0 8 -- The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, September 19, 1995 Simpsons premiere goes back to the future By Ted Watts Daily Arts Writer The new television season has begun, and we're in the midst of the resolution of cliff hangers. "The X-Files" may get its second of three parts on Friday, but Sun- day wastheresolution of"The Simpsons." Look back over the vast abyss known as summer reruns. Waaaaay back. Star- ing back at you is the season finale of "The Simpsons." The episode began with the ever-in-trouble Bart writing "This is not a clue - or is it?" over and over on the blackboard. This was, in fact, the first clue (not counting the teaser ads) that the episode was going to be a mystery. Especially odd things began to hap- pen. Oil was discovered under Spring- field Elementary. Nuclear powerplant owner Montgomery Burns fired long- time sycophant Waylon Smithers. And Mr. Burns blotted out the sun. Yes, blotted out the sun. With a big dish type thing. Mr. Burns was thus the center of a great amount of ill will. And with an inordinately large number of Sprinfieldians brandishing weapons, it was probably only a matter of time before someone tried to cack the wrinkled old marshwiggle. And, actu- ally, someone pulled the trigger on him right before the end of the episode. How lucky for the Fox executives! So, after months of annoying "Who shot Mr. Burns" ads (especially forthose who missed the cliffhanger) and annoy- ing tie-ins to a way to make collect calls, the madness finally ended on Sunday with the season premiere of "The Simpsons." Beginning after a repeat of the sea- _______ x .,1fffp\ -~ s 1f F' "Hey baby, I like the way you wear your hairs. It says: 'I am bald but proud. I am folically challanged but I am not alone'" Case History This earnest-looking gent is Peter Case, whose new album "Torn Again" is a little alternative, a little country and a lot of fine folk music. Songs like "Turinin' Blue," "Workin' for the Enemy," "Breaking the Chain" and "Wilderness" mix acoustic and slide guitars with Case's vulnerable vocals and distinctive songwriting. Plus, he opened for John Prine on his last tour, a sure sign of quality. Mining similar territory as the Jayhawks, this country-folk-rock artist blows into the Ark tonight to perform his music live. The Ark is located at 637 1/2 South Main; doors open at 7:30 p.m. and showtime is at 8. Tickets are $10 at the door; call 761- 1451 for more information. son finale and a special edition of "America's Most Wanted" retitled "Springfield's Most Wanted" (which essentially recapped the preceding half hour with the addition of color com- mentary by a bookie and a psychia- trist), the premiere began with Bart expressing his promise to not be made at how the shooting was to be solved. So we come into the story in Smithers's apartment, his mouth full of cigarette butts. He wanders to the bathroom to find ... Bobby Ewing! No, not Bobby Ewing, but Mr. Burns in a clever send-up ofthe way the writers of "Dallas" rewrote Bobby back into the storyline, but in this version Smithers wakes up yet again. Not a surprising reference, considering the "who shot..." theme was stolen from "Dal- las." Or, actually was it stolen from "Twin Peaks," which also enjoyed a scene recalling its Black Lodge se- quences? Or maybe even stolen from "The Fugitive" which had a scene as filtered through its movie? At any rate, the police begin win- nowing suspects. Actually, the police don't really winnow anyone. Sideshow Mel clears Smithers, entertainer Tito Puente clears himself with a delight- fully hateful mambo, DNA evidence narrows the suspect to a certain family and Burns (well, how odd that he isn't dead) fingers his real assailant when he regains useful consciousness. Sin- ister final shot. The end. But it's the episodes little touches that really make it work. From the government conspiracy bits ("How do you have the whole town's DNA on file?""lfyou've everhandled apenny, the government's got your DNA. Why do you think they keep the things in circulation?") to the standard cop and donut jokes to Homer holding a gun to Burns's head while a roomful of cops hold their guns to Homer's head, it is wholly an episode of "The Simpsons," with all the comedic baggage that en- tails. But that's good, in spite of the annoying recollections of the previous episode, which was shown in the hour before the new episode and had already been recapped in "Spnngtield's Most Wanted." The gist of this all is that the season premiere has remained true to itself. If only "Married... With Children" could stay the same the way animation can. Oh well, next big deal is on Friday at nine. See if Mulder and Scully can keep plug- ging as well as Bart and Lisa. waves with some hit song (in this case All That Matters "Honey Dip"), sell a few CD's and then Capitol Records fade away never to be seen again until Portrait was one of those groups who years later when some reporter does a seemed to blast their way onto the air- "Where Are They Now" feature where g' thelnsideTrack1s Come to one of our free seminars* Grad School Law School I Medical Scho they'll track down Portrait, the Redhead Kingpen and that kid who played Sam on "Different Strokes." But the group has resurfaced with LP number two. "All That Matters" shows, ifnothing else, that Portrait has grown overtime getting stron- ger with their lyrics (yup, still about women and sex) and more