FILM LIST
Gorillas in the Mist (15) (Michael Apted,US,1988) Sigourney Weaver, Bryan Brown, John Omirah Miluwi. 129 mins. Louisville, Kentucky, 1966. Bright-eyed and keen-as-mustard vet student Dian Fossey (Weaver) ditches her fiance, abandons a confortable lifestyle and impulsively heads into the mountains of Central Africa, assisted only by her guide Sembagare (Miluwi) and the friendly exhortations oi Dr Louis Leakey (lain Cuthbertson).
ller task was to track down and determine the remaining numbers of wild mountain gorillas, a vital link in the evolutionary chain. She makes contact with the gorillas and is instantly smitten, devoting the rest of her years to developing an Attenborough-style closeness to the primates and saving them from poachers and any other threat. By the time oi her death, she had saved a species from extinction that was once given a more five years to live.
Gorillas in the Mist is a thoroughly respectable drama of single-mlndedness and ruthless determination. Beautifully photographed, with faultless gorilla performances, it allows Sigourney Weaver a role with range and bite which she attacks with passion and a conscientious concern to capture Fossey's relationship with the gorillas
GORILLAS IN THE MIST
f. l ,‘i. r wt based on her uncanny mimicing of their behaviour. However, it has the problem of telling a storythat is well known, right down to Fossey’s still unexplained murder in 1985. Somehow, the script and direction never overcome the familiarity and predictability of the story. Every enlivening incident, whether of Civil War, a poacher raid, the arrival of Bryan Brown as the National Geographic love interest etc seems to have been grafted on to the main story out of fear that the audience might be losing interest. It seems hard to
comprehend, but Dian Fossey’s life of
adventure is ultimately more of pictorial than dramatic interest. Overlong and less than sharply scripted, Gorillas in the Mist deserves some respectful cheers for the gorilla footage and the character acting of Weaver (who seems to age very little) but it remains a resolutely traditional slice of quality tilmmaking that never takes flight into the realms of the gripping or unforgettable. (Allan Hunter)
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I The Sacrifice (15) (Andrei Tarkovsky, Sweden. 1986) Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Allan Edwall. 149 mins. Set on a remote island and focusing on a 24-hour period of action. Tarkovsky's final film concerns itself with one man’s response to the oncoming apocalypse, as Josephson offers his life in a supreme act ofatonement in the hope that the world will be restored. An overwhelmingly poetic experience that forms a fitting testament to a remarkable visionary career. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Scrooged (PG) (Richard Donner. US, 1988) Bill Murray. Karen Allen. Robert Mitchum, John Forsythe. 101 mins. Returning in his first comedy role afterthe mega-successful Ghosrbusters, Bill Murray is the focal point of this umpteenth screen version of the Dickens classic, here playing a miserly television exec determined to exploit the yuletide schedules for all they are worth, but who is shown the error of his ways in time fora cringe-inducing finale demanding peace on earth and goodwill to all men.
Despite lavish effects and a motley constellation of guest stars, this is a formulaic exercise in contemporary comic cynicism whose uneasy sense of vicious humour seems at odds with the spirit of the original material. Alistair Sim, where are you now? Edinburgh: Cameo. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank 10.
I Sign '0' The Times (15) (Prince, US. 1987) Prince, Sheila E, Sheena Easton. 85 mins. Capturing one of today’s most extravagantly talented pop composers live in action in Rotterdam. this is a superior concert movie because Prince‘s stage performance is a superior entertainment. With a harder, even funkier sound than on record, and the imposing sexual presence of dancer Cat and Drummer Sheila E. , this is hot stuff for the eyes and the ears. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Smiles Of A Summer Night (PG) (Ingmar Bergman. Sweden, 1955) Gunnar B jornstrand. Eva Dahlbeck, Una Jacobson. 105 mins. The ex-mistress of a provincial lawyer bumps into her old flame after a number of years and invites both him and his new young wife to her mother's country home for a weekend. Elegant comedy of genteel period manners, which although not the genre one tends to associate with Bergman - the despairing spiritual questor — is nevertheless handled with a good deal of detached wit and sophistication. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Film Guild. I Someone To Love (15) a (Henry Jaglom, US. 1987) Orson Welles, Henry Jaglom, Andrea Marcovici, Michael Emil. 105 mins. J aglom himself plays a divorced film-maker going through a frustrating relationship. When his brother admitsto similar emotional difficulties he decides to throw a party where he will film the guests talking over the problems of romance in the post-feminist era. Among those who turn up is Orson Welles. who offers advice and consolation.
As is the direction of his career of late (Can She Bake a Cherry Pie. Always) J aglom here plays with the possibilities of filmic self-dramatisation to often irritating effect. Yet amongst the meandering chitchat of the central party there is much honest freshness, and the prospect of Welles‘ final, amiable. sad performance alone makes the film worth seeing. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Stardust Memories (15) (Woody Allen, US, 1980) Woody Allen, Mia Farrow. 92 mins. A famous director of comedy films undergoes much soul searching when the public and critics fail to appreciate his attempts at serious cinematic statement. Occasionally shrill and self-pitying autobiographical Allen movie, worth staying with for its insights into the creative pressures of the contemporary industry but never quite becoming the 8its maker so obviously intended. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Film Society. I Star Trek: The Motion Picture (PG) (Robert Wise, US, 1979) William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy. DeForest Kelley. 132 mins. Kirk and his crew of old-timers are recommissioned to board the Enterprise once more and save the Earth from the unidentified alien probe fast approaching. lntcrminably dull big screen adventure with Spock and Co, unlike the series, there’s far too much time and money to spend. Strathclyde: Rialto. I Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (PG) (Nicholas Meyer, US, 1982) William Shatner. Leonard Nimoy, Ricardo Montalban. 95 mins. The Trekkies battle evil megalomaniac Montalban in the most enjoyable entry to the series (so far). simply because it sticks closest to the tacky verve of the television original. Strathclyde: Rialto. I Star Trek Ill: The Search For Spoek( PG) (Leonard Nimoy, US, 1984) William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, Leonard Nimoy, Dame Judith Anderson. 105 mins. Following on from The Wrath OfKahn. the Enterprise crew scour a distant planet for Spock’s body. A bit too rambling this one, though the Vulcan rejuvenation ceremony takes some beating for sheer campness. Strathclyde: Rialto. I Star Trek iv: The Voyage Home (PG) (Leonard Nimoy, US, 1986) William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, Leonard Nimoy. 119 mins. The crew of the Starship Enterprise beam down to 1986 San Francisco to protect the earth from an incoming alien probe and save the whale into the bargain. As daft as it sounds, and essential viewing for corset and toupee afficionados. Strathclyde: Rialto. I Stop Making Sense (PG) (Jonathan Demme, US, 1984) Talking Heads. 88 mins. Dynamic concert movie with David Byrne and Co's arresting live show brought to the screen intact by Jonathan Demme’s fluid camerawork. Edinburgh:
18 The List 27 January .- 9 February