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4th ed. 3rd od. 2nd cd. efj B8 THE HARTFORD COURANT: Friday, August 19, 1994 'Mi Vida Loca say the women of the barrio 'titers i a I Vi pf lib i I I 31. 1 In "Mi Vida Loca," a film about lift for women in the barrio with their trouble-plagued men, the homeboys give advice to Shadow, in plaid shirt.

Sony Pictures Classics Michael Comte Cinergi Pictures Entertainment Inc. Bruc Willis, as Dr. Bill Capa, has an affair with Jane March in Richard Rush's "Color of Night." 'Color' this movie a dull gray By OWEN McNALLY Courant Film Critic Three cheers for writer-director Allison Anders for her portrait of young Latino women, including teenage moms and widows, struggling to carve out lives and identities all their own in the tough, colorful Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park in "Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)." Hollywood never does much with poor or working-class Latino women as a serious subject matter. So Anders' portraits of these feisty, courageous homegirls in the barrio fills a giant, inexcusable, social and cultural gap on the American screen. These are tough-talking, street-smart young women who've had tough lives.

They've had to rely on their wits and one another since most of their men, they say, are in prison, disabled, or dead by the time they're 21. Anders is quite didactic about women's absolute need for self-reliance. What the homegirls do is form a family-like alliance all their own. These ties are solidified by their deep, abiding love for their babies, the most precious possessions in these single-mothers' lives. Anders presents a multilayered view of this world of homegirls, offering a wide, sometimes confusing range of characters and shifting points of view.

At the center of the cast are Sad Girl (Angel Aviles) and Mousie (Seidy Lopez), best buddies since childhood. But they find their love for each other severely strained when they each get pregnant by Ernesto (Jacob Vargas), a charming, two-timing drug dealer. Things get so bitter between the former friends that it looks as if they're going to have to settle it in a High Noon kind of showdown. Maybe one or even both of them will be killed or wounded on the field of honor in the barrio. Life is tough in Echo Park.

There are drug dealers and drive-by-shootings. These are followed by sad funerals for young men whose lives have been tragically wasted. But the young women have true grit. "It's tough, but you go on," one homegirl says. Anders doesn't sugarcoat these women's tragedies.

challenge to sort them out and keep them straight. Just when you feel as if you're getting to know one of these kids, the action reels ahead to something else or to some other character. You'd like to learn more about Giggles (Mario Marron), a young, philosophical woman who's just gotten out of prison after taking the rap for her man. She's lived a life already. So you want to know what she thinks, what she feels.

And then there's Blue Eyes (Magali Alvarado), an idealistic college student who's also an incurable romanticist. Anders should have created a much stronger, tighter narrative, one that would embrace all of these young women and create a sense of unity. No doubt, the film's tone is meant to be jumpy and disjointed as a kind of analogue to life in the barrio. But little coherence and depth is irritating, off-putting, even overwhelming. It's like walking into a noisy, giant room packed with interesting people and being quickly introduced all around and then being able to remember only a fraction of the names.

One of the movie's uneqivocal, delightful assets is its all-Hispanic cast. "Mi Vida Loca" is blessed with a treasure trove of fine, young acting talent. Rated with rude, vulgar language, sexual situations. By OWEN McNALLY Courant Film Critic Enraged by harsh words from her psychologist, a mad young woman bounds across her shrink's posh Manhattan office and hurls herself through a window, plummeting many stories before smacking onto the busy street below. A shower of glass, the camera's unblinking, morbidly loving view of the long free-form fall, the thud, the blood, the manic crowd response and the surreal touch of a policeman on horseback all make this a spectacular, unsettling defenestration.

It's also the dramatic window opening onto the dark, psychopathic world of the erotic thriller "Color of Night." a sometimes gripping yet terminally flawed flick. Dr. Bill Capa (Bruce Willis) is so distraught and guilt-ridden by his patient's suicide that he loses his faith in psychology and in himself asL well. Capa, who's no longer young, heads west to California to hang out with his old friend and colleague, Dr. Bob Moore (Scott Ba-kula).