tightly-pack- aged music which, instead ofjustbacking the singers, actually has a life of its own. The members of Portrait have honed their harmonizing skills into one lean, mean singing machine, and continue to write their own music. "All Natural Girl" is one of the best examples of group harmony I've heard in awhile. With the relaxing, jazzy beats of "Here's a Kiss" combined with unmistakable Portrait sound and the title track which opens with a single piano leading into an extremely seductive music ensemble, Portrait has proven beyond any doubt that its mem- bers have both musical talent and produc- tion aptitude. The group has even bet- tereditsballadeering, as "Hold Me Close" shows. The R&B makeover of the Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love" is of utmost perfection. "All That Matters" is a definite buy. The four brothas of Portrait have only improved with time, and their more youth- ful excitement shown in their debut, self- entitled LP has been slightly superseded by a sense of experienced calm. The group knows it has it, and now the mem- bers want to graciously share that fact with us. Make no mistakes about it, Por- trait is picture perfect. - Eugene Bowen 'Sister' ties a whole new bond to love By Alexandra Twin Daily Arts Editor Much like last year's "Heavenly Crea- tures," "Sister My Sister" is an intricate, shattering, near horror film that creates its drama of good girls gonebad from the relics of old news, old wives' tales and ultimately, old and historically fixed resolutions. Al- thoughnowherenearas ethereal orgleefully wicked as the lush "Creatures," "Sister" manages to preserve just enough psycho- logical mystique to transcend the line be- tween accuracy and intimacy without push- ing too far into the trap of narrative specula- tion. The result is nearly fascinating: stark, intimate and disturbing. Two sisters - Christine (Joely Richardson) and Lea (Jodhi May) - are reunited at the home of a rich Madam (Julie Walters) where Christine is a maid. Lea, who's just finished up her tenure at the local convent, has come to join her much admired older sister. The two are inseperable, even sleeping in the same bed every night, awakening before dawn to dress each other for the day's work. The priggish madam brags happily to her chubby, sullen daughter that "These two are different. You mark my words." She thinks that she has found the ideal live-in help, but she has no idea what she has really found. Based upon a"true"British case oftwo young maids who's extreme detachment Jodhi May (left) and Joely Richardson (second from left) as Cinderella-like maids Business Sh Sh01 ., - . _. I and learn how to overcome these hurdles: " Entrance Exams . Interviews " Applications Essays from normal, daily, social interaction led to their ultimate, horrific demise, "Sister My Sister" traipses nearby,just outside of and just underneath the sister's light foot- steps for the span of several months, gently tracking the motions oftheirdisso- lution. Long shots, frequent images of iso- lated actions - a pair of unidentified hands chopping food, a wispy head of hair - as well as the lack of a clear explanation of the story's unfolding are all used to establish the sister's distance from us and ultimately from the judg- ments of society. When the claustropho- bia of confinement is what sets the tone, these distances, these moments of per- sonal space within the perpetual scrutiny are necessary, ifoccasionally detremental to the progression of the story. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Thursday, September 28 Space is limited! 1=80 0-K A P-TEST Call today to reserve your seat.KAr LAI At selected locations. Not all seminars offered at all locations. I Much like Cinderella, the poor, good girls must submit to the will of the evil stepmother and sister figure, who sit around eating, playing cards and gossip- ing. However, unlike Cinderella,the girls have each other. Itis intheirdeep friend- ship that they find a shadow of release from the confines of their tightly-but- toned life. Men are conspicuous in their absence, but it is not for lack of males, but for lack of any other humans on their level that the sisters resort to their ultimate means of mutual self-comfort. They're cut off from the rest of the world and deeply intertwined with each other. Fora brief period of time, they're at peace. Itis at thispointthat the film begins its floundering. The sisters transition from gentle, slightly guilty bliss to a lost com- Sister My Sister Directed by Nancy Meckler with Jodhi May and Joely Richardson At the Michigan Theater mand of reality is awkward and hastily executed. The detached camera occasion- ally yields trite and over-stated acting. We are nevergiven much ofa microscope into the sisters' psyches other than that they've had a difficult childhood and that Christine is resentful of their mother. In addition, the film occasionally dips into pseudo-artsy but actually banal im- ages, such as water dribblets falling from a spout to reflect the characters' growing frustrations (a visual metaphor ripped off from "The Servant" and a dozen other films). These detrements aside, the film, for the most part, is expertly shot, with stark rooms and lighting as cold and bar- ren as Christine's make-up less face. The seeminglyprudishChristinemight have been didactic if played by a lesser actor, but Joely Richardson knows how to f F-' Z7