FILM LIST
this is a near-perfect version of Forster’s sunny comedy of manners that has been nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture. Edinburgh; Dominion
0 Round Midnight (15) (Bertrand Tavernier. France-US. 1986) Dexter Gordon, Francois Cluzet. Lonette McKee. 133 mins. In the Paris ofthe late 19505 a young French jazz fan looks after Bebop legend Dale Turner (Oscar nominee Dexter Gordon) lest he drink his weary body into the grave.
Relentlessly touching character study with some fine playing and one unforgettable performance. To limit the film to the ‘jazz movie‘ tag neglects its careworn wisdom and easy-going charm. Glasgow: GF'I‘
0 The Sacrifice ( 15) (Andrei Tarkovsky. Sweden. 1986) Erland Josephson. Susan Fleetwood, Allan Edwall. 149 mins. Set on a remote island and focusing on a twenty-four hour period of action. Tarkovsky‘s last film and testament concerns itself with one man’s response to the oncoming apocalypse. announced through hazy reports on TV and the intermittent shredding of the sky by the roar ofjet fighters. The title refers to the deal Josephson conducts with the divine in the early morning hours ofdarkness: he offers up himself and his belongings as a supreme act ofatonement. in order that the world be restored. With the dedication to the director‘s own son and the final image ofa newly-planted tree. the outcome is quite clearly a hopeful one. though it is only arrived at after a chaotic gesture of belief as he burns his house down.
An overwhelming. serious. deeply poetic experience. Once again Tarkovsky exposes mere words‘ inadequacy at encapsulating the most emotive sort ofcinematic resonance. Edinburgh; Filmhouse O Salvador ( 18) (Oliver Stone. US. 1986) James Woods. Jim Belushi. John Savage. 122 mins. Raw. abrasively brilliant drama of journalists under fire. as a sleazy ‘war junkie‘ photojournalist travels to Salvador and finds his senses assaulted by the corruption and fear abounding and his conscience finally pricked by the suffering ofhis fellow beings.
Angry. bravura filmmaking that not only demands your attention but deserves it. Woods’ utter. unnerving conviction has won him a richly merited Best Actor Oscar nomination and Stone‘s script has been similarly recognised by the Academy. Edinburgh; Filmhouse 0 Short Circuit(PG) (John Badham. US. 1986) Ally Sheedy. Steve Guttenberg. Fisher Stevens. 98 mins. Formula romp in which a sophisticated military robot is struck bylightning and develops human characteristics. An ET by any other name. . . Edinburgh. Odeon 0 Sid and Nancy ( 18) (Alex Cox. UK.
1986) Gary Oldman. Chloe Webb. David Hayman. 11(1mins. The story of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his American girlfriend Nancy Spungen from their gung-ho days as puppy superstars and future rock
GINGER AND FRED
Ginger and Fred (15) (Federico Fellini, ltaly/France/West Germany, 1986) Guiletta Masina, Marcello 'Mastroianni, Franco Fabrizi. 127 mins. The latest chapter in Fellini’s ongoing chronicle of the decline and fall of Italian civilization proves to be his most accessible and enjoyable film in years, possibly because the target of his spite, the gross excesses of Italian television (and we over here shouldn’t sniff contemptuously, either: people in glass houses. . .), is such an eminently deserving one.
Amelia (Masina) and Pippo (Mastroianni) are two ageing cabaret dancers who once performed as Ginger and Fred in imitation of the great 19303 heyday of Astaire and Rogers. They are brought together again by a gloriously sleazy television producer (Fabrizi) in what amounts to a typically Fellini-esque freak show (raising slightly awkward questions about who
is parodying who): the couple are expected to dance in a bill which includes cows with extra udders. dwarfs who dance, monks who levitate, and a man who makes edible panties- in eleven flavours, of course. Warhol's fifteen minutes of lame has shrunk to a brief traverse of the screen, for the delectation of the television audience. Backstage, the couple practise weary steps in a corridor and argue: Amelia wants this done properly (Masina. Fellini‘s wile, is always the still point in a luriouslytumbling world), conducting herself with a serene grace in adversity. Pippo simply wants to tell the ‘videoholics' what he thinks of them, butwhen their moment finally comes, they carry it off in a joyously redemptive triumph. Pippo’s crusty capitulafion to the very objects of his scorn gives it away: underneath all the cynical criticism, Fellini really does love his freakshow. (Kenny Mathieson)
legends to their final agonies in New York‘s Chelsea I lotel and a losing battle with the big H.