Moore is an upbeat therapist and slick operator with a booming practice. In fast-paced order, Moore is savagely stabbed to death and Capa gets involved in a torrid relationship with a beautiful, enigmatic woman named Rose (Jane March). Before you can say Sigmund Freud, the disheartened shrink and his newfound love are naked, cavorting about in a swimming pool, indulging in steamy aquatic eroticism both underwater and poolside. Capa, with arm-twisting by Hector Martinez (Ruben Blades), a tough, hectoring cop, decides to take over Moore's group therapy sessions, since they suspect the murderer might well be one of the patients. The volatile therapy group functions as an angry, dysfunctional 'Bhaji' weaves issues of race, sex, age, culture into uneven but rich tapestry 4 before the dramatic tones in "Color of Night" begin to fade.

Visually, "Color of Night" wears a Technicolor face but has a film noir heart. It's almost always as dark and shadowy as the psyche of its lunatic killer. And it has a passion for glass windows and mirrors that are meant to make this psychological study more reflective. As drama, however, it begins to fall apart when it resorts to simple-minded car chases to jolt its audience back to life. The first car chase is a spectacular, slam-bang event.

And then there's yet another chase, an unnecessary encore for this hackneyed device. Willis' performance ranges from adequate to leaden. He just doesn't seem to be comfortable without a gun in his hand. And despite the steamy erotic love making between March and Willis, they don't seem very well-matched, most especially when they have to keep their clothes on and act without heavy breathing. This is not a silver screen love match made in heaven.

Matthew Chapman and Billy Ray's screenplay touches on as many hot buttons as possible, including: murder, lust, fantasy, gender bending, hints of child molestation, phobias, bisexuality and multiple personality disorders. And they've devised a tricky ending, one that probably won't fool you if you haven't already nodded off before the finale finally arrivers. Depending on when you see through the plot device, you can decide for yourself whether it's clever or contrived. "Color of Night," has it moments, but doesn't have the stamina, wit or craft for a two-hour movie. It needed a shrink to deal with its delusions of grandeur.

Rated with nudity and violence, including graphic use of nail guns as weapons that can cause excruciating wounds. cussionist Mark Quinones, with subtle punctuation from bassist Allen Woody. The Willie McTell classic "States-boro Blues" provided a great excuse for Gregg Allman to fly solo on organ and for Betts to split raindrops with his lightning licks. "Blue Sky" sent the sweet sounds of Southern rock wafting over the crowd and the nearby Connecticut River. A funk-dafied intro gave way to a blistering "Southbound." And "One Way Out" proved that some things get better with age.

Highlights from the other bands' sets included Blues Traveler's "Just Wait" from its upcoming album, "Four," which band leader John Popper said is due in stores Sept. 13. Its rendition of the Beatles' "Come Together," with Popper blasting away on the harp, probably would have pleased the Fab Four. Big Head Todd and the Monsters mined the hits from their gold "Sister Sweetly" album and demonstrated why they should enjoy continued, monstrous success. All in all, it was a jam-packed musical extravaganza that should help set a standard for all other live music shows.

Bring on H.O.R.D.E. 4. upbeat anthem from the mid-1970s. And "T-Bone Shuffle" is a tribute to blues man T-Bone Walker, who influenced the college-age Young to drop out and pursue his music dream. Young played alone but had recorded backup music for many of his presentations.

As in any bar scene, he sometimes had trouble overcoming the rude chatter of folks who may have had one too many beers. But most of the crowd appeared to be decades-long fans who mouthed the words to the old tunes and rushed to buy new albums when he took a break between sets. Young's voice sounds as fresh as ever, and he appears to be on the comeback trail after a long sabbatical from writing and performing. Allmans highlight H.O.R.D.E. concert Film review Ml VIDA LOCA (MY CRAZY LIFE), written and directed by Allison Anders; director of photography, Rodrigo Garcia; music composed by John Taylor; production designer, Jane Stewart; edited by Richard Chew, Kath-ryn Hlmoft and Tracy produced by Daniel Hassid and Carl-Jan Colpaert; executive producers, Christoph Henkel and Colin Callendar.

