FILM LIST
performances by Streep and Neill. Strathclyde: [JCT East Kilbride.
I Dad (PG) ((iary David (ioldberg. CS. 1989) Jack Lemmon. Ted Danson. Olympia [)ukakis. 117 mins. See feature. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street.
I Dancin' Thru The Dark ( 15) n (Mike Ockrent. UK. 1990) Con ()‘Neill.Clare llackett. Simon ()‘Brien. 95 mins. See review. (ilasgow: ()deon. Edinburgh: Odeon. Strathclyde: [ICl Clydebank. UCl East Kilbride.
I Dead Poets Society (l’(i) (Peter Weir. US. 1989) Robin Williams. Robert Sean Leonard. Ethan llawke. 129 mins. In a staid private boys‘ school in Fifties New England. an unconventional teacher (Williams) interests his charges in literature and philosophy to such an extent that they form a secret club to investigate them (along with booze and girls) further. Though Williams is on good form. the film focuses mainly on the boys' emotional development and crises. and on the mystery and beauty surrounding their midnight meetings. A sensitive. tense and moving study of the conflict between passion and authority. even if the plot is somethingofa cliche. lidinburgh: Filmhouse. Strathclydc: WMR Film Centre.
I Desperately Seeking Susan ( 15 ) (Susan Scidclman. US. 1985) Rosanna Arquctte. Madonna. Aidan ()uina. Ill-l mins. Fun and fizzy. role-swapping feminist fantasy comedy set in the Big Apple. (ilasgow: (irosycnor. (EFT.
I Diva ( 15) (Jean-Jacques Beineix. France. 1981 ) Frederic Andrei. Roland Bertin. Richard Bohringer. ll7 mins. The twisted fate of two tapes. one an illegal recording of an American opera star. the other exposing a crime ring. is the central strand of this daffy (iallic cult favourite. Style exudes from every sprocket hole. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Driving Miss Daisy ( t: i ( Bruce Beresford. CS. 1989) JessicaTandy. Morgan Freeman. Dan Aykroyd. 99mins. An extraordinary nine ()scar nominations for this film adaptation of Alfred L'hry's Pulitzer-winning play. charting the relationship between gentlewoman Tandy and her chauffeur Freeman. The narrative spans several decades of gradually shifting attitudes and dey eloping racial consciousness. This affecting mosaic of everyday pride and prejuducc reveals a deeply-laid insight into human behaviour. presented throughout with wonderful pacing. (ilasgow: Cannon The Forge. ()deon. Strathclyde: L'Cl Clydebank. UCl East Kilbridc.
I Earth (L') (Alexander [)ovzhenko. USSR. I930) Semyon Svashenko. Stepan Shkurst. Mikola .\'ademsky. A rarely equalled lyrical evocation of a land and its people by one of the poets ofcelluloid. Edinburgh Film (iuild.
I8‘l‘2 (Federico Fellini. Italy. 1963) Marcello .‘ylastroianni. Claudia Cardinale. Anouk Aimee. I38 mins. Showing in a pristine new 35mm print. Many regard this moody magnum opus as the Italian maestm's finest hour. Followinga scenario not unlike the one that faced Fellini himselfwhen he was under pressure to come tip with a sequel to the massive international success of [.u Dulce Vita. Mastroianni plays a film-maker plagued by intellectual insecurity and Catholic guilt as a weird selection of actresses. financiers. writers and hucksters dog his every move. As ever with Fellini. it's all about spectacle rather than ideas. but the show is a sparklingone. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Exorcist ( 18) (William l-‘riedkin. L'S. I973) Linda Blair. [illen Burstyn. Max Von Sydow. I ll) mins. Iiarnest priest Von Sydow steps in to save poor little obsessed girl in this hugely effective scarefcst. Dead good. dead scarey. dead priest. Edinburgh: Cameo. Strathclyde: ()deon Ayr.
