FILM LIST
certain runn‘mg‘Uut of creative steam. Central: Caledonian.
I King 01 Comedy (PG) (Martin Scorsese. US 1983) Robert de Niro. Jerry Lewis. Sandra Bernhard. 109 mins. Full-time schmuck Rupert Pupkin (de Niro) dearly wants to be a successful television entertainer. so he puts together a plan to kidnap glum chat show host Lewis and so find his way on to the box. Desperate comic capers. with a bitter edge to de Niro‘s manic. hilarious and somehow involving performance. Criminally under-rated. this slices to the core of America's cultural emptiness. Edinburgh University Film Society.
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. Lovcly spaghetti-eating sequence. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. I Landscape In The Mist ( 15) (Theo Angelopoulos. Greece. 1988)Micha1is Zeke. Tania Palaiologou. Stratis Tzortzoglou. 125 mins. A small boy and his slightly older sister leave home in search of their missing father and travel across a grubby Grecian landscape unable to find anyone to look after them. but from time to time witnessing visionary epiphanies. Mesmerising Greek road movie in a similar style to Angelopoulos's previous effort The Beekeeper. and once again beautifully performed. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Law Of Desire ( 18) (Pedro Almodovar. Spain. 101 mins) Eusebio Poncela. Carmen Maura. Antonio Baderas. 101 mins. Notorious film-maker Pablo moves through a decadent lifestyle ofsensual pleasure. his only real concern for his younger brother turned transcxual 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 ofoverheated melodrama. the lack of narrative control near the end docs let the film down. Still. a singular talent to watch. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I La Lectrlce (Michel Deville. France. 1988) Miou-Miou. Christian Ruche. Patrick Chesnais. 98 mins. Bookworm Miou-Miou lives in a demi-monde between real life and the imaginative fantasies spawned by her reading. Persuaded by a friend to read aloud fora living, she forms a number ofbizarre relationships with her various listening clients, and the film develops into a witty. erotic and absorbing tapestry woven from the threads of mundane reality and curious fiction. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre.
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 WeaponZ dredges up every action movie cliche the director and scriptwriters can think of. All escapist fluff ofcourse, but nevertheless a disappointing follow-up to the original. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank 10.
I LIIB II A Long Oulet River ( 15) x? (Etienne Chatiliez. France, 1988) Benoit Magimel, Patrick Gelin, Andre Wilms. 99 mins. See review. Glasgow: GFT.
I Mill Ofiron (PG) (Andrzej Wajda, Poland, 1981) 152 mins. A sequel to his earlier Man Of Marble. which looked at the experience of a model worker in the Fifties. the film tells the story of the strike in the Gdansk shipyards which lead to the
LIFE IS A LONG QUIET RIVER
Lile Is A Long Ouiet River (15) (Etienne Chatiliez. France, 1988) Benoit Magimel, Valerie Lalonde, Andre Wilms. 99 mins. Prize-winning commercials director, Chatiliez. hit megalrancs when this debut feature had some three million Frenchpersons rolling in the aisles, but it remains to be seen how well the iilm’s Gallic humourwlll fare in Britain. Certainly. the plot is simple enough, and lifts Its central notion irom Mark Twain's novel Pudd'nhead Wilson, where complications arise irom the identities ol the master’s and the slave's child having been switched at birth.
Here. it‘s down to a lrustrated nurse, so angry that the graying alcoholic doctor she’s in love with seems only to care for extremely casual sex that she does the old swaperoo on two hospital cradles lost out oi pique. Twelve years later she writes to the families concerned and tells them ol what has happened. Her main intention ls to dlscreditthe physician, but her revelations are to cause some turmoil because the haut-bourgeois Le Quesnoys learn that they are harbouring one of the sleazy Groseilles clan, and vice versa. The upshot is that the rich iolks pay the poor lolks money to have their kid back. and while it's spend, spend, spend lorthe Groseilles.
the streetsmart youngster let loose in the Le Ouesnoy mansion is soon up to no good.
