fill INDEX
FILM
Films screening this fortnight are listed
. below with certificate. credits. brief review
I and venue details. Full length reviews of new . releases can be found in Screen Test.
! Programme details appear in the Listings
I section which lollows. Film Index compiled
i by Alan Morrison.
1
I Batman (Tim Burton. US. 1989) Jack ' Nicholson. Michael Keaton. Kim Bassinger. 120
mins. 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. With eerie angular design by Anton Furst. a terrific score by Danny Elfman. a suitably wacky script and a strong supporting cast. Central: MacRobert. I Beauty and the Beast (U) (Gary Trousedale/Kirk Wise. US. 1991) With the voices of Paige O'Hara. Robby Benson. Richard White. 84 mins. The first animated film ever to get an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. the 30th Walt Disney feature-length cartoon is a classic by anyone‘s standards. The familiar story is supplemented by terrific songs. a host of comic characters and a breathtaking combination of traditional and computer animation techniques. General release. I Belle De Jeur ( 18) (Luis Bunuel. France/Italy. 1967) Catherine Dcneuve . Jean Sorel. Michel Piccoli. 100 mins. The beautiful but bored wife of a surgeon spends her afternoons working in a brothel where she meets an odd assortment of characters. Bunuel‘s treatment of the bourgeoisie is typically cool but unforgiving. and his blurring ofthc line between fantasy and reality sosuccesful that by the end. we are unsure if the whole movie could have been dreamt up by the protagonist.
MacRobert. I Betty Blue (18) (Jean-Jacques Beineix. France. 1986)Jean Hughes Anglade. Beatrice Dalle. 120
Wonderfully amoral comedy of manners. Central:
mins. Tempestuous love gone mad as an older
handyman and a free-spirited woman embark on a
passionate. peripatetic fling that ends in tragedy. Filmed with a dazzling technique and an irritating emptiness by the maker of Diva. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Betty Blue: The Complete Version ( l8) (Jean-Jacques Beineix. France. 1986) Jean-Hugues Anglade. Beatrice Dalle. Gerard Darmon. 180 mins. The story remains the same — boy meets girl. girl flips out — but the extra 60mins of unseen footage is a mixed bag. Some new scenes help give a creditable timescale to Betty's descent into insanity. while others are distracting. the cinematic equivalent of monstrous carbuncles on the face of a well-loved friend. Strathclyde: i'Cl Clydebank. UCI East Kilbride.
I The Big Blue ( 15) (Luc Besson. France. 1988) Rosanna Arquette. Jean-Marc Barr. Jean Reno. 120 mins. Barr and Reno. friends since they were children. are divers competing to reach the greatest depths without the aid ofbreathing equipment. and also rivals for the romantic attentions of Ms Arquette. A commercial smash in its native France. Besson's film is astunningly photographed visual experience in varying shades
' ofblue. Even if the plot is a load of tosh.the , dolphinsare nice. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Blg Wednesday (PG) (John Milius. US. 1978) William Katt. Gary Busey. Jan-Michael Vincent.
120 mins. Re-release ofMilius'sautobiographical surfing movie. which follows the lives ofthrec
buddies riding through the bllsand early 708011th crest of a wave. The director‘s most audience- friendly work has gathered something of a cult reputation: here's your chance to see it as it was
originally intended. Central: MacRobert. I Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure ( 15) (Stephen
Herek. US. 1990) Keanu Reeves. Alex Winter. 91
mins. Bill and Ted‘s dream of forming a band
called the ‘Wyld Stallyns' is haunted by the spectrt
of fluiiking their history exams and being packed off to military academy. However. courtesy ofa
time-travelling telephone booth. the two dudes canter through the centuries on a breakneck refresher course where they meet up with the likes of Genghis Khan and Beethoven. And save the
future of the universe. A most excellent cinematic
experience. Glasgow; GFI‘. 1992) Peter Coyote. Hugh Grant. Emmanuelle Seigner. 13-1 mins. A wheelchair-bound novelist (Coyote) entraps a young Englishman (Grant) with his tale of lust and perversion while on board a luxury liner. Polanski‘s dissection of the darker
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I
; IBltletMoon(l8)(RomanPolanski.UK/France.
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side of desire may not be to everyone‘s taste. but it certainly has its moments of outrageously black comedy. Edinburgh: Cameo. Filmhouse.
