FILM LIST
run wild as she devours her own afterbirth and deposits dozens of midget clones in the world who turn very nasty ifshe‘s upset. Pretty unstomachable horror but. according to the director. it‘s ‘my version of Kramer v Kramer'. Glasgow: GFT. I The Canterbury Tales ( ls) ( Pier Paolo Pasolini. Italy France. 1971 ) Laura Betti. Hugh Griffith. Jenny Runacre. 1119 mins. Pasolini appears as Chaucer overseeing the telling of four of the Canterbury tales. Bawdy. Sadistic and terminally tedious. Edinburgh: (‘ameo I Critters ( 18) (Stephen Herek. US. 1986) Dec Wallace Stone. Billy Green Bush. 95 mins. Furry little alien creatures land in the mid-West to wreak havoc on a farm and the all-American nuclearfamily. Modestly budgeted riposte to Gremlins. but imbued with a good deal more wit and invention. Full of fun little touches like subtitles for the pesky extra-terrestrials. A sequel is imminent. Edinburgh: EUFS. I Cry Freedom (PG) (Richard Attenborough. LS. 1987) Denzel Washington. Kevin Kline. John Thaw. 158 mins. Although not without its flaws. Attenborough's biographical recreation of the friendship between black civil rights activist Steve Biko and white liberal newspaperman Donald Woods is his best film to date; an epic. moving drama that also stands as a vigorous condemnation of the obscenity of apartheid. Glasgow: Cannon. Clarkston Road. I Desert Bloom ( 15) (Eugene Corr. US. 1985) Annabeth Gish. Ellen Barkin.Jon Voight. 106 mins. 19511.1n Las Vegas. near the Nevada nuclear test area. family tensions run high when the visit ofa vivacious aunt for a 42-day quickie divorce settlement sparks off further confrontation between a 13 year-old girl and her disturbed war veteran father. Solid domestic drama with fine performances from the young Miss Gish and the impressively curmudgeonly Voight. Honest and satisfying but never worthy. Glasgow: GFl'. I The Decline of the American Empire( 18) (Denys Arcand. Canada. 1986) Dominique Michel. Dorothee Berryman. Louise Portal. 11)] mins. lfthe only‘s‘afe‘ sex left is the purely verbal then this non-stop talking shop must be the safest film ever made. Eight beings. four per sex. eat. drink. work-out and talk endlessly about their sexual hang-ups. fears and frustrations. Sometimes witty. sometimes insightful. often truthfully close to home but ultimately this is an over generous dollop of interminable discourse. Edinburgh: EUFS. I Dollar(U) (Gustav Molander. Sweden. l938)1ngrid Bergman. Georg Rydeberg. Kotti Chave. 78 mitts. Spritely. Noel Coward-style high comedy with Bergman cast against type as a catty actress involved with a witty bunch of friends who are into infidelity and flirtation. They face a rude awakening during a skiing weekend when a number of home truths come home to roost. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Dreamchlld (PG) (Gavin Millar. UK. 1985) Coral Browne. lan llolm. Peter Gallagher. 94 mins. The aged Mrs Alice Hargreaves who. as a little girl. wasthe child to whom Lewis Carroll told the Alice stories.is in town to receive an Honorary Degree from Columbia University. The confrontation with a brash New World sends the eighty year-old back to the sunny days on the Isis of her childhood. Dennis Potter‘s first original cinema screenplay is a careful and evocative study of the way in which the memories ofold age can fit together the half-understood experiences of youth. Browne is imperioust outstanding. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. IThe Exorcist (18) (William Friedkin. US. 1973) Ellen Burstyn. Max Von Sydow. Linda Blair. llllmins. Earnest priest Von Sydow steps in to save poor little possessed girl Blair in this hugely convincing and effective searefest that has _st(_>od the test of time. Edinburgh: Odeon.
