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renders their strangeness all the more striking. Edinburgh University Film Society. I Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (PG) (Steven Spielberg. US. 1989) Harrison Ford, Sean Connery. Alison Doody. Dcnholm Elliot. 127 mins. The third and supposedly final instalment of Spielberg‘s bumper blockbuster series. in which the archaeological adventurer is joined by his father (Connery) for a romp through the Middle East in search of the Holy Grail. hotly pursued (as ever) by the Nazis. A rather dodgy would-be Christian morality and a more-of-the-same-ish plot are offset by strong performances from Ford and Connery and technical bravura. Edinburgh: Dominion. I Ironweed (15) (Hector Babenco. US. 1987) Jack Nicholson. Meryl Streep. Carroll Baker. 143 mins. Drunken hobo Nicholson returns to a hometown and family he had abandoned twenty years previously following the death of his infant son. lntimations of his own mortality and the need to make peace with the ghostsof his past have driven him back. Remarkably engrossing examination of blighted lives and the underside ofthe American dream known as failure set during the dying days ofthe inter-War depression. Excellent performances all round. moody camerawork and composition; a potentially dour drama of dereliction has been transformed into an American classic. Strathclyde: Paisley Arts Centre. I Is It Easy To Be Young? ( 15) (Jurius Podniek. Latvia. 1986) 84 mins. Key documentary of the perestroika era is a frank mosaic reflecting the experiences and hopes of a wide variety ofdisaffected Soviet youth. many ofwhom are dicscovering the delights ofsex. drugs and rock'n‘roll for the first time. Glasgow: GFT. IJubilee ( 18) (Derek Jarman. UK. 1978) Jenny Runacre. Little Nell.Toyah Wilcox. 104 mins. Queen Elizabeth I is transported through time to visit the decaying nation of her namesake successor as exemplified by punk London. Dated-looking now of course. but amidst the determination to shock there's a good deal of tart black humour and a few typically lovely Jarman images. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I King oi The Children (Chen Kaige. China. 1987) Xie Yuan. Yang Xuewen. Chen Shaohua. 106 mins. Duringthe cultural revolution a young man is transferred from a rural labour camp and assigned to teach in a village school. Before long he persuades the children to cast aside their didactic Maoist textbooks and write about their own needs and experiences. With post-Tienanmen Square hindsight this is brave film-making by any standards. evidence ofthe important contribution by Chinese Fifth Generation film directors to the pro-democracy movement now in danger of being extinguished. Edinburgh University Film Society. I Koyaanisqatsi (1;) (Godfrey Reggio. US. 1983) 86 mins. Rather vacuous exploration of the beauty of our planet and the nastiness ofour modern civilisation which is in the process of destroyingit. Beautifully shot. and with an apocalyptic Philip Glass score to boot. it ends up looking like a spectacular advert for somethingor other. Edinburgh University Film Society. I K-9 (PG) (Rod Daniel. US. 1989)Jim Belushi. Jerry Lee The German Shepherd. 102 mins. An ever-so-subtle twist on the cop buddy movie has unconventional San Diego narcotics tec Belushi reluctantly teamed up with a drug-sniffing alsatian from the K4) department. The same plot as usual isto follow: suspicious of each other at first. helping each other through a series of scrapes they gradually learn mutual respect etc. ()f course the dog steals the
A SHORT FILM lABOUT KILIN
A Short Film About Killing (18) (Krzysztoi Kieslowski, Poland, 1987) Miroslaw Baka, Krzysztoi Globisz, Jan Tesare. 84 mins. At last year‘s iirst European Film Awards ceremony, a kind oi arthouse version oi the Oscars, the jury bravely overlooked the two hot iavourites Wenders and Davies to select Krzysztoi Kieslowski’s A Short Film About Killing lorthe main prize. The garlands tor this brutal, intelligent exploration of the mechanics oi murder and capital punishment were to thrust the Pole into the front rank of contemporary world cinema.
With barely a shot wasted in its 84 minutes, it's the combination oi stylistic concision and a conirontational attitude to the most iundamental moral questions that provides the basis for the relentless power oi Kieslowski's work. The simple narrative lollows the lortunes at three charciers: an aimless young driiter floating through a day at Warsaw tedium; a cab-proud taxi driver who he murders without premeditation or explanation; and an earnest, newly-graduated Iawyerwhose pleading cannot prevent the death sentence lorthe crime.
Deliberater paced to underscore the iatalism oi the events, the film‘s washed out colour lays on an appropriately doomy atmosphere. Society produces murderers, the iilm shows us, the law proceeds to murder the murderers, and there is no end to
I ,-, I
the cycle.
Kieslowski builds the two death sequences to an unbearable pitch oi tension, his documentarist’s eye ior unsparing physical detail peers unblinkingly at mortality while a humanist’s intelligence pleads passionately lorthe right to Iiie.
Alter the preview screening I saw, men in their forties stood and cried in the layer. This masterpiece is the most awesomely poweriul iilm you’ll see all year. Anyone who cares about cinema should see it. (TrevorJohnston)
From Fri 17. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. From Mon 20. Glasgow: GFT.
acting honours by shitting in the wrong places. shagging poodles and the like. Belushi however must be looking fora 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. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. UCI Clydebank l().
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. Lovelyspaghetti-eating sequence. Glasgow: (‘annon The Forge. I Lethal Weapon 2 ( 15) (Richard Donner. US. 1989) Mel Gibson. DannyGlover. 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 [iric ('lapton pounding away on the soundtrack. Lethal WeaprmZ dredges up every action movie cliche the director and scriptwriters can think of. Stunts stolen from Indiunalrmes. the baddics hideout straight from North by .N'orilm'est plus car chases. comic reliefand romantic interest all add up to another predictable and violent cop yarn. All escapist fluff of course. but nevertheless a disappointing follow-up to the original. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge . (‘annon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon, Dominion. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank 11).