I Blue Velvet ( 18) (David Lynch. US. 1986) Kyle Macl.achlan. Dennis Hopper. lsabella Rossellini. 120 mins. ln 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 ofthc 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. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Boomerang (15) (Reginald Hudlin. US. 1992) Eddie Murphy. Robin Givens. Martin Lawrence. 120 mins. Eddie Murphy stops the downward spiral of his career with this slick tale ofa notorious womaniser who meets his match when he finally falls in love. Not the continually outrageous Murphy ofold. but all the better forit. Glasgow: MGM. Strathclyde: UCls.
I Buffy The Vampire Slayer( 12) (Fran Rubcl Kuzui. US. 1992) Kristy Swanson. Luke Perry. RutgerHauer.9-1 mins. Highschool cheerleader becomes vampire slayer in this insult to the intelligence horror-comedy that is neither funny nor scarey. With its dialogue slapped together from hip-for-fifteen-minutes phrases overheard in a shopping mall. it should have been staked at birth. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank. WMR.
I Calltomla Man (PG) (Les Mayfield. US. 1992) Sean Astin. Pauly Shore. Brendan Fraser. 88 mins. College loser and spaced-out buddy dig up a prehistoric caveman. tidy him up a bit and pass him off as an Estonian exchange student asa means of wowing the babes. Substandard Bill & Ted fare that adds even more loopy teen vocabulary to the Wayne's World dictionary. Glasgow: MGM. Edinburgh: UCI. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. La Scala. UCI East Kilbride. IThe Commitments(15) (Alan Parker. UK. 1991) Robert Arkins. Michael Aherne. Angeline Ball. Maria Doyle. 118 mins. Sod U2 — when would-be manager Jimmy Rabbitte (Arkins) puts together The Commitments. soul comes to Dublin and the band become the force to really put Irish musicon the map. Alan Parker delivers a hilarious. down-to-earth. close-to-home movie. stuffed full ofgood music and with some relevent social comment to boot. Fife: New Picture House. I The Crying Game (15) (Neil Jordan. UK. 1992) Stephen Rea. Forest Whitaker. Jaye Davidson. 112 mins. A disillusioned IRA terrorist strikes up
I Cyrano De Bergerac (U) (Jean-Paul Rappeneau. France. 199(1) Gerard Depardieu.Jacques
romantic tragi-comedy. Full of grandly mounted. bustling crowd scenes. it revolves around typically
story. although some more confusing issues — the
Canada. 1991) 114 mins. A dissection ofthc
caughtup ina centuries-old whirlpool ofhatred.
AIDS US ALL
a friendship with the black British soldier he has kidnapped. and subsequently finds himselfin London and in love with the latter's girlfriend. A bold. unpredictable film that has plenty to say about notions ofpersonal and sexual identity. If only all British movies were as good as this. Glasgow: GF'T. Edinburgh: Cameo. UCl. Strathclyde: UCl East Kilbride.
Weber. Anne Brochet. Vincent Perez. 135 mins. A stirring adaptation of Rostand‘s classic.
superb performance from Depardieu as the large-nosed hero. Although performed in rhyming verse throughout (with subtitles by Anthony Burgess). and a touch overlong. the film's dramatic and cinematic qualities are ’ outstanding. Glasgow: (iF'I‘. l I Dances With Wolves: Special Edition ( 15) (Kevin Costner. US. 1991) Kevin Costner. Grahame Greene. Mary McDonnell. 235 mins. Costner‘s epic tale of a US soldier. coming to terms withthe nobility of the native American tribes before their massacre by his people. regains the 52 minutes cut at the editing stage. New material adds surprisingly little to the overall impact ofthc
abandonment of Fort Sedgewick — are cleared up. On the whole. however. it has nothing that the three-hour long Oscar winner didn‘t have already. Central: MacRobert. I Daughters of Darkness ( 18) (Harry Kumel. Belgiurn/France/Germany 'ltaly. 1970) Delphine Seyrig. Daniele ()uimct. John Karlen. 96mins. Unusual vampire film. set in a deserted ()stend seafront. with Seyrig magnificent as the chic. aristocratic Countess Bathory. Euro arty: ie. it 1 looks great and has crap dialogue. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Deadly Currents ( l 2) (Simcha Jaeobovici.
Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the West Bank. shot with the big screen. not TV. in mind. Jacobovici
gets his camera behind those images that fill our 9 news bulletins. talking to religious leaders. Israeli soldiers. Intifada leaders and the ordinary people
intolerance and violence. Powerfully honest filmmaking. Glasgow: GFI’. I Death Becomes tier (PG) (Robert Zemeckis. , US. 1992) Meryl Streep. Goldie Hawn. Bruce Willis. 103 mins. An actress in decline anda
frumpy author discover the secret of eternal life.
"The List 4- 17 December 1992