FllM‘INDEX
action: and Slater's idiosyncratic style just fail to gel, leaving a celuloid mess that should be arrested for indecent exposure. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. All UCls.
I Law at Desire (18) (Pedro Almodovar. Spain. 101 mins) Eusebio Poncela. Carmen Maura. Antonio Baderas. 101 mins. Notorious filmmaker Pablo moves through a decadent lifestyle of sensual pleasure. his only real concern for his transsexual brother-turned-sister. However. when he falls for government minister‘s son Antonio. a nightmare of manipulation and deceit is to follow. Flamboyant Spanish iconoclast Almodovar's exaggerated sexual farrago is interesting as a sort of overheated melodrama. though the lack of narrative control near the end does let the film down. Glasgow: GFT.
I The Lostleys (15) (Joel Schumacher. US. 1987) Jason Patrick. Corey Haim. Barnard Hughes. 97 mins. Anaemic comic horror as a Santa Monica teen falls into bad company in the shape of a mad. bad and dangerous-toknow gang of vampires. Constant MTV visuals make this an altogether resistible affair. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank.
I Love AtLarge (15) (Alan Rudolph. US. 1990) Tom Berenger. Elizabeth Perkins. Kate Capshaw. Anne Archer. Neil Young. 97 mins. Rudolph‘s latest is a bizarre kind of noir pastiche. in which private dick Berenger is hired to keep tabs on Archer‘s errant husband. and is in turn tailed by a female dick (Perkins) hired by his jealous girlfriend (Capshaw). Eccentrically humourous and sumptuously filmed. it fails to gel into a satisfying whole. but should not disappoint Rudolph‘s followers. Glasgow: GFI‘.
I local” and It: Miller ( 18) (Robert Altman. US. 1971) Warren Beatty. Julie Christie. 121 mins. Ultra-realistic. downbeat western yarn that eschews the traditional approach of glamourising the era. Beatty is in good form as a hustling. two-bit braggart who opens a brothel in a turn-of-the-century boom town. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Had lax 2(18) (George Miller. Australia. 1981) Mel Gibson. Bruce Spence. 94 mins. Exhilarating post-Apocalypse adventure. with plenty grotesque imagery and vicious villians. Pure cinema (count the number of words 01‘ Max has to say) and the highpoint of the series. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Mad Max Beyond "undermine (15) (George Miller & George Ogilvie. Australia. 1985) Mel Gibson. Tina Turner. 107 mins. Max is hailed as the new Messiah by a group of children and faces the challenge of Tina‘s queen of Bartertown in this overblown dsappointment. No shortage of pigshit. though. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I mutton 18) (Pedro Almadovar. Spain. 1986) Assumpta Sema. Antonio Banderas. Nancho Martinez. Eva Como. 96 mins. Less uproarious than the works that established his commercial reputation. this is Almadovar at his most intensely dark and ecstatic. Themes of sex and death merge around a pervy ex-bullfighter. his sexually confused pupil and the latter‘s murderous defence lawyer. Quite deliriously amoral. Glasgow: GFI'. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I am: the Evil Empire (18) (Michael Karbelnikoff. US. 1991 ) Christian Slater. Patrick Dempsey. Richard Grieco. 107 mins. Youth-oriented spin on familiar gangster fare covers the early days of Siegel. Lansky and Luciano. but never proves distinctive enough to shake off memories of better predecessors. The young cast look right. but the narrative soon dissloves into a series of gratuitously vicious set pieces. See review. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. All UCls.
. I The loom (15) (Alan Rudolph. US. 1988) Keith Carradine. Linda Firoentino. John Lone. Genevieve Bujold. 126 mins. 1926 Paris isthe setting for Rudolph‘s latest triumph. a playful exploration of the fake and the genuine in art and love. Against the background of the expatriate American artistic circle of Hemingway and Stein. it examines a series of tangled relationships whose effects reverberate around the boho art world. Excellent Altman/Rudolph rep company performances. an unpredictable directorial flair. and the dramatic shaping of complex themes into a delirious drama. Glasgow: GFI‘.
I .1 Girl (PG) (Howard 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 of his tomboy neighbour and her widowed mortician dad. A kiddies' romance with a (literal) stingin the tail. Also with the best character name in recent months (can you imagine admitting to knowing someone called Vada Sultenfuss?). General release.
