A briet announcement tor the benefit 01 readers who have been Iollowing the somewhat eccentric pre-rambles to the Openers section. the regular lortnightly at-a-glance guide to the Iorthcoming lilm releases. They are inlorrned that the writer at this material. a certain Trevor K. has been given notice 01 his approaching trial and will thus be unable to continue in this post. The pr0per authorities apologise tor any convenience this may cause.
I BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE (15) Hip dudes Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are set to llunktheir high school history exams until. courtesy ola time-travellingtelephone box. they start hangin' out with the likes oi Socrates. Genghis Khan. Joan oIArc. Napoleon etc inthis enjoyany ramshackle teen romp. Odeons Glasgow and Edinburgh, UCls trom Fri 13 Apr.
I A CITY OF SADNESS (15) Hou Hsiao-Hsien's winner olthe Golden Lion at Venice 1989 is a complex panorama otTaiwan‘s post-war political turmoil. painstakingly weaving togetherthe varied destinies oi three brothers. See review. Edinburgh Filmhouse Wed 11 to Sa114 Apr.
I COURAGE MOUNTAIN (U) Anothervariant oi the Heidi story has plucky newcomer Juliette Caton asthe winsome Swiss miss escaping lrom the clutches olan authoritarian orphanage by leading her lellow charges on a perilous mountainside trek.
Cannon Sauchiehall Street and UCIslrom Fri 6Apr.
I LAMBADA (12) Cash-in dance craze movietime lrom the same teamthat brought you the classic Breakdance a lew years back.
Wide Cannon release and UClslrom Fri 13Apr.
I LOOK WHO'S TALKING (12) John Travolta returns in this US megahitcomedy as a cheery cabbie who‘s lailen lorunmarried mum Kirstie Alley. Except that she is imperviousto his charms and it takes the little nipper. whose every thought is voiced-overby Bruce Willis, to bringthem together. See ieature. Odeons Glasgow and Edinburgh, UCIs lrom Fri 6 Apr.
I ROMERO (15) RaulJulia
takes the central role in this sumure account 01
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WEEK ONE 21 WEEK TWO 22
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PREVIEW mm
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FILM LIST
A breed apart
‘This is not a typical iilm’, quips 2 directorBrian Yuzna withabreezy airol
understatement, ‘because the more you tell people about Society the less
: intriguing it becomes.‘ The lather
knows his own child too, because Society is that special sort ot lilm where the critic really can‘t give too much away. I can tell you that it’s a spunky little B-movie lrom the lolks that brought you the horror comic classics Reanimator and From Beyond, that the narrative lollows alienated
‘ Calilornian youngster Billy Warlock as
he comes to terms with both his lack 01 social acceptability and his deeply-rooted lears ol incest, and that it traces the same lines set by Michael Lehman's Heathers in venting teen angst in a darkly physical way. Exactly how those anxieties are vindicated by the lilm's monstrous conclusion it would be unlairto reveal, but you’ll note that it bears a credit lor Surrealistic Make-up Ellects by a gentleman named Screaming Mad George.
It you were to judge him solely by his lilms, you might guess that Mr Yuzna is probably in need at a good psychiatrist, but, perhaps surprisingly, he’s one 01 the most articulate lilm-makers you could wish to meet. Having given me a potted run-down on the dillerences in approach between Freud and Jung, he explains that his movies are about ‘taking psychological notions and making them real. II we are
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uncomlortable in certain company, we come up with this notion that the rich are a breed apart. Yet, what happens it, as a lilm-maker, I then take that scenario down to a genetic and biological level and attempt to physically show it on screen. My inclination has always been to the lantastic, but I can't really call Society a horror lilm or even a science Iiction movie. To me it’s psycho-liction.’