For the most part a breathlessly enjoyable biopic. Sid and Nancy gets bogged down in an interminable last halfhour. Great performances though. Glasgow; GF'I‘
0 Soul Man (PG) (Steve Miner. US. 1986) C. Thomas Howell. Ayre Gross. Rae Dawn Chong. Ill-1mins. Howell wins a place at Harvard Law School but is denied financial assistance by his wealthy father so he gets out the fast tanning tablets and pinches a scholarship that is designed to help disadvantaged black students. The stage is then set for a simple-minded. frequently embarrassing but well meaning race farce as he tries to pass for black. Glasgow: ABC Clarkston Road. ABC Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: ABC. Lothian; ABC. Strathclyde; ABC Greenock. ABC Kilmarnock. Odeon Hamilton.
0 The Spirit otthe Beehive ( PG) (Victor Erice. Spain. 1973) Ana Torrent. Fernando Gomez. 96 mins. In the Spain of 1940 a young girl sees a travelling cinema showingof Frankenstein and soon afterwards has strange fantasies about the monster.
Well-observed tale of the
confusions of childhood. which was also taken to be an examination of the harshness of life in Franco‘s Spain. Edinburgh: Iidinburgh Film Guild
0 StrangerThan Paradise ( 15) (Jim Jarrnusch. US-West Germany. 1984) John I-urie. Eszter Balint. Richard Adson. 89 mins. Jarmusch‘s marvellous early feature has New York hepcat Lurie and the transcendentally dumb liddie faced with the former‘s cousin Iiva from Budapest. and a resulting visit to her formidable Aunt Lottie in snowy Pennsylvania.
Expressiver photographed. adorably acted. wonderfully scripted exercise in comic cool. Iidinburgh; EUFS 0 Subway ( 15) (I.uc Besson. France. 1985) Christopher Lambert. Isabelle Adjani. Richard Bohringer. 1(12 mins. A smooth. stylish thriller likened to Diva but with a drive. energy and exuberance all of its ovn. Glasgow: Grosvenor o A Summer at Grandpa‘s ( lJ) (llou Xiaoxian.'I’aiwan-China. 198-1) 102 mins. A boy and his sister are dispatched to their grandparents for the holidays. The visit presents them with their first chance to fully appreciate the countryside and to meet their stern grandfather.
A gentle. humanistic drama seen through the sentimental eyes of youth. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Film Guild 0 The Tin Drum ( 18) (Volker Sehlondorff. West Germany. 1979) David Bennent. Mario Adorf. Chalres Aznavoir. 141 mins. Compelling screen version of the Giinter Grass novel about a young boy who ceases to grow physically as the Nazis rise to power in Germany. Edinburgh; Cameo '
0 True Stories (PG) (David Byrne.
US. 1986) David Byrne. Spalding
Gray. John Goodman. 88 mins.
Writer Director/Star and Talking
Heads frontman David Bvrne is our guide to the mythical small Texas town of Virgil and its variously charming and idiosyncratic inhabitants. A lightly humourous. endearing mosaic of non-narrative fiction that some may find a little too ‘precious' for its own good. Edinburgh; Filmhouse
o Videodrome ( 18) (David
Cronenberg. Canada. 1983) James
Woods. Debbie Harry. 88 mins.
Interesting if flawed drama about the
insidious nature of the contemporary
media. Woods is a programmer for a
pirate cable station who becomes
intrigued and then obsessed with a
bizarre untraceable channel that
triggers hallucinogenic fantasies.
Edinburgh: Cameo
o Whoops Apocalypse ( 15) ‘3: (‘l‘om Bussman. UK. 1986) Loretta Swit. Peter Cook. Rik Mayall. 92 mins. A reworking ofthe London Weekend Television series in which a variety of international incidents. from the kidnapping of Princess Wendy to the dispatch of a British Task force to Central America. escalate towards the brink of a nuclear holocaust. Peter Cook plays the British PM. Sir Mortimer Chris. Swit is the US President.
Reputedly a dim. frantic. scattershot black comedy where the misses far outweigh the hits. Edinburgh; Dominion
0 Witness ( 15) (Peter Weir. US.
1985) Harrison Ford. Kelly
McGillis. 112 mins. A young Amish
boy is a witness to murder. The
investigation leads a cop into a brush with another culture. a little romance to the sound of Sam Cook. and the expected police corruption.
Atmospheric. itnpeccably acted and beautifully constructed. ()ne of the best films ofthe Eighties. Glasgow: GF'I‘
O Women'l‘o celebrate International Women‘s Day. Edinburgh District Women's Committee in conjunction with Filmhouse have organised two days of free film shows on Sun 8 and Mon 9 March. On both days Donna Deitch's acclaimed and touching lesbian romance [)esert Hearts; Red Skirts on Clydeside. a documentary tracing the history ofwomen‘s involvement in the Clydeside unions; and Karel Reisz's Sweet Dreams. with Jessica Lange starring in the excellent biography ofcountry singer Patsy Cline will be screened.
The Sunday programme starts at
11.3(1pm and tickets are available free ofcharge from the Women‘s Unit. Room 4124 City Chambers.
The List 6— 19 March 15