FILM
INDEX
I The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (PG) (Terry Gilliam. US. 1988)John Neville. Sarah Polley. Eric Idle. Robin
Williams. 126 mins. Fabulouslyexpensive 1
18th century fantasia has a beseiged Turkish city entertained by the tall talesof Baron Munchausen. who finally saves the day. Gilliam‘s extravagant visual
sensibility guides this maniac epic through
its sticky patches. and there is so much to look at and enough genuine laughs that his relentless campaign against mediocre convention is more than justified. Strathclyde: L'C1(_‘|ydebank. I Air America ( 15) ( Roger Spottiswoode. L'S. 199(1) Mel Gibson. Robert Downey Jr. Nancy Travis. Ken Jenkins. 112 mins. Modestly entertaining comedy thriller set in neighbouring Laos during the Vietnam war. Gibson and Downey star as maverick pilots signed up to Air America. a corrupt and covert drug'gun-running business under the ClA's discreet auspices. who are forced to think for themselves tosave their skins when the organisation sets them up as scapegoats. Engagingly light and unpretentious action fare. Strathclyde: La Scala. I Aliens ( 18) (James Cameron. L'S. 198(1) Sigourney Weaver. Michael Biehn. 137 mins. Revived from a 57-year snooze in deep space. Warrant Officer Weaver is cajoled into joining a marine rescue mission to the planet that is home forthe original alien beastie. Unrelentingly paced with a terrifically gutsy performance from Weaver. this nerve-shredding sequel not only matches its predecessor but cannily surpasses it. An Oscar winner for special effects. Edinburgh: Cameo. I An Angel At My Table (PG) (Jane Campion..’\'ewZea1and. 199(1) Kerry Fox. Alexia Keogh. Karen Fergussson. 158 mins. Campion's follow-up to her remarkable debut Sweetie is a lengthy treatment of her compatriot Janet Frame‘s autobiographical trilogy of novels. originally made for television. Following Frame's life from awkward childhood and teenage years. through university (where she was diagnosed as schizonphrenic) and bohemian travels in Europe. to her adult achievements as a writer. the film offers a more subtle depiction of mental illness than Sweetie. and is superbly conceived and acted throughout. Edinburgh: Cameo. Filmhouse. I Arachnophobia (PG) (Frank Marshall. US. 199(1) Jeff Daniels. Julian Sands. Harley Jane Kozak. John Goodman. 1 ll) mins. In rural retreat on the California coast. the Jennings family are unpleasantly surprised when they meet their new neighbours. a particularly venomous breed of spiders. which are to terrorise the village of Canaima. not least through the surgery of arachnaphobic Dr Jennings (Daniels). Produced by Steven Spielberg and billed as a ‘thrilltimedy". this feast of humorous horrors is guaranteed to appeal to sick-minded punters who enjoy either nightmaresor close contact with our eight-legged friends. Edinburgh: L'CI. IAriel ( 15) (Aki Kaurismaki. Finland. 1988) Turo Pajala. Susanna l iaavisto. Matti Pellonpaa. 112 mins. Laid-off. laid-back miner i’ajala takes his redundancy money and his dad's convertible and heads off across Finland. finding himself some work as a docket and a relationship with a single mother. Austere road movie with existential trimmings and a sense of fun in the soundtrack. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Betty Blue ( l8) (Jean-Jacques Beineix. France. 1986) Jean Hughes Anglade. Beatrice Dalle. 120 mins. Tempestuous love gone mad as an older handyman and a
Buddy‘s Song (PG) (Claude Watham, UK, 1991) Roger Daltrey, Sharon Duce, Chesney Hawkes. 106 mins. Buddy's Song will be familiar territory fur readers of Nigel Hinton’s novel ‘Buddy' and viewers of the subsequent TV series starring the everlasting Daltrey as the father. Solar, so good. Hinton then went on to write this sequel ‘Buddy's Song’, now a minor motion picture with Daltrey in the same role, a continuing saga of adolescent angst and lamllytrauma. Solar, so dire.
Buddy (Chesney Hawkes) is the intelligent, talented but characterless son of Terry Clark (Daltrey), an old 50s rock 'n’ roller out oi the music industry but still greatly affected by Buddy Holly - hence his son's highly original name. Terry is separated from his wife Carol (Duce), a source of constant distress to the youngster as he seeks guidance and support through the difficult years ofteenagerdom.
