FILM LIST
River’s Edge (18) (Tim Hunter, 118, 1987) Crispin Glover, Dennis Hopper, lieanu Reeves, lone Skye Leitch, Daniel Roebuck. 100 mins. A motiveless killing lies at the root at this unsettling lilm. Samson (Daniel Roebuck), a 17 year-old Caliiomian, murders his girllriend ‘because she was talking shit’ he later explains, and calmly leaves her naked body beside the river. At iirst his iriends don’t believe him when he tells them his story, but when they are shown the body the assertive Layne (Crispin Glover) insists that they remain loyal to him and not go to the police. Matt (Keanu Reeves) however, rebels against his buddy’s deluded power and inionns the authorities, while Layne hides Samson in the dilapidated shack belonging to deranged one-legged drug-dealer Feck (Dennis Hopper), who reveals his own murderous past to his lellow killer and has his own solution.
These teenagers cannot be written oil as alienated outisders lorging their own identity in the conilict with parental authority ligures, in time-honoured Rebel Without A Cause iashion. Rather, the lilm chooses to investigate the moral blankness suttusing the whole oi society, and the young people’s corresponding lack at any value system they can apply to the situation they are laced with. in response to the killing, Samson has little idea oi the gravity oi his act, while
some lethal looking stuntwork. Strathclyde; Odeon Ayr
0 Men (15) (Doris Dorrie, West Germany, 1985) Heiner Lauterbach. Uwe Ochsenknecht, Ulrike Kriener. 99 mins. Droll comedy in which a complacent, philandering middle-class businessman reacts to his wife’s infidelity by secretly moving in with her hippy-ish lover and remodelling him in his own image. Edinburgh; EUFS
0 Midnight Express (18) (Alan Parker, US, 1978) Brad Davis, John Hurt, Paul Smith. 121 mins. Vivid, visceral, though not entirely faithful cinematic recreation of the story of a young American sentenced to a spell in a harsh Turkish prison after being caught drug-smuggling. Edinburgh; Cameo
O Mishima (15) (Paul Schrader, US-Japan, 1985) Ken Ogota. 120 mins. Restrained, unconventional biopic of controversial novelist Yukio Mishima , interweaving straight biographical narrative, and stylised dramatisations Edinburgh; . Filmhouse
O The Misllts (PG) (John Huston, US, 1960) Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift. 124 mins. A touching, engrossing parable about drifters, survivors,
disillusion and romance as a divorcee
becomes involved with a group of contemporary cowboys.
Glasgow; GET
0 Mixed Blood (18) (Paul Morrisey, US-France, 1984) Marilia Pera, Richard Ulacia, Linda Kerridge 97 mins. Sleazy, blood-soaked, black
BIVEB’S EDGE
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Layne seizes upon It as an opportunity to exert the qualities oi leadership and test the group solidarity that he’s halt-understood from Chuck Norris movies. Dnly Matt and Clarissa (lone Skye Leltch), maturing through a caring relationship, develop any real moral perspective on the events. Uncomprehending parents and teachers, seemingly screwed-up Sixties’ casualties the lot ol them, complete a picture ol the social texture that is blankly atomistic.
Hunter brings a washed-out look ol searing greyness to the proceedings, reminiscent ol Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets, but the perlect visual correlative to the numbed language oi Heal Jimlnez’s perceptive, pared-down
Glasgow; GET
0 Mona Lisa (18) (Neil Jordan, UK, 1986) Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, Michael Caine. 104 mins. Hoskins gives a heartrending, much-lauded performance as the ex-con with a battered heart in this brilliant thriller/film noir Glasgow; GFT
o The Night Is Young (15) (L605 Carax, France, 1986) Denis Lavant, Juliette Binoche, Michel Piccoli. 109 mins. Never mind the rather silly plot (rival gangs in pursuit of the serum to an AIDS-like virus), but delight in the young director’s exuberant sense of cinema.
Glas ow; GET
0 A lghtmare on Elm Street, Part 3: Dream Warriors (18) (Chuck Russell, US, 1987) Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Craig Wasson. 97 mins. Having survived the horrors of Part 1, Langenkamp has put her experience to good use and is now a psychiatrist specialising in pattern nightmares. All her skills are needed to assist a group of teenagers being collectively pestered by 01’ pizza face Freddy.
Interesting if unsuccessful attempt to progress the series beyond its simple desire to shock and try and tell a story instead.
