FILM LIST
follow: suspicious of each other at first. helping each other through a series of scrapes they gradually learn mutual respect etc. Of course the dog steals the acting honours by shitting in the wrong places, shagging poodles and the like. Belushi however must be looking for a new agent: after equal billing with Schwarzenegger on Red Heat. co-starring with a four-legged friend can hardly be described as an astute career move. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. Strathclyde: La Scala, UCl Clydebank 10.
I Kuroneko(18) (Kaneto Shindo. Japan. 1968) Kichiemon Nakamura. Nobuko Otowa. 99 mins. An elderly woman and her daughter-in-law are brutally attacked by samurai but come back from the dead as cat spirits to seek their revenge. Arty. less successful variation on the director‘s earlier ()nibaba. Edinburgh Film Guild. I Lady And The Tramp (U) (Hamilton Luske. US. 1955) With the voices of Peggy Lee and Bill Thompson. 75 mins. Disney‘s first animated feature in cinemascope has mongrel Tramp helping pedigree pooch Lady out of a sticky situation and fallingin lurve along the way. Richly drawn with hummable tunes and endearing characterisations. this is the classic Disney mix as before. Lovely spaghetti-eating sequence. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. I The Land Before Time (U) (Don Bluth.
US. 1989) 86 mins. Latest animated feature from Disney graduate Bluth follows the fortune oforphaned Brontosaurus Littlefoot . who loses his mum to the claws of a nasty Tyrannosaurus Rex before teaming up with a gang of similarly parentless wee dinos to undertake the hazardous journey across country to the safety of the Great Valley. Classically drawn and chockful of edifying moral lessons. this is solid entertainment perfectly tailored to the demands of its target audience of very young children. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank 10. WMR Film Centre.
I Law Of Desire ( 18) (Pedro Almodovar. Spain. 101 mins) Eusebio Poncela. Carmen Maura. Antonio Baderas. 11)] mins. Notorious film-maker Pablo moves through a decadent lifestyle ofsensual pleasure. his only real concern for his younger brother now transexual sister. However. when he falls for government minister‘s son Antonio. a nightmare of manipulation and deceit is to follow. Flamboyant Spanish iconoclast Almodovar has been acclaimed a major new European talent. and while this exaggerated sexual farrago is interesting as a sort of overheated melodrama . the lack of narrative control near the end does let the film down. Still. a singular talent to watch. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Lethal Weapon 2 (15) (Richard Donner. US. 1989) Mel Gibson. Danny Glover. Patsy Kensit. 113 mins. Mel. rather woodenly. returns to the screen as Martin Riggs. a Vietnam Vet turned copper. looking like a cross between Aled Jones and Rambo. With Eric Clapton pounding away on the soundtrack. Lethal Weapon2 dredges up every action movie cliche the director and scriptwritcrs can think of. Stunts stolen from Indiana Jones. the baddies hideout straight from North by Northwest plus car chases. comic rclicfand romantic interest all add up to another predictable and violent cop yarn. All escapist fluffofcourse. but nevertheless a disappointing follow-up to the original. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank 1().
I Life and Nothing But (PG) fir (Bertrand Tavernier. France. 1988) Philippe Noiret. Sabine Azema. Pascale Vignal. 134 mins. See review. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Little Dorrit (U) (Christine Edzard. UK. 1987) Derek Jacobi. Alec Guinness. Sarah Pickering. Part One: Nobody‘s Fault ( 176 mins). Part Two: Little Dorrit‘s Story ( 181 mins). Dickens” complex novel about the grim social duplicity of his contemporary London is beautifully translated to the screen focusing on the central relationship between the upright Arthur (‘lennam and
Melancholia (15) (Andi Engel, UK/w. Germany, 1989) Jeroen Krabbe, Susannah York, Ulrich Wildgruber. 88 mins. The German ex-patriate writer/ director of this British Film institute production, Andi Engel, recalls that the doomy title of the film was in part inspired by a Durer print where ‘there’s a misshapen creature deciding whether or not to throw himself into the abyss in front of him'. Melancholia accordingly follows the decision whether or not to act, setting the personal existential concerns of (say) Camus or Sartre into the framework of the appalling decay of the late 20th century political arena.
The protagonist is David Keller (Jeroen Krabbe), an art critic in his late forties who scrapes through an unsatisfying, alcohol-fuelled life in London, but who is suddenly offered the chance to live up to his former political covictions. A surprise phone call from a former student friend from '68 asks him to assassinate a Chilean doctor and known torturer who‘s on his way to a conference in London. A further conversation with the widow of one of the Iatter’s victims strengthens his resolve, but at the back of his mind Keller is aware of being manipulated, and he must himself assess the real meaning of his prospective action.
