Z/Web

Director: Ken Russell

Not a pleasant film, but unquestionably a remarkable one. This tells the story of Tchaichosky, the Russian composer. Russell deals with the man’s complicated past and fantasies but an excellent technique of interchanging and intercutting fantasy sequences and reality. For instance, when T meets his future wife, her real image is intercut with his fantasy image, and he falls in love with her… or is he in love with his fantasy? The story is dark and brutal. The composer’s a genius, but his personal life is a mess. There are strong hints that T was homosexual and that his marriage fell apart because it was a lie. After marriage, he couldn’t compose until he went away from his wife. She slowly descends into madness, and the final scenes of her living in the madhouse are truly sickening. (I felt sorry just for the actors, not to mention the characters.) T himself drinks contaminated water and contracts cholera and dies horribly, the way his beloved mother died. Very bizarre, very sad. It’s a movie about people torn with conflicting passions, secret fantasies and ideals, and the unforgiving nature of genius. Complex, but distasteful.

Tough battle with Hamburg desperate for some points and Leverkusen needing a win to keep themselves in contention at the top of the league. Hamburg scored first on a deflected free kick by Danish international Tofting, but Leverkusen equalized in first half injury time by Kirsten off a deflected cross into the box that dropped for him. The second half was more battling but no more scoring. American and my personal favorite Frankie Hejduk made a saving tackle on a Hamburg run but found himself staring at his second yellow (therefore a red). A rather harsh call. But ten men Leverkusen didn’t give up any more goals and the game finished a draw that doesn’t help either team. Final: 1-1.

Good game, though not a good result. Early on San Jose held their own, but toward the end of the first half everything fell apart. The first two goals were giveaways. In the 39th minute Miami put a cross through the box and a Quake defender deflected into his own goal. Minutes later, in first half injury time, poor defending left newcomer Chacon open for a split second and he took advantage of his chance, scoring his third goal in three games for Miami. In the second half, Ian Russell got a goal for San Jose, but I didn’t get to see it because Fox Sports Bay Area cleverly edited out San Jose’s only goal of the game “due to time constraints.” Yes, the baseball game preceeding the Quake’s game went too long so they showed the entire first half, then jumped to the 52minute of the second half, skipping the Quake’s only goal. Makes perfect sense. After all, what local people would want to see San Jose score? Aren’t we all Miami fans??? Oh well, I suppose it was a good goal. The goal gave San Jose drive and they played much better in the second half, really pressuring Miami and came very close to equalizing on several occasions, but couldn’t quite make it. Miami looked dangerous on several counters, but Joe Cannon make some excellent saves and the defense came to the rescue on other occasions. Good game overall for the Quakes: much better than last week’s fiasco. Despite the result, I now have a little hope for the season (especially considering that Donovan and Goose were absent for national team duty). Final: 2-1 Miami.

Impressive debut of the new American women’s soccer league. Apparently games are shown every Saturday at 9 a.m. Pacific on cable channel TNT with a WUSA highlight show airing at 8 a.m. on the Discovery channel. This game was New York, with Tiffeny Milbrett, against Atlanta, with Cindy Parlow and China’s Sun-Wen. The game was pretty good. No goals, but some good action, good defending, a great crowd (over 20,000), and lots of enthusiasm. For the start of a new league, it’s definitely impressive. We’ll have to see how things continue. Final: 0-0.

After struggling a bit recently, Inter is suddenly back. Vieri got things going with a goal just twelve minutes in, followed by a penalty kick in the 40th minute after Seedorf was taken down in the box. Minutes later came the beauty: Dalmat (who assisted on the first goal) just blasted a shot from forty-some yards out that curled into the inside of the far post and into the net. Stunning! A goal to be talked about for years! In the second half, Fiorentina really turned on the pressure, but it was Inter, on the counter, who scored. Sukur got the ball at the top of the box and curled it over the keeper. Fiorentina got one back with Bressan’s header, and with 11 minutes left, Chiesa got another with a chip over the off-his-line Frey, but despite the slight comeback, one just felt that this was Inter’s day. Sure enough, they managed to preserve the win. Final: 4-2 Inter.

Great game! It got off a little slow, at least for Tampa, who kept giving opportunities to New York. Then in the 28th minute Alvarez got sent off to drastically change the game. With only ten men, New York should have faltered, but instead they dominated, continuing to find holes in the Muntiny’s defense. Ramos broke down the left, beat his man and put in a great cross, and Comas finished. The score really should have been 3-0 or 4-0 by the second half, but man of the match Scott Garlick kept out a half dozen of New York’s shots. In the second half, the Mutiny took their time, but finally scored on a marvelous long-range strike by Ralston in the 74th minute. That broke the ice, and four minutes later, Diallo’s cross to a sliding Josh Keller, who hadn’t been playing well to that point, finished it off to take the lead. But Diallo, who’s collision last year with New York keeper Mike Ammann fueled the New York-Tampa rivalry, reacted badly when beat by Mike Petke and tackled him. He got the ball and I thought he only deserved a yellow, but it was a bad tackle and the ref immediately produced the red. With both teams at ten men, it seemed like New York had some hope, but when the pushed forward, Tampa countered beautifully, and Curtis scored on a breakaway. Final: 3-1 Tampa Bay.

Cool game. Leeds got going early when Keane slipped one past the keeper, and just into the second half former West Ham player Rio Ferdinand got one against his old club. Leeds probably would have increased their lead, but Batty was sent off a minute later, so they just held on to the end. Final: 2-0 Leeds.