FILM LIST
The Sacrilice (15) (Andrei Tarkovsky, Sweden, 1986) Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Allan Edwall. 149 mins. ‘Tarkovsky is for me the greatest, the one who invented a new language, true to the nature oi lilm, as it captures tile as a rellection, lite as a dream.‘ The testimony to the late Andrei Tarkovsky, who died earlier this year, comes lrom Ingmar Bergman, and indeed aptly so, lorthe great Russian expatriate with this linal lilm takes on the master’s mantle as the meditative poet oi the European screen. ‘The Sacritice' is, in tact, an act oi laith on film, a spiritual declaration lrom one ol the cinema's most rellective creators. Set on the remote Swedish island ol Faro and locusing on a 24-hour period in the lives ol the various residents at a large country house, the action concerns itselt with one man’s response to the oncoming apocalypse (announced through hazy reports on TV and the intermittent shredding ol the skies by the roar ot jet lighters). The title relers to the deal Bergman mainstay Eriand Josephson conducts with the divine in the early morning hours of darkness: he otters up himsell and his belongings as a supreme act of atonement, in order that the world be restored. With the dedication to the director’s own son and the linal image 01 a newly-planted tree, the outcome is quite clearly a hopeful one, but it is
THE SACRIFICE
only arrived at alter a chaotic gesture ol belief as he burns the house down. This latter incident is captured in a single devastating eleven-minute take, one ol the key elements oi Tarkovsky's ‘new language’. Slowness is everything: holding shots for an age and moving the camera at a snail’s pace he creates an achineg mesmeric, ultimately demanding syntax which iorces us to really look, as it for the lirst time. Finding intensity in the everyday (placid water, a billowing curtain, a
wavering glass), ecstatic yet mysterious, it is the periectly realised expression of the Russian’s serene, wholly spiritual vision.
“The Sacriiice’ is an overwhelming, serious, deeply poetic experience, which exposes mere words’ inadequacy at conveying cinematic resonance in the way that only truly majestic lilm-making can. Tarkovsky’s death is undoubtedly a setback in the medium’s development as an arttorm. (TrevorJohnstun)
Edinburgh; Filmhouse
o Jagged Edge (18) (Richard Marquand. US. 1985) Glenn Close. JeffBridges. 108 mins. Guilty or innocent? Smooth hunk Bridges stands accused ofthe brutal slaying of his wife. Close defends the case and unprofessionally falls for her client. Unremarkable. old-fashioned courtroom suspenser. Edinburgh; EUFS
0 Jason and the Argonauts (U) (Don Chaffey. UK. 1963) Todd Armstrong. Gary Raymond. Honor Blackman. 104 mins. Welldone version of the fable about Jason‘s quest for the magical Golden Fleece considerably enlivened by Ray Harryhausen special effects and another distinctive musical score from maestro Bernard Herrman. Edinburgh; Filmhouse
0 Kiss Oi The Spiderwoman ( 15) (Hector Babenco. US. 1985) William Hurt. Raul Julia. Sonia
, Braga. 121 mins. Two men share a prison cell. victims ithheir individual ways of an unspecified fascist regime. One is a flamboyant
homosexual, the other a macho revolutionary. The pain of their confinement ultimately brings mutual understanding. love and a moving exchange of roles. Glasgow; Grosvenor o The Lite and Times of Judge Roy Dean (15) (John Huston. US. 1972) Paul Newman, Ava Gardner. Victoria Principal. 120 mins. Flavourful. none-too-serious account ofthe famous hanging judge. his particular brand ofjustice.
the oddball eccentricities in his life and his infatuation with Lily Langtry. Edinburgh; EUFS
o The Lost Honour ot Katharina Blum (15)(Margarethe Von Trotta and Volker Schlondorff. West Germany. 1975) Angela Winkler. Mario Adorf. 106 mins. A young woman takes a man home she meets at a party. but the next morning finds her flat surrounded as police search for a suspected terrorist. Soon she becomes reviled as a terrorist/whore in a daily scandal sheet.
