I THE BIG MAN (18) William Mcllvanney's novel brought to the big screen by director David Leland with the excellent Liam Neeson asthe ex-minertumed bare-knuckle fighter who finds himself involved with Ian Bannen's shady underworld tigure. With Joanne Whalley-Kilmerand Billy Connolly. See review. Ddeons Glasgow and Edinburgh. Cannon Parkhead and the UCI chain from Fri 31 Aug. I THE GUARDIAN (18) William ‘The Exorcist’ Fnedktn returns to an occult vein with this risible chiller. wherein Jenny Seagrove's English nannytums outto he a killer Druid menacing a Calitornian couple and their sprog. See review. Cannon Parkhead and the UCI chain from Fri 31 Aug. I MEMPHIS BELLE (PG) Latest multi-mitlion David Puttnam production follows the tortunes ot a World War II B-1‘l bomber crew looking to survive an extremely hazardous 25th mission. Directed by Scots wunderkind Michael Caton-Jones of Scandal tame. See preview. Wide release from Fri Sept7. I MILDU IN MAY (15)The versatile Louis Malle on this occasion opts lorwry comedy as Bordeaux wine growerMichel Picoli and family pondertheirtuture while news ofthe extraordinary events of Paris ‘68 continue to filter through on the news. See review. Edinburgh Filmhouse Fri 7—Sun 16 Sept. I WHITE HUNTER. BLACK HEART (PG) Director/star Clint Eastwood scores in both departments with this measured portrayal of a movie director's increasingly obsessional behaviour while shooting on location. a story based on John Huston's exploits during the filming of The African Queen. See feature. Glasgow Cannons. Edinburgh Ddeon and the UCI chain from Fri 31 Aug.
Iambada capital Rio de Janeiro is the setting for this bonksome tale of sexual awakening and property developing starring Mickey ‘Shagger' Rourke and Carrie
‘Shaggee' Otis. See review.
Glasgow Cannon and the UCI chain from Fri 31 Aug.
L is. e IWILD ORCHID (1B)World
3 night special by the filmmakers‘ care 1 in reminding the audience ofthe 3 reality of the events. In casting very
'3 documentary footage with
FILM
CONT FROM PREVIOUS PAGE plaudits. Memphis Belle is
saved from being just an enjoyable so-what Saturday
young actors. in overlaying
heart-rending letters home. in emphasising that the mission is about I dropping real bombs that kill real people. there‘s welcome substance here without the piece turning into the questioning carnage of Full Metal ! Jacket or (‘ateh 22‘s absurdist l wartime panorama. ‘Part ofthe attraction of the subject matter was . that to me World War II was a moral I war.‘ Puttnam considers. ‘No question about it. The manner in I which it was pursued. the degrees of . death one could endlessly argue ' about. but for once the issues were I quite clear and simple. Unlike I Vietnam. unlike Korea.‘ I ‘We could have made a much more i j l
manipulative picture from this material.‘ he adds. ‘but I think we‘ve made a morally accountable movie.‘ Morals again. he‘s always talking about morals: in his Film Festival address. in a recently broadcast interview with heavyweight American TV middlebrow Bill Moyers. everywhere in the press (where he‘ll tell you himselfhe‘s become something of a rent-a-quote on film and the film industry). his consistent theme. that ‘over the past ten years movies have offered the audience simple solutions to complex problems. perpetuated the idea that difficult issues can be solved by an Arnie or a Sly or a Dolph fantasy figure. and so we‘ve encouraged people not to deal with the world we live in.‘
‘The systems that inform us. and film is part ofall that along with newspapers. the media. whatever.
