FILM
mythic qualities of a fairy tale and thereby ignores most of the grisly details oftheir reign of fear. Whether or not you believe that their sordid tale deserves such treatment. the Spandau siblings do turn in a passable impersonation. despite their love of gazing moodin at the camera. Edinburgh: Cameo. I La Cage Aux Folles(15)(1-:douard Molinaro. France. 1978) ligo'l‘ognazzi. Michel Serrault. Remy Laurent. 1119 mins. Renato (Tognazzi) and Albin (Serrault) own the outrageous Cage A ux Folles nightclub. where the latter is the star drag act. Lovers for twenty years. they have brought tip Renato's son together. but headaches arise when the lad wants to marry into a straight-laced family. and the couple try frantically to disguise his background. Actually rather old-fashioned. but intermittently hilarious homosexual farce. successful enough to spawn two highly avoidable sequels. lidinburgh: Cameo. I Life and Nothing But ( PU ) ( Bertrand Tavernier. France. 1988) Philippe .\'oiret. Sabine Azema. Pascale Vignal. 134 mins. France 1918. and Major 1)ellap1ane (Noiret) has the grisly task ofidentifying unknown soldiers' corpses. Among the relatives who come to seek their loved ones are Irene (Azema) and Alice (Vignal). The sense of a bruised and battered people quietly coming to terms with life‘s continuity despite their griefis splendidly evoked. though the central romance. all suppressed passion and meaningful glances. is mini-series stuff and the humour may have lost something in translation. (ilasgow: French Cine Club. I Longtime Companion ( 15) ( Norman Rene. US. 19911) Bruce Davison. Mark Lamos. Campbell Scott. 9o mins. See preview. (ilasgow: (if’I'. IThe Loveles5( 18) (Kathryn Bigelow Monty Montgomery. LS. 1981) Willem [)afoe. Robert (iordon. Marin Kanter. 84 mins. Fifties‘ biker film updated for the Fighties. A film built on leather and sunglasses and long lingering scenes to give a sexually charged atmosphere not to be found in earlier bike movies. (ilasgow: (iF'l‘. I Manhattan ( 15) (woody Allen. us. 1979) Woody Allen. Diane Keaton. Mariel Hemingway. 96 mins. Woody wanders through the female jungle of.\'ew York in search of a perfect soulmate after the demise of his marriage. Sublime eomic delight with a soulful (iershwin score. Edinburgh University Film Society. I Memphis Belle ( 1 ) (Michael Caton-Jones. L'K. 199(1) Matthew Modine. Erie Stoltz. Harry Connick Jr. loo mins. 19-13. and the brave crew ofthe B-17 bomber .‘llemphis' Belle have one more mission to get through before they reach the target of twenty-five completed runs which will enable them all to return home as heroes. Yet there‘s still a lot of dangerous sky between them and their goal. Predictable. occasionally over-calculating return to the schoolboy heroics of another time. although the filmmakers' integrity in remaining true to the harrowing experiences of the many young flyers who lost their lives manages to save the film from being just another so-what Saturday night special. (ilasgow: Cannon The Forge. Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. Dominion. 15C]. Central: Caledonian. Cannon. Strathclyde: ()deon Ayr. l'Cl Clydebank. 17(‘1 East Kilbride. I Metaphors, Monologues and Landscapes (18) Three programmes from established and younger avant-garde film artists. selected from the material on view at last y'ear's1.ondon Film Festival lixperimental Season. at the London Filmmakers co-op. The first programme .1Ierupliorr'r'rrl Journeys. focuses on the way in which directors. like Jayne Parker and Claudia Sehillenger. use symbolic imagery to explore forbidden areas of experience.
Paper Mask (15) (Christopher Morahan, UK>1990) Paul McGann, Amanda Donohoe, Frederick Treves, Barbara Leigh-Hunt. 105 mins. The death of Doctor Hennessy, a rising young star at West Harwood Hospital, seems like poetic justice to orderly Matthew Harris (McGann). After all, his girlfriend had just ditched him for the medic who ‘makes things happen'. While clearing his deceased rival's room Harris discovers and steals Hennessy’s papers, so when the offer of a job interview in Bristol arrives for the dead man, Harris grabs the opportunity to get out of his moribund existence and take on a completely new identity.