A Cineville production In conjunction with HBO Showcase, opening today at Cinema City, Hartford. Running time: 92 minutes. Sad Girl Angel Aviles Mousie Seidy Lopez Ernesto Jacob Vargas Giggles Mario Marron El Ouran Jessie Borrego Blue Eyes Magall Alvarado Big Sleepy Julian Reyes Excellent; Very Good; Good; Fair; a Poor But she does leaven her naturalistic portrait with grains of humor, even in the most unlikely seeming places. When El Duran (Jessie Borrego), a swaggering neighborhood Casanova and two-bit hoodlum is shot to death, admiring women flock to to pay their final respects. Some toss flowers into his casket.

One more passionate mourner tosses a piece of intimate under apparel into the casket for the deceased to take with him to the afterlife. Unfortunately, Anders tries to give you too much of a good thing, absolutely flooding the screeen with a jumble of characters. It's a Film review BHAJI ON THE BEACH, directed by Gurinder Chadha; screenplay by Meera Syal, based on a story by Chadha and Syal; director of photography, John Kenway; music composed by John Altman production designer, Derek Brown edited by Oral Norrie Ottey produced by Nadine Marsh-Edwards. A release of a First Look production, opening today at Cinema City, Hartford. Running time: 100 minutes.

Ginder Kim Vithana Hashida Sarita Khajuria Ranjlt Jlmml Harkishln Simi Shaheen Khan Pushpa Zohra Segal Excellent; Very Good; Good; Fair; A Poor unite near the end of the film. The older women, referred to as aunties, are as stiff-backed and as racially intolerant as the suspicious British shopkeepers they encounter daily. Yet there are touches of humor. When a crew of lager louts make rude remarks and throw beer at the women during a rest stop on the way to LiverpooCthe eldest auntie, Pushpa (Zohra Segal) says loudly, "The cream of British youth. We serve them every day." When Pushpa and the other aunties learn that Hashida is pregnant by a West Indian, they are disdainful and attack the young woman verbally in a tea shop (ironicallyjust after they are dressed down by the Anglo shop owners for bringing in Indian food).

Hashida rebels, throwing her tea at Pushpa and breaking her mug on the counter in front of the shop owner. Pushpa begins to examine her own behavior, and a certain solidarity with the younger woman is acheived by the end of the film. It's a nice plot thread. Khajuria delivers a strong performance as the pregnant student who must choose what to do about her baby, her relationship with her par- games, books, videos and clothes are expected to chalk up $1 billion in sales by the end of the year. But apparently that's just not enough.

"We're bringing out a whole new line of toys for Christmas '94," confirms Trish Stewart, marketing director of Bandai America. Kids at the YWCA Uptown Child Development Center in Charlotte, N.C., were up on the new characters. "I think I'm going to get all the zords and Megazord and Ultra-zord and the Dragon Dagger and the Power Sword," said John Thomas, 4. Film review COLOR OF NfGHT. directed by Richard Rush; screenplay by Matthew Chapman and Billy Ray; director ot photography.

Dietrich Loh-mann; music composed by Dominic Frontiere; designer, James L. Schoppe; edited by Jack Hofstra" produced by Buzz Feitshans and David Matalon; executive producer, Andrew G. Vajna. A Buena Vista Pictures release of a Hollywood Pictures Production, opening today at Showcase Cinemas, East Hartford and Berlin. Running time: 120 minutes.