: are vital because unless our 1 information net functions properly.
unless the emotions and the attitudes
we have are based on some sense of
reality. then we're fucked. Not just as individuals. but as a civilisation.‘ Having worked in Hollywood. one senses that Puttnam may well have a more accurate estimation than most ofjust how ‘fucked‘ (note street cred expletive) our civilisation has become. Having proved instrumental in supporting British directorial talent like Alan Parker (Bu gsy Malone. Midnight Express). Ridley Scott (The Due/lists). and Bill Forsyih ( Local Hero ); having held aloft both the Academy Award (Chariots ofFire) and the Cannes Palme I)‘()r ( The Mission). in June of 1986 he reached the then zenith of his career with his appointment as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer ofColumbia Pictures. Sixteen months later. Columbia‘s owners Coca-Cola. restructured the organisation to merge the company with Tri—Star Pictures. and force Puttnam‘s resignation after an intervening period that had seen him rufer a lot of megastar feathers and uneasily adjust to the demands of studio project development with disasters like the big budget Bill Cosby farrago Leonard Part VI (to date unreleased in the UK).
(iivcn his shutout treatment by Hollywood mandai'ins like veteran producer Ray Stark. and the careless manner in which projects he had initiated were later to be treated by
the new management (witness the indifferent handling of Bill Forsyth's masterly Housekeeping). it‘s not unreasonable to see the box office potential Memphis Belle as a chance for revenge. and David doesn‘t entirely disagree. ‘There will be a deep satisfaction ifthe film is a hit in America. There‘s only one revenge worth having and that‘s to shove it up their ass with a film that goes through the roof!‘
In the meantime. though. he‘s been shooting in Budapest with maestro Istvan Mephisro Szabo. Glenn Close. Nils Astherup and Bergman regular Erland Josephson in a film called Meeting Venus. a comedy about a Hungarian conductor who goes to Paris fora performance of Wagner‘s Tannhauser and finds life in the West every bit as chaotic as the one he left behind. Before he trots ofro the next meeting. I do have to ask him the big question. how the commercial cinema is going to claw itselfout ofwhat he sees as its current crisis. ‘Somebody‘s got to start blowing the whistle.‘ he says. ‘l‘m talking to you now so I have a forum. I give lectures. I appear on television. You‘ve just got to keep pushing. I suppose.‘
Memphis Belle (12 ) goes on wide release/font Fri 7Sepr. Seefilm listings for further details.
Screen
Sisters
Hertake, an ambitious fifteen-programme feast of Women's Film, is the Glasgow Film Theatre’s contribution to the Festival of Women and the Arts. With such disparate offerings as a preview of Kathryn
'1 Bigelow’suncompromisinglytough % thrillerBlue Steel (Sat 29 Sept8pm) f
30'I‘hc l.is13l August — 13 September 19‘)“
Bawdy Animation (Tue 11 Sept 6pm) and the Identity: First Woman Singular i programme of short films which defy the conventional narrative ot cinema ? (Fri 28 Sept 5.45pm). Hertake certainly achieves its declared aim of 3 representing and celebrating women filmmakers in the broadest sense. i Kicking off the festival is a j programme of early Scottish films (Tue 4 Sept 6pm) introduced by Janet I
Jamie Lee Curtis in Blue Steel
McBain of the Scottish Film Archive. These include Jenny Gitbertson’s only dramatised work, Rugged Island (1934) about the harshness of Shetland crotting life, and the first appearance of Molly Weir on screen in Budge Cooper’s Birthday (1945). As with all the programmes. the screening will be
tollowed by a discussion at the Women In Profile space at 5 Dalhousie Lane.
The festival includes two British l premiers, the Cannes Camera D'Dr winner Driana (Thurs 13 Sept 6pm) from Fina Torres. one of Venezuela's most important directors, plus The Monk and the Sorceress (Fri 28 Sept 1 8.15pm) Suzanne Schiftmann's first feature.
No film festival worth its salt would be complete without the presence of a director ortwo, and Schiftman, who was Truffaut's longtime screenwriter and assistant director, will introduce her film. Also present will be writer-director Patricia Mazuy, with her tense atmospheric drama set in rural France, Peaux de Vaches (Wed 26 Sept 8.15pm) and Jutta Bruckner. with One Glance and Love Breaks Out (Tue 25 Sept 8.15pm), which examines seven situations in a woman's life. (Thom Dibdin)
See Film listings for further programme details.