INDEX FILM
ITIIO Little Gang (U) (Michel Deville. France. 1982) 91 mins. A group of children stowaway on a cross-channel ferry and go exploring the countryside and villages of nothern France. But not everyone they come across is just what they seem. An unusual children‘s film. told without dialogue. Glasgow: GFT.
I Little Man Tate (PG) (Jodie Foster. US. 1991) Jodie Foster. Dianne Wiest. Adam Hann-Byrd. Harry Connick Jr. 99 mins. See review. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. All UCIs.
I Manhunt" ( 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 ofthought. Cox‘s embodiment ofHannibaI Iector may not have had the same amount of coverage as Hopkins'. but his remains the more chilling performance. Convincing and disturbing adult thriller with effortlessly stylish use of the wide screen. Glasgow: GFT.
I Merci LI VIC ( 18) (Bertrand Blier. France. 1990)
Charlotte Gainsbourg. Anouk Grinberg. Gerard Depardicu. Michel Blanc. 117 mins. Two French teenagers embark on a road journey that takes them back to the Occupation as well as acrossthe country. Blier‘s ferocious wit takes on bigthemes like AIDS and the Holocaust. creating an effective but self-conscious blend of buffoonery and sobriety. Glasgow: OFT.
I Mlgnon H88 Lelt ( 12) (Francesca Archibugi. Italy/France. 1988) Stefania Sandrelli. Celine Beauvallet. Leonardo Rota. Francesca Antonelli 90mins. Archibugi‘s debut feature brings the beautiful and self-assured Mignon into the turbulent middle-class life of her Italian cousins. She becomes the catalyst as family relationships and emotions go through various stages of adolescent unrest. Refreshingly free of stereotypes. Mignon Has Left manages to capture a slice of European life with subtle wit and tenderness. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
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 of genre material — in this case the gangster flick. Set in an unnamed East-coast city in the l930s. 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). Possibly the best. most under-rated film of 1991. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Misery ( 18) (Rob Reiner. US. 1991) Kathy Bates. James Caan. Frances Sternhagen. Richard Farnsworth. Lauren Bacall. 107 mins. Adapted from Stephen King‘s novel. this psychological chiller centres on a popular author with literary aspirations (Caan) who finds himself trapped. following a nasty car accident. with his psychotic ‘number one fan' (Bates. who won the Best Actress Oscar for the role). The talents ofall concerned are employed to superb effect. to produce a movie of great originality. subtlety and entertainment value. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I Mississippi Hassle ( 15) (Mira Nair. US. 1991) Denzel Washington. Sarita (‘houdhury. Roshan
Seth. 112 mins. Expelled from Uganda. an Asian
family face further upheaval in the American South when the daughter falls for a struggling carpet cleaner. An unusual slant on inter-racial hostility from the director of Salaam Bombay.’. which could have benefitted from a little more grit. Glasgow: GET. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I MGM (PG) (H0ward Zieff. US. 1991) Macaulay Culkin. Dan Aykroyd. Jamie Lee Curtis. Anna Chlumsky. 102 mins. A millionaire and not yet in his teens — don't you just love Macaulay Culkin (he said through clenched teeth). This time he‘s sorting out the lives ofhis tomboy neighbour and her widowed mortician dad. A kiddies‘ romance with a (literal) sting in the tail. Also with the best character name in recent months (can you imagine admitting to knowing someone called Vada Sultenfuss'.’). General release (Week 2).
I “I! Nasty GM Des Schrecklr'ch Madchen (PG) (Michael Verhoeven. Germany. 1990) Lena Stolze. Monika Baumgartner. Michael Gahr. Hans-Reinhard Muller Fred Stillkrauth. 93 mins. An objectionable young woman wins local acclaim for her essay writing. and at once embarks upon a project called ‘My Town In The Third Reich‘. The film‘s charm lies not just in the ghastly embarrassment her subsequent research evokes. but in the way Verhoeven continually undermines the audience's expectations. and never allows the seriousness of his subject to cloud his sense of humour. Glasgow: GFI‘.