I Liie and Nothing But ( P(i ) ( Bertrand Tavernier. France. 1988) Philippe Noiret. Sabine Azema. Pascale Vignal. 134 mins. France 1918. and Major Dellaplane (Noiret) is in charge of the grisly taskof identifying the unknown corpsesof slaughtered soldiers. Amongst the
relatives of the missing who come part in fear part in hope. to search for theirloved ones are lrene (Azema) and Alice (Vignal). The sense of a bruised and battered people quietly coming to terms with life's continuity in the face oftheir grief is splendidly evoked. though the central romance. all suppressed passion and meaningful glances. is mini-series stuff and the sense of humour may have lost something in translation. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Little Vera (15) (Vasili Pichul. USSR. 1988) Natalya Negoda. Andrei Sokolov. Ludmilla Zaitseva. Yuri Nazarov. 134 mins. The drab dour industrial landscape and colourless decor of Vera‘s flat sets off the emotional sparks that fly between its occupants. Vera (Negoda) spends her vacation hanging around and getting pregnant by her boyfriend. the unpreposscssing (and unemployed) Sergei (Sokolov). l lowever when the latter moves into Vera's parents tiny flat her father‘s constant consumption of Vodka is the catalyst for violent conflict. Behind the glimpses of Soviet life the well worn storyline of inter-generational conflict. lends the film as a whole the familiar air of kitchen-sink melodrama. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre.
I Little Shop 0i Horrors (PG) (Frank Oz. [18. 1986) Rick Moranis. Ellen Greene. Steve Martin. 94 mins. Deep in the florist something is stirring. as meek green-fingered type discovers that his favourite plant. Audrey. is actually a flesh-craving alien from outer space. Daft. enjoyable screen transcription of the stage musical, with funny foliage effects. and a beezer cameo from Steve Martin as a biker dentist. Strathclyde: ()deon Ayr.
I Love Me Or Leave Me (18) A samplerof short films from the Fourth London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival on Tour includes works from the Antipodes. most notably Garth Maxwell‘s erotic homosexual romance from New Zealand,
Beyond Gravity. and director Ngozi Onwurah‘s British-made look at the aftermath of HIV Positive diagnosis in Best Wishes. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Mac and Me (U) (Stewart Raffill. US. 1988) Christine Ebersole. Jonathan Ward. Tina Caspary. 100 mins. Mac is in factan acronym for Mysterious Alien Creature in this kiddies‘ adventure that followsthe cute little extraterrestrial‘s earthbound encounters with a gang of four young chums. And yes. it does sound a lot like Spielberg‘s ET. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank 10. WMR Film Centre.
I Madame Bovary (PG) (Jean Renoir. France. 1934) Valentine Tessier. Pierre Renoir. 117 mins. Renoir originally shot a three-hour version of Flaubert's great novel, in which a romantic young woman tires of her marriage to a dull country doctor and seeks out other lovers. but he was forced to release it in this shortened. not unsatisfactory version. Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Madame Sousatzka (PG) (John Schlesinger. UK. 1988) Shirley MacLaine. Navin Chowdry. Peggy Ashcroft. Twiggy. 122 mins. Madame Sousatzka (Maclaine), an eccentric London piano teacher of Russian lineage. takes on a new pupil, Manek (Chowdry). a fourteen year-old Asian boy whom she begins to mould into her latest protege. While the property developers home in on her decaying flat and the boy‘s mother (Shabana Azmi) begins to resent Sousatzka‘s domination of her son. the teacher propels her charge ever onwards. Old-fashioned star melodrama, with a completely hammy star tour de force from the unbearable Shirley MacLaine. The boy's background is handled with considerably more credibility, but can‘t save this overlong film. Glasgow: GFT.
I Madness (15) (Kaljo Kiisk, Estonia. 1968/87) Juri Jarvet. 80 mins. Kiisk's recently unshelved classic black comedy from 1967 follows a Nazi commandant‘s efforts to discover a British spy amongst the inmates of an occupied lunatic asylum. Glasgow: GFT.
I Major League (15) (David 8. Ward. US. 1989) Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Corbin Bersen. 107 mins. The line-up for the Cleveland Indians baseball team includes Berenger as a seasoned catcher hoping that his dodgy knee will last the pace. rookie pitcher Sheen tryingto perfect his curveball and stay out ofjail, and third baseman Bensen, who‘s more concerned with saving his face for television commercials than getting on with the game. Together this unlikely lot are soon to find their dreams fulfilled by competing in the major league. Very American sports comedy with some sharp observation courtesy ofwriter/director Ward. whose previous credits include an Oscar for the screenplay of TheSting. Central: Cannon.
I Mean Streets ( 18) (Martin Scorsese. US. 1973) Harvey Keitel. Robert DeNiro. David Proval. 110 mins. Tony‘s Bar is the base for four young Italian-Americans. whose increasingly illegal activities lead to tragedy. Vividly observed character study which combines breathtaking technique with a pervasive sense ofcorruption. Keitel and De Niro give of their very best. Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Melancholia (15) (Andi Engel. UK. 1989) Jeroen Krabbe. Susannah York. Kate Hardie. 87 mins. Accomplished debut feature from film distributor Engel (he also runs Artificial Eye) has the excellent Krabbe as an increasingly aimless art critic scraping out an unsatisfying. alcohol fuelled living and who feels that he has sold out afterthe political commitment of his youth. A surprise phone call however gives him the opportunity to become involved once more. even ifthere is the price ofmurder to pay for it. An ambitious and moving evocation of deeply felt despair at the ongoing futility of the human condition.
22 The List 10— 23 November 1989