FESTIVAL PREVIEW
FESTIVAL FILM —
Kane. Absolutely 17 Characwr Icammg ‘0 Romance (Massimo unwitting participant in a Sparks 3" unfimllnatc
resistiblc. Why is this “and 0" h'5 0w" “"0 fee" Mazzucco. Italy. 1986) complex murder mystery. Chain OTCVCNS-
bein shown? Plus cumcumm Vitae (9 11 m. A father and son Harry Dean Stanton.
Fromgthe Pole to the Equator . FILMHOUSU mms)‘ mfet after twenty years Adam Ant. and Mary 19 (Yervant Gianikian. Gum's“ “mm The Tenollsers (Edward apart and try to reconcile Elizabeth Mastrantonio o FILMHOUSE1
Angela Ricci Lucchi. f‘gcmdc’gw? .1987) Yang‘ TM.“ 1987) their very different also star- Plus Living on the Edge (Mike Germany. Italy. 1987) “" 0pm D’.‘"“"":‘“" 1,1' 15pm: (9”,‘9mpmafy outlooks on the world. Underground. Grigsby. UK. 1987)
8pm. Documentary scenes and tntervtewsare ltfe tn Tatpetvtvtdly plus Caprice (27 mins). The Colour omesnny 2.30pm. The waywclivc
reworking footage from the 1910s by pioneering documentarist Luca Comerio.
SUNDAY 16
O EILMHDUSE1 Association of Independent Producers Seminar 1 lam. Crime Pays (Christopher Monger. L'K. l986)2pm. Welsh comedy in which a taxi driver enjoysa short-lived spree when he makesoff with the company takings. The Night Belongstothe Novelist ((‘hristina Wilcox. AUstralia. 1987) 4pm. Portrait of award-winning Australian novelist Elizabeth Jolley. Plus The Last Chance (3() mins). The Kitchen Toto ( l larry Hook. L'K. l987)5.45pm. Kenya. 195(ls. A houseboy is caught in the middle of Africa‘s struggle for independence. Plus Before I Die ( 19mins). The Big Easy (Jim McBride. US. 1986) 8.30pm. llighly regarded crime drama in which easy-going cop Dennis Quaid is suddenly faced with a gang drttg war and an investigation into police corruption. 0 EILMHDUSE2 Shadows in Paradise (Aki Kaurismaki. Finland. 1986) 5.30pm. Downbeat love story with a social message. Forward. God's Army (Kaslto l lara. Japan. 1987) 8pm. One man's fanatical quest to uncover the truth about his comrades who fought in New Guinea and never retttrtted home. 0 CANNON Good Morning. Babylonia (Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. Italy. France. [78.1‘)87)(ipin. Sentimental. meolodramatic soap-opera about two ltalian brothers who journey to America and assist in the production of DMZ Griffith's lll!()1(’rllll(‘(’. The Last of England (Derek Jarman. UK 1987) 8.30pm. Jarntan‘s technically innovative. luscious-to-look-at report on the sad state ofthc nation. Extreme Prejudice (Walter llill. US. 1987) llpm. Macho action-adventure in which Texas Ranger Nick Nolte takes on an undercover military commando ttnit. A box-office flop on its home territory.
interwoven in this reflection on the 50th anniversary ofAntonio Gramsci‘s death. Plus Spaventapasseri (31 mins) Swimming to Cambodia (Jonathan Demme. US. 1987) 5.45pm. Straightforward filming of SpauldingGray‘s dramatic monologue on his experiences duringthe filming of The Killing Fields. Plus Palisade ( 15 mins).
The Love Child (Robert Smith. UK. 1987)8.3(lpm. Engaging South London comedy with Peter Capaldi as the tame
brought to the screen.
0 FILMHDUSE 2 Workshop Event 2pm. Friendship's Death Peter Wollen. UK. 1987) 5.30pm. An unusual close encounter between news journalist Bill Paterson and extraterrestrial Tilda Swinton set in wartorn Amman during Black September in 1970. Plus Compellance(11mins). Nuclear Split (Bertram Verhaag. W. Germany. 1987) 8pm. The effect on Upper Palatinate when a nuclear fuel re-processing plant is situated there. Plus North (37 mins).
TUESDAY 18
O FILMNDUSE1
GDR Documentaries Programmet 2.30pm. She Must Be Seeing Things (Sheila McLaughlin. US. 1987) 5.45pm. Sexual jealousy between two women according to the director of Committed. Plus Blind Justice (30 mins)
Slam Dance (Wayne Wang. US. 1987) 8.30pm. Stylish ifdisappointingly convoluted thriller in which cartoonist Tom llulce becomes an
(Jorge Duran. Brazil. 1986) 11.15pm. ‘Communication and identity through the filters of adolescence and exile.‘ o FILMHDUSE 2
Workshop Event 2pm. Texas Seminar 5.30pm. Radio Bikini (Robert Stone. US. l987)8pm. Documentary on the site of the 1940s atomic bomb tests. Bikini Atoll. Plus The Man Who Planted Trees (31) mins)
Belizaire the Cajun (Glen Pitrc. US. 1985) 11pm. Louisiana. the 1850s. A cajun doctor‘s love for another man‘s woman
ALAN CLARKE
Rita,’ Sue and Bob Too is speedily establishing a critical reputation as perhaps the year‘s most controversial British production. Based on Andrea Dunbar's play, it is set around Bradford. focusing on the dead-end Iotand cramped expectations of two quick-witted teenagers with a lost for life. Once ortwice a weekthey babysitfora middle-class suburban couple and eagerly respond to the husband's offer of back seat sex in hisllashy car. Revelling in the availability of apparently uncomplicated. unlimited sex, the girls' amorous exploits have far-reaching consequences tortheir relationships with their parents. with Bob and with each other.