I “II Jack City ( 18) (Mario Van Peebles. US. 1991) Wesley Snipes. Ice-T. Allen Payne. Chris Rock, Mario Van Peebles. 101 mins. Rapper Ice-T plays an undercover cop dedicated to smashing a powerful gang who run a drugs empire. But when his cover is blown. a series of violent confrontations follow. Director Van Peebles delivers a gripping work of fiction based
FOR THE BOYS
4 ‘3 ForThe Boys: ’a greatold wallow'
ForThe Boys (15) (Mark Bydell, US, 1991) Bette Midler, James Caan, George Segal, ChristOpher Bydell, Arye Gross. 145 mins. Produced by the starthrough her own All Girl outiil, this is Bette Midler’s latest attempt to lind a screen vehicle suitably tailored to just whatever it is she does best. Part traditional showbiz biopic, part running commentary on the American psyche’s changing perceptions oi armed conflict, lrom World War II to South-East Asia, the result mounts dance numbers, emotional highs ’n’ lows and battlelront action with coniidence and Showmanship.
Why then has it performed so miserably at the American box oitice? Well, for one thing, the film’s major emotional trauma, wherein the lives of
torch singer Dixie Leonard (Midler) and comedian Eddie Sparks (James Caan) are almost destroyed by the death 01 their son Danny (played by the director’s eldest, Christopher Bydell)
in Vietnam, probably didn’t sit too well in the current climate oi post-Gull Saddam-bashing jingoism. It might also be that the central relationship wasn’t uplront sexy enough lor the predominantly young moviegoing audience weaned on Tom Cruise getting his kit oil. Instead, ForThe Boys goes the wisecracking route oi yore and builds its ongoing love ailair lrom the dialogue, the cherishably abrasive give-and-take ol the acrimonious verbals serving only to disguise deepening mutual atlection.
Good to see George Segal back in a proper movie as the manager who gives Dixie her break, but it’s Midler and Caan who dominate the picture. They act their little socks oil, lrom their first onstage wartime encounter to an incredibly hokey grand iinale; while Mark Bydell’s direction recaptures the assiduously-crafted panache oi yesteryear’s Hollywood studio pictures. In short, a great old wallow, not to be missed by those at a nostalgic bent. (TrevorJohnslon)
From 7 Feb: Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. UCI. Strathclyde: Clydebank and East Kilbride UCls.
Hors La Vie (15) (Maroun Bagdadi, France, 1991) Hippolyte Girardot, Raiic Ali Ahmad, Hussein Sbeity, Habib Hammoud. 97 mins. Given the myriad otters the rising French star Hippolyte Girardot must have received to reprise the lazily disarming Parisian layabout at his debut in Eric Rochant’s A World Without Pity, it’s highly commendable oi the young actorthal he opted instead to take up the acting challenge at this often harrowing hostage drama. Based on the experiences in Beirut oi French journalist Roger Auque, who at one point was held in the room next to Terry Waite, Lebanese director Bagdadi’s lirst theatrical ieature is not only a
story at one ordinary man’s stoical will
to survive, but a compassionate picture 01 a once great city’s inestimable suitering.
Girardot plays press photographer Patrick Perrault, whose loolhardy hunger to get the most dangerous and telling shots inevitably leads him into dangerous situations. His arrogance gives way to humility, however, when he’s bundled into a car by one oi the area’s many paramilitary splinter groups and locked up in secret somewhere in the vicinity. Chained up lor most oi the day, and with only the barest sanitary iacilities, Perrault’s sense 01 sell is altered lorever, while his relationship with his captors - some kindly, some crazy, sees his previously~non-committal Westerner’s attitude deepening into partial
HORS LA VIE
Hors La Vie: ‘oite harrowing hostage drama
understanding oi the tragically absurd no-win situation the Lebanese have laced all their lives.
Although one scene that has the Frenchman wrapped from head to toe in adhesive tape is almost unbearably powerful, it’s the footage at Beirut. taken by simply mounting a camera on a car bonnet and driving through the streets. that’s most shocking oi all. It seems inconceivable that this crumbling collection oi bombed-out ruins was once a thriving metropolis.
: And it Girardot manages to create more
oi a sympathetic character than is really there in the lairly low-key script. even more remarkable is the lact that he never once set tool in Beirut, for most oi the film was shot in Palermo. Remind me neverto go there lor my holidays. (TrevorJohnslon)
See Competitions page to win A World Without Pity videos.
From 2 Feb: Glasgow Film Theatre. From 9 Feb: Edinburgh Filmhouse.
a/ 629/1/5
WEDNESDAYS
SPANISH NIGHT
Flamenco Band
9 - late bar
SAT Isl FEB
LIVE
CLUMSY LOVERS &
Supporting Sounds 9 - late bar
THURSDAYS
6th, 13th, 27th FEB ARCH Acid/Jazz Club
FRIDAY I4lh FEB
VALENTINE BALL 9 - late bar
FRIDAY ZISI FEB
COSTUME BALL 9 - late bar
The List 31 January - 13 February 199217