ARTS The Michigan Daily Tuesday, November 3,1992 Page 5 Bob Redford's ripping'River' is a masterpiece by Jon Altshul As both an actor and director, Robert Redford has only one face. Weathered with chiseled scars, his taci- turn and understated performances never fail to imbue any of his films with an honest clairvoyance. Sure, only Kevin Costner has less of a range. And granted, Redford tends to play the same character - the handsome, yet withdrawn type, who seems to pop out of J. Crew catalogs and Vermont general stores. But his gritty performances, whether behind the camera or in front of it, always seem to sparkle with truisms. Essen- tially, Robert Redford is so darn believable because he makes no pretenses of being anything other than Robert Redford. He respects the sensibilities of his audience so much that one can't help but to respect him back. "A River Runs Through It," Redford's latest direc- tonal effort, is no exception. It leaps out at us like a collage of Norman Rockwell paintings, orienting us solidly in the world of pre-WWI Montana. With biting simplicity and omniscient subtlety, the film jarringly unmasks hidden emotions inside us all. The picture depicts a rugged country, too ingrained in the doctrines of Presbyterianism to be wild, yet too unmolested to be civilized. Redford's rich narration coats the landscape with a nostalgic depth- Missoula, Montana, is a land that he seems to know and love, and one can't help but to immediately recognize that this is the director's most sincere project to date. Based on Norman Maclean's acclaimed autobio- graphical novella, the film's poignantly rustic images serve as an apt reminder of Maclean's vivid prose. The landscape is mesmerizing in its wild virginity: jagged mountains, fresh air, and of course, never-ending rivers that seem boundless in their aquatic abundances. "In our family, there was no clear line between reli- gion and fly-fishing," Redford dictates as the film be- gins. It is the perfect introduction - so true and suc- cinct, that one can't help but to laugh establishing immediately a firm sense of pride and conviction in the Macleans. They are a family bound by an unspoken love, and it can be difficult not to become painfully at- tached to their experiences. "A River Runs Through It" is simply a remembrance of two young brothers told by an aged storyteller (Redford). The film stars Craig Sheffer as Norman, Brad Pitt as his irreverent younger brother Paul, and Tom Skerritt as their pious father. The three weave an indelibly cohesive pattern through their turbulent, yet devoted years together - each performance compli- menting the other beautifully. Their lives are brought together only through fly- fishing on the Big Blackfoot River. Here, all three find their solace, and only here is their love and understand- ing of each other affirmed. Pitt commands the picture with a charismatic flair. He is, as Redford acknowledges, an artist, an unparal- leled fisherman, who finds comfort only in the cascad- ing rivers of western Montana. Too much a fixture in his wild state to leave it, he perpetually clashes with his more reserved and worldly older brother. Their heart- wrenching wars of attrition give the film its most painful moments, and ultimately remind us how diffi- cult brotherhood really is. "A River Runs Through It" derives much of its strength from metaphor. The plot itself, though fairly bland, is told with such a subtle candor that is hard not to be re-awakened by long-forgotten memories of one's A River Runs Through It Directed by Robert Redford; written by Richard Friedenberg; with Craig Sheffer and Brad Pitt own. "I am haunted by waters," Redford states as the picture ends. The phrase is the perfect epithet for the film, suggesting that only on these "waters" does Maclean's reverence for his brother become resolute. Yet "A River Runs Through It" is not merely a ver- batim re-enactment of Maclean's novella, and presum- ably the picture's few pitfalls are the result of Redford's personalized distractions. The most ominous of which is Norman's wife Jesse (Emily Lloyd), who hampers the film both as a superfluous character, and as an actress who lacks even the most essential means to fake a re- motely convincing American accent. Nevertheless, "A River Runs Through It" presents itself with more than enough realistic poignancy to can- cel out its few glitches. It rollicks like a rolling river, and casts like master craftsmen. It's so darn good in fact, that at times, it can be pretty hard to take. A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT is playing at Ann Arbor 1 & 2 and Showcase. Craig Sheffer, Brad Pitt, and Tom Skerritt contemplating all the Oscars theyre going to win. Nine Inch Nails Broken TVT/Interscope He's back, he's bad, he's still Trent Reznor, the one man scream machine that is Nine Inch Nails with a new E.P. that showcases some of the influences he picked up on his '91 Lollapalooza tour. That means more despair, more guitars screeching in your face, more melodic screaming, more tracks with the words "hell" in them, more anger, more tracks with great synth and sampler noises in them, more industrial tunes that utilize dynamics (and you didn't believe he was a classically trained pianist), and no tracks like "Something I Can Never. Have" from "Pretty Hate Machine." No quieter angst-filled songs? I can cope, since it is rumored that the next full-length Reznor project will be out around February. Additionally, Reznor throws in an Adam Ant cover and an incredi- ble remake of a tune he wrote with the members of Pigface, "Suck." Overall, the tracks on "Broken" are ultimately more thrashy and guitar- driven than those on "PHM," but lucky for us Reznor stays true to his Lookforit in the Clay ifie y (they redly work!)} multi-tiered song structures and su- perb programming technique. - Jff Rosenberg Eugenius Qomnalarna Atlantic The answer: fast-paced, electri- fled love rock from Scotland. The question: Teenage Fanclub? Close, but not quite. Eugenius sounds very much like TFC, but that's good. Bet- ter that two bands play the same guitar fuzz than more R.E.M. clones. "Oomalama" is chock full of warm and fuzzy guitars, catchy pop. melodies, and endearing, "golly- gee" vocals. One can imagine the wholesome boys singing their hearts out, from the harmonies of "Hot Dog" to the goofy nonsense lyrics of the title track. Just looking at the al- bum cover, with its cute, plastic di- nosaurs, puts you in a mood to relish the carefree days of youth. Eugenius makes music for which the phrase "The Feel-Good Record of the Year" was invented. Bask in the glow from the nothing-can-go- wrong attitude of "I'm the Sun," or hum along to the slow-paced "Hot Dog." Even "Bye, Bye," a sad title for any other band, will make you let out a dreamy sigh. A toe-tapping sigh, no less. Short and tasteful jams don't interrupt their joyous mood, and any, foray into dissonance al- ways returns to perfectly controlled harmony and melody - or at least a distortion-pedal version of harmony. "Oomalama" is the first domestic release for the band. It's also their first album under the name Eugenius - in the U.K., they were called Captain America. But the friendly superhero of the same name is also a lawyer, and decided his name is trademarked, so that moniker had to go. Eugenius is presumably derived from the name of band leader Eu- gene Kelly. But this album retains their happy wash of guitars and melody. In fact, "Oomalama" in- cludes some tracks from previous Captain America E.P.s, as well as new tracks. Naturally, one of those new songs is a Beat Happening cover, a tribute to the founding gods of love rock. - Jeremy Lechtzin OO O*; FAST FREE DELIVERY 663-3333, Located next to Colonial Lanes Plaza on S. Industrial Sun.- Wed. 11 AM - 2:30AM Thurs.- Sat. 11AM - 3:30AM -.. - -- -- - -n -- - -- --- i MIIANAGERS'S 1 1 i SPECIAL1 i 16" 2 ITEM PIZZA 1 625+ tax please mention coupon name ~- ----- - -- --- STIX FIX I 1 12" POKEY STIX &1 POP I 1+ x 1 $ 4 m-3 3 +t x .G I L. 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