Wood,Jim Backus, Sal Minco. lllmins. Seminal youth movie has Dean as a
communicate with his parents and caught in the violent struggle for self-definition. Though irrevocably dated by now. this is still notable as the film that articulated the until-then unrecognised experiences and aspirations of a whole generation and does of course contain our favourite nostalgia icon in full flow. Strathclyde: UCl East Kilbride.
I The Rescuers (U) (Wolfgang Reitherman. John Lounsberry and Art Stevens. US. 1977) With the voices of Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor. Geraldine Page. 77 mins. Technically expert and sporadically enthralling cartoon adventure from the lattcrday Disney studios, which lacks the inventiveness and lustre of the man himself‘s work. The story concerns two members of the Mouse Rescue Aid Society, who, with the help of Orville the albatross. set out to save an orphan girl from the wicked Medusa‘s home in a Louisiana swamp. Central: Regal. Strathclyde: Odeon Hamilton.
I Revenge (18) (Tony Scott. US. 1990) Kevin Costner, Anthony Quinn. Madelaine Stowe. 124 mins. Costner plays an ex-fighter pilot sojurning in Mexico with Mexican millionaire buddy Quinn. and managing to violate his friends trust by falling passionately in love with his young wife Stowe. When hubby exacts a brutal revenge on both of them. our Kev vows to get his own back by all means necessary. Sub-Hemingway tosh, with the thinnest of narratives quite overloaded by all the stylistic paraphernalia former adman Scott can muster. The result is stunningly banal. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank. UCl East Kilbride.
I Hilde Awakening (15) (Aaron Russo 8: David Greenwalt, US. 1990) Cheeeh Marin, Eric Roberts. Julie llagerty. 11)] mins. The hippies are coming! The hippies are coming! After two decades growing hash in the jungles of Central America. longhairs Marin and Roberts return to the US to seek support against a proposed CIA invasion of their adopted country. and in the process discover that their old buddies have become rampant breadheads. Reasonable screwball comedy with delusions of social relevance. though the sharp jokes cut through the slackness ofthe sentiments. Glasgow: Odeon.
I Semblzanga (PG) (Sarah Maldoror. Congo. 1972) 87 mins. Set duringthe Angolans‘ revolutionary uprising against the Portuguese, the action follows an innocent tractor driver‘s plight as he is rounded up with a group of rebels and tortured by the colonial authorities, while the main thrust of the film centres on the courage of his wife as she repeatedly makes courageous efforts to get to her husband in prison. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Sea Of Love (18) (Harold Becker. US. 1989) Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin.John
Goodman, Michael Rooker. l 18mins. Pacino, a homicide detective in search ofa murderer whose crimes seem to be connected with the personal ads. sets up a date with single mother Barkin. and. although attracted to her. begins to suspect that she is the killer. The plot may be on the creaky side. but the performances from both leads are spot-on. the dialogue and the sex scenes are remarkably realistic. However, the film is more likely to be remembered for its humour than for its tension. Glasgow: Grosvenor. GFT.
I Senso (PG) (Luchino Viseonti. ltalv. 1954) Alida Valli, Farley Granger. ' Massimo Girotti. 115 mins. Venice 1866. and Alida Valli's married noblewoman compromises her work on behalf of Italian independence by falling in love with officer Granger from the invading Austrian army. Though inferior to his
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Max Mon Amour (18) (Nagisa Oshima, 1986, France) Charlotte Hampling, Anthony Higgins, Victoria Abril. 92 mins. Greeted with universal bewilderment at the time of its original release, and only now emerging in Britain fouryears later, Max Mon Amour is that truly rare thing — a near legendary ‘losf’ film that you wish they’d kept in the can. From the hokey opening titles—which suggest some late 60s co-production sex comedy—to the decidedly saggy ending, Max Mon Amour is a disappointment, and a mystifying one atthat.
What makes it really frustrating is a promising set of ingredients that somehow fail to produce anything of
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interest— an oddly mixed international cast, a seasoned scriptwriter and cinematographer (Jean-Claude Carriere and Raoul Coutard), a Japanese director with a penchant for confronting taboos, and a deliriously scabrous central premise — Charlotte Hampling shocks her diplomat husband (Higgins) by bringing home her eponymous lover, who happens to be a chimpanzee.
The obvious reference point for this encounter between the bourgeoisie and the discreet charm of Max (disappointingly discreet for a chimp) is Bunuel, whose last French films Carriere scripted, and whose deliberately flat depiction of banal
domesticity is reproduced here by Coutard. But where Bunuel used that flatness as a frame for subversion, Oshima somehow never manages to break out of the bounds of the familiar. For a start, Max’s presence in the household never quite causes the chaos it might— you can see the strategic point of avoiding banana-skin and chandelier comedy, but the remarkably ready complicity that husband Peter lends to the menagerle-a-trois makes for a tiresomer easy ride for all concerned. The only outward sign of disturbance is the rash that afflicts the Spanish maid (Abril). Max himself (an outsize hair-and-plastic creation 0fo here Hick Baker) is too placid and inexpressive to break either taboos or emotional barriers. In fact, emotion barely enters into it, as all the acting is exceptionally wooden — not artfully poised a la Bunuel, which seems to have been the intention, just wooden, with Hampling exuding her usual fatigued graciousness and Higgins looking becalmed throughout.
