FILM LIST
he saw my last film An Impatient Girl that he realised I was probably the right person to do it, and so passed the script on to me.’
Remaining faithful to the Truffaut outline. Miller has provided the substance ofan impressive film looking at the emotional impulses that drive us to transgress moral standards. which continues the thread of perceptive observation present in his work since his 1977 debut The Best Way To Walk. In that film and 1986‘s An Impatient Girl he showed himselfparticularly attuned to the problems of youth. though in the latter instance the splendid acting ofyoung Charlotte Gainsbourg is a major contributory factor. The daughter of famous crooner Serge Gainsbourg and actress Jane Birkin (the two made the notorious single Je T'Aime together). sixteen year-old Charlotte returns here with another effervescent performance. with director Miller adjudging her‘ a very gifted actress. . .like a little Mozart. her age is almost irrelevant'.
ONES TO WATCH
Our pick of the tortnight's highlights on the commercial and repertory circuits. . . For more comprehensive reviews and venue details see the Film Index, while complete programme details can be tound in the Film Listings. INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE Third in the Spielberg adventure series has Harrison Ford as the indestructible hero. Sean Connery. popping up as his dad. and a familiar plot involving the Holy Grail and the Nazis. Wide release from 30 June.
DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS Exubcrant Yank Steve Martin and
adaptation of a scenario by the late Francois Truffaut is a sensitive chronicle of painful adolescence which stars the effervescent Charlotte Gainsbourg. Edinburgh Filmhousc 2—8July. PARADE OF THE PLANETS Abdrashitov's remarkable study ofa band ofSoviet army reservists lost in a surreal landscape remains a hauntingly cinematic experience. Not to be missed. Glasgow Film Theatre 4July.
ALSO OPENING
THE NAVIGATOR Extraordinary film from Antipodean film-maker Vincent Ward has 14th
In the role ofassistant director
(‘donkeywork really. nothing creative‘). Miller spent the earlier part of his career from the start of the Sixties until the early Seventies working with a number ofthe French cinema's foremost artists. From Marcel Came. to Robert Bresson. Jean-Luc Godard where ‘every day was like an adventure‘. and finally Truffaut. he is well placed to have viewed at close range the legacy of the Nouvelle Vague. Yet while his films are a varied lot. thematically and stylistically. he aligns himself with that vein ofGallic film-making which has always been primarily absorbed in the richness of human characterisation: ‘What's always striking about Francois' films is that there are no bastards. he tries to understand all his people. lt‘s like Renoir‘s famous dictum that Everyone has their reasons. lt makes his films much richer. and I hope I manage to capture some of that in my own films.‘
La Petite Voleuse is at the Edinburgh Filmhousc from 2—8 July.
involving luminous condoms transcends all boundaries oftaste. Key Odeons from 7 July.
NEWSREEL
THE HEAT IS ON for ex-Python director Terry Jones in the cutting room for his latest comic epic Erik The Viking which looks all set for a gala screening at this year's Edinburgh lnternational Film Festival. except that only ten minutes ofthe film remains completed. IT’S FOR YOU-ROD! Whilst lunching in Edinburgh‘s Doric Tavern the other day. a call came through for Booker-winning
suave Englishman century Cumbrian author PCICF Carey. Michael Came get peasants tunnelling SWlftly leapt out Of hISSC'dl togcmcr to work the underground to emerge in 30d “Shed ‘0 the Ph‘mc- French Riviera as a couple 20th ccmury urban The reason for the
ofcon men in this amiable mainstream comedy. Key Odeons from 30June.
Australia. Directed with great visual panache. :Glasgow Grosvenor from
excitement being that the Aussie scribbler is currently engaged in a
301mm; Edinburgh project with none other
Filmhousc 945 July_ than Wim Wenders. with sxlu DEEP Excwciaring the two soon set to travel
Blake Edwards farce (0 NOW York [0 lOOK at a
SELECTIONS
LA PETITE VOLEUSE Claude Miller's
details Hollywood writer John Ritter‘s creative and sexual crises. The scene
big league American actor for the leading role. See Backlist Book Feature.
NDEX
I the Adventures ot Baron Munchausen (PG) (Terry Gilliam. US. l988)John Neville. Sarah Polley. Eric Idle. Robin Williams. l26 mins. Gilliam‘s fabulously expensive 18th century fantasia begins in a city under siege from the Turks where the populace are being entertained bya theatrical extravaganza based on the tall tales of Baron Munchausen. whereupon the lad himselfappears to give a first-hand account of his adventures and save the day. Gilliam‘s extravagant visual sensibility guides this occasionally misfiring maniac epic through its sticky patches. but there is so much to look at and enough genuine laughs that his relentless campaign against mediocre convention is more than justified. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I The Architecture oi Frank Lloyd Wright A special programme of two documentaries by Scots film-maker Murray Grigor pairs his 1970 piece on Charles Rennie Mackintosh with 1985‘s more substantial The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. which looks at the career of the century‘s most controversial American architect. Edinburgh: Filmhousc.
