FILM LIST
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TrevorJohnston gives you a round-up ol the next two weeks’ new movie releases, and casts his beady eye over some torthcoming lilm-related events.
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I JESUS or MONTREAL l (15) One oi the hottest
movies at lastyear's I Cannes lilm lestlval, although the jury didn’t ' quite see it thatway. I Canadian director Denys Arcand lollows through with I wit and intelligence the I idea that a bearded young actor in a Montreal passion I play might just be who we { think he is. See leature. : Edinburgh Filmhouse and Glasgow Film Theatre lrom ‘ Sun 21 Jan.
I LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN l (18) Hubert Selby’s once-banned novel is I brought to the screen with a 2 good deal ol its hellish . depiction oi downtown Filtles New York intact. Ulie ‘ (Christiane F) Edel directs ; and the much put-upon 3 Jennller Jason Leigh heads the cast. See leature.
Odeons Glasgow,
Edinburgh and Ayr lrom Fri 19Jan.
_. 4"" I PARENTHOOD (15) Steve Martin, Diane Wlest, Rick Moranis and Jason Robards lead a huge and impressive acting ensemble in an extremely sentimental, extremely middle-class serio-comic mosaic at American tamin Iile. Ron (Cocobn) Howard directs with customary niceness. See review. Cannons Glasgow and Edinburgh, UCI Clydebank and East Kllbride trom Fri 12 Jan.
20 The List 12— 25 January 1990
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Shot on location in Gourock IastJune, Robert Smith’s new iilm ‘Wild Flowers' 3 represented ior its director something oi a homecoming. ‘l’m actually irom the Midlands but a lot oi my lamily come lrom the West Coast ol Scotland,’he explains. ‘As a child I remember sitting up on the hill at Greenock and looking down on the whole area. It was very beautitul but very damp, though when we came to do the lilm the sun shone every day.’ Having spent a lot 01 time with his aunties as a boy, Smith’s initial idea was to locus on the strength at the women in the Clydeside community, and he contacted playwright Sherman MacDonald, best know ior her memoir oi Scots adolescence ‘When I Was A Girl I Used To Scream and Shout’, with a view to working on a story. In the end, MacDonald’s screenplay lor ‘Wild Flowers’ uses the lamin gathering at a luneral to examine the surprising and, in the context at Presbyterian Gourock, dliilcult love attair between the deceased (Colette O’Neil) and her
Fins Of Scotl'nd
3 son's girllriend (Beatie Edney).
Having iormed Frontroom
Productions with John Davies while at
the Royal College at Art, the pair have collaborated on a number at projects like ‘Acceptable Levels’, their admirable dissection ol the ellects oi violence on children in Beliast, and the gentler comedy ‘The Love Child’ with ourvery own Peter Capaldi, which have seen them looking to the Irish and the Scots lor creative inspiration, a process that ‘Wild Flowers’ (edited by Davies) merely serves to continue. ‘Maybe it’s the Celtic thing, but as a culture it's more dramatic,‘ rellects director and sometime cameraman Smith. ‘What I mean is that the culture is still intact, it has a sense oi itseli, and a recognition oi its own experience. England is much more dllticult to generate stories about.’ ‘Wild Flowers’ (15) is previewed at the Glasgow Film Theatre on Wed 24 Jan at 8.15pm, and Robert Smith will be present alter the screening to discuss the illm with the audience.
As a postscript to the recent Man Who Shot Garbo exhibition oi Hollywood star photographs by Clarence Sinclair Bull just ended at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, noted author and collector oi original iilm material John Kobal is to give an illustrated lecture at Edinburgh Filmhouse. Famous the world over, the Kobal collection oi prints and negatives is a treasure trove ol glamorous images lrom the golden age at Hollywood and its stills are constantly in demand tor reproduction in books, newspapers and magazines. Growing out cl a passionate leeling lor moviedom’s glittering history, Kobal’s work in expanding the collection and publishing books like
Talking Pictures
‘The Art oi The Great Hollywood Photographers’ has been instrumental in gaining recognition iorthe inlluence and artistry oi men like Clarence Sinclair Bull, and indeed itwas the Kobal Collection in collaboration with Terence Pepperlrom London’s National Portrait Gallery which was responsible lor setting up the MGM lensman’s acclaimed retrospective. Given his lirst-hand knowledge oi the inner workings oi the Hollywood star machine, Kobal’s illustrated lecture should be an entertaining, inlormative and personable ailair. Filmhouse have managed to lollow it only a week later with another coup in the shape oi a rare visit by Kenneth Anger, perhaps best known now tor his intimate revelations oi megastar misdemeanours in the ‘Hollywood Babylon’ books, but was also a major iigure in American underground iilm. Pieces like the gay leather ietish extravaganza ‘Scorplo Rising’ and the lascivious lairy tale ‘Eaux d’Artilice’ will be heading a major touring retrospective oi his work that is due to play Filmhouse in February. John Kobal is at Edinburgh Filmhouse on Fri 12 Jan, 8.30pm; while ‘The Man Who Shot Garbo’ is published by Simon and Schuster at £25. Kenneth Anger hits Filmhouse on Fri 19 Jan, also at8.30pm.
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I REEFER AND THE MODEL (15) Now getting a long-delayed release in the UK, Joe Cromertord’siilm irom Ireland is a modern day Bonnie and Clyde story which takes a sideways look at the country’s political problems and its sexual repressiveness. Edinburgh Filmhouse Sun 14 to Tue 16 an.
I SISTERS (15) Michael Hollman, the man who brought you Restless Natives, went through the tilm-makers’ programme at Robert Redlord’s Sundance Institute on the way to crafting this eccentric and intriguing tale ot a weird lamily inhabiting a castle just outside Ouebec. See review.
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t - I . \ .x‘o'l ) I V I TURNER AND HOOCH (PG) The ever-splendid Tom Hanks co-stars with a pooch named Hooch, adeptly played by Beazley the De Bordeaux mastitl, in a cop/canine buddy movie that’s been going down very well at the US box oilice.
Wide release lrom Fri12 Jan.
FILM EVENTS
I DREAMS AND DEAD ENDS is the title ol a ten week course trom the Edinburgh Film Guild which will examine the development at the American gangster/crime movie and screen a number ol the classics oi the genre lrom The Public Enemy to Point Blank. Cost is £15 (£12.58 concs/EFG members) lrom EFG Education, Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, EH3 982 or telephone Jim Dunnigan on 229 1887.
I UKHORROR FILM FESTIVAL booking lorrns are now available lrom Glasgow's Grosvenor and Salon cinemas. As we previously reported, this will be the lirst timethe event has visited Scotland and ten new horror/tantasy Iilms will be premiered between 11pm on Feb 24 and 6pm the next day. Titles look set to include the cult shocker Society, and Robert Englund in The Phantom oi The Opera. Tickets at £17 (£15 conc) are available lrom David Bryan. 70 Thatch Lane, Whitelield. Manchester M25 DEW.