FILM
F114 mins. The latest exercise in stylish tosh from Gallic maestro Besson. Parillaud stars as a junkie waif resurrected from her dreary existence by the enigmatic Karyo. an agent for the government's most secretive undercover organistaion. and pretty soon she’s a topnotch assassin. But does this make her any more fulfilled? See Preview. Glasgow: OFT. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Now Voyager (PG) (Irving Rapper. US. 1942) Bette Davis. Claude Rains. Paul Henreid. 117 mins. Classically east. this archetypal tragic love story ofthe period is unadvcnturous and even bland. but its stars are more than charismatic enough to overcome its problems. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Oedipus Rex (18) (Pier Paulo Pasolini. Italy. 1967) Franco Citt. Silvana Mangano. Carmelo Bene. Julian Beck. 104 mins. Visually strong re-interprctation of Sophocles. which matches period scenes filmed in North Africa with a modern Italian setting; Citti is marvellously earthy and animalistic as the King. while the dazzling sunshine provides a stark background. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Oedipus Wrecks ( 15) (Woody Allen. US. 1989) Woody Allen. Mia Farrow. Mae Questal. 40 mins. Generally felt to be the best section of New York Stories. this is Jewish momma comedy par excellence in charecteristic Allen style. as fifty year-old exec' Sheldon Mills fails farcically to rid himselfof the dear old Lloyd Webber enthusiast. Glasgow: GET.
I Orphee (15) (Jean Cocteau. France, 1950) Jean Marais. Marie Dea. Maria Casarcs. 95 mins. Cocteau creates an unrivalled cinema fantasy in this stunning modern version of the Orpheus legend. replete with surprising technical tricks and the director‘s personal brand of poetry. Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Pink Floyd The Wall (Alan Parker. UK. 1982) Bob Geldof. Christine Hargreaves, Bob Hoskins. 95 mins. An ambitious attempt by Parker and the Floyd's Roger Waters to turn the band‘s album The Wall 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. Glasgow: Grosvenor. I Presumed Innocent ( 15) (Alan J. Pakula. US. 1990) Harrison Ford. Greta Scacchi. Bonnie Bedelia. Brian Dennehy. Raul Julia. Paul Winfield. 126 mins. Courtroom drama with Harrison Ford as the upright state prosecutor accused of the murder of his colleague. Greta Saatchi. with whom he was having an affair. Raul Julia shines as the brilliant defence lawyer determined to get him off. Ex-Iawyer Scott Turow‘s best seller gets the prestige big-screen treatment from veteran director AlanJ Pakula who returns to the themes ofhis 705‘ movies The Parallax View and All The President's Men. in this thoughtful vision
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22 The List 9 — 22 November 1990
of corruption running through America‘s corridors of power. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Dominion, Odeon, UCI. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank, UCI East Kilbride.
I Pretty Woman (15) (Garry Marshall, US. 1990) Richard Gere. Julia Roberts. Ralph Bellamy. 120 mins. In this hugely succesful comedy-romance. Gere 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 carrying off the role ofhis high society companion. so the audience can feel happy for both of them. The outline might be as hackneyed as they come, but television veteran Marshall has just the right lightness of touch. Edinburgh: UCI.
I Psycho (15) (Alfred Hitchcock, US. 1960) Anthony Perkins. Janet Leigh. Vera Miles. John Gavin, Martin Balsam,John Mclntire. 109 mins. Hitch’s misogynistic masterpiece has a young secretary take off to hicksville with a bagful of herboss's money. Unfortunately for her she chooses to put up at the Bates‘ Motel. run bythat nice Norman boy. The ironic dialogue (‘Mother's not quite herself today‘) make it a joy to catch anytime around. We liked it didn‘t we mother. . .mother? Edinburgh University Film Society. I Mark Reichert The New York painter. writer and film-maker introduces a screening of Union City as part ofthe GFf‘s Frame To Frame series. Glasgow: GF'T. I Robocop 2 (18) (Irvin Kershner. US, 1990) Peter Weller. Nancy Allen, Tom Noonan, Dan O‘Herlihy. 116 mins. With a bigger budget to play with, this sequel to Paul Verhoeven‘s sardonic original puts more emphasis on mindless action as another tale of corporate corruption in 21st century Detroit violently unfolds. This time Robocop is caught up in the drug wars precipitated by the popularity of a new designer narcotic Nuke and faces an imposing robotic foe cooked up by the unscrupulous multi-national Omni Consumer Products. Edinburgh: UCI. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank. I Rocco And His Brothers (18) (Luchino Visconti. Italy/France, 1960) Alain Delon. Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot, Katina Paxinou. 180 mins. Depressing neo-realism as a peasant family moves to the city, where nothing but trouble awaits them. Initially, the film dwells perverser on gloom, but as it gathers pace a more poetic quality emerges, and the ending is truly climactic cinema. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I The Rocky Honor Picture Show ( 18) (Jim Sharman. UK. 1975) Tim Curry,Susan Sarandon. Barry Bostwick, Meat Loaf. 100 mins. The cult film to end all others, this rock spoof on old horror movies has created a breed of Rocky Horror crazies, and packs them in at late shows everywhere. The film has its moments. and Curry is splendidly camp as the bisexual Frank N. Furter. Glasgow: Grosvenor. Strathclyde: UCI East Kilbride. I Romuald and Juliette (Colinc Serreau, France. 1989) Daniel Auteuil, Firmine Richard. 118 mins. Winning serio-comic love story in which hard-nosed business exec falls for his black cleaning lady Richard and as their affair breaks down both class and racial barriers. her shrewd insight into the absurdity of corporate power-broking helps him to discover a new set of more worthwhile values. Following on from her huge French hit TroLs‘ Hommes Et Un Couffin (successfully Americanised as Three Men And/i Baby) Serreau comes up with another insightful and funny examination of the way we live now, though it doesbear a highly coincidental resemblance to the outline of Pretty Woman! Glasgow: GFI‘. I Santa Sangre (18) (Alejandro
MY BLUE HEAVEN
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My Blue Heaven (PG) (Herbert Ross, US, 1990) Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Joan Cusack. 96 mins. Almost a comic sequel to GoodFellas, this starts where the Scorsese film left off, with ex-mob enforcer Vinnie (Martin) entering the FBI's witness relocation scheme and being dumped in a suburban nowhere of white picket fences and mail- strolling zombies, where you can’t get decent linguini to save your life.
