FILM LIST
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 East Kilbride.
I Landscape In The Mist ( 15) (Theo Angelopoulos. Greece. 1988) Michalis Zeke.Tania Palaiologou. Stratis Tzortzoglou. 125 mins. A small boy and his older sister leave home in search of their father and travel across a grubby Grecian landscape unable to find anyone to look after them. but from time totime witnessing visionary epiphanies. Mesmerising Greek road movie in a similar style to Angelopoulos‘s previous effort The Beekeeper. and once again beautifully performed. Glasgow: GFT.
I Last Tango in Paris ( 18) (Bernardo Bertolucci. France/Italy. 1973) Marlon Brando. Maria Schneider. 13() mins. A young Parisienne meets a middle-aged man with whom she develops an increasingly violent and purely sexual relationship. One of the key films ofits decade. Bertolucci‘s powerful drama is a meditation on the expression and communication of personal identity through intense sexual contact. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Lawrence 0f Arabia (PG) (David Lean. UK. 1962) Peter O‘Toole. Alec Guinness. Jack Hawkins. Omar Sharif. 222 mins. Lean‘s mammoth desert epic. restored to its director's original cut and the big screen. where film-making on this scale belongs. O'Toole‘s debut as the enigmatic adventurer still impresses. but apart from the majestic action sequences. it‘s the disturbing sense of clinical and cold-blooded violence hanging over the highly literate characterisation that today seems especially striking. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Lethal Weapon 2 ( 15) (Richard Donner. US. 1989) Mel Gibson. Danny Glover. Patsy Kensit. 113 mins. Wooden return for Gibson as Vietnam Vet turned cop. looking like a cross between Alcd Jones and Rambo. With Eric Clapton pounding away on the soundtrack. Lethal Weapon 2 dredges up every action movie cliche the director and scriptwriters can think of. All escapist fluff of course. but nevertheless a disappointing follow-up to the original. Central: Cannon. Strathclyde: UCI East Kilbride. WMR Film Centre.
I Life and Nothing But (PG) (Bertrand Tavernier. France. 1988) Philippe Noiret. Sabine Azema. Pascale Vignal. 134 mins. France 1918. and Major Dellaplane (Noiret) has the grisly task ofidentifying unknown soldiers' corpses. Among the relatives who come to seek their loved ones are lrene (Azema) and Alice (Vignal). The sense of a bruised and battered people quietly coming to terms with life‘s continuity despite their griefis splendidly evoked. though the central romance. all suppressed passion and meaningful glances. is mini-series stuff and the humour may have lost something in translation. Glasgow: (EFT.
I Long Weekend (18) (Gregg Araki. US. 1989) 93 mins. Low-budget gay director Araki‘s follow-up to Three Bewildered People In The Night has six bewildered former college buddies — gay. straight and bisexual — spending a revealing weekend together. Intelligent and witty LA comedy drama. Glasgow: GF'T.
I Manon Des Sources (PG) ((‘laude Berri. France/Italy. 1986) Yves Montand. Daniel Auteuil. Emmanuelle Beart. 114 mins. Ten years after the demise ofJean de Horctte. the Soubeyrans run a prosperous carnation farm. Jean‘s daughter has grown into an alluring young woman and sets out to wreak her revenge. Steering this epic rural saga towards the realms of Greek tragedy. this is a full and satisfying second half that explores the suffering of the guilty as they pay a crippling penance for man‘s greed and envy. The production values are as high as ever and Auteuil assumes Depardieu‘s
EAT A BOWL 0F TEA
Eat A Bowl of Tea (PG) (Wayne Wang, US, 1989) Victor Wong, Russell Wong, Cora Miao.102 mins. After a not entirely satisfactory excursion into more mainstream Hollywood territory with Slam Dance, Wayne Wang returns to the Chinese-American community which formed the setting for his first two films, Chan Is Missing and the delightful Dim Sum. EatA Bowl of Tea, which is adapted from a novel by Louis Chu, marks a significant return to form forthe director.