I I! One Private Idaho (18) (Gus Van Sant. US. 1991) River Phoenix. Keanu Reeves. William Richert. 105 mins. Shakespeare‘s Henry IV Parts I and 2 are given a sleazy. contemporary twist in Van Sant's follow-up to the admirable Drugstore Cowboy. Screen heart-throbs Phoenix and
Reeves make brave career moves by playing a rent
boy and the preppie layabout object of his affections. but to good effect. A compelling. idiosyncratic. left-field gem. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Cameo. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre.
I later! I.” (18) (David Cronenberg. US. 1992) Peter Weller. Judy Davis. lan Holm. Roy Scheider. 121 mins. Body horror maestro takes on the near impossible task of filming William Burroughs' controversial novel The Naked Lunch and comes out with a cinematic masterpiece. Elements from Burroughs‘ own life merge with a surreal narrative and the book's bizarre. drug-induced sexual imagery, leaving a bewildered. but impressed. audience in their wake. By no means easy watching. but well worth the effort. See feature. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Cameo. All UCls.
I Nikita (18) (Luc Besson. France. 1990) Anne Parillaud. Tcheky Karyo. J can-Hughes Anglade. Jeanne Moreau. 1 14 mins. The latest exercise in stylish tosh from Gallic maestro Besson. Parillaud stars as a junkie waif resurrected from her dreary existence by the enigmatic Karyo. an agent forthe government‘s most secretive undercover organistaion. and pretty soon she‘s a topnotch assassin. But does this make her any more fulfilled? Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I Opening Night (15) (John Cassavetcs. US. 1978) Gena Rowlands. Ben Gauara. John Cassavetcs. 144 mins. Cassavetes the director turns his hand to a backstage drama about an ageing actress at a crisis point in her career. lt boldly parallels Rowlands‘ real-life position in the industry with her onstage/onscreen character. Typically overlong and compelling. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre.
I Point Break ( 15) (Kathryn Bigelow. US.1991) Keanu Reeves. Patrick Swayze. Gary Busey. Lori Petty. 120 mins. Director Bigelow (Blue Steel. Near Dark) takes on Hollywood’s action/adventure big boys at their own game and comes out on top. Rec ves is the eager youngFBI recruit on the trail of a group of latex-masked bank robbers who are known to be surfers. Board under arm. he heads for the waves. Bigelow tackles cliches of buddy partnerships. macho bullshit and thriller shoot-outs with fresh energy. creating a terrific movie that has one foot in reality. the other in an absurdist world. Glasgow: Grosvenor. Edinburgh: Cameo. Filmhouse.
I Problem Child 2 (PG) (Brian Levant. US. 1991) John Ritter. Michael Oliver. Laraine Newman. lvyann Schwan. Ho hum. No sooner have we got over suffering the stomach-chuming sweetness of My Girl and C urly Sue than it‘s time for the return of the pre-pubescent. bow tie-clad Junior (Oliver) from 1990's Problem Child. This time he and his surrogate father are trying to come to terms with the excess of single women in their new home town. As if we cared. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. All UCls.
[C 1‘1 ‘t I Ptooi(15) (Jocelyn Moorhouse. Australia. 1991) Hugo Williams. Genevieve Picot. Russell Crowe. 90 mins. A young blind man copes with his disability by taking photographs: he asks his new friend to describe them to him. confirming that the world he imagines matches that experienced by the rest of society. But when his jealous housekeeper intervenes. power games and deceit knock his life out of balance. Moorhouse‘s excellent debut feature examines emotional insecurities that affect us all. Fife: Adam Smith. I Rabid (18) (David Cronenberg. Canada. 1977) Marilyn Chambers. Frank Moore. Joe Silver. 90 mins. After a nasty spill. motorcyclist Chambers undergoes plastic surgery and reawakens with an unhealhty appetite for human blood. Superior visceral horror from the King of Visceral Honor. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Raging 8011(18) (Martin Scorsese. US. 1980) Robert de Niro. Cathy Moriarty. Joe Pesci. 129 mins. Middleweight boxing champ Jake La Motta finds it difficult to sustain his early success and as his career fades. he declines into a travesty of his t former self. De Niro‘s stunning physical presence dominates Scorsese‘s savagely bleak study of self-destructive machismo. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre.