Luckily for Harris, Hennessy went to the right school, and he bluffs his way into the job. But all is not quite as easy as it seems from the porter’s rest room, and his flamboyant deception is in danger of being exposed by the gruesome nightmare of the casualty ward, until Donohoe, as tough and independent SisterTaylor, teaches him how to muddle through. No one's luck can last foreverthough, and a mistake is somehow inevitable.
This is McGann’s finest performance yet, convincing and always likeable as
PAPR MASK
the charming charlatan who becmes consumed by the intrigue he is weaving and for whom lying becomes a way of life. Death, atfirst an accidental blessing, soon becomes an altogether more unforgiving sin. While Donohoe is equally uncompromising, she has a less than gratifying task, as the initial resilience of Nurse Taylor turns docile in obeisance to plot rather than characterisation.
Writer and resting doctor John Collee's close attention to the games of class, power and deceit played out on the ward provides an authentic and fascinating backdrop. While this makes for an inherently English film, it lacks the tension which in Hollywood would have made a thriller. By playing instead on the audience’s instinctive fearof hospitals, needles, pain and death, Collee has written a drama so real it creates the terrifying notion that Paper Mask II will be playing son at a hospital nearyou. Not, it must be said, a film for the squeamish. (Thom Dibdin)
From Fri 28 Sept. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon, UCl. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr.
(ilasgow: (ii’l‘.
I Milou In May ( 15) ( l.ouis Malle. France. 1989) Michel Piccoli. Miou-Miou. Michel [)tichaussoy. 1118 mins. A rambling estate in the South of France and satyr-like old reprobate Piccoli is in for a prolonged botit of domestic discord when the mernbersof his bickering family come together tosort otit grandma's will. Their discord is increased by the worrisome news emerging from 1908 Paris. Certainly. there‘s a good comedy to be made about the plight of the bourgeoisie during this period. btit Malle's latest. a cross between Brian Rix and Bunuel with settingsby Renoir. isn't it. (ilasgow: (ii-'1‘. i I
I La Moine El La SOTCJETB Hie .Wml/x‘ .‘l ml The Sorceress ( l5) (Suzanne Schiffman. France. 1987')'l‘cheky Karyo. Christine Boisson. 911 mins. Former regular Truffaut screenwriter. Schiffman's directorial debut is set in 1239 and. as the title suggests. follows the confrontation between Karyo‘s Dominican monk and Boisson‘s mysterious forest-dweller. In his search for heresy . her plight begins toblur
the boundaries between Christian dogma
24‘1'he l.is128 September — 11 ()ctober 199ll
and traditional Pagan ways. while the stirrings of sexual desire are to further complicate his burgeoning sense of dotibt. It is hoped that the director will be present to introduce this screening in the HIiRTAKIi season. (ilasgow: (if’l‘.
I Monsieur Hire ( 15) (Patrice l.econte. France. 1989) Michel Blane. Sandrine Bonnaire. 82 mins. An elusive neighbourhotul recluse ( Blane). whiles away his evenings spying on his alluring neighbour Alice (Bonnaire). (iradually'. he becomes entangled in an unsolved murder and a passionate romance. Based on a Simenon novel this sensitive and enthralling film. which was almost overlooked in Britain. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre.
I Nightbreed ( l8) (Clive Barker. 1 'S. 1989) Craig Seheffer. Anne Bobby. David Cronenberg. 99 mins. See feature. (ilasgow: Cannon (Tarkston Road. ('annon The Forge. ()deon. Fdinburgh: ()deon. lfCl. Strathclyde: Cannon. ()deon Hamilton. La Scala. [SCI Clydebank. L'Cl Fast Kilbride.