Set in New York in 1949, the film rather sends up the masculine mystique of the Chinese community. Wah Gay (VictorWong). an important man in the somewhat shady gambling world of Chinatown, decides it is time for his son to marry. Egged on by his friend Lee Gong, and despite the fact that he has left his own wife behind in China lortwenty years while he got on with life in the New World, Wah Gay is determined that Ben Loy (Russell Wong) will marry a native Chinese girl in the traditional fashion.
The reluctant youth, who has had a taste of the American way of doing things, is packed off to China, where, to his surprise, he finds himself more than pleased with his mother's choice of bride, the beautiful Mei 0i (Miao). In their home village, everyone wants the
youngsters to escape the threat of Communism in the USA, and the newly-weds return full of hope to New York.
From there, though, the film takes on a more overtly satirical tone. Despite his good looks and carefully cultivated swagger, and his delight in the beauty of his new wife, the unfortunate Ben Loy finds himself unaccountany impotent whenever confronted by Mei Di's desire. She is driven by his dereliction of duty into precipitating a huge scandal when she takes her pleasure elsewhere, with dire consequences not only for her sleazy lover, but also for her enraged father-in-law.
All looks lost, but there is still one last hope, in a traditional Chinese herbal remedy. Wang makes subtle and very funny play with the social and sexual mores of old world and new in this delightful, dark comedy, and is rewarded with splendid performances from his cast, led by the ever-reliable Victor Wong. The rather corny coda, however, looks tacked on to please American audiences, who not only demand a happy ending, but need to be hit over the head with it, lest they miss the point. (Kenny Mathieson)
From Sun 7 Jan. Edinburgh Filmhouse.
mantle in his development from glaikit idiot to broken-hearted suitor. Glasgow: GFT.
I The Man With Two Brains ( 15) (Carl Reiner. US. 1983) Steve Martin. Kathleen Turner. David Warner. 93 mins. Zany Martin-Reiner romp in which the great man plays a brilliant brain surgeon driven to the depths of despair when he weds Turner. a man-hungry murderess with a penchant for driving elderly husbands to early graves and pocketing their legacies. Deliriously delightful. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I M'A'S'H (18) (Robert Altman. US. 1970) Elliott Gould. Donald Sutherland. Sally Kellerman. Robert Duvall. 116 mins. Surgical shennanigans on a mobile hospital unit in Korea. Denselytextured comedy extravaganza in the director‘s best style. with a blacker bite than on the small screen and a truly splendid original cast. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I My Left Foot ( 15) (Jim Sheridan. Eire/UK. 1989) Daniel Day Lewis. Ray McAnally. Brenda Fricker. 9(1mins. The life story of paralysed painter and writer Christy Brown. lovingly adapted from his autobiography of the same name. Sheridan and screenplay writer Shane Connaughton have portrayed Brown
warts and all to create a funny. touching and thoroughly absorbing movie with four quite excellent central performances. and a celebration of a remarkable person. GlasgtiszF'T. Edinburgh:Fi1mhouse. I Mystery Train (15) (Jim Jarmusch. US. 1989) Masatoshi Nagase. Nicoletta Braschi. Screamin‘ Jay Hawkins. Joe Strummer. 113 mins. Jarmusch‘s first colour feature, like his earlier films. draws heavily on a beat-inspired road-movie genre. Three scperate groups ofill assorted people drift through Memphis. in a trio of interlocking vignettes that examined their various experiences in the city that boasts of the blues and Graceland. Glasgow: GFT.
