Fill INDEX
purports to help Jews escape to Argentina, but actually gives them a lethal shot in the arm and steals their belongings. Glasgow: GFT. I The Doors ( 18) (Oliver Stone. US. 1990) Val Kilmer. Meg Ryan. Kyle MacLachlan. Kevin Dillon. Frank Whalley. 141mins. It’s 1966, andJim Morrison, aspiring poet and film-maker. joins a band ad transforms himself into the Dionysus ofthe Love Generation. From that point on, there’s no let-up until his bathtimc demise as an overweight alcoholic, aged 27. Kilmer's superb characterisation as Morrison dominates to such an extent that the other actors struggle to assert themselves even one-dimensionally. and little insight is given into what fired Morrison‘s self-destructive genius. Still. Stone‘s ‘tits ‘n‘ acid’ version ofThe Doors‘ history. while selective and highly inaccurate. is never boring. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. UCl. Central: Allanpark. Cannon. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank. UCl East Kilbride. I Easy Rider (18) (Dennis Hopper. US. 1969) Peter Fonda. Dennis Hopper. Jack Nicholson. 94 mins. Artless. archetypal road movie in which two dope-loving bikers travel the highways and by-ways of America. Dated cult attraction with Nicholson stealing the show as a boozy lawyer persuaded to join up for the trip. Glasgow: GFT. I The Exorcist (18) (William Friedkin. US. 1973) Linda Blair. Ellen Burstyn. Max Von Sydow. 110 mins. Earnest priest Von Sydow steps in to save poor little obsessed girl in this hugely effective scarcfest. Dead good, dead scarey. dead priest. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. I Filofax(12) (Arthur Hiller. US. 1991) James Belushi. Charles Grodin, Anne DeSalvo, Mako. 108 mins. On getting out ofjail, petty crook Jimmy (Belushi) hasa lucky break: he happens upon the Filofax belonging to upmarket executive Spencer Barnes (Grodin). Without further ado. he assumes Barnes‘ identity and embarks upon a spree of good living. at great cost— financial, emotional and logistical — to the former. Enjoyable but unremarkable Hollywood pulp comedy. Central: Cannon. I The Freshman (PG) (Andrew Bergman. US, 1990) Matthew Broderick. Bruno Kirby, Marlon Brando. Maximilian Schell. 102 mins. The youthful-looking Broderick arrives in New York to begin a course in film studies. and immediately falls prey to Kirby‘s hustler. Worse isto come, though. when Kirby makes amends by introducing him to Uncle Brando. a wealthy but shady figure. who makes him an offer he can‘t readily refuse. The Godfather parodies are of course deliberate (Broderick‘s course even includes a seminar on the film) and the movie‘s knowing humour. spot-on casting and escalating suspense give it an irresistible charm. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Ghost (12) (Gerry Zucker. US. 1990) Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore. Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn. 126 mins. Death doth part happy couple Swayze and Moore when the former falls victim to a late-night mugging. Not content merely to pass on, however. he returns to try and get back in touch with his wife via medium Goldberg (who won an Oscar for her supporting role), in an attempt to warn her about financial and other dangers. Amiable supernatural comedy-drama. which spawned a few inferior imitations. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. I Glasgow Film And Video Workshop screenings(12) 131 mins. A programme of fourteen new Scottish short films made on video and 16mm through the Glasgow Film And Video Workshop. which ran a successful similar project last year. This year‘s contributions include a wide range of styles. from abstract pieces and short narratives to sexual and international politics. See preview. page 18. Glasgow:
20The List31 May—13June 1991
JULES ET JIM
Jules et Jim (PG) (Francois Truffaut, France, 1961) OskarWerner, Henri Serre, Jeanne Moreau. 106 mins. Looking fabulous in a gleaming new print struck from the original negative, Jules et Jim has to go down as one of the year’s most welcome reissues, for it stands today as one of Truffaut’s finest screen achievements. Here is a quicksilver sense of joie de vivre that remains unsurpassed in its sparkling charm.
Adapted from the novel by Henri-Pierre Roche, the action begins in the Paris of 1912, where a wonderfully vibrant Jeanne Moreau is Catherine, the effervescent bohemian who divides the loyalties of two men between their shifting passion for her
and their long-established affection for g
each other. His French accent tinged with a definite trace of his German origins, cherubic yet sad-eyed Oskar Werner is the budding writer Jules, while moustachioed Frenchman Henri Serre will always be remembered as
his best buddy and would-be artist Jim.
Both men fall absolutely in love with
the mercurial Catherine, whose
affections are to shift between them
over two decades of marriage and
children, war and exile, bittersweet
happiness and disappointment. Here Truffaut’s freewheeling
fix,
I
camerawork meshes with the beautifully judged contributions of his trio of protagonists to communicate the aching unpredictability of just what happens when amour lou meets ménage a trois. As in the Antoine Doinel films, love and melancholy always seem to go hand-in-hand, but it's not just the telling emotional wisdom that makes Jules et Jim such a remarkable offering from a film-maker then at an early stage in his career.