I Bahette's Feast (U) (Gabriel Axel. Denmark. 1987) Stephane Audran. Jean-Philippe Lafont. Bibi Andersson. 103 mins. The Jutland peninsula during the late 19th century. Exiled French housekeeper Audran wins 10.000 francs in a lottery and uses the money to prepare a sumptuous banquet markingthe centenary of the birth ofa Lutheran dean whose surviving spinster daughters carry on his good works among the poor and needy. However. when a shopping list of quail. turtle. champagne and vintage wine arrives the sisters begin to wonder if such pleasure is compatible with their piety. . . A delicious gastronomic experience and an exquisite slice of cinematic narrative this is a boisterous. exemplary literary adaptation full of pleasurable surprises and real feeling. Edinburgh: Filmhousc.
I Beaches(15) (Gary Marshall US. 1988) Bette Midler. Barbara Hershey. John Heard. Spalding Gray. 124 mins. Two eleven year old girls meet on a beach in Atlantic City and become lifelong friends despite jealous arguments and diverse lifestyles. C.C. Bloom is a loudmouthed actress/singer bound for stardom (not a very taxing role for Midler). while Hershey‘s Hilary Whitney is a prim moneyed beauty trying hard to resist conformity. Midler makes good work of the star-vehicle script and isably supported by Hershey. But make no mistake. this overlong female buddy movie is the schmalziest tearjerker you'll see in a while. Glasgow: Grosvenor. Odeon. Edinburgh: Dominion. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank l0. Odeon Ayr. Odeon Hamilton.
I Beetleiuice ( 15) (Tim Burton. US. 1988) Geena Davis. Alec Baldwin. Michael Keaton. 92 mins. Recently deceased. and very charming New England couple. the Maitlands. have difficulty in adjusting to the afterlife. Not the least of their worries is the tasteless refurbishment of their old home by a nasty New York yuppie family. and they eventually call on freelance bio-exorcist Betelgeuse (pronounced ‘Beetle-juice‘) to deal with the problem in his own inimitable fashion. Exubcrantly eccentric cartoonish capers. a movie that creates its own comic cosmos where the unexpected is the norm. Great fun it all istoo. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Blue Velvet ( l8) (David Lynch. US.
1986) Kyle MacLachlan. Dennis l loppcr, Isabella Rossellini. 120 mins. Lumberton. middle-America. Would-be boy detective Jeffrey Beaumont finds a severed car on some waste ground and when the police shoo him away he decides to do some investigating of his own. A singular fusion ofthe cosy and the terrifying which blends kitsch and nightmare. B-movie detection and brutal sexual perversion to deconstruct our complacent vision of what passes for normal society. This is filmmakingof remarkable imagination and skill that places its director in the front rank of contemporary American cinema. Edinburgh: Cameo. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank I0.
I Chocolat(15) (Claire Denis. France. 1988) Mireille Perrier. lsaach dc Bankole. Giulia Boschi. Francois ( ‘luzet. 105 mins. Returning to the remote part of the Cameroons where she spent the greater part of her childhood. France. the daughter ofa former French colonial civil servant. recalls scenes from those early years. including the attraction between her mother and their native manservant. This accomplished debut feature isa nostalgic and gentle mosaic ofcolonial life. offering a perceptive look at the Europeans' varying attitudes towards the Africans. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Cocoon: The Return ( PG ) ( Daniel Petrie. US. 1988) Don Amechc. Wilford Brimley. Steve Guttenberg. Hume Cronyn. Jessica Tandy. llS mins. In the original movie a set ofold-timers were taken into outer space to live happily ever after. but this rather dreary sequel finds them all back on Earth. The myriad of plots for the oldsters to run through vary from Brimley teaching his grandson baseball. to Cronyn dying of leukemia. to Amcche fathering a child. so that while all this soap opera stuff is going on we manage to forget the central save-the-alien strand. Sentimental dialogue and a dithering lack of pace do not help. This was probably not a good idea. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank I0.
I Cry Freedom (PG) (Richard Attenborough. US. I987) Denzel Washington. Kevin Kline. John'l‘haw. 158 mins. Although not without its flaws. Attenborough‘s biographical re-crcation 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. Strathclyde: Paisley Arts Centre.
I A Cry In The Datlt( 15) (Fred Schepisi. US/Australia. I988) Meryl Streep. Sam Neill. Brian James. 119 mins. After the exhaustive publicity the famed Dingo Baby case generated throughout the world Schepisi wisely avoids focUsing on the now resolved issue of whether or not Lindy Chamberlain was guilty. Instead he concentrates on the mood of national hysteria and prejudice that confronted the couple and led to a trial by media. The result is a stunning. shameful indictment of tabloid media excesses and institutionalised injustice. lt eschews the kind of glib melodrama that easily opens the tear ducts and opts instead for a more thought provoking work. which benefits from two solidly star performances from Streep and Neill. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. I Dangerous Liaisons ( 15 ) (Stephen Frears. US. 1988) Glenn (‘lose.John Malkovich. Michelle Pfeiffer. Keanu Reeves. 120mins. Christopher Hampton adapts his stage version of Choderlos dc Laclos‘ novel for the screen. with Americans Close and Malkovich starring as the central pairing of Madame de Tourvel and the Vicomte de Valmont. two treacherous 18th century aristocrats weaving a web oferotic duplicity around
14 The List 30 June— 13 July 1989