INDEX FILM
FILM min:-
Films screening this fortnight are listed below. with certificate. credits, briel review and venue details. Full-length reviews of selected new releases can be lound close to the appropriate entry. Programme details appear in the Listings section which iollovts. Film Index compiled by Andrew Dumet.
I About Last Night ( 18) (Edward Zwick. US. 1986) Rob Lowe. Demi Moore. James Belushi. Elizabeth Perkins. 113 mins. Based on David Mamet‘s enduringly funny stage play. Sexual Perversity In Chicago. this sharply observed comedy of sexual manners centres on a couple. Debbie (Moore) and Danny (Lowe). who meet. love. and break up. Despite the absence ofa detailed plot. the performances and the writing are superb in their exploration of the more nauseating aspects ofsexual relationships. Glasgow: GFT.
I Al ND Corrida In The Realm ()fThe Senses (18) (Nagisa Oshima. Japan. 1976) Tatsuya Fuji. Eiko Matsuda. 105 mins. At last deemed fit for certification. Oshima‘s shockingly erotic film can now be publicly screened. In the militarist Japan of I936.a couple enclose themselves in theirown sensual world. their passion escalating until only death can provide the next orgasm. Masterly though necessarily extremely explicit look at the power of sexual arousal. which has attracted controversy throughout the world. Glasgow: GF'I'.
I Airplane (PG) (Jim Abrahams. Jerry and David Zuckcr. US. 1980) Robert Hays. Julie Hagerty. Peter Graves. Lloyd Bridges. 87 mins. Ted Striker endeavours to overcome his problems and fly again when the pilots Rodger and Under flake out on him in this hilarious spoof ofevery old cliche in every old disaster movie ever made. The laugh-a-minute pacing keeps it flowing along and helps keep the groaning to a minimum. Central: Cannon.
I All Dogs Go to Heaven (U) (Don Bluth. US. 1989) With the voices ofBurt Reynolds. Loni Anderson and Dom DeLuise. 84 mins. In Bluth‘slatest animated feature. likeable Alsatian Charlie Barkin is killed by his partner in small-time crime. but manages to trick his
way out of the Afterlife to face earthbounc
adventure with cute orphan Anne-Marie
as he seeks revenge on his double-crossing
buddy. Occasionally sloppy animation is more than made up for by the inventive story—line and an allusive sense ofhumour that should even have adults suppressing the odd guffaw. Strathclyde: WMR Film Centre.
I Awakenings ( 12) (Penny Marshall. US. 1991) Robert De Niro. Robin Williams.
John Heard. Julie Kavner. Penelope Ann 1
Miller. Max von Sydow. 121 mins. Based on the book by psychiatrist Oliver Sacks. A wakenings tells the story of a reclusive neurologist (Williams) whose new post at Bainbridgc Hospital in New York is not the clinical experience he had anticipated. Instead. he finds himselfdrawn to a particular group ofstatue-like encephalitic patients. among them De Niro‘s Leonard Lowe. As his obsession with their unexpressed inner lives grows. he develops a relationship with Lowe which begins to release both Lowe‘s ability to communicate and his own repressed emotions. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: UCI.
I Ay Carmela! (12) (Carlos Saura. Spain. 1990) Carmen Maura. Andres Pajares. Gabino Diego. 95 mins. Duringthe Spanish Civil War. a pair of republican cabaret performers (Maura and Pajares)
i
i
find themselves behind enemy lines and are forced to mount a special show forthe Fascists in an attempt to save their skins. Rich. intelligent and very funny black comedy from one of Spain‘s finest directors. Glasgow: GFT.
I Babylon ( 18) (Franco Rosso. UK. 1980) Brinsley Forde. Karl Howman.Trevor Laird, Brian Bovell. 95 mins. Blue (Forde) is a young, working-class black kid in modern(-ish) Britain. whose aspirations (in reggae sound systems). frustrations and confrontations lead irrevocably to a violent climax. Accurate and detailed evocation of British black experience. which also happens to be a spirited drama powered by a throbbing dub beat. Glasgow: GFI‘.