The humour throughout relies on characterisation exploiting the situation. ratherthan the slick succession of sight gags and one-liners that a Hollywood film-maker would wring from the situation (though i don't suppose an American remake is all that iaraway). Forthis viewer, there weren't too many belly laughs in store but quite a plethora of smiles. The principals are all comfortany cast with Benoit Maginel’s Divine-lsh Mama Groseille and Andre Wilms. clipped pater Le Guesnoy particularly splendid. The right audience rooting lorthe picture could have a lot of fun with these two. (Trevor Johnston)
formation of Solidarity. A swift response to contemporary events. Man OfIrrm was filmed and released without governmental approval. but the foreign success ofthis valuable project meant that the authorities could not ban it. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Mapentsuia (15) (Oliver Schmitz. S. Africa. 1988) Thomas Mogotlane. Thembi Mtshali. Peter Sephuma. 106 mins.Sma11-time Soweto thiefPanic (Mogotlane) is interested only in snatching handbags and carousing in local shebcens. However. when he is picked up and interned with a number oftrade unionists. his brutal experiences behind bars help him to formulate a more committed attitude to the struggle against apartheid. Filmed under the noses ofthe white authorities. this remarkable film is the most authentic screen examination we have of life in the townships. and while a little lacking in narrative drive or emotional appeal. the quiet power it generates comes from the total conviction of its hard realism. Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Midnight Express ( 18) (Alan Parker. UK. 1978) Brad Davis. John Hurt. Mike Kellin. 121 mins. Dealingeconomically with the truth. this is still a riveting story of the nightmare that befell American Billy Hayes when he was incarcerated in a hellish Turkish jail on a charge of drug-smuggling. Brutal. viscerally powerful filmmaking that won an Oscar for Oliver Stone‘s script. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I Mississippi Burning ( 18) (Alan Parker US. 1988) Willem Dafoe, Gene Hackman, Frances McDormand. Brad Dourif. 127 mins. The director stirred upa hornet’s nest of controversy as well as gaining seven Oscar nominations. with this study of racial hatred in the deep South of America. The major criticsm stemmed from the film’s concentration on the two white FBI agents. However despite its mainstream commercial context it remains a powerful thriller full of good intentions and not too many film-makers working in such a context would be prepared even to try and bring
such a flammable subject to the screen. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I My Girlfriend's Boyfriend 1. ’A mi de Man Amie(PG) (Eric Rohmer. France. 1987)
Emmanuelle Chaulet. Sophie Renoir. Eric Viellard. 102 mins. The sixth and final offering in Rohmer‘s seriesof Comedies and Proverbs focuses on the relationship between computer programmer Renoir and shy civil servant Chaulet as their search for love results in a series of embarrassing romantic entanglements. Typically perceptive and self-assured work from the Gallic master. Edinburgh: French Institute.
I My Llle As A Dog (PG) (Lasse llalstrom. Sweden. 1985) Anton Glanzelius. Manfred Server. Anki Liden. 101 mins. Wholly captivating rite of passage tale set in Sweden during the 1950s. Twelve year-old lngemar copes with his mother‘s terminal illness and his family‘s general indifference to his boisterous spirits by indulging in a high fantasy life. including the pretence that he is a dog. Terrible title. wonderful. unmissable film. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Name at the Bose ( 18) (Jean-Jacques Annaud. W. Germany’France/ltaly. 1986) Sean Connery. F. Murray Abraham. Christian Slater. 131 mins. Marvellous medieval mystery with the masterful Connery as a Sherlock Holmes-like sleuth on the trail ofa murderer in the monastery. A convincing historical atmosphere and a BAFI'A winning performance from Scan. Edinburgh: Broughton Film Society.
I New York Stories (15) 1*: (Martin Scorsese/Francis Coppola/Woody Allen. [18. 1989) Rosanna Arquette. Nick Nolte. Giancarlo Giannini. Woody Allen. Mia Farrow. 118 mins. See review. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Paris By Night ( 15) (David Hare. UK. 1988) Charlotte Rampling. Michael Gambon. Iain Glen. 104 mins. lnthe French Capital for a round ofhaggling with the French farming lobby Miss Rampling embarks on a recklessly dangerous liaison with young entrepreneur lain Glen and is brutally
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3.» ' ."A MUST-SEE
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The List 24 November —- 7 December 198915