FILM LIST
I This section aims to provide a review at every tllm to be seen in central Scotland over the next lortnight. For programme times see Individual cinema listings.
(U)- Universal, suitable lor all ages.
(PG)- Parental Guidance suggested as some scenes may be unsuitable tor younger children.
(15)- No one under the age ol15admitted. (18)- No one under the age ol18admitted. fi-llew Release.
I After Hours ( 15) (Martin Scorsese. LS. 1985) Griffin Dunne. Rosanna Arquettc. 97 mins. Conventional word processor Dunne spends an unforgettable nightmarish night on the town in this fast. furious and extremely funny exploration ofurban paranoia. Glasgow; Grosvcnor IAngel Heart ( 18) (Alan Parker. LJS.
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1987) Mickey Rourke. Lisa Bonet. Robert De Niro. 113 mins. [Inkempt private eye Harry Angel is hired by the enigmatic Louis Cyphre to track down a missing Forties crooner who has reneged on a life-or-death deal. llis investigationslead him to a seedy New Orleans dominated by voodoo cults and a trail of very dead bodies. L'npalatable Faustian brew unsuccessfully blending a detective yarn with explicit horror and gore. (ilasgow: ()deon
I The Belly oi an Architect ( 15) *3: (Peter Greenaway.UK’1taly. 1987) Brian Dennehy. Chloe Webb. Lambert Wilson. 118 mins. Distinguished American architect Stourley Kraeklite ( Dennehy) comes to Rome to mount an exhibition in memory of his 18th century predesccssor and Etienne Louis Boulee. and gradually
becomes convinced as his health deteriorates that his unfaighful mic is trying to poison him.
Majestic performance by burly Dennehy adds a brutal emotional streak to
this typically elegant crossword puzzle of a Greenaway movie. which makes excellent use ofsumptuous Roman locations as it winds upon its ever intriguing way. (ilasgow; (iFT
I BestSeller(18) (John Flynne. US. 1987) James Woods. Brian Dennehy. Victoria 'l'ennant. 9-1 mins. The plotline may be overloaded and rather improbable but this is a generally nifty little thriller in which Wood‘s chillingly narcissistic hit man and Dennehy's doughty cop novelist team up to expose the foul deeds ofan apparently philanthropic business tycoon. A sanguine. expertly acted diversion ofsome accomplishment.
(ilasgow: Cinema. Salon. Lothian‘. Cannon. Strathclyde; Cannon. Kelburnc. ()deon Ayr
I The Big Easy ( 18) (Jim McBride. US. 1987) Dennis Quaid. Ellen Barkin. Ned Beatty. 101 mins. Pretty smart copthriller set in sweaty New Orleans where local lieutenant Quaid tries to clear up aseries of gangland murders. all the while falling in love with Ellen Barkin‘s attorney. in town to investigate police corruption.
Well-observed backgrounds and an
endearing romantic entanglement make familiar material sparkle like new. Try and see it.
(ilasgow; hr 1 . deinburgh; Filmhouse
I Bigloot and the Hendersons ( PG) (William Dear. CS. 1987) John Lithgow. Melinda Dillon. Don Ameche. 111 mins. Disneyesque family adventure in which the all-American Hendersons crash into the legendary Bigfoot and adopt the surprisingly genial beastie as a domestic pet with predictable complications from the neighbours and blood-hungry hunters.
Sentimental fare. mixing a domesticated
If. '1'. with King Kong in a vegan vein.
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Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. Strathclyde: Kelburne. ()deon Ayr. ()deon Hamilton. Riallo
I Blood Simple ( 1s) (Joel Cot-n. tis‘. 198-1) Dan lledeya. M. Emmet Walsh. 98mins. A Texan bar—owner hires a private cy e to kill his wife and her lover. but the detective tries to trick him by faking their deaths. A gleefully simple serpentine film noir nearing more than a passing resemblance to the steamy. tangled tales ofJames M. Cain. (ilasgow;(i1’1‘
I The Bostonians (PC; ) (James Ivory. 175. 1984) Vanessa Redgrave. Christopher Reeve. Jessica Tandy. 131) mins. A naive young woman is influenced by the feminist principles of a shy suffragettc and then torn by the attentions of a devilishly handsome but chauvinistic lawyer in this careful and pretty adaptation ofthc 1 1cnry James novel. Edinburgh; Royal Scottish Museum.
I Breathless ( 18) (Jim McBride. 1 1983) Richard (icrc. Valerie Kaprisky. 101 mins. Handsome streetwise hustleron the run from the LA police attempts to escape to Mexico with his girlfriend. a French student. Forget the fact that thisis a remake of the sacred 1959 (iodard classic and enjoy it on its own terms. for it‘s a fine. American. love-on-the-run movie. Glasgow; GI’T I Business As Usual ( 15) ~:- (Le/.li-An Barrett. UK. 1987) (ilenda Jackson.John
Thaw. Cathy Tyson. 89 mins. See panel. Edinburgh: Filmhouse I Castaway(15)(.\:ieolas Rot-g. t'k. 1986) Oliver Reed. Amanda Donohue. (ieorginallale. [lllmins. Rambling. ill-focused adaptation of Lucy Irving's bestselling account of her year as a ‘w ile' for tubby. middle-aged publisher (ierald
Cry Freedom (PG) (Richard Attenborough, UK, 1987) Kevin Kline, Denzel Washington, Penelope Wilton, John Thaw. 158 mins. Richard Attenborough has wanted to make a lllm dealing with apartheid since the 1950s. Cry Freedom not only tuliils that ambition but also represents his finest workto date.
Ratherthan make a biopic ol civil rights activist Stephen Biko, whose story lies at the heart oi the lilm, Attenborough has chosen to use as a touchstone the experiences at his lellow white liberal Donald Woods, one time editor at South Alrica's Daily Despatch.
The lilm charts the lriendship that developed between Woods and Biko in the mid-Seventies and one way that lriendship lorced Woods to re-evaluate both his attitude towards the Black Consciousness Movement and his own
CRY FREEDOM
liberalism, as he came to realise the lull horror, brutality and treachery ol the South Alrican system.
When Biko was murdered by the South Atrican police, Woods himsell became the subject ol 3 Banning Order and eventually fled the country with his tamin and an illegal manuscript ol Biko's biography.
Attenborough's rather overlong portrayal oi that llighl provides the weakest link in the lilm, but a series ol flashbacks, culminating in a graphic portrayal ol the slaughter oi Soweto schoolchildren in 1977, ensures that it never deteriorates to the level at a Von Trapp-style escape yarn. Cry Freedom is not the most radical statement which could have been made about South Alrica, and it is made within an unashamedly commercial lramework. But lrom the opening scenes ol a police raid on the Crossroads squatter
settlement, it is a powerlul condemnation oi apartheid. Perhaps more surprisingly, considering how its director is popularly perceived, Cry
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Freedom demands that a concerned but detached liberalism is not enough. (Richard Reece)
The List 8— 21 January 198813