in his exile, Marlin turns to petty crime and Moranis has to help him out by hauling him from the clutches of even-more-uptight-than-he-is prosecutor Joan Cusack, whose husband has left her to further the romantic sub-plot. Obviously, Martin plays Cupid and solves everybody's problems, finally applying that universal American panacea - baseball 40 the community, and turning it into a decent place to live, it you happen to be an cit-mobster.
A weird combination oi talents almost make this one work. Written by
Nora Ephron, it has some of the sharp wit from When Harry Met Sally to salt a typically machine-made comedy vehicle, Martin goes overboard on the crazy mannerisms as the goofball gangster, Moranis and Cusack unwind pleasantly and a clutch of cameo kooks enliven the standard proceedings. The bad news is that long-time trimmer Herbert Ross is in charge, and so, no matter how hard the performers work, it still plods along professionally from bit to bit without ever throwing any surprises at you. Nice, but no one gets hurt. And for Manin’s style of comedy, love and charm isn’t enough, you need pain. (Kim Newman).
From Fri 9 Nov. Glasgow: Cannon, Clarkston Road, Cannon, The Forge, Cannon, Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon, UCI. Central: Cannon, Regal. Strathclyde: Cannon, Odeon Ayr, UCI Clydebank, UCI East Kilbride, WMR.
Jodorowsky, Italy/Mexico. 1989) Axel Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra. Guy Stockwcll. 118 mins. Jodorwosky remains one of the few genuine enigmas ofworld cinema. His instantly recognisable style graces this latest mixture of fantasy and reality. Against the backdrop of a circus. young Fenix witnesses horrifying events when his strongman father commits suicide after dismembering the boy's mother. Committed for 20 years. he eventually escapes, only to find the maternal bonds still strong. driving him to kill any woman he finds attractive. Jodorowsky‘s film is deliberatley disturbing and provocative. but its visual imagination makes it a landmark in cinematic surrealism. Edinburgh: Film Guild. Edinburgh University Film Society.
I A Short Film About Killing ( 18) ( Krzysztof Kieslowski. Poland, 1987) Miroslaw Baka, Krzysztof Globisa. Jan Tesarz. 84 mins. A brutal. intelligent exploration of the mechanics of murder and capital punishment. Kieslowski builds the tension to an unbearable pitch. his documantarist's eye for physical detail focused unblinklingly on mortality. while his humanist's intelligence pleads for the right to life. A masterpiece. Glasgow: GFI". Central: MacRobert Arts Centre. I Siberian Lady Macbeth ( 15) (Andrze j Wajda, 1961, Yugoslavia) Olivera Markovic, Ljuba Tadic. Kapitalina Eric. 95 mins. Based on the Russian novelist Nikolai Leskov‘s interpretation ofthe Scottish play, Wajda‘s version has a rural
peasant setting. and for the most part a prosaic naturalism. though the ending introduces a more symbolic note. Carefully made. the film is a subtle exploration of the motives lurking beneath the woman‘s callous brutality. Edinburgh: Film Guild. I Sierra Leone ( 15) ( L'we Schradcr. West Germany. 1987) 92 mins. ('onslruction worker Fred returns to Deutschland after three years‘ working abroad (guess where'.’). and discovers. to his surprise and consternation. that his wife has got bored and left. Obscure serving of'I’eutonic cheer. Edinburgh: Film (iuild. . I Spaced invaders (PG) (Patrick Read , Johnson. L'S. 199(1) Douglas Barr. Royal Dano. Ariana Richards. 911 mins. ()n the 5()th anniversary of Orson Welles' original 1 War Of The Worlds radio broadcast agang ofcuddly aliens land on Iiarth to begin 3 their quest for world domination from the j unlikely base of Big Bean. Illinois. ()nly l
the intervention ofShcriff Barrand curmudgeonly farmer Royal Dano can save the planet from Lieutenant Blaznee (a fashionable ‘Jack Nicholson in space‘ it says here) and his pumpkin-headed mob ofextraterrestrials. Edinburgh: C(‘l.
I Stranger Than Paradise 1 15 ) (Jim Jarmusch. [IS-West (iermany. 1984) John Lurie. Eszter Balint. Richard Iidson. Cecilia Stark. Danny Rosen. 89 mins. ln Jarmusch‘s debut feature. Lurie (laterto star in Down By Law) is a New Yorker playing reluctant host to his cousin from Hungary. When she departs to play cards with her mad aunt in Ohio. he and his