Withnail and I (15) (Bruce Robinson, UK, 1986) Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths. 108 mins. As the so-called Swinging Sixties stagger and reel towards some conclusion, two unemployed (and in one case probably unemployable) actors share a squalid, sleazy living nightmare of a flat in Camden Town. Drunk or stoned when given hall a chance, their lives appear to have reached a desperate impasse just one step away from oblivion. Deciding that matters have to be taken in hand and that a spell in the country would be an ideal restorative, Withnail visits his gay uncle Monty who gives them the loan of his cottage in Penrith.
The romantically imagined pleasures of a rustic retreat are shortlived when they encounterthe cold, wet weather, a randy bull, the local psychotic poacher and a cottage without the benefit of modern conveniences like heating, lighting or running water. Matters are not improved by the initially welcome arrival of Monty whose passion for Marwood is about as subtly delineated as that of the neighbourhood bull.
Using incidents from his own years as a struggling actor, first-time director Bruce Robinson has created a frequently funny, small-scale character study whose strengths lie in
I Exorcist 2: The Heretic ( 18) (John Boorman. US. 1977) Richard Burton. Louise Fletcher. Linda Blair. 1 1(1mins. The horror film that once turned heads receives an unworthy sequel in this silly mumbo-jumbo about priest Burton trying to understand the demons still lurking within the hapless Miss Blair. Edinburgh: ()deon.
I Fatal Attraction ( 18) (Adrian Lyne. US. 1987) Glenn Close. Michael Douglas. Anne Archer. 119 mins. Happily married lawyer Douglas discovers the high price of infidelity when his casual one night stand turns out to be a dangerously psychotic woman who will stop at nothing to gain her man‘s affection. Glossy. well-acted misogynistic 1 litchock-style thriller attracting more fuss and Oscar nominations than it merits. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. Dominion. Strathclyde: Kelburne. ()deon Hamilton.
I Flowers in the Attic(15) 9: (Jeffrey Bloom. US. 1987) Louise Fletcher. Victoria Tennant. Kirsty Swanson. 92 mins. Locked in an attic by their down-at-heel widowed mother. two children are subjected to a reign ofterror by wicked granny. When their mamagains an inheritance the whole family should become fabulously rich. but will the kids live to see the money‘.’
Absurd gothic farrago which incrediny botches Victoria Andrews‘ already pretty hokey bestseller. Central: Canon. Strathclyde: Canon.
I The Fly ( 18) (David Cronenberg. US. 1986) Jeff Goldblum. Geena Davis. 96 mins. Brilliant. thought-provoking ‘reconceptualization‘ of the 1958 camp classic with a superb Goldblum as the love-starved scientist whose experiments with teleportation go disastrously awry. Glasgow:GF1".
I 48 Hours ( 18) (Walter Hill. US. 1982) Nick Nolte. Eddie Murphy. 97 mins. A cop and a con team up to catch an escaped criminal. Swaggering. slambang comedy drama notable solely for Murphy's
lllIlTHNAIL AND I
its acute observation, characterisation, perspective on the 19603 and inventive acting. No great statements are promised or delivered, just an affectionate and largely unsentimental comical re-creation of a period in his life and a type of close friendship that only seems baffling and crazin sell-destructive in retrospect. The performers are noteworthy and well contrasted with McGann, timorously impressive as the more temperate, nervous Marwood (the ‘l‘ of the title and the obvious longterm survivor of the duo), and Grant seizing
electrifying debut. Edinburgh: ()deon. I The Fox and the Hound (L') (Frank Thomas. Ollie Johnston. Cliff Nordberg. US. 1981) Voices: Mickey Rooney.Kurt Russell. Pearl Bailey. 83 mins. Sluggish. unimaginative Disney cartoon in which an orphaned fox cub and a lovable hunting hound puppy spend an idyllic childhood together until their traditional roles and enmity are reawakened. Cute in a very familiar fashion. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Edinburgh: ()deon. Strathclyde: Cannon. ()deon Ayr. ()deon Hamilton. I Full Moon in Paris ( 15) (Eric Rohmer. France. 1984) Pascale ()gier. 'l‘eheky Karyo. Fabice Luchini. 1111 mins. A young trainee textile designer finds her fondness for socialising causes tension between herselfand her lugubrious lover. Rohmer's typical finesse and charm infuse this production with a great deal ofcharm. Glasgow: GFI' I Ghostbusters ( lvan Reitman. 13S. 198-1) Bill Murray. Sigourney Weaver. Dan Aykroyd. 105 mins. Three wacky unemployed parapsychologists pursue a little private enterprise as exterminators in spook-infested Noo Yawk. Wildly over-rated comedy. Strathclyde: Kelburne. I The Glass Menagerie (i’( i i ( Paul Newman. US. 1987) Joanne Woodward. John Malkovich. Karen Allen. 135 mins. Definitive screen translation of one of Tennessee Williams‘ most tender and acutely autobiographical plays. dealing with his love for a sister lost to mental illness and his own guilty homosexuality.
