ARTS@ENTERTAINMENT jAr.
^--- Courtesy of Universal Pictures
Carlito Brigante, left, (Al Pacino), Gail (Penelope Miller) and David Kleinfeld (Sean Penn) exchange a toast to a new life
in the movie “Carlito’s Way.”
Oscars could very well go ‘Carlito s Way
Acting superb in
emotional story
“Carlito’s Way”
It’s a way of violence, a way of
romance, a way of action, a way of
suspense. It’s “Carlito’s Way.”
A1 Pacinoplays Carlito Brigante,
a Puerto Rican gangster who
attempts to go straight in this very
moving film directed by Brian De
Palma of “The Untouchables”.
Carlito is freed after serving only
five years of a 30-year sentence
when a technicality is discovered
by his lawyer David Kleinfeld,
played by Sean Penn.
Carlito. “the J.P. Morgan of
smack,” hashadenoughofcriminal
life and decides to retire, but
discovers it isn’t easy leaving the
only life he has ever known.
Life in his hood has changed a
lot while he’s been gone. The streets
are tilled witn young pumcs wun an
excess of ambition and a lack of
ethics. Carlito goes head to head
with Benny Blanco “from the
Bronx,” one of these young
gangsters who is determined to
exceed Carlito’s legendary
reputation.
By rekindling his romance with
his ex-girlfriend Gail, played by
Penelope Ann Miller, Carlito
stabil izes his 1 ifc and directs himself
toward a hopeful future as an owner
of a car rental agency.
But his relationship with
Kleinfcld threatens to pull him back
down into his dangerous past.
Kleinfeld asks only for a favor, but
Carlito knows “a favor will kill you
rasicr man a duiici.
Climaxing with an action-filled
chase and shootout in Grand Central
Station, this movie clings to your
attention with a very intriguing and
violent plot.
Pacino is superb, and Miller is
convincing as his stripper girlfriend.
But it is Sean Penn who gives this
movie its character as he plays the
gang lawyer to perfection.
“Carlito’s Way” is an emotional
wrap-around story, punctuated with
narrations from Carlito which
enwrap the audience in his dream
of escape — and its futility.
Watch for this film when Oscar
time rolls around.
— Joel Strauch
Home video
scene sees
lots of action
Whcw-hew, hold on to your desks,
because it’s a busy week for home
video.
“American Heart” Where this
movie was in Lincoln theaters is a
mystery. Jeff Bridges stars as a
hardened convict who tries to ditch
his son (Edward Furlong of “T2”)
when released from the joint. Their
relationship develops — or doesn’t
develop — because of Bridges’
downward spiral into utter
degradation. Rumor has it the acting
salvages an otherwise pathetic movie.
“Cliffhanger” Sylvester Stallone
climbs and crashes into mountains in
this surprisingly effective action
thriller. He’spartofamountain rescue
unit, called in to help with a hijacked,
crashed airliner.
John Litngow is me psycnouc
baddie in this flick, playing a terrorist
to full hilt. This is a long way from
Harry and the Hendersons. “Northern
Exposure” star Janine Turner costars
as Stallone’s former girlfriend and
renewed love interest.
Formula, yes, but check out the
mountain scenery.
“Free Willy” The whale movie
from this summer comes home to
video with a splash — bad pun
intended. The big creature in captivity
has been in the news since the film
was a big smash, with the public
clamoring for his release. It’s amazing
what a good public relations firm can
do for both a movie and a whale’s
future.
“Lost in Yonkers” Mercedes
Ruchl reprises her Tony-winning role
as the sweet, simple-minded Aunt
Bella in this film adaptation of this
award-winning play.
Written by Neil Simon, “Lost in
Yonkers” takes place in a World War
II-era New York City neighborhood
and deals with the sometimes tragic,
often humorous relationship between
a simple woman and her icy mother.
Richard Drcyfuss co-stars.
— Anne Steyer
Power of story brought to life through ‘magic realism’
I I
“Me And Kev”
Simon Black
Baskerville
This is the kind of book just bound
to confuse critics, no pun intended.
It’sjust that we have no tradition in
this country of the kind of thing this
book — “Me and Kev” by Simon
Black — is trying to do.
Or rather, our tradition has been
very ill for a very long time.
I don’t say dead. Traditions take a
long time to die. But in our modern
literary tradition, fantasy has a pretty
bad name.
Say the word “fantasy” and you
conjure up the worst kind of images:
wizards with beams of blue light
shining out of their fingertips, sword
wielding barbarians, hobbits.
The kind of thing it takes a genius
like Tolkien to make work—everyone
else will ride on his coat tails forever
after.
But that’s only the lowest level of
fantasy. Though it can be a lot of fun,
“The Sword of Shannara” is just not
serious literature.
“Me and Kev” is.
And that’s why the critics arc
confused.
The dust jacket notes of “Me and
Kcv” are indecipherable. They read
like a laundry list of hyperbole:
Black has “produced a first novel
which defies comparison.”
He’s “gone beyond his literary
antecedents,” and his book “will
incandesce the consciousness.”
Is this a novelist or God almighty?
I mean, he’s not Kafka, after all.
What he is is a damned good
novelist, working in the dead language
of fantasy.
Maybe I should just stop using that
word right now ... Magic realism,
anyone?
The names change more to protect
the innocent than to designate the
trends within the genre.
Whether it’s called “speculative
fiction,” “parable,” “psychological
fiction”—whatever happened to that
stuff anyway?—or “magic realism,”
the core remains the same.
The literature of “imaginative
fiction,” my own name for the whole
gamut ofpossible kinds, is intrinsically
different from the literature of what
arrogantly calls itself “realism.”
It operates under different
assumptions and different rules.
In “Me and Kev” for instance —
did you wonder when I’d get down to
it? — a boy might well fish a magic
typewriter out of a pond, order a special
typewriter ribbon that writes half in
truth and half in lies and write a story
that changes things in the real world.
The power of story is great in this
novel. It makes things happen. But
like all writers, our hero discovers his
story hasalifeofitsown. And he finds
the power of his story can be
challenged by the power of another’s.
Whowinsdependson who tells the !
strongest tale—and that spells tragedy.
In some ways, the most remarkable
thing about this most remarkable book
is that it was published in this country
at all.
It’s very difficult to sell a magic
realist story in America, unless your
name is Garcia Marquez—it helps to j
be a foreigner.
So what probably aids Black most
is his emphatic claim to be British —
though he moved to the United Stales
at the age of six and grew up here. He
lives in England now.
The other thing that helped it slip
by might be the fact that his story
seems to be about mental illness.
The critics and the publishers latch
on to that and say “all this magic stuff
is just in that poor, sick boy’s mind.”
They see the magic as a sign of
madness, and it helps them sleep at
night.
But they’re mistaken. In “Me and
Kev” the madness is the symbol, the
trick, that allows the boy, the
protagonist of this remarkable book,
his remarkable experiences.
— Mark Baldridge
James Mehslmg/DN