I Batman (Tim Burton. US. 1989)Jack Nicholson. Michael Keaton. Kim Bassinger. 120 mins. In which Burton achieves the impossible by creating a product which lives up to possibly the biggest hype job this century. Nicholson is on top form: psychotic, witty and zanier than ever; but the real triumph is Keaton‘s. With less screen time than the Great Upstager. he produces a performance of memorable subtlety and power. which gives a new credibility to the Bruce Wayne/Batman character. while remaining true to the comic strip. With eerie angular design by Anton Furst. a terrific score by Danny Elfman. a suitably wacky script and a strong supporting cast. Glasgow: GF'I'.
I The Best Di British Animation (PG) Total running time: 85 mins. A programme of ten animated shorts assembled by the British Film Institute. Included are Nick Park‘s charming. Oscar-winning plasticine piece ‘Creature Comforts’. and other multi-award-winning films. such as Mark Baker‘s ‘The Hill Farm‘. Andrew McEwan‘s ‘Toxic‘. Peter Lord‘s‘War Story‘ and David Anderson‘s ‘Deadsy‘. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Big Picture (15) (Christopher Guest. US. 1990) Kevin Bacon. Emily Longstrcth. J.T. Walsh, JenniferJason Leigh. 99 mins. Clever but glossy and barely believable satire on the the Hollywood star system. Bacon stars as tyro director Nick. fresh out of film school and already assailed by producers. agents and irresistible nymphettes. with Longstrcth is his faithful but abused girlfriend. Enjoyable. but too lacking in truth to make you really think. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Blue Velvet (18) (David Lynch. US. 1986) Kyle MacLachlan. Dennis Hopper. Isabella Rossellini. 120 mins. In small-town Middle America. would-be boy detective MacLachlan finds a severed car on some waste ground. When the police shoo him away he decides to do some investigating of his own. A singular fusion of the cosy and the terrifying which blends kitsch and nightmare. B-movie detection and brutal sex to deconstruct our complacent vision of normal society. This is film-making of remarkable imagination and skill. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I Cinema Paradiso (PG) (Giuseppe Tornatore. Italy/France.l988) Phillipe Noiret. Jacques Perrin. Salvatore Cascio. 123 mins. Tornatore‘s vision ofhis movie-mad childhood is a wonderful love letter to the cinema itself. Told largely in flashback. it traces the young Salvatore‘s infatuation with his village cinema. and his growing friendship with its projectionist (played to perfection by Noiret).
Essentially, it‘s Tornatorc‘s lament forthc ;
joyous movie-going experience ofhis youth and a recognition of the price we pay for our maturity. 1990 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film. Strathclyde: UCI East Kilbride.
I The Comfort 01 Strangers (18) (Paul Schrader. US. 1990) Rupert Everett. Natasha Richardson. Christopher Walken. Helen Mirren. 105 mins. Ian McEwan‘s short novel of sexual power games and the perception-warping
possibilities of culture shock is inherently hard to film. Schrader and his excellent cast give it their best shot. the Venetian locations and sets are luscious and Harol Pinter‘s screenplay is surprisingly faithful. But the narrative tension and pace on which the novel relies are conspicuously absent. Central: Cannon. MaeRobert Arts Centre.
I Coming Out (15) (Heiner Carow. East Germany. 1989)_Mathias Friehof. Dagmar Maze]. Dirk Kummer. Michael Gwisdek. 109 mins. In pre-united Berlin. a high school teacher tries hard to settle into heterosexual ‘normality’. and even marries a fellow teacher. but finds himself unable to resist his attraction to a younger man. Set in an environment where horrifying queer-bashing is almost acceptable behaviour. this is a brave. honest and hard-hitting movie. even ifits message is somewhat simplistically articulated. Glasgow: OFT.
I Courage Mountain (U) (Christopher Leitch. US, 1990) Charlie Sheen. Leslie Caron. 98 mins. In this revision of the Heidi saga. Juliette Caton plays the young damsel in distress as her life with grandad is threatened by both an impending war and the bureaucratic talons of orphanage director Yorgo Voyagis. Sheen plays Peter.the dashing soldier hero struggling to maintain his dignity in the face ofsome truly cringeworthy dialogue. Adequate matinee material for the unfussy kids‘ audience. but parents with a sense of the absurd might get into it. Central: Caledonian.
