REVIEWS

Lianna: A Review

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It is a curious and unfortunate comment on the American film industry that the only two mainstream films that deal with lesbianism were directed and written by men, first Robert Towne's Personal Best and now John Sayles' Lianna. This is not to say that Lianna is a bad film, but it is a damn shame that Hollywood is so white-male dominated. Lianna is a sensitive, intelligent and often funny chronicle of one woman's acceptance of her own lesbianism.

Lianna Massie is a good "professor's wife" in a small college town. She has two children she loves a great deal, and a husband who is frantically angling for tenure and drifting away from her in the process. Lianna fell in love with him when she was his student. She finds the situation recurring with her night school professor. The difference, however, is that her professor is a woman; Ruth, as we soon discover, is a lesbian who has chosen to remain in the closet for professional reasons. She returns: Lianna's love and their relationship marks the beginning of Lianna Massie's self-discovery.

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Lianna, played by Linda Griffiths, is naive and worldly, brave and terrified, at the same time. She is impetuous and almost adolescent when she first tells her husband of her affair with Ruth, but then goes about living with the decision she has made with a

Holly Near

and Ronnie Gilbert

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By Diane Djubasak

Folk music. Visions of sing-alongs, guitars, Peter, Paul and Mary. Days and nights spent talking politics, rallies and marches. Songs that speak of tyranny, injustice and a longing for. peace. This is the power of a song that speaks from the heart; no glamorous orchestrations, no fancy props, just the lyrics filling you with ideas, reinforcing your thoughts and filling you with a sense of expectation and purpose.yo

On Sunday, April 17, MbS Productions...with WomenSpace and Women Speak Out for Peace and Justice brought to Cleveland-two women who are the past, present and hopefully future voices of a socially conscious populace. Holly Near and Ronnie Gilbert filled the air with their brilliant voices, warming-the. sold-out auditorium at the Civic.not only with their superb musical ability but with their obvious admiration for each other,

The evening began late but the audience waited pa-tiently, filling the hall with anticipation for the starti of the program. As Holly and Ronnie walked on: stage, they were greated with cheers that did not stop until they walked off two hours and two encores. later. Their program included songs by Ruth Pelham,, Berniece Regan, Jeff Langley and Holly Near, covering such disparate themes as old age, genocide, Latin, American rebellion, and a ladies night out, Ronnie's past with the folksinging group, The Weavers was acknowledged with their big hit from 1950,¿"goodź Night Irene." Holly's song, "Hay Una Mujer,”

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great deal of grace and courage. I found it especially delightful that she is never ashamed of her lesbianism, but rather proud that she loves women. In many ways Lianna is going through adolescence all over again with all its intensities, fears and joys, and Griffiths brings. her charcter's strengths 'and weaknesses beautifully to life. Jane Hallaren, as Ruth, is not quite as strong an actress but she has moments of real emotional accuracy as she tries to keep her professional life and her personal life functioning while trying to decide whether she truly loves Lianna. The two young actors who play Lianna's children are also very convincing. Their initial confusion and final acceptance of their mother's choice is believably written and acted.

John Sayles wrote and directed the film (he also has a small, humorous role as a professor who tries to seduce Lianna after her separation). I feel that he has a stronger ear for dialog than a good visual sense. The editing (which he also did) is occasionally choppy and almost amateurish and much of the film is uninspired visually. On the other hand, the sound of life in a small academic community is rendered just right and the script abounds in scenes that are funny, warm and accurate Mich of the dialog just feels right. Sayles is to be congratulated for never condescending to any of his characters. He seems to feel a real affection for all the people in the movie and he is neither turned on nor grossed out by lesbianism. He presents Lianna's story to us as one woman's story and at the end of the film, one feels very sure that this woman will make it her own way, on her own terms.

about oppression in Chile, closed out the program. with its poignant plea for life and hope.

Musically their performance was excellent. Holly's crystalline soprano sparkled with humor, life and love. Ronnie's gutsy contralto resounded throughout the room. Together their voices soared, the words and music intertwining in close harmonies. Jeff Langley, piano, provided a superb backdrop for their voices with his sensitive and articulate playing.

A special treat for me was the presence of Susan Freundlich, American Sign Language interpreter. Her "signing" added a visual element to the evening that was delightful not only to watch but also in the knowledge that an entirely new audience, those who are hearing impaired, can realize the joy of music.

Holly Near's recording company,' Redwood Records, will be producing a "live" performance of this tour. Run, do not walk, to your nearest music store and add this record to your collection for its spellbinding musical performances and its hope for a brighter tomorrow. sama tel

Black Women:

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Poems

Narratives: Poems in the Tradition of Black Women, by Cheryl Clarke, Sister Books, 1982. $4.50. 52 pp:

By Judith Rainbrook .

I am in love with this slim red volume of lives, wondering how I was lucky enough to be in the place where this book had arrived, waiting for the world to find it.

Cheryl Clarke has captured the richness of black women's lives even as she shares with her readers their hardships. I think it is this balancing of pain with strength that is the heart of this collection. One feels the lives of Ms. Clarke's women, rather than merely observing them from the outside.

Althea was gay and strong in 1945 and could sing a good song

from underneath her welder's mask and did not care who heard her sing her song to a woman.

Fierce pride, defiance, love, going on despite the pain; these are present in abundance in these poems.

The poems speak particularly to what is inflicted on black women by their own community, but when you read "if you black get back" or the opening poem, "hair; a narrative," any feminist will recognize the self-hatred and continual feeling of insecurity that all women in our society feel about how we look. Ms. Clarke also captures the underlying anger at the fact that how we look seems so much more important than who we are and what we can do.

These poems are frightening, uplifting, and powerful whether or not you share the experience of being black.

The only thing I missed was a sense of joy. Being a woman means experiencing pain. Being a black woman certainly increases the possibility of experiencing greater pain. But it is hard to imagine a life that is all bittersweet. I would have liked some poems in this collection to celebrate what is beautiful and affirming about being a black woman. I would have liked some of these lives to have had laughter in them. But this is a minor issue and does not detract ..from the effects of these, works..*\*

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Narratives is available at the Feminist Lending Library at the Civic or can be ordered from Kitchen Table; Women of Color Press, Box-592, Van Brunt Station, Brooklyn, NY 11215,

The Feminist Lending Library ......... The Civic, 3130 Mayfield Road, West Wing

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321-3054: Library Hours:

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nike bank me want Monday and Wednesday 7-9 pm on tulevas vyvěta Thursday, 7:30-9:30p.m. to enli dhi watak 21:117 75mwend> Saturday, 5-7 p.m. and coffeehouse evenings inandega, "uantikana

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June, 1983/What She Wants/Page 9