I Exorcist 2: The Heretic ( 18) (John
Dancin’ Thru The Dark (15) (Mike Dckrent, UK, 1990) Claire Hackett, Con O’Neill, Mark Womack, Simon O’Brien. 95 mins. British movies, dontcha just love 'em! First we had Letter To Brezhnev, about wacky Liverpudlians in a nightclub; then we got No Surrender, aboutwacky bigoted Liverpudlians in a nightclub; and now, as if twice was not enough, there’s Dancin‘ Thru The Dark, which is
about. . . well, you guessed it. The BBC in selecting their first movie project must have thought they were on to a winner, a foolproof combination of Palace (LetterTo B.) Pictures‘ proven youth track record and writer Willy Russell’s appeal to a wider mature audience. But, in truth, over-calculation is writ large over this too-familiar product.
In essence, it's a film version ol Bussell’s early Seventies stage piece Stags and Hens, but while the original set made good use of the theatrical space (the Ladies on one side, the Gents on the other, and that's your lot), the spectacle of two groups of people shouting at each other in a claustrophobic disco for ninety minutes is very limited in terms of cinematic
DANCIN’ THRU THE DAK
scope. Sadly, it’s made even less appealing by the all-too-diagrammatic characters. As the tide of envy, lust, apprehension and ambition rises, the manner in which the various personality conflicts are laid out displays all the guile, mystery and excitement of a Subbuteo team neatly static before the kick-off. Dave (Con O'Neill) is the returning hero made big, Linda (Claire Hackett) too ambitious to settle into herlorthcoming marriage, Eddie (Mark Womack) the man who never left, Kav (Simon O'Brien) the typical frustrated young artist, all of them cut from well-worn templates. While theatre director Mike Dckrent appears to have television in mind by blandly concentrating on the procession of talking heads, it's down to Willy Russell that the talk is so uninspiringly flat. Without much vibrant humourto spark it along, the important debate between repression and expression, between the hometown and the bright lights, is made to seem merely hackneyed. Russell manages to turn a universal concern into just so much parochial navel-gazing. (TrevorJohnston)
Boorman. CS. 1977) Richard Burton. Louise Fletcher. Linda Blair. llllmins. The horror film that once turned heads receives an unworthy sequel in this silly mumbo-jumbo about priest Burton try ing to understand the demons still lurking \ within the hapless Ms Blair. lidinburgh: Cameo.
I Family Business ( 15) (Sidney Luntct. CS. 1989) Sean Connery. Dustin Hoffman. Matthew Broderick. Rosana de Soto. llllmins. From the titles down thisis Connerys film. Asold (iranpa McMullen. he swears. drinks. womanises and hangs his arms out of police cells a lot. It is a role he looks good in. lloffman.has a harder time playing the crime-spurning son though Broderick. as the grandson. stands up well to his elders and betters
Together they get involved in a foolproof heist dreampt up by the grandson. ()nce old Sean gets banged tip however. the film loses its way and slides into a mireof sentimentality. (ilasgow: Cannon The Forge. ()deon. (irosvenor. lidinburgh: ()deon. Central: Allanpark. Caledonian. Strathclyde: Kclburne. ()deon Ay r. l C] Clydebank. l'Cl liast Kilbride.
