FILM LIST
o This section aims to provide a review of every film to be seen in central Scotland over the next fortnight. For programme times see individual cinema listings. U - Universal, suitable for all ages. PG - Parental Guidance suggested as some scenes may be unsuitable for younger children. 15 - No-one under the age ol15 admitted. I 18 - No-one underthe age of 18 admitted. if: - New Release. 0 Absolute Beginners (PG) a (Julien Temple. UK. 1986) Eddie O‘Connell. Patsy Kensit. David Bowie. Sade. 104 mins. (See caption review). Edinburgh; ()deon. Glasgow; Grosvenor. ()deon. Strathclyde: Kelburne. ()deon Hamilton. 0 Alien(18) (Ridley Scott. UK. 1979) Sigourney Weaver. Ian Holm. Jon Hurt. A space-freighter lands on a ' mysterious planet and the crew unwittingly take on board a nasty thing. which ungratefully proceeds to chomp its way through most of the cast. Glasgow; GET 0 Altered StateS( 18) (Ken Russell. US. 1980) William Hurt. Blair Brown. 102 mins. Using himselfas a l gumea-pig. a scientist experiments ' with mind-blowing drugs and finds himselfregressing mentally and physically into a primitive state. Hurt’s film debut. Glasgow: Grosvenor 0 Back to the Future (PG) (Robert Zemeckis. US. 1985) Michael J. Fox. Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson. 116 mins. Expertly cast. wittily scripted time-travelling Oedipal fantasy adventure. A worthy crowd-pleaser. Edinburgh: Dominion. Glasgow; ABC(SauchiehallStreet). Strathclyde‘. Kelburne. Rialto. 0 Bad Timing (18) (Nicolas Roeg. UK. 1979) Art Garfunkel. Theresa Russell. Harvey Keitel. 123 mins. As ; surgeons fight for the life of a young American in Vienna. we learn of a ; university lecturer‘s obsessive and often violent relationship with her. i Director Roeg is here at perhaps his i most typically Roegian. which means elliptical editing creating striking visual textures. and an explosion of ideas (the illusory nature ofour emotions) in several different directions. The result is extraordinarilypowerful.Glasgow: i
GET
; 0 Bambi (U) (David Hand. US. i 1942) 72 mins. A simple story of a
1 young forest deer. Distinguished by
1 Absolute Beginners(15) (Julien
its scrupulous attention to detail and craftsmanship Bambi has lost none of its capacity to charm and enthral. Edinburgh; ()deon. Glasgow; ()deon
0 Before Stonewall ( 15) (Greta Schiller. Robert Rosenberg. US. 1984) Narrator; Rita Mae Brown. 87
mins. Personal reminiscences.
archive footage and interviews combine in a sympathetic and illuminating documentary history of
the American gay movement throughout the 20th century. Glasgow; GET
0 The Black Cauldron (U) (Ted Berman. Richard Rich. US. 1985) With the yoicesofJohn Huston. John Hurt. Nigel Hawthorne. 80 mins. A young pig-assistant named Taran faces the awesome Horned King and is pitched into a life or death struggle involving a beautiful princess. an oracular pig. three witches and a magical sword. Edinburgh; Dominion. Glasgow ABC (Clarkston Road). Cinema. Grosvenor. Rio. Lothian: ABC. Strathclude: ABC Greenock. ABC Kilmarnock. Kelburne. ()deon Ayr ()deon Hamilton. Rialto. La Scala. 0 Black Shack Alley (PG) (Euzhan Palcy. France. 1983) Garry Cadenat Darling Legitimus. Douta Seek. 106
3 mins. A gentle. well-observed film
this tells the story of a black shantytown orphan who escapes the poverty and oppression of his
situation through the world of ; education and the sacrifices ofhis ; grandmother.
Strathclyde: Haldane Film Society 0 Blade Runner ( 15) (Ridley Scott.
