FILM LIST
credits are available for the latest entry in this interminable series of slashers but you should know what to expect by now. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street
0 F/X Murder by Illusion (15) (Robert Mandel, US, 1985) Bryan Brown, Brian Dennehy. 109 mins. Special-effects wizard Rolie Tyler is contacted by Justice department agents to fake the assassination ofa star witness in a Mafia trial (purely for his own safety) and becomes an unwitting pawn in a high-powered political conspiracy.
A thriller worthy of the moniker; ingenious, humorous and intriguing. Edinburgh; Filmhousc 0 Haunted Honeymoon (PG) (Gene Wilder. US, 1986) Gene Wilder. Gilda Radner. 8-1 mins. Wilder is a 305‘ radio star with a tendency towards chronic hysteria in this scrappy squib which shamelessly plunders gags and routines from genuine comedy thriller of the period. Tired and flat. Glasgow; Cannon Sauchiehall Street 0 Home ol the Brave (U) «5: (Laurie Anderson, US. 1986) Laurie Anderson, William S. Burroughs. 90 nins. See panel and feature. Glasgow; GET. Edinburgh; Filmhousc 0 Hour ol the Star ( 15) if! (Suzana Amaral. Brazil. 1985) Marcelia Cartaxo. Jose Dumont, Tamara Taxman. 95 mins. A poor peasant
girl arrives in the city and finds urban .
life bewildering: settling down as a typist she comes under the influence of her co-workers and begins a tentative relationship with a factory employee. but tragedy is to crush her efforts to achieve her dreams. Accomplished first feature which won major awards at the Creteil Women‘s Film Festival for its sensitive but unpatronising portrayal of an existence doomed by poverty and sexist machismo attitudes to an ignominious end. Edinburgh; Filmhousc O I Want To Live (18) (Robert Wise, US, 1958) Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Theodore Bikel. 116 mins. Hayward on particularly gutsy, Oscar-winning form in this dramatic portrayal of a prostitute who is framed for the murder of an old woman and sentenced to execution by gas chamber. Notable jazz score by Johnny Mandel. Glasgow; GFT o Jazzln Exile (PG) (US, 1982) 58 mins. Documentary on contemporary jazz and its performers with contributions from Dexter Gordon, Randy Weston and others who all discuss the advantages and disadvantages of living and performing in Europe. Showing with the half-hour Danish documentary on Dexter Gordon. Glasgow; GET 0 Jewel ol the Nile (PG) (Lewis Teague, US. 1985) Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas. Danny De Vito. 108 mins. Overlong. mechanical sequel-by-numbers to the altogether more enjoyable Romancing the Stone. De Vito supplies the lame comic reliefand even the considerable charisma and chemistry of the Turner—Douglas double-act cannot overcome the deadening obstacles of a tired and contrived
FATHERLAND
9- _
With England having guaranteed Britain another live years ol Thatcherism, Ken Loach’s latest lilm, Fatherland, assumes a certain topical signiiicance. A bleak drama set on the edge oi the East-West divide, it evinces a proiound scepticism over the virtues ol any political system whether it be the easily maligned monolithic repression ol the Soviet bloc orthe allegedly superior so-called liberal democracies.
A Loach lilm has become such a rare occurrence that one welcomes Fatherland with sympathetic eyes and open arms. Reunited with writer Trevor Grilliths and cameraman Chris Menges, Fatherland iinds Loach at his most despairing and is not an easily digested whole. Dour, didactic and occasionally unconvincing it nevertheless remains an important iilm because ol the people involved and the subjects they have chosen to tackle.
Gerull Pannach plays Klaus Drittemann, an outspoken East German protest singer who decides to go West, lured by a record contract and a vision ol 3 world where he can speak his mind
narrative and lazy direction. Edinburgh; Cameo O Labyrinth (PG) (Jim Henson. US. 1986) Jennifer Connelly, David Bowie. 101 mins. Angst-ridden teenage girl asks the goblins to make off with her baby brother. The Goblins duly oblige but she has second thoughts and makes her way through Demon Dave‘s mysterious labyrinth to fetch the little brat back. Occasionally inventive and fairly charming family film will please the kiddies, but parents will squirm at Bowie‘s haircut and his cataclysmically inept performance. Not as bad as one fears. though. Strathclyde; Rialto
o Liltto the Scallold (PG) (Louis Malle, France, 1957) Jeanne Moreau. 90 mins. Malle‘s prize-winning feature debut is a moody murderous piece with femme fatale Moreau at first coolly determined to carry out her crime but later hysterically panicked by the awfulness of it all. Miles Davis contributes an extremely rare soundtrack. Glasgow; GET
without lear ior his lile. In the West his illusions are crushed as he encounters more sophisticated restraints on his lreedom ol movement and speech. He also goes in search at his lather, a lellow dissident who had deiected alter the 1953 uprising never to be heard irom again. His quest rattles some unpalatable truths lrom the iamin closet and has iarwider implications lor the way post-war governments have colluded in deceit and dishonourto protect their version at an acceptable status quo.