Thoughtful dissection of press ‘freedom‘ and its unwitting victims. Glasgow; G FT
0 A Love Bewitched (PG) (Carlos Saura. Spain. 1986) Antonio Gades. Cristiana Hoyos. Laura Del Sol. 98 mins. Set in a gypsy shanty town on the outskirts ofMadrid. the third of the Saura-Gades terpsichorean treats has a classical simplicity in its story of a tragic love affair whose repercussions extend beyond the grave. The show-stopping dances are as dazzling as ever. the photography striking and the camerawork fluid. It is really only a disappointment by the previous high standards that the series has set. Glasgow; GET
0 Macbeth ( 15) (Roman Polanski. UK. 1970) Jon Finch. Francesca Annis. 140mins. Polanski‘s retelling of Shakespeare‘s turbulent Scottish tragedy manages to forcefully convey the play‘s pervasive spirit of evil. with the Pole‘s dark imagination conjuring up bloody scenes of horror. encompassed in a brooding vision of fate. mortality and power. Glasgow: GF'I‘
o McCabe and Mrs Miller ( 18) (Robert Altman, US. 1971) Warren Beatty. Julie Christie. 121mins. Ultra-realistic. downbeat western
yarn that eschews the traditional dramatic approach ofglamourising the era. Beatty is in good form as a bustling. two-bit braggart who opens a brothel in a turn-of-the-century boom town. Edinburgh; EUFS
0 Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (15) (Nagisa Oshima. UK. 1983) David Bowie. Ryuchi Sakomoto. Tom Conti. 124 mins. Wildly over-rated run-of-the-mill POW drama set in the Japanese-held Java of 1942. Glasgow: Grosvenor
o The Mission (PG) (Roland Joffé. UK. 1986) Robert de Niro. Jeremy Irons. Ray McAnally. 125 mins. In 18th century South America a Papal Prelate is called in to resolve a territorial dispute between Spain and Portugal. His decision is dictated by the political climate in Europe and it has harsh ramifications for a native mission run by Jesuit priests. At once a study of male friendship and an exploration of man‘s capacity forthe noblest altruism and the most treacherous selfishness. The Mission is flawlessly acted, skilfully made and finally quite affecting. An . operative film ofdepth and force. it remains essential viewing. Glasgow; ABC Sauchiehall Street. Grosvenor. Edinburgh; ABC. Dominion. Strathclyde; Odeon Ayr o The Name otthe Rose(18) a (Jean-Jacques Annaud. West Germany-ItaIy—France. 1986) Sean Connery. F. Murray Abraham.
Christian Slater. 131 mins. Lovingly crafted film version of the Umberto Eco bestseller with Connery on top form as the Sherlock Holmes-like monk investigating murder and mayhem in a medieval monastery. This special preview on 15 Feb will benefit the day‘s Fifth Anniversary Appeal and tickets are available now priced £3.50. The film will be reviewed in full next issue. Edinburgh: Filmhouse
o A Nightmare on Elm Street Part II (18) (Jack Sholder. US. 1986) Mark Patton. Kim Myers. Robert Englund. 85 mins. Weak sequel to Wes Craven‘s ghoulisth effective original has bogeyman Freddy once again waltzing out of assorted teenagers‘ dreams and chopping them up into little itty bitty pieces. Yawn.
Glasgow; ABC Clarkston Road. Edinburgh; Odeon. Lothian; ABC. Strathclyde; ABC Greenock, ABC Kilmarnock, Odeon Hamilton
0 Peggy Sue Got Married (PG) (Francis Ford Coppola. US. 1986) Kathleen Turner. Nicolas Cage.
' Catherine Hicks. 103 mins. Light
and likeable Coppola confection in which the always magnificent Turner collapses at her high school class reunion and regains consciousness in 1959. She has the body of an energetic teenage girl but retains the accumulated wisdom ofa middle-aged woman. She eagerly grasps the opportunity to change the course ofher future life but discovers that destiny is perhaps immutable.
An entertaining. irresistibly sloppy romantic drama with a real regard for its characters and their modest preoccupations. Glasgow; Odeon. Edinburgh; Odeon
o Prizzi's Honour ( 15) (John Huston. US. 1985) Jack Nicholson. Kathleen Turner. Angelica Huston. 129 mins. ‘Do lice her or marry her?‘ puzzles Nicholson‘s Neanderthal Mafia hit man when he discovers that the woman who shares his bed also shares his lethal profession.
A delicious black comedy. crafted with a veteran’s touch by Huston and graced by a rogues‘ gallery of superior performances.
Glasgow; GET
0 Ban (15) (Akira Kurosawa. Japan-France. 1985)Tatsuya Nakadai. Meiko Harada. Peter. 162 mins. Kurosawa‘s King Lear is a bleak and despairing vision of mankind rent asunder by division, disunity. personal vengeance and family feuds that produce no honour. no victors. just victims.
An accomplished fusion of Japanese history and blood-drenched Shakespearean drama. the film grows more impressive with repeated viewings. Edinburgh; Edinburgh Film Guild
0 The Red Snowball Tree (PG) (Vasily Shukshin. USSR, 1974) Vasily Shukshin. Lydia Fedoseeva- Shukshina. 108 mins. Blocked by the censors and then awarded the Lenin Prize. Shukshin's final film has been hailed as a masterly and moving summation of the man‘s career and his concern for the peasant traditions and values of his country. In the film a prisoner returns to a remote village
12 The List 6 — 19 February