I _
ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS
Temple, UK, 1986) Eddie O’Connell, Patsy Kensit, James Fox, David Bowie. 104 mins. Behind all the hype, the film itself turns out to be (gasp?) a Lot of
1 Fun. Eddie O’Connell and Patsy Kensit
star as boy and girl and glacial James Fox is the Other Man in affectineg corny luv-story schtick, the connecting narrative in an exuberantly kaleidoscopic musical about life in London during the long hot summer of 1958, which also takes in grotesque satire with David Bowie (just wait until you hear his pseudo-American accent), smarmy Alan Freeman and greasy Lionel Blair as unscupulous prototype hypesters gleefully manipulating the new teen audience, not to mention
7 demonic Steven Berkoff playing a
fascist demagogue modelled on Oswald Mosely. All this set to music by Bowie, Sade, The Style Council and ferocious Mingus and Miles Davies arranged by Gil Evans. Songs, fantastic production numbers, inventiver choreographed dance/fight scenes,
; and a powerful climax in the burning ‘ streets of Notting Hill as race riots
. m erupt. All this in a musical? Yup. All this in a musical which works because directorJulien Temple, king of the rock video scene, keeps the camera whirling round just as fast as the dancers, and the designers have come up with some eye-popping sets, including David Bowie quite literally on top of the world as he croons ‘That's Motivation'. The result is that the enchanted viewer is lured into the
film’s dream-world, in a neon-bathed
odyssey more thrillingly narcotic than . any Oscar-laden slab of worthy tedium namely because it's about dressing
sharp, and listening to the coolest
Q sounds, and posing at the right clubs,
about Life as it is Lived. At last the
British cinema has come up with an
accurately exciting representation of Youth on screen, which anyone who is
or even thinks they are Young could
hardly fail to enjoy. No it’s not perfect, the screen version reflects the episodic structure of Maclnnes’s novel, but it’s
bursting with so much energy that you
can forgive the odd lumpy patch. It's one hot flick so go digit, daddio.
2 (TrevorJohnston)
o CINEMA TIMES AND [Mics Vii-PAGE. :9.
US. 1982) Harrison Ford. Rutger Hauer. Daryl Hannah. 118 mins. LA. AD 2019. a tough cop tracks down a group ofsophisticated androids gone haywire. Glasgow; GET 0 Breathless ( 18) (Joseph McBride. US. 1983) Richard Gere. Valerie Kaprisky. 101 mins. Handsome Streetwise hustler on the run from i the LA police attempts to escape to | l
Mexico with his girlfriend. a French student. Forget the fact that this is a remake of Godard‘s sacred 1959 i classic and enjoy it on its own terms, for it‘s a fine, American. , love-on-the-run movie. Edinburgh; Filmhouse f
P 0 Broadway Danny Bose (PG) 1 fi (Woody Allen. us. 1984) Woody 5 Allen. Mia Farrow. Nick Apollo
Forte. 84 mins. Danny Rose is one of 3 life's born losers; a small-time agent
for no-hope artistes who run from his management at the slightest whiff of 3 acclaim. Opportunity knocks with a i
f tubby singer riding a nostalgia boom for Fifties crooners. However. the
singer‘s temperamental girlfriend
Tina is linked with the Mafia.
Edinburgh; Edinburgh Film Guild,
0 Camera d’Alrlque (PG) (Ferid Boughedir. France/Tunisia. 1983) 95 mins. This painstakingly-compiled
and fascinating documentary
features clips from 18 films and interviews with many of the
film-makers involved as it charts
their determination to produce a truthful. African cinema despite the
lack of technical resources and the control of the distribution system by Western companies. Edinburgh; Filmhouse
O Ceddo (PG) (Ousmane Sembene, Senegal, 1977) 117 mins. Probably
the best-known film by Africa‘s
leading director. it compresses the history of the continent into a series ofevents in one village whose
inhabitants are exploited by Arabs
from the north. European slave
traders and Christian missionaries. Edinburgh; Filmhouse
o The Choirboys(18) (Robert
Aldrich. US. 1977) Charles During.
Don Stroud. 121 mins. Hard-pressed
LA cops relieve themselves of work pressures through various raunchy. redneck pursuits.Glasgow; Grosvenor
0 Choose Me (15) (Alan Rudolph. US. 1984) Keith Carradine. Lesley Ann Warren. Genevieve Bujold. 106 mins. A stranger arrives in Eve‘s bar and before long is embroiled in a shifting relationship with the proprietress and another woman. a radio agony aunt. Former Altman collaborator Alan Rudolph‘s film, I with its studio sets and deliciously improbable narrative, seems to l linger between fantasy and reality as I it teases and surprises the viewer. l Edinburgh; Filmhouse ' O Clockwise (PG) (Christopher Morahan. UK. 1985) John Cleese. Alison Steadman. Penelope Wilton. ! 97 mins. A pathologically l punctilious headmaster is l chronically late for an important l conference. Basically a one-joke farce this is an enervated vehicle for Cleese's incisive comic timing — the film‘s raison d’étre and saving grace. j
in." ills—{:77 April 25