Although an extremely modestly budgeted venture, Fatherland has been diliicult to iinance by the very nature at its subject matter and Loach is aware oi the declining opportunities to make serious political comment. ‘All the current stories about TV programmes like Duncan Campbell’s ‘Secret Society’ series that have been banned suggest that instead at being allowed to make radical noises, but being walled in and disqualilied irom serious consideration while we were doing it, we’re getting to a position where you can’t even make radical noises.’
Loach and Grilliths have vast
o The Living Daylights (PG) tr (John Glen. UK, 1987) Timothy Dalton, Maryam D‘Abo. Jeroen Krabbe. 140 mins (approx).
Glasgow; Odeon. Edinburgh; Odeon. Lothian; Cannon Falkirk. Strathclyde; Cannon Greenock, Cannon Kilmarnock
0 Local Hero (PG) (Bill Forsyth, UK.
1983) Burt Lancaster, Denis Lawson, Fulton Mackay. 111 mins. A high-flying American businessman is dispatched to Scotland on an oil-related deal. Removed from the high-pressure atmosphere of his workplace he learns a little of life‘s simple pleasures.
A lyrical. melancholy examination of the foibles and eccentricities of mankind with some delightful moments. An ambling, discursive treat and a timely reminder of the sorely missed skills possessed by Fulton Mackay in a pivotal role as the beachcomber. Ben. Edinburgh; Filmhousc
o The Man With The Golden Arm (18) (Otto Preminger. US. 1955) Frank
experience with both implicit and explicit television censorship oi their work and one ol the central issues oi Fatherland is the notion oi the West’s ‘repressive intolerance’ whereby dissent is allowed but carelully contained and marginalised. ‘Propaganda is less dangerous in the East because it can be easily identified, in the West it’s more insidious and thereiore more dangerous,’ Loach asserts whilst Grilliths adds, ‘Part ol our description oi the West has to do with the sociologist Herbert Marcuse’s notion oi ‘repressive tolerance’ — giving you small stages on which to make small noises, while making sure that you don’t get a large audience. When I did ‘Comedians’ iorthe BBC they made sure it went out aiteriunereal discussions between Ted Heath and Shirley Williams so there was no knock-on eliect and a play that might have reached live million people had an audience ol two million instead. That’s a prime example at repressive tolerance and it wasn’t Marxist- it was because they said “iuck”.’
Grilliths is about to enter the lray once again with a BBC play about the Miners’ Strike whilst Loach is preparing a lilm lor David Puttnam at Columbia. However, given the many blows laced by the Lelt overthe past decade, what could possibly luel these men to continue the struggle to be heard? Loach believes, ‘There is hope even in the circumstances that iorce people to light back. Even it they only ask innocent questions like “Why am I being put out at a job?” or “What will happen to me il I get sacked?” or “Why do we need all these weapons?" Because people who begin by asking these innocent questions may then be prepared to organised to light and to struggle. In a way, that is the hope in the lilm, because we hope it’s not a pessimistic lilm, that capacity to struggle.’ (Allan Hunter)
Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak. 119 mins. 01‘ Blue Eyes during the most satisfying period of his screen career gives one of his best performances as drummer Frankie Machine, struggling with drug-addiction and a crippled wife. Dated but still effective. Glasgow; GFT o Mannequin (PG) (Michael Gottlieb. US, 1987) Andrew McCarthy. Kim Cattrall. Estelle Getty. 90 mins. Inane sounding romantic screwball comedy with the cute McCarthy as a window dresser at a department store who falls in love with a beautiful mannequin who comes alive for his eyes only and proves to be a time-travelling renegade from ancient Egypt. Told you it sounded inane. Glasgow; Cannon Clarkston Road, Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh; Cannon. Lothian: Cannon Falkirk. Strathclyde: Cannon Greenock, Cannon Kilmarnock. Odeon Hamilton 0 Marie (15) (Roger Donaldson, US, 1985) Sissy Spacek. Jeff Daniels,
The List 26June—9July13