INDEX FILM
Catherine Wilkening, Johanne-Marie Tremblay. 120 mins. Hired to revamp a Catholic passion play. M. Bluteau enlists four actors from diverse sources. casts himself as Jesus. and sets to work on a stunningly radical version of his own. Naturally. life begins to imitate art. but don‘t expect anything else predictable. because Arcand‘s follow-up to Decline Of The American Empire is chockful of twists. surprises and incisive satire. Finely acted. elegantly filmed and always intriguing. Glasgow: GFT.
I Journey Of Hope (PG) (Xavier Koller. Switzerland. 1990) Necmettin Cobanoglu. Nur Surer. Emin Sivas. Mathias Gnadinger. 110 mins. See preview. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Kill Me Again (18) (John Dahl. US. 1990) Val Kilmer. Joanne Whalley-Kilmer. Michael Madsen. Jonathan Gries. 96 mins. See review. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge.
I King Ralph (PG) (David S. Ward. US. 1991 ) John Goodman. Peter O’ Toole. John Hurt. Camille Coduri. Julian Glover. 96 mins. When the entire Royal Family is unluckily wiped out. Las Vegas pianist Ralph Jones (Goodman) becomes heir to the throne of Britain. In the struggle to adjust to his elevated lifestyle. King Ralph offends other monarchs. disrupts British industry. delights the tabloid press and falls in love with a commoner. But complications arise when Lord Graves (Hurt) begins plotting his downfall. Unreverential comedy with an enjoyably robust central performance. a pinch of satire on the British ‘Royals‘ cult. and a good few laughs. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr.
I Koyaanisqatsi (U) (Godfrey Reggio. US. 1983) 86mins. Rather vacuous exploration of the beauty ofour planet and the nastiness of our modern civilisation which is in the process of destroying it.
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Beautifully shot. and with an apocalyptic Philip Glass score to boot. it ends up looking like a spectacular advert for something or other. Edinburgh: Cameo. I LA Story (15) (Mick Jackson, US. 1991) Steve Martin. Victoria Tennant. Richard E. Grant. Marilu Henner. 95 mins. Written by Martin himself. this affectionate satire on the world centre of hedonism is also a love story in the manner of Manhattan. though without the intellectual subtlety of that homage to NYC. Martin plays eccentric weatherman
Harris K. Tclemacher, who sets out to find sanity and true love in a crazy society. Not as funny as it should be. but nonetheless an enjoyable entertainment. Edinburgh: Cannon.
I Life Is Sweet(15) (Mike Leigh. UK, 1991) Alison Steadman. Jim Broadbent. Jane Horrocks. Claire Skinner. Timothy Spall. David Thewlis. 102 mins. Domestic cringe-drama again in Leigh's latest offering, which centres on a family with mismatched twin daughters (Horrocks and Skinner) an inefficient caterer dad (Broadbent) and a generous-spirited mum (Steadman). The drama — laced. like all Leigh‘s work. with a bleak. almost cruel humour — centres on the sisters‘ relationship. the father‘s ill conceived business venture and the new restaurant opened by a friend (Spall). Enjoyable. truthful and surprisingly optimistic. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I M (15) (Fritz Lang, Germany. 1931) Peter Lorre. Otto Wernicke, Gustav Grundgens. An undoubted classic filled with stunning sequences that build to a harrowing climax. A child murderer (Lorre) evades the police only to be caught and tried by his fellow criminals. Sordid subject matter treated with stunning artistic vision, with Lorre at his most chilling — yet strangely sympathetic-
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I Macbeth (15) (Roman Polanski. UK. 1971) Jon Finch. Francesca Annis. Martin Shaw. 140 mins. Blood-soaked version of Shakespeare's turbulent Scots tragedy which manages to convey the play's pervasive spirit of evil. The Pole's dark imagination provides scenes of horror encompassed in a brooding vision of fate. mortality and power. Glasgow: GFT.
I Menhunter(18) (Michael Mann. US. 1987) William L. Petersen. Tom Noonan. Brian Cox. Kim Griest. 119 mins. FBI agent Petersen returns from psychiatric treatment to face another case. using his customary technique for tracking down serial killers by recreating their train of thought. In the past this has proved alltoo wearing on his own mental state. and when faced with evidence of a killer who slays whole families every lunar cycle. he finds himselfback on the brink. Convincing and disturbing adult thriller with effortlesst stylish use ofthe wide screen. Edinburgh: Cameo. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank.
I Meet the Applegetes (15) (Michael Lehman. US. 1990) Ed Begleer. Stockard Channing. Cami Cooper. Dabney Coleman. 82 mins. Lehman‘s follow-up to the wonderfully black comedy Heathers is an off-beat satirical comedy about the green movement‘s struggle against consumerism. Posing as an ornery. mid-Western family led by blue-eyed patriarch Begley. the Applegates are in fact a gang of giant Brazilian insects charged with the subversive duty of extinguishing the environmentally unsound human race. But of course, the temptations of American decadence can be seductive . . . Gentle satire with a slimy underbelly. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre. I The Member 01 The Wedding (15) (Fred
"A SHARP, SPIKY COMEDY”
BARRY NORMAN, RADIO TIMES
"HILARIOUS SET PIECES. Splendid ensemble acting”
” TOUGH, FUNNY, ANGRY AND ELOQUENT... fit to stand beside Boys From The Black Stuff”
ery convincing and enioy return to form. Fast and fast-witted, with a pacing you don't often find in British film comedy”
Zinnemann. US. 1953) Julie Harris. Ethel Waters. Brandon de Wilde. Arthur Franz. 91 mins. Harris is the motherless 12-year-old. fiercely protecting her tomboy nature against those around her. The characters are interesting and Carson McCullers‘ dialogue has its moments of wit. but the confinement of the kitchen set is all too restricting. Glasgow: GFT.
I Mermaids ( 15) (Richard Benjamin. US. 1991 ) Cher. Winona Ryder. Bob Hoskins. Christina Ricci. 110 mins. Quirky growing-up comedy whose adolescent heroines are an irresponsible. footloose mother Mrs Flax (Cher) and her morose,
pious daughter Charlotte (Ryder). both of whom have something to learn from the other‘s pre-supposed values. Enjoyable and warm-hearted. with lloskins splendid as the sexy shoe-shop owner. and excellent performances from the two central actresses. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Odeon. Salon. Edinburgh: Odeon. UCl. Central: Cannon. Strathclyde: Cannon. UCl Clydebank. UCl East Kilbride.
I Miller’s Crossing (18) (Joel Coen. US. 1990) Gabriel Byrne. Albert Finney. Marcia Gay Harden. John Turturro. Jon Polito. J.E. Freeman. 115 mins. The Coen Brothers‘ latest opus is a predictably quirky-but-stylish reworking ofgenre material - in this case the gangster flick. Set in an unnamed East-coast city in the 19305. it centres on the falling-out between mob-leader Finney and his right-hand man Byrne when both take a shine to the same broad (Harden). It's all carried out with the Coen‘s customary aplomb, and even features a fleeting appearance by Evil Dead and Darkman director Sam Raimi. Glasgow: GFT.
I Misery(18) (Rob Reiner.US.1991) Kathy Bates. James Caan. Frances Sternhagen. Richard Farnsworth. Lauren Bacall. 107 mins. Adapted from Stephen
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The List l2—25July 199123