FILM REVIEW
I MB (18) Not only do we have an MP popping up in the tabloids every other week on account of his extra-marital rumpy-pumpy. now it's time to discard some parliamentary briefs on screen. Louis Malle directs a fine cast (Jeremy Irons. Miranda Richardson. Juliette Binoche) but David Hare‘s script tends to deaden any emotional response from the audience for the passions shown by the characters. See preview.
I The last Days of Ghez I008 ([5) Summer in‘ Sydney. and there's domestic strife looming in the cross-cultural household of Beth (Lisa Harrow) and JP (Bruno Ganz). particularly when her sister Vicki (Kerry Fox) returns from an overseas trip and becomes the object of J P‘s affections. What could have been Aussie soap becomes a complex. fulfilling family drama in the hands of writer Helen Garner and director Gillian Armstrong (My Brilliant Career). See preview.
I A lllver Buns ‘l'hrough it (PC) No brothers grow up in the Montana countryside
of the early 20th century. under the eye of their Scots Presbyterian father. Robert Redford. as director. again shows his skill at carving out real people and real emotions. in this beautifully shot tale of love. loyalty and fly fishing. Wonderful cinema for a more discerning adult audience. See preview. I TI. 3‘ [Hum (18) A return to low-budget urban sleaze by master-of- the-gaue Abel Ferrara, who brought us King ofNew York and Driller Killer, the most misrepresented film of all time. Harvey Keitel is in stunning form as a NYPD lieutenant, whose addiction to crack. heroin. alcohol and gambling encourages him to go after a $50,(X)0 reward when a nun is beaten up and raped. Not easy going, as you can tell. but it has an intensity and integrity rarely seen on mainstream cinema screens. The primal scream of Keitel's career and perhaps a final purge by Ferrara before he goes on to - bigger things with a ranake ' of Invasion of the Body iSnatchers. Worth catching if . you 're part of the Reservoir lDogs brigade.
I Stay Tillle (PG) Couch potato Roy Knable (John Ritter) and his rising exec wife Helen (Pam Dawber) are zapped into TV Hell and have to survive 24 hours of deadly game shows and other broadcast spoofs in order to return to the real world. Basically an excuse for a succession of lame parodies and (heavily American) gags about gogglebox addiction. it plays to the attention span of TV audiences by never being in one joke situation for more than a few minutes.
lt's fitting that Ritter and Dawber are familiar more through TV appearances (he: Three '3 Company and LHooperman; she: Mark and
Mindy) than film work (he was in the Problem Child movies). but that‘s only the start of the slide into the self-referential pit. Film noir and spaghetti Western rip-offs are easy. parodying Wayne '5 World only reveals the flaws of this lesser imitation and the only moment of real genius is when the duo become cartoon mice in a segment animated by Chuck Jones. Most spoofs are funny for their title only. although i would like to see the full version of Three Men and Rosemary’s Baby. A real descent into despair for director Peter Hyams. the auteur behind Our/and. 20/0 and Capricorn One. (AM)
HELLRAISER Ill: HELI. ON EARTH
‘ Back In 1986 a young British writer
had his first stab at directing and, in the process, created one of horror clnema’s strongest icons. Seven years on, Gllve Barker is a film/book/comic industry in himself while Pinhead has moved from being seventeenth on the credit list to securing the number two slot for actor Boug Bradley. liellraiser ill: lieii on Earth is, on every level, the logical step for the series to take - lt drinks deeply of the cede-masochistic imagery of the original, develops the character of Pinhead hinted at in the confused and confusing liellbound and, inevitably, plonks both feet on the commerlcally reliable other side of the Atlantic.
Bound In a bizarre sculpture in a flow York nightclub, Pinhead is soon unleashed due to a botched blood sacrifice and, after calling up a new gang of demonic chums, he sets out to cause more carnage than the city can handle. Meanwhile, a TV lournalist caught up in the gory events becomes the catalyst who can reunite the essentially good soldier Spencer with his dark Plnheaded alter ego.