Capa Bruce Willis Rose Jane March Martinez Ruben Blades Sondra Lesley Ann Warren Bob Moore Scott Bakula Clark Brad Dourif Buck Lance Henriksen Casey Kevin J. O'Connor Excellent; Very Good; Good; Fair; tt Poor Willis' performance ranges from adequate to leaden. He just doesn't seem to be comfortable without a gun in his hand. family. It ranges from Sondra (Lesley Ann Warren) a tiger of a woman whose mood can erupt from exuberance to rage, to Clark (Brad Dourif), a mouse of a man, a compulsive obsessive, neat-as-a-pin nebbish who might explode at any moment.

Any one of Capa's new patients the belligerent cop whose family was massacred; the gender-confused boy who can fly at a fellow patient's throat like a vampire; or the troubled, perhaps sado-masochistic artist may be the murderer, who's now stalking him. Director Richard Rush keeps the pace coursing along at a fast clip for at least the first 40 minutes or so crowd surfers and slam dancers. Balloons wafted over a scene that also included a concourse of specialty concession booths. The concourse area and the arena were at almost maximum capacity when the Allmans, godfathers of Southern rock, took the stage at 8:30 p.m. for a 2 '2-hour nonstop set.

"You're here in the rain to see us, so we're going to play as long as they let us," Dickey Berts told the throng. The band proceeded to render the old and new highlights of an illustrious 25-year career. The band's newest album, the critically acclaimed "Where It All Begins," generated some of the evening's most memorable moments. A favorite was the Betts-penned title track "Back Where It All Begins," with Berts and Warren Haynes demonstrating why they continue to be guitar idols. The band delighted the crowd with a hit parade of its classic tunes, each played with a freshness that makes it hard to believe they've been played thousands of times.

The band seemed to reinvent the Betts instrumental "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," which culminated in a daring contest between drummers Jaimoe, Butch Trucks and per It Real," issued on his own new label, Ridgetop. The best of his new work is "Love Is You," a gentle love song sung with what he calls Hawaiian tuning on the guitar. Young is in a new marriage and clearly head over heels in love, as his new work reflects. There is a softness about his lyrics and a sweetness: "Kiss me deeply, tell me softly, every dream is coming true. Oh my darling love is you." But he sang from all periods in his long career.

"Four in the Morning," the first song he recorded, tells the tale of a 19-year-old starving artist living in a roach-infested New York apartment near the Bowery. "Song for Juli" a lovely ballad for his daughter (who sings harmonies on "Swept recalls the time "that I was a hero and perfect to a small child." "Light Shine" is an By DONNA LARCEN Courant Staff Writer "Bhaji on the Beach" is a look at the lives of nine Asian-Anglo women living in the British industrial town of Liverpool who decide to take a day at the beach in garish Blackpool. The women are outsiders in the British culture while also struggling for independence in their transplanted Indian culture, where duty and sacrifice are their traditional values. There is also generational conflict between the sari-clad older women and the Westernized younger women. That's quite a bit to handle in one movie and "Bhaji" does tend to lean toward soap opera at times.

The two main story lines focus on Ginder (Kim Vithana), a young wife with a 5-year-old son who is divorcing her abusive husband, and Ha-shida (Sarita Khajuria), a pre-med student thought of as the perfect daughter, who has been secretly having an affair with Oliver, a West Indian. Hashida discovers she is pregnant on the day of the beach outing, allowing the filmmakers to explore racial tension. Director Gurinder Chadha and writer Meera Syal do an admirable job of showing the conflicts the women face. No main character is free from some kind of prejudice. The many story lines eventually weave together as the women learn about each other.

Simi (Shaheen Khan) is the feminist bus driver who organizes the trip and runs a shelter for battered women. She gives solace and shelter to Ginder and she learns of Hashida's pregnancy. Simi is soured on men and her attitude is understandable given what she deals with daily. Her own history is never revealed a weakness in the film. But her attitude softens a bit when Hashida and Oliver re- Reprinted from late editions of Thursday's Courant.