I Fatal Attraction ( l8) (Adrian l.y ne. T'S. I987) (ilenn Close. Michael Douglas. Anne Archer. ll9 mins. Happily married law yer Douglas discovers the high price of infidelity when hiscasualone-night-stand turns out to be a dangerously psychotic woman who w ill stop at nothing to gain her man‘s affection. (ilossy and well acted if misogynistic l litchcock-stv le thriller. (ilasgow : (il’l‘. '
I Field of Dreams( PG) (Phil Alden Robinson. CS. 1989) Kevin Costner. Amy Madigan. Burt Lancaster. James liarl ' Jones. 106 mins. An unlikely winncrfrom writer director Robinson has Costner asa hardworking. hard-pressed farmer who risks financial ruin and builds the baseball diamond of his dreams in one of his fields in an attempt to recapture the innocence of his boyhood. And lo, out of the corn fields come his childhood heroes ready to toss the old ball around. (ice. it sorta gets you right here — the baseball equivalent of soft porn. lidinburgh: Filmhouse. I Ghostbusters 2 (l’(i l ( lvan Reitman. CS. 1989) Bill Murray. Dan Aykroyd. l larold Ramis. Sigourney Weaver. lll8inins. Need a sequel'.’ Who you gonna call‘.’ The down-at-heel and discredited slimcfightcrs are back in business. after mayhem once more breaks otit on the streetsof New York. The effects look less cheap this time. and ifyou liked it first time round you are on a winner here; if you were less than convinced. stay'at home- you've seen this one already. (ilasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Edinburgh: ()deon. Central: Cannon. Strathclyde: L'Cl Clydebank. L'Cl Iiast Kilbride. I GIDI‘V( 15) 1‘": (lidward [w ick. CS. 1989) Matthew Broderick. Denzel Washington. Cary lilwes. Morgan Freeman. 122 mins. See review. (ilasgow: Cannon The Forge. Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Iidinburgh: Cannon. Central: Cannon. Strathclyde: Cannon. L'Cl Clydebank. L'Cl liast Kilbride. I The GooniestPG) (Richard Donner. CS. 1985) Sean Astin. Josh Brolin. Jeff Cohen. 112 mins. Rather dire tecnllick.in which seven kids go in quest ofburied treasure. leaving their parents arguing over real estate. and are followed hotly by vicious villains vying for the loot. A joyride which is slow to start and doesn‘t ever depart from well charted highways. Central: Caledonian. I Honey I Shrunk The Kids ( L' ) (Joe Johnston. CS. 1989) Rick Moranis. Matt Frewer. Thomas Brown. Amy O'Neill. Robert ()liveri. .lared Rushton. 92mins. l lapless father and would-be inventor (Moranis) does just what the title suggests. The kids find themser es cut down to size (a quarter ofan inchland swept out with the trash. Their mission: to escape from the garbage bag and somehow attract their father's attention to their height problem. Well. we might think it's old hat but Walt l)isnac. Showing with the excellent new Roger Rirbhirshort. Tummy I‘rou/ile. (ilasgow: Cannon The Forge. ()deon. lidinburgh: Dominion. ()deon. Central: Cannon. Regal. Strathclyde: Cannon. Kelburne. ()deon Ayr. ( )deon Hamilton. l C] Clydebank. ['Cl liast Kilbride. I Housekeeping (PU) (Bill Forsyth. Canada. l987) Christine l.ahti. Sara Walker. Andrea Burchill. 116 mins. Scrupulously faithful to the Marilynne Robinson noy el. l-‘orsyth's film tells ol'two orphaned sisters who are entrusted to the custody of their eccentric aunt Sylvie. Literately scripted. confidently" directed. beautifully photographed and performed with sensitive insight. lidinburgh Broughton tilm Society. I The House of Bernada Alba ( 15) (Mario Camus. Spain. l989l Irene Caba. Ana Belen. Florinda Chico. 104 mins. From the opening shots of a crowded funeral mass. Lorca's symbolic treatment of female sexuality receives a thoroughly professional rendering from Camus. Luscioust shot with enormotis attention to detail. the film is profoundly beautiful but largely fails to develop the sense of suffocation or claustrophobia toward which it is clearly striving. (ilasgow : (il’l‘. lidinburgh: Filmhouse. I I'm Gonna Git You Sucka ( 15 i ( Keenan Ivory Wayans. CS. I988) Keenan lvory Wayans. Isaac l layes. Jim Brown. 89 mins. In this zippy spoof of the Seventies
20 The List 9 — 22 March 1990