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 younger children.
(15) - No one under the age of 15 admitted.
(1B)— No one underthe age of 18 admitted.
{tr—New Release.
0 Arabian Nights (18) (Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy, 1974) Ninetto Davoli, Ines Pellegrini, France Citti. 130 mins. The last of Pasolini's medieval trilogy recounts several of the Thousand and One Nights stories framed by the tale of a slave girl who becomes ‘king‘ of a great city. ‘Liberal doses ofsex, violence and anti-establishment blasphemy.’ Edinburgh; Cameo
0 Back to the Future (PG) (Robert Zemeckis, US, 1985) Michael J. Fox, Lea Thompson. 116 mins. Deservedly popular time-travelling fantasy adventure with streetsmart ’805’ teenager whisked back in time for a little Oedipal chicanery with his future parents. Glasgow; GET
0 Black Widow ( 15) (Bob Rafaelson, US, 1987) Theresa Russell, Debra Winger, Sami Frey. Dennis Hopper. 102 mins. Chic psychological thriller with Justice Department investigator Winger on the track of mass murderer Russell. Glasgow; Cannon Clarkston Road. Odeon Hamilton
0 Blind Date (15) (Blake Edwards. US, 1987) Bruce Willis. Kim Basinger, Graham Stark. 95 mins.
I Dumb, excruciatingly contrived
screwball farce with Willis as an angst-ridden junior executive who accepts the title blind date when he desperately needs a companion for an important function. Unfortunately the girl cannot handle alcohol and causes a riot when tipsy. . . See Something Wild and weep at the difference. Yeugh. Glasgow; Odeon. Edinburgh; Odeon. Strathclyde; Cannon Kilmarnock, Odeon Ayr
o Breathless (18) (Jim McBride, US, 1983) Richard Gere, Valerie
_ , . {4.511.
Streetwise hustler on the run from
Kaprisky. 101 mins. Handsome
Women and Film is the locus oi a special season running at the Edinburgh Filmhouse from September to November.
The first programme on 17 September covered the depiction of male violence towards women - do films glorify the violence or raise social awareness of these problems? Following a screening of Robert Young’s Extremltles in which a woman exacts revenge on her would-be rapist, a member of Shakti, the Asian Women’s Refuge Centre, was present for a discussion.
October’s first programme, led by Julie Watt, lecturer of Media Studies at Stevenson College Edinburgh, examines the ‘tradltional' roles oi women and the damaging effect of negative presentation using Frank Perry’s film Diary of a Mad Housewife (1 Oct) about a mother nagged by her family. Later programmes assess whether women have to adopt male values and roles to achieve equality, with Jonathan Demme’s Swing Shift (12 Nov) in which Goldie Hawn plays an American housewife turned factory worker during World WarTwo. There
the LA police attempts to escape to Mexico with is girlfriend, a French student. Forget the fact that this is a remake of the sacred 1959 Godard classic and enjoy it on its own terms, for it’s a fine, American. love-on-the-run movie. Edinburgh; Filmhouse 0 Broadway Danny Rose (PG) (Woody Allen, US, 1984) Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Milton Berle. 84 Sublime, poignant comedy romance with Woody at his most simple and Chaplinesque. Edinburgh; Cameo o The Canterbury Tales (18) (Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy-France, 1971) Laura Betti. Hugh Griffith, Jenny Runacre. 109 mins. Pasolini appears as Chaucer overseeing the telling of four of the Canterbury Tales. Bawdy, sadistic and terminally tedious. Edinburgh; Cameo 0 Castaway (15) (Nicolas Roeg, UK, 1986) Oliver Reed, Amanda Donohue. 120mins. Rambling, ill-focused adaptation of Lucy Irvine‘s bestselling account ofher year on a desert island as a ‘wife‘ for tubby middle-aged publisher Gerald Kin land.
WHAT DOES SHE oo 7
will also be a discussion about women in the world of film who have been forgotten in the books. The starting point for this discussion is Susan Seidelman’s Desperately Seeking Susan (29 Oct) and Seidelman will be one of the women considered along with Lois Weber and Helma Sanders Brahms.
Programmes three and six look at female sexuality, the former looking at
contemporary portrayals like Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have it (15 Oct) and
o The Color of Money (15) (Martin Scorsese, US, 1986) Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. 119 mins. Generally satisfactory if tardy sequel to The Hustler with Newman‘s immaculately played Fast Eddie Felson finding redemption through his initially cynical and exploitative involvement with young pool hotshot Cruise. Edinburgh; Filmhouse
o The Color Purple (15) (Steven Spielberg, US, 1985) Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Avery, Danny Glover. 152 mins. Spielberg goes serious. turning Alice Walker‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic of Black American feminism into a David Lean-style epic with all the emotional stops out. Whoopi Goldberg is wonderful. Glasgow; GET
0 Crocodile Dundee ( 15 ) (Peter Faiman, Australia, 1986) Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski. 98 mins. Slight but disarming comedy romance with Aussie croc hunter Hoges at large in downtown Manhattan. Edinburgh; Dominion
the latter in traditional genres like the film noir. The example screened here is the Rita Hayworth vehicle Gilda (26 Nov) and the question arises of whether the lemme fatales and women figures in film noir, sexually attractive but with a mind of their own, are the precursors of feminist heroines.
With a chance for all to join in the discussion, these should be stimulating events well worth attending. (Ness Raison)
The List 18 Sept — 1 Oct 13