I Nikita ( l8) (I.uc Besson. France. 199())
Anne Parillaud. Tcheky Karyo. Jean Hughes-Anglade. Jeanne Moreau. 11-1 mins. Special preview of the latest
exercise in stylish tosh from (iallic maestro Besson. Parillaud stars as a
junkie waif resurrected from her drearv existence by the enigmatic Karyo. an . agent for the government‘s most secretive undercover organisation. and pretty soon she's a topnotch assassin. But does this make her any happier'.’ See next issue's interview with the disarming Ms
Parillaud. who just happens to be l.ue's other half. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Paper Mask ( 15) (Christopher Morahan. L'K. 199(1) Paul Mc(iann. Amanda Donohoe. Frederick Treves. 105 mins. See review. (ilasgow: Cannon The Forge. ()deon. Edinburgh: ()deon. L'Cl. ‘ Strathclyde: ()deon Ayr.
I Pelle The Conqueror( 15) (Billie August. Denmark Sweden. 1988) Max Von Sydow. Pelle Hvengaard. 1511 mins. Bleak. moving Scandinavian saga that follows a young boy and his grandfather as they entigratc from poverty-stricken turn of the century Sweden to what they hope will be a better life in Denmark. The film won the Cannes Palme d'()r and the ( )scar for Best Foreign Film. Edinburgh: Film (iuild.
I Pierrot Le Foul15)(Jean-Luc(iodard. France. 1965) Jean-Paul Belmondo. Anna Karina. Sam Fuller. 111) mins. Buoyant mid-Sixties (iodard has Parisian bourgeois Belmondo dropping everything to run off on a picaresque cross-country odyssey with free spirit Karina. becoming involved with her criminal activities before overwhelming romantic fatalism wins the day. Iixuberant use of colour and the widescreen. together with a barrage of social and political references make this one of the director's most enjoyable and substantial pieces. American moviernaker Sam Fuller pops tip to famously reflect on the cinema; "The film is like a battleground. love. hate. action. violence. death. . . in one word.emo1ion.' Iidinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Pink Floyd The Wall (Alan Parker. UK. 1982) BobGeldof. Christine Hargreaves. Bob Hoskins. 95 mins. An ambitious attempt by Parker and the Floyd's Roger Waters to turn the band's album fflt’ ll'u/I into a visual. almost dialogue-less story. in which a schoolboy named Pink grows up to be an isolated rock star. The result did not match the ambition. Strathclyde: 17(‘1 East Kilbride.
I Presumed Innocent ( l5) (AlanJ. Pakula. US. 199(1) Harrison Ford. (ireta Scacchi. Bonnie Bedelia. Brian Dennehy. Raul Julia. Patil Winfield. 126 mins. See preview. (ilasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon The Forge. Cannon Sauchiehall Street. (irosvenor. Edinburgh: Cannon. [TC]. Central: Allanpark. Cannon. Strathclyde: Cannon. Kelburne. Odeon Ayr. ()deon Hamilton. UCI Clydebank. L'Cl Fast Kilbride.
I Pretty Woman ( l5) ((iarry Marshall. LIS. 199(1) Richard (iere. Julia Roberts. Ralph Bellamy. 12(lmins. In this hugely succesful comedy-romance. (iere stars as an unfeeling financial wheeler-dealer discovering he is human after all when he spends a week in the company of Roberts’ downhome goodtime girl. Conversely. she rediscovers her self-esteem by flawlessly carryingoffthe role ofhis high society companion. so the audience can feel happy for both of them. The outline might be as haekneyed as they come. btit television veteran Marshall has just the right lightness of touch. (ilasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.UC1.
I Raising Arizona ( 15) (Joel Coen. US. 1987) Nicolas Cage. Holly Hunter. 9-1 mins. Married ex-con Cage settles down to a life ofcrime once more and remedies his wife's childless state by stealing a millionaire's recently whelped quintuplet. Iixhilirating. live-action cartoon combining non-stop action. crazy
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