I Rambling Bose ( 15) (Martha Coolidge. US. 1991) Laura Dern. Robert Duvall. Diane Ladd. Lukas Haas. John Heard. 110 mins. Sleepy Georgia of 1935 is the setting for this coming-of-age period piece in which a barefoot farm girl is taken in by a more prosperous family. Rose (Dern) is a naive temptress and among those
who fall for her simple charms are thirteen-year-old Buddy (Lukas Haas of Witness fame). A delicately handled. finely balanced movie that oozes with nostalgia. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Fife: Adam Smith. litmus) (Russell Mulcahy. US. 1991) Denzel Washington. John Lithgow. Ice T. More over-the-top nonsense from the director of the Highlander saga. Washington is an ambitious cop. stalked by deadly prison escapee Lithgow. whose subtle methods of wrecking his prey's life and career lead towards an outrageously action-packed ending. A big crowd-pleaser. even if it does blatantly rip off Die Hard. Silence of the Lambs and Cape Fear. See review. General release. I Salmahetrles ( 12) (Percy Adlon. Germany. 1991) kd lang. Rosei Zech. Chuck Conners. 94 mins. in her film debut. lang uses her androgynous looks to their best ability as an orphan living in a remote Alaskan village. who befriends the local librarian. Both attempt to lay their ghosts to rest on a journey to Berlin. a metaphor for the inner journeys they simultaneously undergo. Terminally slow exposition leads into an interesting second half. but by then most viewers will be deadened by frustration. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Slam (12) (John Cassavetcs. US. 1959) Leila Goldoni. Hugh Hurd. Ben Carruthers. 87 mins. Cassavetes‘s first film concerns two brothers and their sister who attempt to work out the various tensions they feel within different relationships. Winner of five awards at the Venice Film Festival and possibly the most influential independent American film of the decade. its electric atmosphere. free-focus camerawork and jumpy editing are reminiscent of Godard's Breathless (made the same year). Glasgow: GFI‘. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre. I Silence ("The Lambs (18) (Jonathan Demme. US. 1991) Jodie Foster. Anthony Hopkins. Scott Glenn. 119 mins. Following a series of horrific serial murders. imprisoned psycho-killer Hopkins is released to help Foster and Glenn‘s FBI agents track down the culprit. Adapted from a novel by Thomas Manhunter Harris. Demme‘s film version is a subtle but scary suspense shocker. with two excellent performances and great narrative drive. Fife: Gienrothes. Strathclyde: La Scala. WMR Leisure Centre. I Stop 0t My Mom Will Shoot (PG) (Roger Spottiswoode. US. 1991) Sylvester Stallone. Estelle Getty. JoBeth Williams. 87 mins. The cinematic error that is Stallone‘s comdey career continues apace. This time he‘s an LA cop whose mother becomes the key witness to a murder. Cue lots of shots of an old lady in a jogging suit with a big gun. Ha. ha. ha. as they say. Believe it or not. British-born director Spottiswoode once made the excellent Sandinista revolution drama Under Fire. General release. I Supermanoeatlon (U) Two programmes featuring the revolutionary work of puppet animators Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. which is currently reveling in a bout of nostalgia. Programme 1 contains episodes of Four Feather Falls (Anderson's 1958 TV debut). Supercar. Stingray. and Secret Service. Programme 2. which will be attended by Sylvia Anderson and Lady Penelope. consists of episodes of Captain Scarlet. Joe 90. Four Feather Falls and Fireball X L5. Sat 25 only. so expect great fun. with strings attached. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I The Terence Davies trilogy (18) (Terence Davies. UK. 1974-83) Phillip Maudesley. Terry O' Sullivan. Wilfrid Brambell. Sheila Taylor. 101 mins. A trio of short films - Children. Madonna And Child and Death And Transfiguration — by the gifted Liverpudlian. examining the life of an alienated bachelor from his earliest youth to old age. and the constant tension he feels between his homosexuality and his Catholic beliefs. A stunning piece of work. the first sign that Britain had an up-and-coming filmmaker with a searing intensity of cinematic vision. Glasgow: GFI‘. I‘l'ltelrna & Loelse (15) (Ridley Scott. US. 1991) Susan Sarandon. Geena Davis. Harvey Keitel. Michael Madsen. 129 mins. The buddy/road movie genres are turned on their heads as Sarandon and Davis grasp the steering wheel and head off leaving a trail of murder and mayhem in their wake. On one level. the film is the critical catalyst that had the feminists cheering and put the stars on the cover of Time magazine; just as importantly. it‘s an accessible piece of entertainment with excellent central performances. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Times Square (18) (Allan Moyle. US. 1980)Tim Curry. Trini Alvardo. Robin Johnson. 113 mins. Modern fairytale by the director of more recent cult hit Pump Up The Volume finds two runaways in a punk-painted New York City. lts blatant disregard for any real threats the teenagers would
face only underlines the magical. energetic feel of the whole. Buoyant filmmaking captures the anarchic optimism of its heroines. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Touche: Pasha onset (18) (Jacques Becker. France/Italy. 1953) Jean Gabin. Rene Dary. Lino
Ventura. Jeanne Moreau. 94 mins. An ageing and weary gangster attempts to retire after one last robbery. but finds himself caught in a world of double-crosses. Becker's methodical gangster flick set the tone for many of the French underworld movies that followed. Edinburgh: French Institute.
