The List: 24 Feb 1989 (19/72)

FILM LIST

HIGH HOPES

High Hopes (Mike Leigh, UK, 1988) Philip Davis, Ruth Sheen, Edna Dore, Philip Jackson. 110 mins. Mike Leigh has long brought his caustic vision to bear on the ioibles oi contemporary lite, and High Hopes marks no departure from that mould. Seasoned Leigh watchers, however, will lind it a rather more sentimental aiiair than they have been accustomed to in the past, largely because the central characters are drawn with considerable warmth and attection. Cyril (Davis) and Shirley (Sheen) are an engaging left-wing, working-class couple, and the iilm explores the personal and political dimensions oi both their own relationship, and those with iamin and neighbours, a lamiliar Leigh ploy.

Cyril’s sister Valerie and her car-salesman husband are Thatcher’s newly elevated middle-class, having abandoned the streets oi King’s Cross for a grotesque suburban semi; his mother, brilliantly played by Edna Dore, still lives in the same terraced house in which they were brought up, the sole survivor of the old working-class community in a street otherwise invaded by yuppies, although her immediate next-door neighbours are more caricature traditional upper-class then nouveau riche city whizz-kids, complete with plummy accents and sexual perversions. The iilm opens with something ot a red herring, when an impossibly gormless country boy looking for his sister and a job in the big city ioists himseli on Cyril and Shirley,

O 'k ;_ _. .6“ 11' I i seemingly a device to introduc the main characters, since he is quickly dispatched back whence he came.

Having introduced this cast, Leigh then simply plays them oil against each other in a series oi set pieces, culminating in an excruciatingly embarrassing — he has always been good at embarrassment — birthday party iortheir mother at Valerie’s dreadiully bad-taste house. Disappointingly, the battle lines are drawn with no concession to subtlety or genuine drama; there is no mistaking whose side we are supposed to be on, while the enemy are so hopelessly parodic that they lose their essential credibility. Leigh might feel that desperate times call lor desperate measures, however, and the closing

scenes on a rooftop overlooking the station, in which Cyril re-discovers the genuine bond which unites him with his mother, is one oi the most aiiecting the

director has committed to iilm.

(Kenny Mathieson)

I Short Circuit 11 (PG) (Kenneth Johnson. US. 1988) Fisher Stevens. Michael McKean. Cynthia Gibb. 110mins. Innocuous sequel to a charming original has anthropomorphic android Number 5 trying to make it in the big city and coming into contact with would-be toymaker McKean. who‘s interested in the marketing potential ofthe robot‘s engaging capabilities. Passing character actor Jack Weston supplies the comic book villainry.

Formula fodder aimed purely at the children‘s holiday market. but by no means the worst of its kind. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. Central: Caledonian. Cannon. Strathclyde: AMCCIydebank 10. Cannon. Odeon. Odeon Ilamilton.

I Some Like It Hot(PG) (Billy Wilder. US. 1959) Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon. Marilyn Monroe. 120 mins. Two impecunious male musicians inadvertently witness the St Valentine‘s Day Massacre and take refuge in Florida with Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopators. an all-female band.

Brilliant. brittle. crackerjack farce with all concerned at a peak in their careers. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.

I Strikebound (PG) (Richard Lowenstein. Australia. 1983) Chris Haywood. Carol Burns, Rob Steele. 100 mins. Taut documentary-style film based on actual 19305‘ events, when striking miners. many ofthem Communist Party members. barricaded themselves in their own pit. The talented Lowenstein later went on to make the very different Dogs In Space. Edinburgh: National Museum.

