majority of the film does not have Tomlin in character garb, but rather, in the suit she had designed for the stage with the limited set of props she had. A few of the characters make brief appearances in costume.
The film concerns one of Tomlin's long time characters, Trudy the bag lady. Trudy is in contact with extra-terrestrials and she has the ability to pop into other people's lives (although randomly): a la Vonnegut. Her other characters include Agnes Angst, Ludd (male, Agnes' grandfather), Agnes' grandmother, Brandy (a prostitute), Paul, etc. (names you can get from Wagner's book(. The films consist of various monologues and dialogues between the Tomlin characters (all inter-related).
Some of the events of the film are clearly dated. So the humor is a bit topically and behind. Tomlin has a nice delivery, but for those unfamiliar with her work, you may/may not like it. The print I saw at Camera Three was surprising poor for a new movie. I think I like the stage performance better (especially when she came down and sat on the edge and just answered questions from the audience).
Should you go see it? At $6, it might be better to wait until it reaches video. Die-hard fans might go to relive the theater, but sketches and diagloue have changed from the book and what I remember to make a shorter film (mostly Act 1 material removed).
How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
. . .
"Soup." "Art."
--eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@orville.nas.nasa.gov {uunet,mailrus,other gateways}!ames!eugene
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