Word: ossman
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...Cosmic Comics Re "Lumps in the Cosmos" [Jan. 21]: as a member of the comedy group Firesign Theatre, along with Phil Austin, Peter Bergman and David Ossman, I would like to point out that we first espoused the "cosmic lump theory" back in 1971 with our album I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus. During a simulated ride, "Up Against the Wall of Science," at the holographic Future Fair, the narrator says, "For some reason, for some time in the beginning, there were hot lumps. Cold and lonely, they whirled noiselessly through the black holes of space. These...
Everything else from the '60s has come back; why not the Firesign Theatre, which took recorded comedy as close to the edge of sanity as it could go, in albums like I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus? The group--Peter Bergman, Phil Proctor, David Ossman and Phil Austin--is back with a new CD, and it's both a nostalgia trip and a bracing return to the edge: a dense, doomy, free-association riff on the last broadcast day of the millennium, featuring commercials, traffic reports, Joe Camel's last press conference, the Ebola Virus Ball...
Running simultaneously with their struggle to preserve water in the summer drought is the two brothers' inner struggle for the same woman. Bahar (Hulya Kocygigit) loves Hassan and is even willing to forego the man's traditional dowry payment to marry him. Ossman wants Bahar, not only for his own gratification but for work in his fields. Once Hassan is in jail, Ossman forces himself on Bahar. The film moves slowly towards the brothers' inevitable face-off and an abrupt, violent denoument...
Bahar, too, in her naivete, fails to present a completely convincing character, not because one can't believe her circumstances, but because more is needed of her personal background or of the cultural framework in which the film is set. Ossman is probably the best portrayed of the three, but only because his character is easily accessible; he knows what he wants--it is only a matter of timing and shrewdness...
Despite the film's occasional lapse into stereotype, the photography in Dry Summer and the rich life it captures are worth seeing. Several scenes display a remarkable degree of sophistication, especially the objective-subjective shots that show what Ossman is looking at from his own perspective. They lead you into his character, and then betray any sympathy you might have for him. The close-ups of peasants' faces are remarkable, and the luxuriant music of the bazouki and oud for more traditional scenes are deftly juxtaposed against the modern, atonal percussive mixture for chase-scenes and night shots...