Described as a ‘comedy of manners'. Rita. Sue and Bob Too has been dividing the opinion makers since its screenings at Cannes and Brighton. To some it is little more than glorified smut. a kind of amoral Confessions of a Babysitterwith a built-in Mary Whitehouse heart-attack quotient of screwing and swearing. To others it is a hilarious. highly political slice of social realism inthe tradition of Look Back In Angerand Saturday Night And Sunday Morning.
Alan Clarke. the director of Scum and Made In Britain. still seems bemused by how hot under the collar Rita. Sue And Bob Too has left some people. ‘I think. almost by definition. any contemporarytilm made in the North of England is going to be political. Rita And Sue is notjust some sex romp nor
is it a heavily political tract. The film's basis is inthe facts of Andrea Dunbar’s life and what happens inthe film is rooted inthe characters and their energy and vitality. They don’tfeel moralistic aboutwhat they're doing. they're just acting in the most instinctive waythat a teenager does. I don'tthink las a filmmaker should add anything moralistic and polemical to that. itwould be pretentious. If the film is political then it's in the visual sense of what is happening in the background that people can get when the film is happening. But if people look at the poverty-stricken way those people live and express themselves and say
‘oh. is this a political statement?’ then all lcan say is where have you been? Go up North and you can find any council estate where people live like that and where houses are boarded up. You don't need to construct a set for a film. it's all there.‘
Along with My Beautiful Laundrette. Letter To Brezhnev and the forthcoming Sammie And Rosie Get Laid. Rita and Sue seems part of a move towards examining contemporary British culture as opposed to the nostalgic paeans to the spirit of Empire that have been so popular. ‘Those recent films are quite acidic politically and I think it's importantthey’re being
made. Abroad everyone tendsto think we all come from Cambridge. In America they’ve found the film very strong politically but I was being interviewed in New York and the journalist said 'You don't sound terribly English to me.‘
Clarke hailsfrom Seacombe in Merseyside and is currently completing a BBC production ofJim Cartwright's play Road. about being on the dole. Clearly he is a filmmaker concerned with social issues. So. does he see Rita And Sue following inthe wake of British kitchen sink realism? ‘If you look back at films like This Sporting Life they seem much less political now and things have clearly got much worse. There was never any question of not having a job in those films. June Ritchie lived in a very nice house in A Kind Of Loving. Billy had a job in Billy Liar; Billy had a roof over his head; Billy had a bed. To look on those as social realism now seems absolute total crap. Rita And Sue is not justabout social issues, it's neither completelyfunny or sad or just about the sexuality of the triumvirate. It has aspects of all those things during a period of growing up when people can most easily express themselves through their sexuality. Maybe. in time. they will realise the political implications of theirlives but no 16 M17 year-old is running around being polemical.’
0 Rita. Sue And Bob T00 is showing during the Film Festival on 15Aug and will go on release in Glasgow and Edinburgh on 11 Sept.
now through three different families — Devon farmers. Welsh miners and inhabitants ofa Birkenhead housing estate.
The Journey (Peter Watkins. W. Germany. 1986) 5. 15pm. The first part of Watkins exhaustive survey ofthc impact of the nuclear age on the common man. his attitudes and the lack of information at his disposal.
Tampopo (Juz ni. Japan. 1986‘ .ipm. Cult potential to; this examination of the eroticism and humour to be found in the preparation and consumption of food.
0 FILMNDUSE 2
GDR Documentaries Programme 2 5.30pm. Return to Departure (Kirk Tougas. Canada. 1986) 8pm. The inspiration for and execution ofa painting by Chi ()‘Farrell is cove red over a period of five months in 1979.
The Sixth Day (Youssef Chahine. France. 1987) 11pm. The cholera epidemic in Egypt in 1947. o CAMEO
Manhunter (Michael Mann. US. 1986)8.30pm. Thriller from the creator of Miami Vice in which a former FBI agent is lured out of retirement to combat the threat ofa mass murderer.
THURSDAY 20
o FILMNDUSEl
Hotel du ParadiS(Jana Bokova. UK. 1986) 2.30pm. Bokova's first fictional film is a difficult. atmospheric piece in which the lives ofpeople at a rundown hotel in Montmartre are inextricably intertwined. Plus Zigzags ( 14 mins) The Journey (Peter Watkins. W. Germany. 1986) Part 2.5.15pm.
O EILMHDUSEZ
GDR Documentaries Programme35.3()pm. Budawanny (Bob Quinn. Ireland. 1987) 8pm. A potentially suicidal girl is saved from a watery grave to become the mistress and child-bearer ofa priest. much to the consternation ofthc local community.
0 CAMEO
Eatthe Rich (Peter Richardson. UK. 1987) 8.30pm. Laudable sentiment for the latest star-laden ( 'omic Strip epic. Shame about the film.
The List 7 — 20 August 47