I frog Belle Poet Toll Too Beautiful For You! ( 18) (Bertrand Blier. France. 1989) Gerard Depardieu. Josianc Balasko. Carole Bouquet. 91 mins. Massive French hit offers a characteristic twist on the old eternal threesome scenario. Depardieu plays the succesful owner of a car showroom. envied by all for his beautiful wife (Bouquet). who falls in love with his dumpy secretary (Balasko). A film of commendable openness about the needs of the senses and men‘s facility for emotional expression. its true achievement is how it turns the stuff of farce into an intense hybrid of wistful comedy and romantic passion. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I The Two Jakes (15) (Jack Nicholson. US. 1990) Jack Nicholson. Harvey Keitel. Meg Tilly. Madeleine Stowe. 132 mins. Troubled sequel to Roman Polanski‘s Chinatown sees Nicholson's private eye J.J. Gittes caught up in murder case involving sleazy LA corruption and a few uncomfortable memories for the drawlingonc. Intelligent script. again by Robert Towne. fleshes out the original characters but builds a plot that is just too damn complicated. Nevertheless. it makes for a stylish and intriguing alternative to typically formulaic sequels. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Unbearable nghtttess oi Being (18) (Philip Kaufman. US. 1987) Daniel Day-Lewis.Juliettc Binoche. Lena Olin. 167 mins. Ambitious adaptation of Milan Kundera's complex novel about a womanising Czech brain surgeon who falls in love for the first time with a doe-like small-town beauty at the time of the Russian invasion of 1968. A dawdling and rather austere narrative is given some spice and interest by an overwhelming eroticism. a beautifully judged evocation of Prague and gorgeous photography. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Vanishing American (U) (George B. Seitz. US. 1925) Richard Dix. Lois Wilson. Noah Beery. A Navajo lndian returns home after fighting at the front in World War One. only to find that his previously idyllic life is threatened by histribe‘s forced removal by the advance ofwhite ‘civilisation‘. Viewed from today. the film is reprehensible for placing the blame on one caricatured. mustachioed screen villain and for its ‘survival of the fittest' prologue. Nevertheless. an interesting attempt by early Hollywood to undo the matinee image of the heroic cowboys and the savage injuns. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Vincent and Theo (15) (Robert Altman. UK/Netherlands. 1990)Tim Roth. Paul Rhys. 140 mins. The obsession with Van Gogh‘s art and madness manifests itself again as Robert Altman ponderously and at undue length traces Vincent‘s frustrated career and working relationship with brother Theo. Tim Roth plays the artist asa demented clown. stomping off for a day‘s painting to Gabriel Yared‘s thrashing soundtrack and eating as much paint as he gets on canvas. Cinematically it might have its moments. but essentially this is art history as a tabloid journalist might see it. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Why Has Berlin-Danna Left for the East? ( 12) (Bae Yong-Kyun. South Korea. 1989) 135 mins. Award-winning feature written . directed. produced and photographed by Bae. whose use of the mountains of Korea as a visual and thematic backdrop to his characters' search for the meaning of life is stunning. An old master. his young disciple and an orphaned boy struggle with Zen Buddhist philosophies in a remote monastery. A subtly beautiful piece of filmmaking. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Women Viewing Violence (18) Four researchers give an illustrated lecture on a study carried out over the last two years at Stirling University. which involved monitoring the views of a group of women on TV and cinema violence towards women. The event. linked to the Scottish launch of a BFI publication based on the research. will include audience discussion. Monday 27 April at 6.15pm only. Glasgow: GF’I‘.
ZG'I'he List 24 April -- 7 May l992