I Sugarbaby (15) (Percy Adlon. W. Germany, 1985) Marianne Sagebrccht. Eisi Gulp. 86 mins. The unlikely romance between an overweight. middle-aged

driver is the engaging focus ofthisquirky offering: a strange beguiling work at once warmly appealing and slightly repellent. that forces us to re-examine our notions of sexuality and desirability. Glasgow: GF'T. I Superman II (PG) (Richard Lester. US. 1980) Christopher Reeve. Margot Kidder. Gene Hackman. Terence Stamp. 127 mins. Three fellow Kryptonites with exactly the same superhuman powers come after the Man of Steel. and devastate New York. while they‘re at it. Spectacular effects fare. with the skilled physical comedy one expects from this particular film-maker. Strathclyde: WMR Irvine. ISuspect(15) (Peter Yates. US. 1987) Cher. Dennis Quaid. Liam Neeson. 106 mins. Work-weary public defender Cher is dumped with the case ofan apparently barbaric down-and-out Vietnam veteran on a murder charge over the savage killing of a young woman for a pathetic sum of money. Needless to say. all is not quite what it seems. and the death ofaSupreme Court Justice could. in some strange way. be related to the murder. a fact uncovered by Ouaid‘s reluctant jury member.

An old-fashioned. wintry thriller that really thrills with Cher and Quaid bringing much needed conviction to their roles and Yates suggesting a sense not ofthc aberration of crime but its commonplace frequency. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.

I Tucker: The Man And His Dream (PG) (Francis Coppola. US. 1988) JeffBridgcs, Martin Landau. Joan Allen. 1 10 mins. The rise and fall of Preston Tucker. a naive but ingenious auto engineer who in 1948 managed to produce a car so technically advanced that it scared the Detroit majors into action. Before long their ties with the political powers-that-be created a set of trumped-up fraud charges

undertakcr’s assistant and a young subway

that were to dissolve Tucker's dream of affordable. safe motoring in a welterof litigation.

Coppola at last re-unites his stylish technique with a grasp of narrative control in this zesty. personal biopic that brings back memories of the great Hollywood productions of old. Bridges and old lag Landau both shine. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.

I The Unholy ( l8) (Camillo Villa. US. 1988) Ben Cross. Hal Holbrook.Trevor Howard. Ned Beatty. 100 mins. Priest Cross is put to the test when archbishop Hoibrook asks him to cast out the devil from a New Orleans church. Trevor Howard looks very old and very miserable in his final role as a blind elderly cleric.

Pretty average horror picture notable. if at all. for a reasonably high-calibre cast . though these post-Omen/Exorcr'srefforts seem about a decade out of date these days. even if there is a pretty nifty demon. Glasgow: Cannon C larkston Road. Salon. I 02 Rattle And Hum (Phil Joanou. US. 1988) Bono. The Edge. Adam Clayton. Larry Mullen. 90 mins. U2 on their worldwide Joshua Tree tour find themselves exploring the great tradition of American popular music as they record with BB. King and a Harlem Choir. before taking a trip to the Sun Studiosin Memphis where Elvis first recorded. Intriguing mix of stirring live footage and intimate documentary capturing a band in transition. though perhaps just a little too much of the former. Strathclyde: Odeon Hamilton.

I Valerie And Her Week Dl Wonders( IS) (Jaromil Jires. Czechoslovakia. 1970)

J aroslava Schallcrova. Helena Anyzkova. Petr Kopriva. 77 mins. Spectacular Czechoslovakian surrealism as 13 year-old Valerie‘s fairytale dreams evoke bizarre religious and sexual images. and involve her in vampirism and witchcraft. Striking visual triumph, but a bit ofashambles narrative-wise. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Film Guild.

I War Requiem (PG) (Derek Jarman. UK. 1989) Tilda Swinton, Laurence Olivier. Nathaniel Parker. 93 mins. Britten‘s War Requiem is given eloquent expression on the big screen in Jarman‘s emotional rendering. which opens with Laurence Oliver reading Wilfred Owen‘s poem Strange Meeting and goes on to contrast stylised scenes of the Great War with more recent documentary footage of military carnage. Look out for a devastating lengthy take of Tilda Swinton as a nurse emotionally overpowered by the slaughter. Glasgow: GET.

I Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (PG) (Robert Zemeckis, US. 1988) Bob Hoskins. Joanna Cassidy, Christopher Lloyd. 92 mins. Los Angeles, 1949. and side by side with the human population live the Toons. the cartoon characters working in the movie business. Animated star Roger Rabbit hires private dick Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) to keep tabs on his luscious wife Jessica , but this is merely the prelude to the unravelling of a conspiracy that is to threaten the very future of Toontown itself.

An amazing technical achievement for the credibility with which the cartoons interact with the human cast and stylised sets. this surefire box office winner efficiently spoofs the film noir genre while milking its Tex Avery-styled highly physical sense of black comedy for all it‘s worth. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Dominion. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank 10, Odeon Hamilton.

I Wise Blood (15) (John Huston, US. 1979) Brad Dourif, Amy Wright, Harry Dean Stanton. 108 mins. Marvellous Huston film of Flannery O'Connor's Southern Gothic novel, with Dourif perfectly cast as Hazel Mote, founder and sole member of the Church ofChrist Without Christ. Strathclyde: Haldane Film Society.

LISTINGS WEEK ONE

Friday 24—Thursday 2

This section gives details oi programmes showing at cinemas in central Scotland over the next week. Readers are advised that programmes may be subject to late change at any time.

GLASGOW CINEMAS

I CANNON (‘larkston Road. Muirend.o37 2641 . £2.30 ((‘hild’OAl’ £1.20). Family disCount scheme operates.

1. The Naked Gun ( 15) 1.15pm (Sat only). 3.35pm (Sat. Sun only). 5.55pm. 8.40pm. 2. Gorillas In The Mist ( IS) 5pm.8pm. Short Circuit 11 (PG) (Sat only) 2pm.

3. Return 01 The Living Dead Part 2 ( 18)3pm (Sat only). (rpm. 8,-l0pm.

I CANNON Sauchiehall Street. 332 1592. £2.80 (Child £1 .40).'I’yyobarsopen 5.30-9.30pm (Mon-Sat ): (x304). 30pm (Sun). Family discount scheme operates. 1. The Naked Gun ( 15) 1.20pm. 3.30pm. 5.45pm. 8.35pm.

2. The Accused ( 18) 1.35pm. S. 10pm. 8.10pm.

3. A Fish Called Wanda ( IS) 1.30pm (not Fri. Sat). 5.10pm (not I"ri.Sat).8. 15pm. Ghost Chase (PG) (Fri. Sat only )2pm. 4.35pm.

4. Pascali's Island ( IS) I .SSpm.S.31)pm. 8. 15pm (not Mon 27).

5. Arthur II: On The Rocks ( I’( i) 1.30pm. 5.10pm. 805an

I CANNON GRAND l8 Jamaica Street . 248 4620. £2(£1).

Adult movies. Phone for details.

I GROSVENOR Ashton Lane. I lillhead. 33942987814. [1)] with prior notification. £2.20(Student 111340 £1 .70:(‘hild ()AI’ £1.20).

1. The Naked Gun ( 15) 2pm (not Sun).

4. 15pm (not Sun). 6. 16pm (not Sun). 8.45pm.

2. A Fish Called Wanda ( IS) 2. ISpm ( not Sat. Sun). 5. 15pm (not Sun). 8.30pm. See also (ilasgow Lates.

I DDEDN Renfield Street. 332 8701. Licensed bar. Adults £2.95. L‘nder 15s and ()AI’s £1 .50 (£2 last performance). Student/111340 concessions £2 a\ ailable as advertised. Morning and lunchtime shows commencing before 1.45pm. Bargain shows— £1.50.

Die Hard ( l8) 5. 15pm (not Fri—Sun). 8.20pm.

Cocktail ( 15) 12.40pm. 3pm. 5.40pm (not Mon—Thu).

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (PG) 12.30pm. 3pm. 5.45pm.

Dead Ringers ( 18) 8.30pm.

Return Di The Living Dead Part 2(18) 1.40pm. 3.50pm (not Sat. Sun).o.20pm (not Sun).8.50pm.

Short Circuit 11 (PG) (Sat. Sun only) 1pm. 3.30pm.

The List: 24 Feb 1989 (Issue 88)