I Dance 01 The Vampires The Fearless Vampire Killers (15) (Roman Polanski. US. 1967) Jack MacGowran. Roman Polanski. Alfie Bass, Sharon Tate, Ferdy Mayne. 107 mins. Peculiar Hammer-type spoof horror. with MaeGowran as the eccentic professor and Polanski as his assistant. both staying in an isolated. east European castle infested with vampires. Though there are moments of pure Polanski genius. most of the movie misfires. and it‘s remarkable mainly as an oddity. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I Dances With Wolves (12) (Kevin Costner, US. 1990) Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell. Graham Greene. Rodney Grant. 179 mins. Costner‘s debut as director and co-produeer. in which he also stars. has already been widely praised for its epic scale and its sympathetic depiction of Red Indian culture in the 1860. Itwon seven Oscars including Best Film and Best Director. with no less than twelve nominations. Set at a remote outpost during the American Civil War. a time of violent struggle between pioneering Yankees and Sioux Indian/s. it offers a sensitive and intense analysis ofboth factions. and of a man caught between two different cultures. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. Dominion. UCI. Central: Allanpark. Cannon. Strathclyde: Cannon. UCI Clydebank. UCI East Kilbride.
I Darlt Habits (18) (Pedro Almodovar. Spain. 1984) Christina S. PascuaI.Julieta Serrano. Carmen Maura. 95 mins.
Thoroughly reprehensible and very funny early Almodovar has nightclub chanteuse i
Pascal fleeing her drug-addled existence to seek refuge in a rather unorthodox convent. where the nuns share out liberal amounts of controlled substances and the
sexual peccadillo quotient is running high. The Sound ofMusicit ain‘t. but even ifthe , joke is stretched a little thin and the pacing '
uncertain. Pedro's aim as usual is to prick the complacencies of our everyday morality. Glasgow: GFT.
I Darkman (15) (Sam Raimi. US. 1990) Liam Neeson. Frances McCormand. Colin Friels. Larry Drake. 91 mins. Mr Evil Dead with major studio funding has a ball. barking back to the Hammer Phantom Of The'Opera genre . but still exploiting his distinctively fast-moving. schloek-comedy instincts. Neeson is wonderful. even touching. as the genetic
I Problem Child (PG)The title says it all. really. Michael Oliver is the vile seven-year-old who has been sent back to the orphanage thirty times. and John Ritter and Amy Yasbeck are the unsuspecting couple who take him in. Kiddy madness comedy. Cannons. UCIs and Central Allanpark from Fri 24.
I Robin Hood (PG) Patrick Bergin. fresh from Sleeping With Julia Roberts. gets to grips with Maid Marian a few months before Kevin Costner. whose Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves is due here in July. A racy version of the timeless story. with Uma Thurman (last seen in Henry/ind June) exuding post-feminist sensuality as Marian. See review. Glasgow Cannon Sauchiehall Street and Salon; Strathclyde Kelburne and La Scala; all UCIs from Fri 17.
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I nosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead (PG) Tom Stoppard‘s 1966 stage play — jokin based on Hamleiand Waiting For Godot- brought to the screen. re-written and directed by Stoppard himself. with a strong cast including Gary Oldman. Tim Roth. Richard Dreyfuss and Iain Glen. Glasgow Film Theatre and Edinburgh Filmhousc from Fri 24.
I These Foolish Things (15) First cinema role for Dirk Bogardc since Fassbinder‘s Despair in 1978. as a dying man coming to terms with wasted years and getting to know his estranged daughter (Jane Birkin) as he has never been able before. See preview. Edinburgh Filmhousc from Fri 17; Glasgow Film Theatre from Sun 2 June. I White Fang (I’G)Jack London's Klondyke classic is brought to the screen by the Disney studios starring Klaus Maria Brandauer as the tracker Alex. Ethan Hawke as young adventurer Jack and Jed the dog in the title role. All ()deons and UCls and
selected Cannons from Fri
24.
The List 17—30 May 1961 33