TS 'Shadowlands' finds love By SCOTT PLAGENHOEF This is a love story. Stop what you're thinking. This is not a love story in the "Ghost" sense of the phrase. Love does not occur between physically perfect individuals. Love is not asso- ciated with the naivetd that it can be fostered through a Shadowlands Directed by Richard Attenborough; written by William Nicholson; with Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. medium after death. It is not a fairy tale. It would be nice to think that such a love can exist, but it doesn't, and to have such ridiculous a premise be identified as true love is absurd. "Shadowlands" respects the pain that can accompany love. It realizes the difficulty in admitting to love. It flirts with the possibility that one may never find love, or that one may have to try multiple times before it is truly attained. The film is honest about both the euphoria and the torment which accompanies love. "Shadowlands" is based upon the true story of Oxford professor and writer C.S. Lewis (author of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" and other mystical tales of Narnia) and Joy Gresham, an American mother of one and would-be writer. Lewis (Anthony Hopkins) is an academic in the truest sense. To him, and particularly his fellow professors, life is pursuit of scholarship along with the reduction of life and love to abstractions whose characteristics must be argued and examined in order to be discovered. Lewis does, however, have a fondness for things from his child- hood, such as the inspiration for his children's books, his old wardrobe, which he keeps in the attic. His authorship of the Chronicles of Narnia reveals a human side discov- ered, touched and drawn out by Joy. Hopkins possibly tops his own performance earlier in the year in "The Remains of the Day." In this film he is allowed to display the range of emotions which his re- pressed butler in "Remains" never admits to possessing. There is no moment which shakes him free of his scholarly nature. Hopkins reveals Lewis' feelings gradually, and therefore, more convincingly and impressively. Gresham's intelligence is a result of the experiences of life. She seeks out Lewis both as a mother of a fan of his work and a fan herself. Her New York accent contrasts with Lewis' English droll and to the proud and the proper men of Oxford she is an uncouth outsider. Joy is an intelligent woman, not from a book or university, but from keenly observing and experiencing life. The film is not without its melodramatic moments. Moments at which you wish that Director Richard Attenborough ( Director of "Ghandi" and the old-man curator of "Jurassic Park") would turn off the cheezy music and let the script and the performances of Hopkins and Winger be all the emotion needed. Yet Attenborough does avoid the temptation for the film to slip into a total collapse of mysticism and artificial emotion. In a distressing moment in his life, Joy's nine- year-old son confronts Lewis' wardrobe in the attic only In this film (Hopkins) is allowed to display the range of emotions which his repressed butler in "Remains" never admits to possessing. to push aside the coats and find nothing but the back wall. No Narnia. No perfect utopia. He and the older Lewis, pining for the innocence of his childhood, could have easily slipped into the world of Lewis' creation. Instead Attenborough presents the possibility, casts it aside as absurd, and the two characters connect in a real and tangible manner. True love is an acceptance of the better and the worse, sickness and health, just as the vows indicate. Damn "Ghost" and all others like it. True love's obstacles are real pain and grief, not a climatic battle between good and evil ghosts (You would have half expected Bill Murray and Dan Akroyd to come photon guns blasting and hope that Patrick Swayze got it in the crossfire). This is a love story. SHADOWLANDS is playing at Showcase. Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger discover the meaning of a true love story in "Shadowlands." Otis Redding Otis! - The Definitive Otis Redding Rhino Five years into the CD box set reissue boom and the well has begun to run dry. Most of the box sets of this past year have either been undeserved (the second Jethro Tull box, Emerson Lake & Palmer and Annette Funicello) or sloppily produced (Steely Dan and Paul Simon). At first glance, Rhino's four disc Otis Redding box, "Otis! - The Definitive Otis Redding" also appears to be a consumer rip-off. Af- ter all, the superb three-disc "Otis Redding Story" has been available for several years and it covers all of his best material. Think again. "Otis!" is one of those rare box sets that not only fully states the importance of the artist but is also compulsively listen- able. Nearly all of the material from "The Otis Redding Story" is repeated on "Otis!," with an extra disc that creates the "ultimate live Otis Redding show" from a variety of sources. Soni- cally, the remastering on Rhino's box far out-distances any other Redding material (with the exception of the Stax/Volt box and Mobile Fidelity's edition of "Otis Blue - Otis Redding Sings Soul"), but the real strength