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Movies

“Punch-Drunk Love,” right, is not your typical Adam Sandler movie. Nor is it what you might expect from Emily Watson. Paul Thomas Anderson directed the unlikely romantic comedy that also features Anderson regulars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Luis Guzman. Opens Friday.

Also: Bullets and sparks fly in “Bowling for Columbine,” Michael Moore’s provocative examination of America’s gun culture. The first documentary in 46 years to compete in the Cannes Film Festival opens Friday in selected theaters.

Theater

Diverse cultural elements converge on a magical soundscape in “Hashirigaki,” a new music theater piece by German composer Heiner Goebbels. Taking its title from the classic “talking while walking” element of Kabuki theater, the show weaves together the sounds of the Beach Boys and Japanese folk music as well as a Gertrude Stein novel, “The Making of Americans.” Opens Thursday at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse.

Also: “Breaking New Ground” is the theme of this year’s Edgefest 2002, the fourth annual Edge of the World Theater Festival. It features more than 60 stage productions, 40 of them world premieres, as well as special events--from round-table discussions about intellectual property law and the definition of “edgy,” to works in progress exploring the history of L.A. and a safari through the heart of Hollywood, tracing its theatrical roots. At venues throughout Los Angeles County from Thursday through Oct. 20.

Music

A performance of the Verdi Requiem at the Orange County Performing Arts Center tonight marks the farewell concert by the William Hall Chorale and Orchestra, as founder-music director William Hall steps down after 47 years. The chorale will become a resident component of Chapman University in Orange. On this occasion, Hall, dean of the Chapman School of Music, celebrates his 40th anniversary on the university faculty. With the addition of the university and alumni choirs--along with soloists Kathryn Carpenter, Catherine Stoltz, Robert MacNeil and Louis Lebherz--more than 400 musicians will perform.

Pop Music

Sweet-faced heartlander Conor Oberst sure has rattled the walls of the rock academy this year. Desaparecidos, which is just his side group, released a seriously rocking indictment of contemporary conformity called “Read Music/Speak Spanish” in February. In the summer, Bright Eyes, his primary platform, delivered the breakthrough long predicted for the indie-rock wunderkind, “Lifted.” The Omaha prodigy brings Bright Eyes to town Thursday and Friday at the Henry Fonda Theatre.

Art

The UCLA Hammer Museum opens its fall season today with three exhibitions devoted to contemporary artists who employ radically different approaches. “Dave Muller: Connections” will feature about 200 drawing and watercolor interpretations of art exhibition announcements and invitations, including “Supergraphic,” below. A new multimedia video installation incorporating Arthur Penn’s 1962 film “The Miracle Worker” will compose “Catherine Sullivan: Five Economies (big hunt/little hunt).” And Tokyo-based artist Tomoko Takahashi creates an installation using found materials from the streets of L.A.

Jazz

“Calle 54,” Fernando Trueba’s acclaimed film tribute to Latin jazz, will come alive on stage when pianists Eliane Elias, Bebo Valdes and Chano Dominguez, plus percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo, flutist Dave Valentin and others perform Wednesday at Campbell Hall at UC Santa Barbara and Thursday at UCLA’s Royce Hall.