Helping matters along a little, dad lands in jail after aiding a criminally minded associate, so Buddy moves back in with his mama, and in a fit of self-expression turns his pain into a nascent rock 'n‘ roll songwriting talent.
euoov’ souc
Returned from the slammer it’s then pop's task to become the inept manager of his oftspring's new band, aptly named ‘The Hurt’. And that’s basically it really. Buddy's on the way to a record deal and success, while the relationship between Terry and Carol continues on its own rocky fashion.
Believe it or not, this film had a lot of potential. Daltrey is an underrated actor on his day, while Sharon Duce turns in some impressive work as the frustrated mother torn between her son, lover, husband and doing the dishes, but the whole sorry affair lacks any sense of style, killed by the overwhelming TV feel of the proceedings and lapsing into a bland run-through of familiar problems. The characterisation and writing simply aren't incisive enough to throw any new light on well-worn terrain. We heard this particular song far too many times already. (Dylan Matthew)
From Fri 8 Mar. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road, Cannon The Forge. Edinburgh: Odeon, UCI. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr, UCI East Kilbride.
free-spirited woman embark on a passionate. peripatetic fling that ends in tragedy. Filmed with a dazzling technique and an irritating emptiness by the maker of Diva. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre. I Blue Steel ( 18) (Kathryn Bigelow. L'S. 199(1) Jamie Lee Curtis. Ron Silver. (‘lancy Brown. 106 mins. Curtis stars asan ill fated rookie cop. who kills agun-toting hood on her first night on the beat. landing herself in terrible trouble when Silver's yuppie absconds with the .44-calibre evidence. and prepares to do some killing of his own. There are shades of Sea Of Love when he ominously begins dating her. but the film as a whole is anoriginal. fast-paced and stylish thriller with a pinch of feminism thrown in. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre.
I Breaking ln ( 15) (Bill Forsyth. L's. 1989) Burt Reynolds. Casey Siemaszko. Sheila Kelley. 94 mins. Conceived by its beleagured Scottish director as ‘a very European film‘ to be watched ‘as if it was in black and white'. Breaking In was
progressively glossitied during Forsyth‘s acrimonious passage through Hollywood. Essentially a quirky buddy movie. in which a small-time crook and an old-lag burglar become uneasy partners. it retains something of Forsy‘th's capricious eye for characterisation. but much of the man's individualism has been polished away. Edinburgh; Filmhouse.
I Buddy's Song ( 12) (Claude Watham. L'K. 1990) Roger Daltrey. Chesney Hawkes. Sharon Duce. Michael Elphick. Liza Walker. 106 mins. See review. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon The Forge. Edinburgh: ()deon. UCI. Strathclyde: ()deon Ayr. 17C] East Kilbride.
I Buffet Froid ( 15) (Bertrand Blier. France. 1979) Bernard Blier. Gerard Depardieu. Michel Serrault. 93mins. Crooked police inspector Blier pere. a man with an alarming tendency to shoot suspects on sight. suspects Depardieu of an unsolved murder and thus a blackly comic chase begins. Freewheeling
"11:1
X30Nl
LZ 0M1 )BJM 92 ENG )133M SDNIlSl'l 6L
I Green Card ( 12) The huge and hugely amiable figure of Gerard Depardieu dominates the cutest movie this fortnight. Surprisingly. he plays a Frenchman. making a marriage of convenience with an American woman (Andie MacDowell) to gain the coveted document. Written and directed by much-admired Peter Weir. See review. Very wide release from Fri 15.
W .
I Meet The Applegates (15) From Michael Lehmann. director of Heathers. comes this wild black comedy. Ed Begley Jr stars as a giant Brazilian ant posing as an American family man in a bid to rid the world of environmentally unsound humans. But junk culture proves more seductive than expected. Wouldn‘t ya just know it'.’ See review. Glasgow GFT Mon 11—Sat 16: Edinburgh Filmhouse Fri 22—-Wed 37.
I Miller's Crossing ( 15) The latest offering from the cookie Coen brothers isan Irish American gangster mov ie set in the 1930s. Albert Finney and Gabriel Byrne star as mobsters falling out over a woman (Marcia Gay Harden). All pulledoff with the quirky Coen magic of course. See preview. Edinburgh Cameo from Fri 15.
I The Nasty Girl ( l’( il Winning black satire from Germany 's Michael \'erhoeven. in which Lena Stolze stars as a teenage prodigy . whose essay s w in universal praise until she starts w ritiiig about the
Third Reich. llilat'iotis. deadly serious and based on a true story . See 1 preview (ilasgow (if-'1‘ : Tue 1‘) Sat33.1:diiibtii'gli l FilmlioUse Sun 34 Tue 3 {\pl.
The List 8— 21 March 1991