of the box lies in its song sequencing. By now, Redding's biggest hits are so well-known and over-exposed that their power has been somewhat lost. However, when they are placed in context of his other songs, they regain their strength, making his lesser- known material sound equally as pow- erful. Such forgotten gems as "Don't Leave Me This Way," "Cigarettes andCoffee,' "I'm Sick Y'All," "Pounds and Hundreds," and an unissued Coca-Cola commercial shine as brightly as the familiar "Respect," "These Arms of Mine," "Mr. Pitiful," "Shake," "I Can't Turn You Loose," "Try A Little Tenderness," "Hard to Handle," "Love Man" and "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay." And that is why "Otis!" is more satisfying than such single disc compilations like "The Ultimate Otis Redding" - the amount and variety of material shows how deep Redding's talents were. ECmr srom "Study Lounge +T I'VLounge Caput rrpom e*Laudry Fadits 24 Jhour ttend dLo64 "Fame om Pe~at andHWater I ncd" Featuring a storming run-through of his best material, the live disc is indeed the "Ultimate Live Otis Redding Show;" this disc completes the portrait of the artist that the first three discs started and is what makes this box more essential than "The Otis Redding Story." Thankfully, the lavish packaging is the equal of the music - one hun- dred pages filled with photos and sev- eral enlightening essays. But the ex- ceptional, seminal music alone makes "Otis! - The Definitive Otis Redding" one of the best box sets ever released; it's essential listening for anyone with a slight interest in popu- lar music. - Torn Erlewine Moby Move EP Elektra Moby's latest EP, "Move," is an attempt to add melody to the bass- heavy sound of techno, but the end result is something that could be de- fined as "techno lite." Disco rhythms, campy vocal samples, house piano and some rather pleasant string synths make up the album's title track as well as it's aptly named remix, "Move (Disco Threat)," while songs such as "All That I Need Is To Be Loved" are nothing more than fast-paced techno rhythms blended with some truly asi- nine techno-chanting. Less annoying is Moby's attempt at ambient techno, "The Rain Falls and the Sky Shudders," which is pleas- ant enough, but considering all of the amazing things being done in that realm by outfits such as Aphex Twin, Orbital and Vapour Space, this track falls a little flat. Moby fails to break any ground here; his mellow rain- storm samples and keyboard textures create a listenable atmosphere but fail to take the listener anywhere. While "Move" could have been an interesting experiment in melodic techno, it ends up being a watered down version of the real stuff. Like nearly all of techno, these are per- fectly acceptable tunes to dance to, but beyond that, there aren't too many fresh ideas thrown in to the mix. Hope- fully, Moby will begin to develop a more unique melodic sound rather than continue in his current direction. - Andy Dolan Various Artists The Emigre Music Sampler No. 2 Emigre The Emigre label has long beer, associated with the words "experi- mental music." While their willing- ness to take chances with performers outside the fringes of radio friendly formats is admirable, inevitably this trait is also their worst enemy. This compilation, fittingly, captures both of these contradictory moments. On the positive side there are per- formers such as Basehead, Uncle Clarence the Thomas and the Grassy Knoll. Michael Ivey's Basehead takes the rap and rock fusion and mixes it into the chillingly beautiful acoustic version of "Not Over You." Ivey also makes an appearance with his wah guitar on Uncle Clarence the Tho- mas' "Local NRA" which poignantly equates the NRA with the KKK through Muriel Brown's soulful, yet startling, vocals. The Grassy Knoll play techno (not a bad stereotype here) with a solid slap of jazzy trumpets to boot, on "Sri." The results are fasci- nating. However, before you jet out to buy this record, you should be made aware that these few moments of sheer bliss are lost within the rest of the album. Bands like Audioafterbirth (who basically plagiarize Skinny Puppy) and Supercollider (who sound like very trite Joy Division) shame- lessly rip-off performers who frankly just play better music than them. These bands are a far cry from being "experimental" in any sense. Trying to sound like Dylan (as Honey Barbara do), doesn't cut it as cutting edge. Emigre undoubtedly have some cool, young bands on their roster. For these performers, their music will for- tunately get out to a bigger audience because of compilations like this. The other bands included here, however, have a long way still to go before they meet the label's lofty aspirations. - Nima Hodaei Arts is looking for a few good writers. Call 763-o for more info. U U Ann Arbor Civic Theatre MainStage Production 1 zoo URn AND Till SIGN by Charle fuller Directed by Wallace Bridges January 12- 15.1991 Wednesday thru Saturday at 8 p.m. Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. Lydia Uendeliohn Theatre for Tickets information. call 971- ACT Beginning January 10. 761-1085 Menal..dimm*tiaodytmed: Tuesday Live Jazz With _t The Maitres r