One at the more intelligent genre movies ol recent years, Society touches on areas 01 adolescent sexuality and class warlare that are alt-limits to many a plodding exploitation llick. And there's at least one great when when the hero pleads “I’m not paranoid, my tears are real!’ (Trevor Johnston)
Birth of the bomb
Having successiuliy explored the Cambodian conllict in The Killing Fields and treated the divisions between Church and State in 18th century South America in The Mission, director Roland Jolie attempts in Shadow Makers to bring to a wide movie-going audience a serious consideration oi the genesis ol the atomic bomb. Starring a grull Paul Newman as General Leslie Groves, the military man who was the driving force behind America‘s A-bomb project, and stage actor Dwight Schultz as Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist atthe head at the scientilic team, Jolie's movie lollows the pattern 01 his other projects in threading complex moral issues through a drama 01 recognisable human conllicts. Here, we see how Groves sheer strength at conviction and
l Oppenheimer’sdrivetowardsthe
solution oi a ‘technically sweet‘ scientilic problem were fundamental Iactors in suppressing any doubts about the humanitarian validity oi the superweapon they were creating. Saddled in the US with the apparently misleading title Fat Man and Little Boy (audiences understandably expected a comedy). the lilm also came under savage attack lor its supposed lactual inaccuracies lrom the quality American press. The result was a poor showing at the box oltice. Having undergone a title change to Shadow Makers lor the European release. Jolie believes that
the lilm’s uncomlortable message was the real reason lor its stony stateside reception. ‘You see the Vietnam war is a very acceptable thing to criticise,‘ he explains, ‘especially it you suggest that America is basically good but got mislead by a very nasty government. What this lilm is saying is thatwhen it came down to choices, this country— America — chose to drop the atomic bomb on two cities. They had a chance tor a demonstration, or they could even have hit the lleet. But no, they actually wanted to drop it on cities, on human beings.‘
It's the manner in which Jolie gets us to root tor the scientists as they race against time to deliver results that makes Shadow Makers at times an uneasy lilm to watch. Although the plethora 01 human interest sub-plots burgeoning around the secret Los Alamos base seem a little grafted on, the movie‘s painstaking approach conveys both the seductiveness of discovery and the tragically catalytic etiect ol the personality clash between Groves and Oppenheimer. ‘My lilms aren't lectures, I hope’, adds director Jolie. “They’re much more about trying to understand what people do. Shadow Makers isn’t really an expose oi the way the bomb was made, but uses that process to look at how people lall prey to their deepest tears and their desire lor control.‘ (Trevor Johnston)
3 W
Salvadorean Archbishop Oscar Romero. the outspoken man olGod. assassinated by death squads while celebrating mass in his cathedral in 1980. Makes loran interesting comparison with OliverStone‘s treatmentol the same events. See review. Glasgow Film Theatre Sun 8 to Sat 14Apr. I SANTA SANGRE (18) Crazed Chilean auteur Alexandro Jodorowsky returnslrom the wilderness with this wildlyimaginative shockerconcerning death. dismemberment and mother love amongst everyday Mexican circus iolk. Told through the eyes ola madman it conjures up disturbing memories oi Freaks, Dr Caligari and Luis Bunuel‘s dark surrealism. See teature. Edinburgh Filmhouse Fri 13to Thurs 19Apr; Glasgow Film Theatre Sun 29 Apr to Thurs May 10.
I SHADOW MAKERS (PG) Roland Jolie's thoughttul account at the making olthe atomic bomb with Paul Newman's General Groves pitted against Dwight Schultz's Robert Oppenheimeriound little lavourwith American moviegoers but remainsa passionate attempt to bring serious debate to a wide cinema audience. See preview. Cannon Sauchiehall Street lrom Fri 6 Apr.
I SOCIETY (18) Calilornian teen Billy Warlockleels alienated from his lolks and peers. and no wondereither because the surrounding society is up to all manner oldark deeds. See
f preview.Glasgow Cannon
Parkhead and UCls lrom Fri 6Apr.
ISTRAPLESS(15)David Hare‘slatestcinematic
ottering lollows doctor Blair Brown's enigmatic altair with Bruno Ganz and iinds a parallel in her increasingly dedicated etiorts at lighting
the health service cuts.
Bridget Fonda looks in as a
newlyresponsiblesingle
parent and dress designer.
See review. Glasgow
.16» , .J
Grosvenorand Edinburgh Cameo lrom Fri 13Apr.
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J“ I UNCLE BUCK (PG) Burly
American comic John Candy is the bumbling eponymous relative called in to look alter his young neices and nephews lorthe weekend.
Mayhem and a lew moral lessons ensue in his most
recent product lrom writer/directorJohn Hughes. See review. Cannons Glasgow and
Edinburgh. UCls lrom Fri 13 Apr.