Glasgow; Odeon. Edinburgh; Odeon. Lothian; Cannon. Strathclyde; Cannon, Odeon Ayr 0 Once Upon A Time In The West (18) (Sergio Leone, US-Italy, 1968) Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale. 160 mins. Staggering, swaggering operatic masterwork with Fonda beautifully
script. The iuvenlle cast, notably Reeves and Glover, turn in pertormances oi careiul intensity that manage not to be blasted oil the screen by Hopper’s characteristically accomplished leering, in a role that sometimes seems to undermine the albeit extreme portrayal oi normality to which the lilm seems to aspire. Yet, the tact that Hunter and Jlminez retrain from glib moralising, while it might seem born out ol evasiveness, perhaps more readily provides a mark oi their despairing courage in admitting that the easy answers ol a Stanley Kramer well-heeled liberalism are no longer available. See this challenging and important lilm. (Trevor Johnston)
cast against type as one of the meanest hombres west of the Pecos Edinburgh; EUFS
0 Opera do Malandro (15) n (Ruy Guerra, Brazil, 1986) Edson Celulari, Claudia Ohana. 108 mins. Rio 1941 is the setting for a Brazilian variation on The Threepenny Opera, with a Rio underworld dandy out to avoid the attentions of the police and attract those of a certain young lady. Wonderful soundtrack, gorgeous sets, entertaining choreography and a firm political point about the ideological influence of Hollywood Cinema. Edinburgh; Filmhouse
0 Out oi Alrica (PG) (Sydney Pollack, US, 1985) Robert Redford, Meryl Streep. 161 mins. Tragic romance between Karen Blixen and English game hunter in this measured, evocative worthy Oscar winner. Strathclyde: Haldane Film Society
0 Over The Edge (18) (Jonathan Kaplan, US, 1979) Matt Dillon, Vincent Spano, Ellen Geer. 95 mins. Highly effective study of disaffected teenagers in a planned suburban community. Dillon’s film debut. Glasgow; GET
0 Padre Padrone (15) (Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Italy, 1977) Omero Antonutti, Saverio Marconi. 117 mins. Growing up in the mountains of Sicily life is particularly tough for a peasant boy who has a belligerent father to bargain with. Vivid autobiographical study. Glasgow; GET
0 Pandora’s Box (PG) (G.W. Pabst, Germany, 1928) Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer. 110
mins. The incandescent Brooks oozes eroticism as Lqu in this famed silent adaptation of Wekekind’s tale of decadence and sexuality. Glasgow; GET 0 line Partle De Campagne (PG) (Jean Renoir, France, 1936) Syliva Bataille, Jane Marken, Jacques Becker. 40 mins. A Parisian ironmonger takes his family on a Sunday outing to the country. Edinburgh; EUFS o Peril en la Demeure (Michel Deville, France, 1984) Nicole Garcia, Michel Piccoli, Christophe Malavoy. 100 mins. ‘An extremely subtle psychological drama based on a police enquiry’. Edinburgh; French Institute 0 Personal Services (18) (Terry Jones, UK, 1986) Julie Walters, Shirley Stelfox, Alec McCowan. 105 mins. Suggested by the life, times and social etiquette of Cynthia Payne, this ribald and engaging commentary on the British way of sex features a top notch performance from Julie Walters Edinburgh; EUFS O Porky’s (18) (Bob Clark, Canada, 1982) Kim Cattrall, Scott Colomby. 94 mins. Lusty high-school guys in 1954 discover that sex is fun and 50’s being a Peeping Tom. Tedious, supposedly grownup fun. Ha, bloody ha. Strathclyde; Odeon Ayr o Porky’s 2: The Next Day ( 18) (Bob Clark, Canada, 1983) Dan Monahan, Wyatt Knight, Mark Herrier. 98 mins. More of the same, perhaps just a shade inferior. Strathclyde; Odeon Ayr o The Purple Rose oi Cairo (PG) (Woody allen, US, 1985) Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Van Johnson. 82 mins. Depression-era waitress Mia finds a little solace in going to escapist movies until one day a handsome matinee idol steps down from the screen and admits his love for her. Strathclyde; Odeon Ayr o River’s Edge (18) is (Tim Hunter, US, 1986) Crispin Glover, Ione Skye Leitch, Dennis Hopper. 100 mins. See panel. Glasgow; GFI‘. Edinburgh; Filmhouse o The Rocky Honor Picture Show ( 15) (Jim Sharman, UK, 1975) Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick. 100 mins. Kinky, musical horror spoof Glasgow; Grosvenor
0 ’Round Midnight (15) (Bertrand Tavemier, US/France, 1986) Dexter Gordon, Francois Cluzet, Lonette McKee. 133 mins. In the Paris of the late 19505 a young French jazz fan looks after Bebop legend Dale Turner, wonderfully played by real-life maestro Gordon, lest he drink his weary body into the grave. Edinburgh; Edinburgh Film Guild 0 Roxanne (PG) n (Fred Schepisi, US, 1987) Steven Martin, Daryl Hannah, Shelley Duvall. 107 mins. See panel. Glasgow; Cannon Sauchiehall Street.
0 The Searchers (U) (John Ford, US, 1956) John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Jeffrey Hunter. 119 mins. Confederate veteran Wayne undertakes a dogged unrelenting quest for the Indians who murdered his brother and abducted his niece. Splendid, sober western classic: much imitated but seldom rivalled. Glasgow; GF’I‘
14 The List 13 - 26 November 1987