I Nikita (18) (Luc Besson. France. 1990)
Anne Parillaud. Tcheky Karyo. Jean-Hughes Anglade. Jeanne Moreau. 114 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? Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Nouvelle Vague New Wave(15) (Jean-Luc Godard. Switzerland. 1990) Alain Delon. 90mins. Archetypally Godard-esque effort. with Delon playing both a successful man and a crippled car crash victim. Disappointing overall. but nominated for its peculiarly innovative soundtrack. which comprises quotations from novelists and thinkers. (European Film Awards) Glasgow: GET.
I Oliver! (U) (Carol Reed. UK. 1968) Ron Moody. Oliver Reed. Mark Lester. Jack Wild. Harry Secombe. 146 mins. A sparkling cast. great choreography and some dashed good tunes provide a handsome entertainment in Lionel Bart‘s musical adaptation of Oliver Twist. but the grim satire ofgreed. poverty and corrupted innocence that Dickens wrote is almost entirely smothered. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr.
I Once Upon A Time In America ( 18) (Sergio Leone. US. 1983) Robert de Niro, James Woods. Elizabeth McGovern. 228 mins. The story of two childhood friends and their early entrepreneurial activities. which blossom into careers in organised crime and politics. Leone's epic chronicle scrutinises the emergent American society of the early 20th century through the aspirations of the mob. Mammoth and often unforgivably vicious. yet somehow also lyrical and telling. Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Open Doors Porte Aperte(15) (Gianni
FILM .
' Amelio. Italy. 1990) Gian Maria Volontc. Ennion Fantastichini. 108 mins. Sweaty
f courtroom drama set during the Mussolini
era. with excellent work from Volonte as a
. humanitarian judge trying to rescue a guilty man (Fantastichini — announced as European Discovery of the Year) from the
gallowsongroundsofinsanity.(European .
Film Awards) Glasgow: GFT. I Orphans 01 The Storm (PG) (D. w. Griffith. US. 1921) Lillian Gish. Dorothy Gish. Joseph Schildkraut. Lucille La Verne. 124 mins. Classic silent epic ofthe French Revolution. whose melodramatic elements are readily forgivable because the acting and the spectacle are so man'ellously intense. The Gish sisters are well cast as sisters. Edinburgh: Film Guild. ’ I Poperechnaya Street ( 15) (Ivars Seletskis. USSR. 1988) 86mins. Documentary account of the realitiesof .' perestroika. as Selctskis focuses on the effects of the USSR‘s political upheavals on one particular street in Riga. Latvia. (European Film Awards) Glasgow: GET. 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-lawyer Scott Turow‘s best seller gets the prestige big-screen treatment from veteran director AlanJ Pakula who returns to the themes ofhis 70s' movies The Parallax View and All The President's Men. in this thoughtful vision ofcorruption running through America‘s corridors of power. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Dominion. UCI. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank. UCI East Kilbride. I Pretty Woman (15) (Garry Marshall. US.
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1990) Richard Gere. Julia Roberts. Ralph I Bellamy. 120mins. In this hugely l succcsful comedy-romance. Gcre stars as l an unfeeling financial wheeler-dealer I discovering he is human after all when be i spends a week in the company of Roberts‘ ! downhome goodtime girl. Conversely. she I rediscovers her self-esteem by flawlessly carrying off the role of his high society I 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 oftouch. Edinburgh: Cameo, UCI. Central: Cannon.
I The Producers (PG) (Mel Brooks. US. 1968) Zero Mostel. Gene Wilder. Kenneth Mars. Dick Shawn. 88 mins. Mostel is brilliant as deadbeat Broadway producer Max Bialystock. who ropes in timid accountant Wilder for a crazy scheme to over-finance a surefire flop and make off with the money. They come up with Springtime For H iller. and Brooks comes up with an all-time comedy classic. (Festival ofJewish Culture) Glasgow: GF'I".
I The Reflecting Skin ( 15) (Philip Ridley. UK. 1990) Jeremy Cooper. Lindsay Duncan, Viggo Mortensen. Sheila Moore. Duncan Fraser. 91 mins. In a remote Canadian farming community. 8-yearold Seth (Cooper) decides that a harmless but desperately lonely widow (Duncan) is a vampire. His two buddies are mysteriously murdered. his father‘s response is appalling. and his brother returns from Bikini Atoll with nuclear sickness. The ending could be described as tragic ifthere were any catharsis. but instead this is a nastily unresolved catalogue ofpain. heralding Seth‘s unhappy and premature arrival into adulthood. The photography and acting are fine. but there‘s no light at the endof the tunnel. Comparisons with Lynch inevitable. unfortunately. Glasgow: GF’T.
. . I Edinburgh: Filmhouse. 1
I Repossessed (15) (Bob Logan. US.
1990) Linda Blair. Ned Beatty. Leslie 3 Nielsen. 85 mins. Glasgow: CannonThe Forge. Edinburgh: Cannon. Odeon. UCl. Strathclyde: LICI Clydebank. UCI East Kilbride. See review. I Bomuald And Juliette (Coline Serreau. France. 1989) Daniel Auteuil. Firmine Richard. 118 mins. Winning serio-comie 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 ofcorporate power-broking helps him to discover a
new set of more worthwhile values. Following on from her huge French hit Trolls H ommes lit Un Coufft'n
(successfully Americanised as Three Men AndA Baby) Serreau comes up with another insightful and funny examination of the way we live now. though it does bear a highly coincidental resemblance to the outline of Pretty Woman! Glasgow: GFI'. I Rumble Fish ( 18) (Francis Ford
Coppola. US. 1983) Mickey Rourke. Dennis Hopper. Matt Dillon. 9-1 mins. Electrifying expressionist visuals grace
this rites of passage parable about the
need to forge one's own identity and the alienation it can bring. Intense and stylish. ‘ Glasgow: (irosvenor.
I Santa Sangre ( l8) (Alejandro Jodorowsky. Italy Mexico. 1989) Axel Jodorowsky. Blanca (iuerra. Guy Stockwell. 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 ofa 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
'» and continent
Italian pastas, Greek dips, Scandinavian sandwiches, French patisseries Mus well Ts cafe menu brings the Continent to Edinburgh.
Come in for a coffee, a drink at the
bar, a late night bite. lVe're open all day, and you 're welcome.
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28 The List 23 November— 6 December 1990