It's interesting to speculate on what the film might have been, orwhat it might mean in the context of Oshima's career. Here is a director passionately interested in transgression, social and sexual, but who can't create any sense of it in this film: and moreover, an expat Japanese director following a film about European images of the Japanese (and vice versa) in Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, with one about Europeans forced to come to terms with an irreduciny foreign being in their midst. That theme only remains a dormant possibility, though, and as far as the man/beast opposition goes, Max has considerably less to say on the matterthan Monkey Shines. Not one to go ape about. (Jonathan Romney)
Mon 2—Sal 7. Glasgow: GFT.
later Risorgimento epic 'I‘lze Leopard. this early flowering of Visconti's increasingly operatic style is beautifully mounted on a grand scale. Tennessee Williams and Paul Bowlcs collaborated on a heavily cut and badly dubbed version for unfortunate American audiences. Glasgow: GET.
I sex, lies and videotape ( 15 ) (Steven
Soderbergh. US. 1989) Andie McDowell.
Laura San (iiacomo, James Spader. Peter Gallagher. 101 mins. The sex: John (Gallagher) is conducting a steamy affair with his sister-in-law (’ynthia (San Giacomo). The lies: they neglect to tell his wife. Anne (McDowell). The videotape: John's buddy Graham (Spader) gets his kicks by filming women‘s sexual confessions. 26-year-old Soderbergh‘s first feature is a strikingly assured. funny and thoughtful piece of work. forcing usto examine our own attitudes toward sex, and won the Palrne d'()r at Cannes. Edinburgh: Filmhousc.
I A Short Film About Love ( 18) ( Krzysztof Kieslowski. Poland. 1988) (irazyna Szapoloyyska. ()laf Lubaszenko. Stefania lwinska. 87 mins. The second offeringto be developed as a feature film from Kieslowski's television Dekalog (Ten ('ommandmenis) is every bit as impressive as the European Film Award-winning/l Shor! Film :1 bout Killing. Here. teenage postal clerk Tomck falls obsessiver in
love with the enigmatic and attractive artist Magda on whom he routinely spies in her apartment. Eventually. he plucks up the courage to approach her, but his notions of love are soon to be dispelled by an experience that is to alter both their feelings. Concentrated and probing investigation ofthe nature of our affections. Glasgow: GFT.
I Stanley and Iris ( 15) (Martin Ritt. US. 1989) Robert De Niro, Jane Fonda. Swoosie Kurtz. 105 mins. Pat Barker‘s north of England novel Union Street gets transposed across the Atlantic and loses much of its plot in the process to turn into the story of adult literacy tutor Fonda taking fortysomething unfortunate De Niro under her wing. As he learns to read and write. they both discover something new about human relationships. Rather old-fashioned liberal sentiments, every bit as mawkish as the synopsis suggests despite the star‘s powerful performances. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank.
I Star Wars (PG) (Gorge Lucas, US. 1977) Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher. Harrison Ford. Alec Guinness. 121mins. A long time ago in a galaxy far away,a band of young heroes fight to rescue a princess and save her planet from destruction. Hugely influential and
successful space epic: a modern fairytale with laser swords. Edinburgh: Cameo. Strathclyde: UCl East Kilbride. I Throw Momma From The Train ( 15) (Danny De Vito, US. 1987) Danny De Vito. Billy Crystal. Anne Ramsey. 87 mins. Would-be author De Vito (making his debut as director) wants to rid himself of his grotesquely domineering mother, while his creative writing tutor Crystal bears a bitter grudge against his ex-wife . who has plagiarised his work in herown bestseller and left him with a numbing creative block. De Vito believes the answer lies in an exchange deal inspired by Hitchcock‘s Strangers ()n A Train. The rich potential for dark laughter is largely thrown away in this rather overstretched if enjoyable black comedy. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! ( l8) (Pedro Almodovar, Spain, 1990) Antonio Banderas, Victoria Abril. Francisco Rabal. 101 mins. Almodovar‘slatest comedy shocker is a tale of romance between the recently released ex-inmate ofa psychiatric institution and the porn movie queen he‘s obsessed with. Pedro himselfdescribes it thus: ‘For me it‘slike Bergman‘s Scenes From A Marriage. even if it shows a couple forced together by a kidnapping. It‘s about male loneliness, the loneliness before a passion develops. And