FILM LIST
o This section aims to provide a review of every film to be seen in central Scotland overthe 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 youngerchildren.
(15)-No one underthe age of 15 admitted.
(18)—No one under the age of 18 admitted.
a—New Release.
0 Agnes of God (15) (Norman Jewison, US, 1985) Jane Fonda, Anne Bancroft, Meg Tilly. 98 mins. When a new-born infant is found strangled in the room ofa novice nun, court-appointed psychiatrist Fonda is dispatched to uncover the truth behind the grisly events. Based on a Broadway hit. this is both a teasing detective story and a clearly defined theological tussle Intelligently crafted, grandly acted middlebrow fare. Edinburgh; Filmhouse
o Alchemists of the Surreal, Programme Three (PG) The final programme includes a tribute to the great Czechoslovakian animator by the Brothers Quay entitled The Cabinet OfJan Svankmajer. and Alphabet, an early and disturbing short by David Lynch. Glasgow; GET 0 Amadeus (PG) (Milos Forman, US, 1984) F. Murray Abraham, Thomas Hulce, Simon Callow. 160 mins. A risible title fight for a place in posterity between a God-fearing but mediocre talent and a musical genius with bad manners. Glasgow; Grosvenor.
O eayan Ko (18) (Lina Brocka, Philipinns/France, 1984) Philip
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Salvador, Gina Alajar. 108 mins. A young printworker with a pregnant wife is unfairly dismissed and turns to crime to pay her hospital bills. A moving indictment ofsocial and political injustice in its native land that put its director in a prison cell, even abroad this is urgent and heart-rending stuff, agonisingly acted. Strathclyde: Haldane Film Society
0 Biquefarre (U) (1983) The second oftwo films tracing forty years ofthe life of a French village. Edinburgh; French Institute
0 Boy Meets Girl (15) (Leos Carax, France. 1984) Denis Lavant. Mireille Perrier. 100 mins. (See panel on French Cinema Today) Edinburgh; French Institute
BETWEEN PLEASURE AND ANGER: SHUJI TERAYAMA
Britain has never produced anyone like Japan's Shuji Terayama. Afilm-maker whose work has met international acclaim and consternation, he was also a well-known poet, a novelist, a photographer, lhe directorof the far-renowned Tenii-Sanjiki theatre group, a boxing commentator, and a racing Tipster!
Much of Terayama's life until his death in 1983 at the age of 48 was a defiant crusade against the rigorous codes of Japanese cultural conservatism. Having spent a good deal of his formative years in a hospital bed in the notorious Shinjuku district of Toiyo, be both learnt the pain of confinement and developed a penchant forthe bizarrely erotic, and the period laid the foundation for a varied career where themes of entrapment and liberation are fleshed out in all manner of strange images, often explicitly
0 Brazil (15) (Terry Gilliam, UK, 1985) Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Michael Palin. 142 mins. Ambitious. dazzling Orwellian fantasy with Pryce as a cog in the bureaucratic wheel finally stirred to oppose the system by the power of love. Edinburgh; Filmhouse
O The Cotton Club (15) (Francis Coppola, US, 1984) Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Bob Hoskins. 128 mins. Movie stars, molls and murderers interact in this expensive and loving recreation of the famous Prohibition watering hole. Gere is lifeless but Hines shines. Edinburgh; Filmhouse
O The Crazy Family ( 18) (Sogo Ishii, Japan. 1985) Katsuya Kobayashi. Mitsuko Baisho. 106 mins.
Wildly anarchic Japanese comedy with a vicious sence ofhumour that is very, er, Japanese. Similar, one imagines, to a domestic version of Endurance, their horrifying TV show. lidinburgh Film(iuild
0 Crimes of Passion ( 18) (Ken Russell. US, 1984) Kathleen Turner, Anthony Perkins, John Laughlin. 107 mins. Russell‘s debunking of the American way ofsex is an uproariously black satire where moonlighting'Turner meets dildo-packing clergyman Perkins and ordinary guy Laughlin who
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Now Edinburgh Playhouse is mounting a retrospective of this uncompromising, sometimes baffling talent, to include both features and a selection of his exquisitely enigmatic shorts. From the youthful exuberance of the anti-establishment kalefdsocope ‘Throw Away Your Books, Let’s Go Into The Streets' (Thurs 12 Feb), to the final
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excel. Edinburgh; Edinburgh Film Guild
0 ‘Crocodlle' Dundee ( 15) (Peter Faiman, Australia, 1986) Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski, Mark Bluym. 98 mins. Disarmingly self-mocking. old-fashioned comedy-romance with Hogan as a legendary crocodile hunter in the Northern Territories of Australia, discovered by an American journalist and persuaded to sample the dubious delights of Manhattan. Glasgow; Odeon. Edinburgh; Odeon 0 Desert Hearts ( 18) (Donna Deitch, US, 1985) Helen Shaver, Patricia Charbonneau. 91 mins. Reno, Nevada, 1959. Vivian Bell arrives to complete the formalities ofa quick and convenient divorce. Her desert retreat is meant to provide solitude but instead she finds herself falling in love with another woman.
An appealing and intelligent treatment ofpotentially melodramatic themes. hindered by budgetary privations but graced with fine performances and a generally assured touch. A commendany positive lesbian drama depicting an overcoming ofself-repression with which we can all empathise Glasgow; Grosvenor. Edinburgh;
II To The Ark’ (Mon 2 Feb) and a screening of several short pieces with their accompanying element of live performance and audience participation (Sat 31 Jan), Terayama's outpourings should appeal to those with a taste for the vibrantly odd. The man was nothing if not unique. (TrevorJohnston)
The List 23 Jan —— 5 Feb 7