FILM LIST
one another. British director Stephen Frears makes a notable Hollywood debut by guiding his cast through a diffictllt set of narrative pirouettes. and the crisp dialogue is handled with a certain asperity. Yet for all the pent-up emotion on screen. little fervour seeps through to the audience and the result is a rather cold and calculating piece ofwork. Central: Allanpark.
I Dead-Bang ( l5) (John Frankenheimer. US. I988) Don Johnson. William Forsythe. Penelope Ann Miller. 95 mitts. LA cop .Ioe Beck (Johnson) lives a seedy existence in the most law dron. surroundings while his w ife proceeds with a divorce suit. Assigned to find the murdererol a fellow Iawenforcement officer. he diseov ers the dead man's connections with art organisation ofwhite supremacists. and his professional and personal limits are soon to be tested. Sttggested by the experiences of real-life detective Jerry Beck. the film somehow manages to reek of mid-seventies television. though the political elements are very much of a piece with director Frankenheimer's impeccably liberal credentials. (ilasgow: Cannon The Forge. ('annon Sauchiehall Street. Central: ('annon. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank Ill. ('annon.
I Dirty Dancing ( l 5 ) ( limile Ardolino. L'S. I987) .lenniler (ircy . Patrick Swayze. Jerry ()rbach. lliii mins. Remarkably ordinary but staggerineg popular girl meets boy from the wrong side ofthc tracks musical set in an American summer camp in the year I963. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road.
I Dirty Rotten Scoundrels ( PG) (Frank ()2. US. 1989) Steve Martin. Michael Caine. (ilenne lIeadley. I If) mins. See panel and cover feature. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: ()deon. Central: Cannon. Strathclyde: Cannon. La Scala. I Diva ( 15) (Jean-Jacques Beineix. France. I98l ) Frederic Andrei. Roland Berlin. Richard Bohringer. I 17mins. The twisted fate of two tapes. one an illegal recording of an American opera star. the other exposing a crime ring. is the central strand of this daffy Gallic cult favourite. Style exudes from every sprocket hole. Strathclyde: Paisley Arts Centre.
I Do The Right Thing( 18) (Spike Lee. US. 1989) Spike Lee. Danny Aiello. ()ssic Davis. John 'I'urturro. I 19mins. New York's deprived Bedford-Stuyvesant district on the hottest day of the summer. and racial tension escalates between Italian-American Sal (Aiello) and his two sons. the proprietors ofa popular pizzeria. and the mainly black local community who make upthe bulk of his customers. As the situation worsens and the option of violence looks a possibility. Sal's black delivery boy Mookie (Lee) ponders how to do the right thing.
Forceful exploration of the socio-economic and cultural causes behind endemic white racism. Lee‘s film also operates as a tightly-controlled multi-charaeter drama. Balancing between the twin poles ofpassive resistance and violent conflict as exemplified by Martin Luther Kingand Malcolm X. this is a passionate. intelligent and contentious piece of work that exudes a cinematic vibrancy. Recommended. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Dream Flights (PG) (Roman Balayan. USSR. I984) ()Ieg Yankovsky. Ludmilla Zorina. Elena Kostina. 90 mins. On the brink of his 40th birthday. the philandering Yankovsky finds that his mistress is bored by him and his infidelities have at last exhausted his long-suffering wife's patience. Light comedy with an attractive but immature protagonist. A big hit in its nativ e Russia. and visiting Glasgow to celebrate the Dear Green Plaee‘s twinning with Rostov-On-Don (see ()pen ). Glasgow:
The Navigator (15) (Vincent Ward, N2, 1988) Bruce Lyons, Chris Haywood, Hamish McFarlane, Marshall Napier. 92 mins. Vincent Ward’s stylish fantasy
will not be to the taste of those who like ‘
their demarcation between fantasy and reality to be clearly defined, but lovers of ambiguity should on no account miss it. Set initially in medieval Cumbria, where a mining village is threatened by the Black Death, a deadly plague sweeping the land, it moves smoothly and without any fretting over ‘explanations’ into contemporary New Zealand, and carries off this absurd conceit with considerable flair.
The transition is effected through the dream of a young boy, Griffin, who is vouchsafed a vision which will save the village from the pestilence. In that vision, Griffin sees an iron cross and a mysterious steeple, set in a strange land which they must reach by digging in the mineshalts. The party sets out on their quest, only to emerge, in the fulfilment of that most widespread of childish fantasies, on the other side of the world (in those times, it was believed to be flat, so they wouldn’t have too farto dill). and in another age.
The bewildered and disorientated
THE NAVIGATOR
villagers set about their mission, and Ward turns their clash with the snapping, roaring, nightmarish monsters of contemporary civilisation (cars, trains, televisions and industrial machinery to you and me) into a genuine tour de force. The director clearly possesses a real cinematic imagination, and triumphantly succeeds in realising it on screen without the prop ot a large budget. The basic premise requires a substantial
leap of faith from the audience, but once made, it is an immensely powerful and extremely vivid odyssey, a surprising and provocative clash between cultures and beliefs which convincingly blends elements from familiar myths with the wholly unexpected. (Kenny Mathieson)
From Fri 30: Glasgow: Grosvenor. From Sun 9: Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
(iFI‘.
I Dreaming (U) (John Baxter. UK. 1944) Bud Flanagan. Chesney Allen. Hazel Court. 78 mins. A blow on the head from a heavy kitbag prompts a series ofvaried dreams from popular entertainers Flanagan and Allen. A worthwhile showcase for their comedic talents. the film also gives plenty ofspacc fora number of the periods musical hall artistes to strut their stuff. Glasgow: (iFf.
I Drowning By Numbers ( 18) (Peter Greenaway. UK. 1988) Joan Plowright. Bernard Ilill. Joely Richardson. 118 mins. In a narrative as straightforward and complicated as the title suggests. three generations of women. all ofthcm called Cissie Colpitts, dispose oftheir husbands in a series ofaquatic murders. whilst the numbers I to I()() runthrough the film in the background. FuIl ofthc usual ravishing visual symetries and a highly developed sense ofthe incongruous. Greenaway's latest film sports a number of higth polished and sympathetic performances. that along with the enjoyable pastime ofnumber spotting. makes this current effort his most accessible and pleasurable to date. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Dumbo ([1) (Ben Sharpsteen. US. I941) 64 mins. The rest of the circus animals make fun of the little elephant with the huge ears. but he discovers they have a use after all. Classic Disney animated feature. timeless entertainment. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr.
I Easy Bider(18) (Dennis Hopper. US. 1969) Peter Fonda. Dennis Hopper. Jack Nicholson. 94 mins. Artlcss archetypal road movie in which two dope-loving bikers travel the highways and by-ways of America. Dated cult attraction with Nicholson stealing the show as a boozy lawyer persuaded to join them for the trip. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Eraserhead ( 18) (David Lynch. US. 1976) John Nance. 90 mins. You may never eat jelly babies again after the repellent but compelling tale ochnry. his haircut. his girlfriend. his strange offspring and a sizeable quantity ofpus. Disturbing stuff. mercifully filmed in black and white. Edinburgh: Cameo.
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The List 3(iJune— I3July 198915