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- CRITICS' VOICES, Page 14
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- MOVIES
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- THE INDIAN RUNNER. Method mannerism in the '60s Midwest;
- bringin' the Vietnam War back home; 90 minutes of simmering
- before a family explodes. From these tired conventions (which
- the movie embraces like new truths), writer-director Sean Penn
- has found a stark camera style that ignites behavioral sparks.
- Stay tuned; this kid has talent.
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- THE FISHER KING. Trust director Terry Gilliam (Brazil) to
- hatch the year's most exasperatingly good movie, in which Robin
- Williams is a holy homeless fool and Jeff Bridges a burned-out
- case ripe for redemption. To catch the brilliant bits in this
- handsome botch, you need patience and daring; it's like finding
- gold nuggets strewn across a minefield.
-
- THE 23RD INTERNATIONAL TOURNEE OF ANIMATION. Cartoons on
- the serious side from nine countries. More of ethnographic than
- artistic interest and short on the chuckles. Check it out to see
- what comes on before the feature in European movie houses. Then
- go home and savor The Simpsons. Now that's cartooning!
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- MUSIC
-
- VAN MORRISON: HYMNS TO THE SILENCE (Polydor). Twenty-one
- new songs by one of rock's greatest and most idiosyncratic
- creative spirits. Bluesy, mystical, introspective, demanding,
- demented, resolutely unique: Morrison reigns and remains rock's
- own dear Celtic bard, an electrified James Joyce.
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- NAT KING COLE: BIG BAND COLE (Capitol). Now that Nat has
- got to the top of the charts again, via a ghostly duet with his
- daughter Natalie, this is the perfect time to discover Pop in
- his prime, singing and swinging his way through 17 standards
- backed by a big band, predominantly Count Basie's, on this
- welcome reissue.
-
- DR. MICHAEL WHITE: CRESCENT CITY SERENADE (Antilles). The
- irrepressible clarinetist and musicologist leads a new
- generation of New Orleans players through a lively exploration
- of their roots -- and proves once again that rumors of the death
- of traditional jazz have been greatly exaggerated.
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- TELEVISION
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- THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON: 29TH ANNIVERSARY
- (NBC, Oct. 3, 9:30 p.m. EDT). It's not too early to get
- nostalgic. Johnny is leaving in May, which means this year's
- annual collection of highlights from past shows will be -- gulp!
- -- his last.
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- HEROES OF THE DESERT STORM (ABC, Oct. 6, 9 p.m. EDT). From
- real war to TV movie in just eight months. Talk about a
- superpower!
-
- SESSIONS (HBO, debuting Oct. 6, 10:10 p.m. EDT). A
- 42-year-old husband and father (Michael McKean) discusses his
- sexual fantasies and mid-life neuroses with a sympathetic shrink
- (Elliott Gould). Billy Crystal created and co-wrote this offbeat
- comedy series, which is frank and frequently clever, though a
- bit mushy at the center.
-
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- THEATER
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- BREAKING LEGS. Three thuggish mobsters finance a play
- about the criminal mind by a college professor, who grasps with
- mounting horror what he has got into, in this unsubtle but
- engaging off-Broadway hit that is re-signing stars Vincent
- Gardenia and Philip Bosco and engendering plans for a national
- tour and possible movie.
-
- UNIDENTIFIED HUMAN REMAINS AND THE TRUE NATURE OF LOVE.
- Neither AIDS nor a serial killer can deflect the sexual
- searching of the young men and women in this punk-poetic,
- MTV-style thriller, full of quick verbal riffs and crosscut
- scenes, transferred from a Chicago hit to off-Broadway with
- stellar acting by hollow-smiled Clark Gregg.
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- ART
-
- REVOLUTION IN RELIEF: WOODCUT, WOOD ENGRAVING AND RELIEF
- ETCHING IN EUROPE AND AMERICA, 1890-1930, Fogg Art Museum,
- Cambridge, Mass. Seventy prints by such modern masters as Edvard
- Munch, Henri Matisse and Kathe Kollwitz demonstrate how these
- innovators transformed this ancient printing technique. Through
- Nov. 24.
-
- INDIAN PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery,
- Smithsonian Institution, Washington. The ceremonial and
- pleasurable side of Mogul, Rajput and Muslim court and town life
- from the 16th through 19th centuries is explored in the show's
- 42 works. Through Jan. 12.
-
-
- ETCETERA
-
- AMERICAN PATCHWORK (PBS Home Video). Written, and produced
- by host Alan Lomax, America's premier folklorist, this
- five-volume video series takes the viewer through two
- enthralling centuries of American culture and music, from
- Appalachian bluegrass and Mississippi Delta blues to Cajun
- two-steps and the street parades of New Orleans. Music
- documentaries don't get any better than this.
-
- THE PIERPONT MORGAN LIBRARY, New York City. One of the
- jeweled granddaddies of museums reopens after a major expansion
- and renovation by the architects Voorsanger & Associates. The
- Morgan celebrates with the unveiling of a new glass-enclosed
- garden court, the creation of an education center, the
- restoration of an adjacent brownstone and the premiere of a
- major show featuring the masterpieces of its world-famous
- collection.
-
-
- BERNSTEIN'S FINAL TRIUMPH
-
- Let us rejoice! Leonard Bernstein has given us a
- posthumous operetta, Candide, in which nearly all his glorious
- talent has finally been harnessed. But since its 1956 premiere,
- Bernstein's rendition of Voltaire's corrosive satire has
- undergone a picaresque voyage closely rivaling in
- misunderstanding and abuse the trials suffered by its hero.
- Songs were dropped and added; the book was refashioned; lyrics
- were altered; parts were reassigned. This 1989 studio
- performance, just released by Deutsche Grammophon, represents
- Bernstein's triumphant final version. Bernstein conducts the
- London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, which are stirringly
- responsive to the score's tenderness, strength and sometimes
- explosive brilliance. Tenor Jerry Hadley's winning Candide
- blends conviction and vulnerability. As Cunegonde, June Anderson
- has a creamy coloratura soprano so captivating that many may
- wear out their replay buttons listening to Glitter and Be Gay.
-
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- By TIME'S REVIEWERS/Compiled by Andrea Sachs.
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