FILM
Andressen. Silvano Mangano. 128 mins. Ageing celebrated composer Von Auscenbach (the capable. slightly miscast Bogarde) comes to Venice in the midst of a creative crisis and becomes infatuated with a beautiful Polish boy who embodies the kind of physical and spiritual purity he‘s been looking for in his work. Unfortunately. such is his obsession he stays in the city while a cholera epidemic rages to uncontrollable heights. Highly decorative attempt at the unfilmable. though the use of Mahler's Fifth Symphony is highly affecting. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Dick Tracy (PG) (Warren Beatty. US. 199(1) Warren Beatty. Madonna. Al Pacino. Dustn Hoffman. 113 mins. Producer/director/star Beatty resurrects Chester (iould's vintage cop comic strip with original primary colours intact and engagineg misshapen crew ofrubbcrized villains faithfully preserved. Amidst a sea ofperiod kitsch backdrops screaming irony. the well-worn drama oflaw enforcement is played out by a cast of cardboard cliches who remain just that. Madonna's brash floozy and Pacino‘s hammy megalomania enliven things from time to time. but the material remains so fossilised it‘s hard for all concerned to work up much of a head ofsteam. Full marks for all the trappings though. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. Odeon. Grosvenor. Edinburgh: Odeon. UCl. Central: Allanpark. Cannon. Regal. Strathclyde: Cannon. Kelburne. Odeon Ayr. Odeon Hamilton. UCl Clydebank. UCl East Kilbride.
I Distant Voices. Stlll Lives ( 15) (Terence Davies. UK. 1988) Freda Dowie. Pete Postlethwaite, Angela Walsh, Dean Williams. 85 mins. ln the Liverpool ofthe late Forties and early Fifties. a working class household perseveres through domestic violence. death and marriage. A brilliantly made tribute to the Davies family’s experience. and a requiem for a way of life now past. by one of the most gifted cinematic artists this country now possesses. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Dreams (15) (Akira Kurasowa. Japan. 1990) Akira Terao. Martin Scorsese. 120 mins. After some 27 features dating back to the mid 1940s. this is supposedly Kurasowa‘s most personal film to date and makes an interesting hybrid ofJapanese culture and the latest in American film-making technology. Composed of eight separate dream sequences torn from the imagination of the old maestro himself. each one with its own individual narrative and moral. the end result betrays the occasional spot of self-indulgence but remains a visually stunning and emotionally uplifting experience. Look out for Scorsese as Van Gogh in a breathtaking sequence that has the artist moving through the worlds created by his own paintings. Glasgow: GFT.
I Driving Miss Daisy (U) (Bruce Beresford. US. 1989) Jessica Tandy. Morgan Freeman. Dan Aykroyd. 99 mins. The winner of four Oscars. including Best Film and Best Actress for Jessica Tandy. This film adaptation of Alfred Uhry‘s Pulitzer-winning play. charts the relationship between gentlewoman Tandy and her chauffeur Freeman. The narrative spans several decades of gradually shifting attitudes and developing racial consciousness. An affecting mosaic of everyday pride and prejuduce which reveals a deeply-laid insight into human behaviour. presented throughout with wonderful pacing. Glasgow: Cil’l‘. Edinburgh: Dominion.
I Drowning By Numbers ( 18) (Peter (ireenaway. UK. 1988) Joan Plowright. Bernard Hill. Joely Richardson. 118mins. In a narrative as straightforward and complicated as the title. three generations of women. all of them called Cissie Colpitts. dispose oftheir husbands in a series of aquatic murders. whilst the numbers l to 1le run through the lilmin
18’I‘hc list 27Ju|y — 9 August 1990
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (12) (Joe Dante, US, 1990) Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cafes, John Glover, Roben Picardo. 107 mins. As Hollywood looks increasingly likely to drown in its own blubber of commercialism, the release olyet another sequel raises little more than a groan of recognition. That’s why it’s good to report that Gremlins 2, like Aliens, breaks the mould and succeeds in matching the original.
The setting has been moved to rude, bustling New York City, where Billy (Galligan) and his girlfriend Kate (Cafes) have taken jobs in media mogul Glover's hi-tech Manhattan office block, which houses businesses as diverse and worthy of satire as genetic engineering and cable television. When wise old Mr Wing (Keye Luke) dies, cute, cuddly Gizmo falls into the hands of the in-house mad scientist (an enjoyable cameo from Christopher Lee). Rescued by his old pal Billy, Gizmo has an unsurprising brush with some water (‘don'f get 'em wet!‘), and his resulting offspring set off in search of a late-night snack (‘don't feed 'em alter mignightl'), with a familiar cry of ‘Yum, yuml’.
The result, needless to say, is chaos on a grand scale, as the errant critters metamorphose into small, scaly monsters, who breed promiscuously at the drop of a drop of water. So far, so formulaic; but director Dante, writer Charlie Haas (who also takes a small
role) and designerJames Spencer have a few unexpected tricks up their sleeves. When the Gremlins invade Lee's laboratory, they immediately set about guzzling the drugs like Furry Freak Brothers, thus mutating both themselves and the plot. Besides appearing in incongruous locations all overthe building, they mimic many of humanity's undesirables. from flashers to television intellectuals.
Equally unpredictable are the sly references to other movies from Phantom Of The Opera to Rambo to Marathon Man, the neatly executed interlude as the film approaches its climax, and the method employed by Billy to save the day (which of course he does).