No, especially noteworthy is Truffaut’s orchestration of the passing of history and the changing of values and the way this is reflected in the tribulations of the central threesome. As the strictures of the late 19th century are opened up by the moral shock of the Great War, so Jules, Jim and Catherine begin to mark out the territory of a new sexual freedom springing from the desires of the individual. The point is as relevant today as it ever was: with freedom comes responsibility. Our characters are to discover that the price of free love becomes readily apparent with time and experience. (Trevor Johnston)
Fri 7—Fri 14 June. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Sun iii—Sat 22 June. Glasgow: GFT.
GFT.
I Graveyard Shift (18) (Ralph S. Singleton. US. 1990) David Andrews. Stephen Macht. Brad Dourif. 86 mins. Based on an
early Stephen King story. this is definitely
B-movie stuff and a world away from Misery. Set in the rural north—east of America. it centres on a ve rminous mutation which grew up on textile offcuts and has graduated to munching human remains in the neighbourhood graveyard.
When clean-cut-college-kid Andrews and L
his less civilised workmates are put to work cleaning up the basement ofthe textile mills by heartless boss Macht. the true nature of the beast is exposed. Gutsy and unrepentantly silly frightfeast from the associate producer of Pet Semutary. See preview. page 18. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: UCl. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. Odeon
Hamilton. [3(‘1 East Kilbridc. U(‘l Clydebank.
I Green Card(12) (Peter Weir. US. 1991) Gerard Depardieu. Andie MacDowell. Bebe Neuwirth. Gregg Edelman. 107 mins. The hugely amiable figure of Depardieu dominates this. his Hollywood debut. He plays a French composer living illegally in New York and in desperate need ofa work permit. MacDowell‘s horticulturalist is in love with a conservatory apartment. but needs a husband to get the lease. A marriage of convenience is arranged. but the authorities are not convinced. so the mismatched couple are forced to invent a history for themselves. in doing so. of course. they fall for each other. Funny. charming. and not without profundity. but suspend your disbelief for the denotmtent. ('entral: Allanpark.
I The Grifters ( 15) (Stephen Frears. US. 1990) Anjelica Huston, John Cusack. Annette Bening. 119 mins. Hugely satisfying noir melodrama. centring on the relationship between three streetwise ‘grifters‘ — mob moll Lily (Huston). her estranged son. injured con man Roy (Cusack). and Roy‘s ambitious girl Myra (Bening). When Lily decides to visit Roy in hospital. skeletons start tumbling from closets. and their loose grip on security begins to weaken. Rich. dark and very substantial. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Guilty By Suspicion (15) (Irwin Winkler, US. 1990) Robert De Niro. Annette Bening. George Wendt. Sam Wannamaker. 105 mins. A new attempt by the American film industry to come to terms with the McCarthy era. when Hollywood was purged of anyone deemed to have communist connections. with devastating effects. De Niro stars as a highly successful director destroyed by rumours. with Bening as his supportive ex-wife. Wannamaker— who was himself blacklisted — as an attorney. and Martin Scorsese in a minor role as another harassed director. Despite cumbersome pacing. the performances and good intentions are strong enough to make this a very watchable movie. and the courtroom climax is well worth waitng for. See feature. page 12. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. I Gulliver's Travels (U) (Peter Hunt. UK. 1976) Richard Harris. 81 mins. inoffensive treatment of Swift‘s raucous parable for the matinee market. interesting as a pre-Roger Rabbitexample ofthe integration ofanimation and live action. with Harris‘s Gulliver the only human element. Strathclyde: WMR Film Centre.
I Hamlet (U) (Franco Zeffirelli. US. 1990) Mel Gibson. Alan Bates. Glenn Close. Paul Scofield. Helena Bonham-Carter. lan Holm. 135 mins. A young man returns home from university to find his father dead and his mother marrying his uncle. Then Hamlet senior‘s ghost shows up. whispering to him of murder most foul. and it's all downhill after that. More than twenty years after Zeffirelli‘s Romeo And Juliet comes this colourful and lively production of Shakespeare‘s greatest play. with a very strong. mostly British cast and the best performance in years from Gibson in the title role. Edinburgh: Odeon.
I The Hard Way (15) (John Badham. US. 1990) Michael J. Fox. James Woods. Stephen Lang. Annabella Sciorra. L. L. Cool]. 11] mins. Baby-faced and
i
disgustingly successful. Nick Lang (Fox) is
a Hollywood star trying to roughen up his image. The answer? A tough cop movie. researched at the right hand of resentful New York policier John Moss (Woods). It‘s a classic set-up for a predictable action/buddy comedy drama. but brave self-parody from Fox and a characteristically hard-bitten performance from Woods create a stylish entertainment from unpromising elements. Edinburgh: UCI. Central: Caledonian.
I Havana (15) (Sydney Pollack. US. 1990) Robert Redford. Lena Olin. Alan Arkin. 144 mins. ln Redford's seventh collaboration with Pollack. he stars as a poker king in Havana, Cuba in the unrest ofthe late 19505. Asemi-respectable figure. he falls for the revolutionary — and married — Olin. Next thing he knows. everything— including his own personal politics— is going topsy-turvy. A romantic drive keeps the action sprightly. but the characters fail to gain our sympathy. and the attractive overall gloss is not enough to compensate. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I Highlander 2: The Quickening(15) (Russell Mulcahy. US. 1991) Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery. Virginia Madsen. Michael lronside. 95 mins. 1n the year 2024. Connor MacLeod (Lambert) is