I The Naked Gun (15) (David Zucker. US. 1988) Leslie Nielsen. Priscilla Presley, Ricardo Montalban. 85 mins. Nielsen gets a crack at a leading comic role as Frank Drebin. a disaster prone LA cop assigned to find the men who shot his colleague ina drugs bust. and protect our dear Queen at the same time. while also finding room for romance with secretary Presley. The makers ofAt'rplane here operate on a similar principle: keep it fast. keep it marvellously dumb. and the comic dividends will eventually flow. Watch out for a great beaver gag and comedy cameos
from Arafat. Gaddafi. Gorbachev and the Queen. Where else would you get all these clments in the same movie? Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank.
I The Never Ending Story (PG) (Wolfgang Petersen. US/W. Germany. 1985) Barret Oliver, Gerald McRaney. Drum Garret. 94 mins. Lonely young boy Bastian starts to read a mysterious book. and is miraculously drawn into the pages to undergo an exciting and dangerous adventure in a land of fantasy. Passable adaptation of the Michael Ende bestseller. with plenty ofcute furry folk to engagethe kiddies. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr.
I Mystic Pizza (15) (Daniel Petri. US. 1988) Annabeth Gish. Julia Roberts. Vincent Philiop D'Onosrio. 104 mins. See review. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon.
I A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master(18) (Renny Harlin. US. 1989) Robert Englund. Rodney Eastman. Danny Hassel. 93 mins. The bastard son of a thousand maniacs returns. as Freddy Krueger. the child murderer with a severe manicure problem. continues to slash his way through the dreams ofyet another disposable cast of teenage actors. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank. UCl East Kilbride.
I DIiverAnd Company (U) (George Scribner. US. 1989) With the voices of Joey Lawrence. Billy Joel. Dom DeLuise. Bette Midler. 74 mins. Disney studios‘ free adaptation of Dickens‘ Oliver Twistis set in modern New York. with Oliver asa cute kitten hanging out with a bunch of streetwise dogs. The Artful Dodger is played by pop-singer Joel. while La Midler turns in a pampered poodle. The usual Disney charm prevails. though Dickens‘ cutting edge is blunted somewhat. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon The Forge. Odeon. Salon. Edinburgh: Odeon. Central: Allanpark. Caledonian. Cannon. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. Odeon Hamilton. UCl Clydebank. UCI East Kilbride. WMR Film Centre. I Pet Sematary ( 18) (Mary Lambert. US. 1989) Dale Midkiff. Denise Crosby. Fred Gwynne. 102 mins. In a dark old house in Maine near an old Indian burial ground. strange things can happen. Handy really. for young Louis Creed (Midkiff) . who. shattered by the death of his two year-old son, tries to bring him back to life by meddling in the old Indian plot. Strange to relate. the child comes back slightly changed and soon anyone in reach ofthe cutlery is at the sharp end ofthe youngster‘s tantrums. Despite its clumsy structure. it is at least well acted and occasionally scary. However. like most Stephen King books. this could make a great movie. though. like most Stephen King films. this is not it. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank.UC1 East Kilbride.
I The Princess Bride (PG) (Rob Reiner. US. 1987). Cary Elwcs. Robin Wright. Mandy Patinkin. Billy Crystal. 99 mins. The princess in question is one Buttercup. chosen by the nasty Prince Humperdinck to be his bride. Her heart. however. belongs to Westley. a farm boy who has gone off to make his fortune before marrying her. but has disappeared. The princess‘ kidnapping by a trio ofdodgy types prompts the return of Westley. now the Dread Pirate Roberts. and the beginning of a series ofoften very funny swashbuckling adventures before true love can finally prevail. William Goldman‘s heavily ironic fairy tale is given a spirited treatment by the director of Stand By Me and an enthusiastic troupe. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Privates on Parade ( 15) (Michael Blakemore. UK. 1982) John Cleese. Denis Quilley. Michael Elphick. Nicola Pagett. 113 mins.(‘1eese barks out the orders. as only he can. whilst a troupe of squaddies try and amuse the troops in Malaya daring the Emergency. Peter Nichols' play converts to the screen about as convincingly as the English countryside
The List 22 December 1989- 11 January 1990 21
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