By DEBORAH HORNBLOW Courant Staff Writer i Persistent rain made Riverside Park seem about as soggy as Woodstock '94 (minus the mud), but fans didn't let it dampen the fun Wednesday night at the H.O.R.D.E. show. H.O.R.D.E., an acro- ROCk nvm fr tne unwieldy "Horizons of Rock De-reVieW veloping Everywhere," is a lollapalooza of a touring festival, now in its third year. Although the lineup has varied slightly from city to city since the tour began in July, the core is the Allman Brothers Band, Blues Traveler, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, the Dave Matthews Band, and Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies, all of whom were in fine form Wednesday night. Augmenting the lineup at the Ag-'awam, amusement park were the bands Little Sister, Ugly American, and Cycomotogoat.

The bands appeared alternately on two separate stages, creating eight continuous hours of music. By early evening, as Big Head Todd and the Monsters were playing to ecstatic fans, the area surrounding the main, or "Mondo," stage became an asphalt jungle of ents and her boyfriend. She and Oliver face the tensions of a secret affair, racial differences and the unexpected pregnancy. There is an undercurrent of violence throughout the film. Ginder's husband, Ranjit (Jimmi Harkishin), at first appears to sensitive and intelligent, appearing distraught over the impending divorce.

His older brother solves his own problems by hitting first and asking questions later. A younger brother is the most well-adjusted, showing a strong relationship with his wife. Yet she makes an offhand remark, saying that living in the family is like being married to the mob. The three brothers visit Ginder's shelter and intimidate the women into telling about the trip to Blackpool. They spend the rest of the movie chasing Ginder.

The emotional climax is a scene on the beach in the late evening, when the brothers catch up with the nine women. Ranjit grabs his son, Amrit, while striking his wife and knocking her down. The most moderate of the aunties, Asha, intervenes, striking Ranjit and backing him down. It's a powerful moment and a breakthrough for the women, who put aside their differences and band together to protect the young wife and her son. The setting of Blackpool, a tacky beach town with carnival amusements, flashing neon and striptease bars, adds a surreal element to the film as the women travel through their day of illumination.

"Bhaji on the Beach" is an ambitious film that doesn't always work. Yet there is enough there to warrant a look. Not rated, the film contains some abuse of women by men, pushing and a slap, and some talk of abortion. Three shows added to 'Lady Day run Because of audience demand, three shows have been added to the run of TheaterWorks' production of "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar Grill" at the Hutensky Theater, 233 Pearl Hartford. The additional shows are Tuesday at 8 p.m., Aug.

27 at 2:30 p.m. and Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m. The run ends with the Aug. 28 show.

Tickets from $15 to $18 are available by calling the box office at 527-7838. The performances tonight and Saturday night are sold out. Some tickets remain for Sunday afternoon's show, evening performances from Wednesday through Aug. 27, and the Aug. 28 matinee.

A Jesse Colin Young gets it together at Blue Star More Power Rangers toys Reprinted from late editions of Thursday's Courant. By DONNA LARCEN Courant Staff Writer Jesse Colin Young gave a fast-forward retrospective of his 30-year singing career Wednesday night in a two-hour show at Hartford's Blue Star Cafe. Young, best known to the Woodstock generation (original, as in 25 years ago) for his early work with the Youngbloods, sang several of his trademark songs, ending the regular concert with his signature "Get Together." people now, smile on your brother It was a sort of Woodstock Nation moment as the standing-room only crowd sang along with Young. He mixed in some recent work from his two newest albums, "Swept Away" and "We Can Make By ANN DOSS HELMS Knight-Ridder Newspapers Remember those Mighty Mor-phin Power Ranger toys parents have been scrambling for since last fall? They're about to become obsolete replaced, of course, by a new line of toys unveiled in a special TV mini-series that was shown in late July and early August. Blame cosmic villain Lord Zed, who sent the "zords" robot dinosaurs who fight for the forces of good hurtling into the bowels of the earth.

Or blame a merchandising mania that knows no bounds. Power Rangers toys, candy, computer.