‘l’m of the generation for whom everything is political,‘ explains Engel, who set up the specialist film distribution company Artificial Eye in 1975 and, thanks to the encouragement of Colin MacCabe, is here making his directorial debut. “Watching television, reading the newspapers these days is so bloody depressing, but instead of just sitting here and thinking that it‘s all shit I have to make a protest against the way that people treat each other’. Although the film is not without its autobiographical elements, Engel's restrained colour design (Denis Crossan's camera has made a London
_ MELANCHOLIA
of rich blacks) and detached, elliptical narrative style gives the film a diagrammatic feel that indicates its wider resonance. The result is both a skeletal thriller, and an ambitious and moving evocation of deeply felt despair at the ongoing futility of the human condition.
‘In my film, I am not talking about how to win the battle,’ Engel continues,
in the statement that accompanies the film. ‘The battle has been lost. What I am talking about is whether to have an orderly or disorderly retreat. I advocate an orderly one.’ (Trevor Johnston)
From Thurs 26 Oct: Edinburgh:
Filmhouse
Little Dorrit. born in a debtor‘s prison. yet still conveying the scope. detail and changing perspectives ofthe original. As their tentative romance slowly blossoms a vivid. scathing picture is gradually woven of scandalous landlords. impenetrable and inefficient bureaucracy and parasitic wealth. It is a two-nation society and the parallels with Britain today are startling. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr.
I Live A Little, Love A Little (PG) (Norman Taurog. US. 1968) Elvis Presley. Michelle Corey. Don Porter. 90 mins. Get this fora plot-line. ()ur Elv manages to land two jobs as a photographer. but keeps everybody happy by shuttling from office to office. Phew, rock'n‘roll! Glasgow: GF'T.
I Long Weekend ( l8) fir (Gregg Araki. US. 1989) 93 mins. Low-budgetgay director Araki‘s follow-up to Three Bewildered People In The Night has six bewildered former college buddies — gay. straight and bisexual — spendinga revealing weekend together. Intelligent and witty L.A. comedy drama. shown as part of the Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Looking For Langston ( 15) (lsaacJulien. UK. 1989) Ben Ellison. Matthew Baidoo, John Wilson. 45 mins. Based around the writings of l larlem poet Langston Hughes, young British director Julien's
film is a stylish evocation of the livcsof
black gay men in the New York ofthe Twenties. Shot in gleaming monochrome. the langorous images of dream and desire play against Hughes and contemporary author Essex llemphill‘s meditationson the aesthetics of sexuality. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Mac and Me (U) (Stewart Raffill. US. 1988) Christine Ebcrsole. Jonathan Ward. Tina Caspary. l()(lmins. Maris in fact an acronym for Mysterious Alien ( 'reature in this kiddies‘ adventure that followsthe cute little extraterrestrial's earthbound encounters with a gang offouryoung chums. And yes, it does sound a lot like Spielberg‘s ET. Strathclyde: ()deon Ayr. UCl Clydebank If). WMR Film Centre. I The Manchurian Candidate ( 15) (John Frankenhcimer. US. 1962) Frank Sinatra. Laurence Harvey. Angela Lansbury. Janet Leigh. 126 mins. In his most convincing screen role. Laurence llarvey plays a Korean war hero who has actually been brainwashed by the communists. and on his return to America becomes a mere pawn in a sinister mission they have planned for him. Army intelligence officer Sinatra is out to stop him while the maniacal matriarch Lansbury hovers threateningly in the background throughout. Brilliant political satire-cum-thriller. with a cast in great form and a staggerineg inventive plot clearly and grippingly unravelled. lt damn well works and surprises in a way that so few films do anymore. Edinburgh: Film Guild. Central: MacRobcrt Arts Centre. I Maurice (15) (James lvory. UK, 1987) James Wilby. Rupert Graves. Hugh Grant. 140 mins. ()verlong but impeccably crafted screen version ofthe M. Forster novel in which a young Edwardian man slowly but movingly comes to terms with his homosexuality in the face of widespread ignorance. bigotry and the pressures ofclass to conform to some fanciful notion of normalcy.A|though over-indulgent. the film uses its beautiful locations. Brides/tead-style cast and langorous evocation of pre-War Britain to sweeten an angry pill about the strictures ofthe class system and the unchanging face of senseless prejudice. James Wilby is a revelation in the title role. skilfully capturing the complexity of the emotional traumas faced by his character. Glasgow: Gl’l".
-I Melancholia (15) a (Andi Engel. UK. _ 1989) Jeroen Krabbe. Susannah York.
Kate llardie. 87 mins. See review. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
22 The List 27 October -— 9 November 1989