A good handful of accurately observed media characters, a healthy smattering of one-line gags and a reduced schmaltz factor seem to indicate that the people who made Gremlins 2 had fun. if their box office duly bulges, so be it. (Andrew Burnet)
From Fri 27. Glasgow: Cannon Muirend, Cannon The Forge. Cannon Sauchiehall Street, Salon. Edinburgh: Cannon, UCI. Central: Caledonian, Cannon. Strathclyde: Cannon. Odeon Ayr, Odeon Hamilton, La Scala, UCI Clydebank, UCI East Kilbride. WMR Film Centre.
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the backgrounds. Full ofGreenaway’s ravishing visual symmetries and with a highly developed sense ofthe
incongruous. the movie sports a numberof
polished. sympathetic performances. Besides the enjoyable pastime ofnumber spotting. this is among his most accessible and pleasurable films. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Drugstore Cowboy ( l8) ( Gus Van Sant Jr.. US. 1989) Matt Dillon. Kelly Lynch. James Remar. William S. Burroughs. 100
mins. A gang ofdope fiends blithely ripoff
a series of drugstores headed by our Matt who gives his best performance to date in Gus Van Sant's recreation of 1971 Oregon. Complete with its halucinatory
visions of flying cows the film created a stir stateside for presenting the theft and use of narcotics as an alluring pastime. It marks a new and more creditable milestone in Hollywood drug movies. Glasgow: (if’l‘.
I Enemies, A Love Story ( 15) (Paul Mazursky. US. 1989) Ron Silver. Lena Olin. Anjelica Huston. Margaret Sophie Stein. 12(lmins. Adapted from the novel by lsaac Bashevis Singer. Enemies follows the fortunes of hapless philandercr Herman Broder who made it to 1949 New York after surviving the concentration camps. only to find his romantic life distressineg complicated by a new marriage to his ex-maid (Stein). a
demanding affair with fellow holocaust survivor Olin. and the shock reappearancu of spouse Huston. whom he‘d long believed murdered at the hands ofthe Nazis. Mazursky brings a knowing. humane quality to his tangled paroxysms of human emotion and presents a satisfying look at the conflict between the sexes to rank with his best work. A marvellous picture. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Eternal Light (15) (Algirnantas Puipa. Lithuania. 1987) V. Kelmelite. D. Sturbraite. V. Petkavicius. 87mins. Lithuania. 1956. As the impact of Sovietisation hits the small rural communities. Puipa's beautifully shot poetic drama parallels its political dilemma with the romantic tribulations of a farmer torn between two Women. Glasgow: (iFl‘. I The Evil Dead (18) (Sam Riami. US. 1982) Bruce Campbell. Ellen Sandweiss. Betsy Baker. 85 mins. Five unsuspecting youngsters head off for a healthy weekend in a mountain cabin. only to fall foul of wicked demons whose purpose is — wait for it — wholesale slaughter. Every horror cliche is exploited and subverted in this stylish, cheapo schlocker-shockcr made with imagination by an inventive young team. Edinburgh: UCl. Strathclyde: UCl East Kilbride. I Felix The Cat: The Movie (U) (Tibor Hernadi. US. 1990) 90mins. From his 1919 debut onwards. Felix the Cat became a cartoon superstar before Mickey Mouse had even been thought of. Now at the age of over seventy. but still in peak condition Felix limbers up for his first feature length adventure when he‘s called in to helpthe Princess of the happy kingdom ofOriana fend off a malevolent attack from the unscrupulous Duke of Zill. Edinburgh: Odeon. UCI. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank. UCI East Kilbride. I Flesh Gordon (18) (Michael Benveniste. US. 1974) Jason Williams. Suzanne Fields. William Hunt. 84 mins. Out ofthis world. space-age sex spoof as our fearless hero conquers the universe with his amazing weapon. Edinburgh: Odeon. I The Girl Can't Help It (PG) (Frank Tashlin. US. 1956) Jayne Mansfield.Tom Ewell. Julie London. Fats Domino. Little Richard. 97 mins. Ewell's grasping agent grooms dumb blonde Mansfield for stardom in this classic satiric comedy on the early days of rock‘n'roll marketability. Former animator Tashlin revels in any number of sight gags about hisleading lady‘s statuesque frame and lays the basis for a type of film-making vision that remains highly influential. All this plus lots ofgreat music. includingJulic London's unforgettable original performance of Cry Me A River. A genuine Grade-A treat. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Gleaming The Cube (PG) (Graeme Clifford. US. 1989) Christian Slater. Steven Bauer. Richard Herd. 105 mins. Set in Orange County. California. the seemingly cryptic title coming from skateboarders' slang. Slater plays the archetypal teen skate rebel convinced that his brother's death was not. as the police believe. suicide. While the youngster conducts his own investigation. detective Bauer advises him to leave matters to the proper authorities. From the director of Frances. this gritty look at death. youth and authority has been shorn ofits violence to become a somewhat sanitised skateboard adventure for the mid-terrn crowds. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Grease (PG) (Randal Kleiser. US. 1978) John Travolta. Stockard Channing. ()livia Newton John. 1 10 mins. The long-running broadway show arrives on screen dripping with Fifties' nostalgia. cheery tunes. a high camp value and the winsome charms of the plastic Newton-John and the toothy Travolta. A nice collection of old timers enhance the cast. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. #4