Woodward is the dominant matriarch. a fluttering Southern belle with eve r-ready memories of her glorious youth. Allen is the crippled daughter retreating into her own world of old phonograph records and a collection of fragile glass animals. Malkovich the restless son eager for life to begin. His invitation to dinner brings a gentleman caller to the table and reality intrudes into this delicately perched nest of fantasy and selfdelusion.
The intelligence of Newman‘s guiding
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with relish the opportunity to inhabit such a vividly vile creature as Withnail and coming across as a deceitful, foul-mouthed Alistair Sim on speed. Although ultimately overstaying its welcome and raising doubts about its suitability for a cinema ratherthan small screen treatment, Withnail and l succeeds admirably on its own terms as a rollicking British Odd Couple and justifies Robinson's decision to add directing to his Oscar-nominated portfolio of othertalents. (Allan Hunter)
hand is evident throughout as he respects the text. adopts a fluid cinematic style and captures some outstanding performances for posterity. (ilasgow:(il"1‘.
I Hannah and Her Sisters l 15) (Woody Allen. LS. 1986) Mia Farrow. Michael Caine. Barbara Hershey. 107 mins. An achingly funny. insightful and well cast celebration of some surprisingly upbeat romantic perambulations within a family circle as only Woody knows how. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Hope and Glory ( 15) (John Boorman. 17K. 1987) Sarah Miles. David 1 layman. lan Banncn. Susan Wooldridge. 112 mins. A deceptively simple but perfectly crafted slice of wartime nostalgia that paintsa warm and witty portrait of the adventurous childhood of the boy who would be John Boorman. lidinburgh: Dominion. Strathclyde: ()deon l lamilton. I Innocence and Experience ( P( i 1 Second in the Deeper into the Labyrth series exploring the surreal work of Czechoslovakian animator Jan Svankmajer. The programme also includesChaplin's (hum-1.1!. ( 1916). the Kafkaesque 'l'lir' .lfr'rumurplms1's oer .S'umsu ( 1977) and (ieorgcs l-"ranju's erotic fantasy ofchildhood Lu I’rr'nirerr'.\'ur! (1957). Glasgow: (il’l‘.
I Intermezzo ( P( i ) (Gustav Molander. Sweden. 1936) (iosta likman. Inga 'l‘idblad. Ingrid Bergman. 91 mins. Gifted violinist likman embarks on apassionate. adulterousaffair with his talented accompanist Bergman. Whilst they enjoy the idyllic raptures of their mutual love. she soon realises the futility of theirliaison and allows him to return to his forgiving wife and children.
Well-acted. unsentimental melodrama. written and directed with some sensitivity. The radiant Bergman‘s passage to Hollywood three years later. Edinburgh: FilmhoUse.
I international Velvet ( P( i ) ( Bryan Forbes. LS. 1978) Nanette Newman. Anthony Hopkinsfll‘atum ()‘Neal. 136 mins. ‘l‘he lilizabeth Taylor character front the 1944 classic is now a grown
The List 15 — 28 April 198817