Unlike so many honor products, liellraiser lll manages to combine stunning special effects (co-ordinated by the masterful Bob Keen) with meaningful characters, including its monster. Bradley is at last given something more to do than be an
Q A;
liellraiser ill: ‘comblnes stunning special
effects with meaningful characters’ acupuncturist’s wet dream, and as Spencer/Pinhead he encapsulates the pure/perverted symbiosis that no doubt draws an audience to such a film. Rest assured too that there are some groovy new Genobltes to fill the galleries of your nightmares, including the most inventive use of Gil technology yet. (Alan Morrison) liellraiser Ill: Hell on Earth (1 B) (Anthony liickox, us, 1992) Terry Farrell, Doug Bradley, Paula Marshall. 93 mins. lideons: Glasgow, Edinburyi, Ayr. Cannons: Falkirk, lfirkcaldy, Kllmarnock. All llGis. Glasgow: MGM Parkhead. Fife: ilobln‘s.
NIGHT AND THE CITY
iieplete with to-die-for cast and a new screenplay by hotshot scribe illchard Price, this remake of the old Jules Ilassin film noir certainly has a lot going for it, but, in movies as in life, great expectations are so often met with disappointment. liobert lie lllro is liarry Fabian, a dead-end ambulance- chasing lawyer who aims above his station when trying to file an assault suit for a client against a fighter ‘owned’ by promoter and crime figure Boom Boom Grownan (Alan King). Of course, he loses, yet the encounter plants the idea in his head that he should put on a night of boxing of his
flight and the City: ‘promlslng scenario’
own. lllrlng Boom Boom’s estranged elderly brother Al (Jack Warden) as talent spotter, pretty soon he's haring around in search of this latest drean, borrowing $25,flll from his lover lieien (Jessica Lange) and fixing for her a liquor licence from the bar that will in turn allow her to break free from her domineering husband. liarry and llelen are two people with big ambitions, all they need is for harsh reality to comply.
All of which makes for a promising scenario that director lrwin Winkler, in his second film after an illustrious career as a producer, fails to adequately exploit because he’s never sure how to play the material. There are moments, for instance, when Fabian comes over as a total loser out of his depth in a world he doesn’t understand, while at other times the movie seems to want us to root for him as an unlikely hero. that's a tricky balance to bring off and the uncertainties of tone - veering from knockabout comedy to resonant emotional drama to hard-edged urban violence - prevent Winkler from coming anywhere near achieving it. lle’s too fussy with the camera and strives too hard for immediate effect instead of letting these fine actors get on with it. Seasoned Bob-watchers will want to catch their ldoi’s latest turn, but really it’s a performance in search of a movie. ("ever Johnston)
light and the City (15) (Irwin Winkle: its, 1992) Robert lie lliro, Jessica lange, Alan lling. 105 mins. Glasgow: MGM Sauchlehali Street. Edinburgh: l-‘llmhouse, liGl.
I Bull-ea ud Bonds The Cmtral Belt Regional Film Theatres kick into spring with a ten-week season of films, special screenings and a one-day event for all connoisseurs of damn fine coffee.
Over in Edinburgh. the Filmhouse is organising Gentlemen Prefer Bonds? a ten-week season including classic exampla of genre primarily associated with representations of masculinity. including the obligatory Amie Flesh Fest. This will take the early evening slot every Wednesday in Cinema 2 from February 17.
Following each screening. a core course group will meet in Cinema 3 for a presentation by a guest lecturer followed by group discussion. Films booked include Red River (Feb 17) and The Wild Bunch (Feb 24). Kiss Me Deadly (Mar 3) will be followed by a presentation by Dan McRae of the Scottish Film Council on 'Masculinity in Film Noir'. The course fee of £30 (£25 for concessions) includes all screenings. lectures and documentation. Further details from Shiona Wood on 031 228 638?.
In Glasgow, the OFT will be showing Tickets for the Zoo on Monday 22 February. Made by Edinburgh-based Cormorant Films for Channel 4, the film is a stark and unsentimentalised examination of the issue of youth homelessness. The two screenings will be attended by writer and producer Christeen Winford and director Brian Crumlish. who will answer questions from the audience. On Monday 1 March, local filmmaker and National Film School graduate Jim Shields will present two screenings of a programme of his films. He will answer questions on all aspects of low-budget filmmaking. A ‘must‘ for any aspiring or established low-budget filmmaker.
The films with a violent theme that fill the Tuesday early evening slot in Cinema 2 will be followed by audience discussions (details in listings). Book your tickets for these events now (phone the box office on 041332 8128) as tickets at the OPT go fast: the Twin Peaks day school on Saturday 27 February sold out within a day of being announced!
Back in Edinburgh, it's worth runernbering that all seats in Ftlmhouse l for Wednaday matinee performances are a remarkable 50p! Go early, and go often. (Diem Dibdin)
20 The List 12—25 February 1993