FILM INDEX
I Scottish Student Vldeo Festival: The future of ' Britain's television and film industries can be seen at the first Scottish
Student Video Festival. which runs from Friday
23 April until Sunday 25 April at the Edinburgh Filmhouse. It's all too
easy to dismiss the work
of students as esoteric and self-indulgent. but many filmmakers working at Scottish universities and colleges are sweating
talent and energy into unfunded projects. 3 providing a vital lifeblood for the commercial industries.
Likewise. the organisers of the unfunded SSVF believe that their event should go beyond screenings of student work and focus to some extent on the training available. Several industry representatives. from the likes of the Scottish Film Council. Scottish Television and independent production companies. have been invited to conduct workshops and take part in forums which will examine current funding and production assistance in Scotland. as well as looking to the future. | The SSVF hopes to move 1 itself to a different E Scottish city every year. and so its long-term future is dependent on gaining sponsorship for its awards. which cover five categories — drama. documentary. advertisement. music video and open - and six skills — directing. acting. editing. lighting/camera. screenwriting and sound — as well as one overall winner. Further details are available from David Cumings. SSVF. lFR. 28 Spottiswoode Road. Edinburgh EH9 lBD (031 447 4385).
I Lloyds Bank Film Challenge: Entry forms are available from branches of Lloyds Bank. while fact packs (with hints on presenting scripts) are available from The Lloyds Bank Film Challenge. PO Box 3053. London N19 SBT (071 284 0060).
I John Boorman:
Director of The Emerald
Forest. Excalibur and
Hope and Glory. John
Boorrnan will visit the
Edinburgh Filmhouse on
Friday 16 April to discuss '
his work and the second issue of Projections. The book was launched last year as a publication devoted to cinema and written by filmmakers. Projections 2 features a diary by Bertrand Tavemier on the making ofL627. the full script of Bob Roberts. and articles by Paul Schrader and George Miller. amongst others. (AM)
FILM m3-
Fllms screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate, credits, brief review and venue details. Full length reviews of new releases can he found in the Listings section wich follows. Film index compiled by Alan Morrison.
I Animated Shakespeare (U) This 54C Wales/Russian co-production. seen recently on television. uses various techniques to bring to life 22-minute versions of Hamlet. A Midsummer Night‘s Dream and Twelfth Night. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Badls(12) (Mohamed Abderrhman Tazi. Morocco. 1989) A brave examination of the role of women in Arab society. A schoolteacher requests a move in order to be able to keep an eye on his wife. who finally decides to escape from her prison-like life with a female friend. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
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. Central: Regal. Strathclyde: Magnum.
I Best olthe Best 2(18) (US. 1992) Eric Roberts. Chris Penn. Chubby Chris Penn from Reservoir Dogs as a kick-boxer? Get real. Glasgow: MGM Parkhead. Edinburgh: UCI.
I Black Beauty (PG) (James Hill. UK. 1971) Mark Lester. Walter Slezak. Patrick Mower. 106 mins. An untameable wild horse suffers a variety of misfortunes before being reunited with its young master. Ho-hum version of the Anna Sewell children‘s classic. with the nauseating Lester as would-be cute as usual. One for the gymkhana types perhaps. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Blade Runner: The Director‘s Cut ( 15) (Ridley Scott. US. 1982/92) Harrison Ford. Sean Young. Rutger Hauer. 1 16 mins. Out go the pseudo-noir narration and the tacked-on happy ending; in comes a more defined sense that Deckard himself may be a replicant. The look and feel remain as powerful. and the acting is superb. A flawed masterpiece is now a restored masterpiece. Fife: New Picture House.
I Blue Eyes oi Yonta ( 12) (Flora Gomes. Guinea-Bissau/Portugal. 1992) A girl is in love with her father's war hero friend. but he only sees her as an infatuated child. while a young dockworker secretly sends her anonymous love letters. A charming love story with dialogue in Creole. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Blue Velvet ( 18) (David Lynch. US. 1986) Kyle MacLachlan. Dennis Hopper. Isabella Rossellini. 120 mins. In 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 of the 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: Filmhouse.
I Body oi Evidence (18) (U11 Edel. US. 1993) Madonna. Willem Dafoe. Joe Mantegna. 100 mins. In her latest bad career move. Madonna is a woman accused of using her body as the lethal weapon that killed her wealthy lover. Dafoe is the lawyer trying to prove her innocence. but soon he‘s more interested in her areolae than her alibis and the only legal loopholes necessary are the ones she uses for bondage. The camera does not fall under Ms Ciccone's spell. her acting is terrible. and the movie seems destined to become a risible cult classic. See review. General release (week 2).
I Boy: I The iiood (15) (John Singleton. US. 1991 ) Cuba Gooding Jr. Larry Fishbume. Ice Cube. Morris Chestnut. 112 mins. A poignant depiction of life in the rundown suburbia of South Central Los Angeles by debut director Singleton. A group of teenage friends try to keep their heads above the never-ending flood of reprisal killings. but find that it is all too easy to get sucked into the violence. Ultimately moving and emotionally harrowing. Edinburgh: Cameo. I BM Stoker's Dracula ( 18) (Francis Ford Coppola. US. 1992) Gary Oldman. Winona Ryder. Anthony Hopkins. 128 mins. More gothic love story than out-and-out horror. Coppola‘s version is not the strict Stoker adaptation that many had hoped for. but is a visual feast nonetheless. Oldn_i_a_n taps his own dark. sexy.
18 The List 9—22 April 1993
stormy self to create a powerful but sympathetic monster. while the rest of the cast range from the :incffectual to the overbearing. Strathclyde: Magnum. I Candy.” (18) (Bernard Rose. US. 1992) Virginia Madsen. Tony Todd. Kasi Lemmons. 93 mins. Writer/director Rose (who brought us the memorable Paperhouse) transplants Clive ‘ Barker‘s short story ‘The Forbidden‘ to a run- down Chicago housing block where a series of ’ killings are blamed on Candyman. a hook-
handed boogieman figure. The film's use of urban myth takes it well beyond the jumps and scares of the genre (although they aren‘t ignored either). to make it the most intelligent. disquieting horror film since Jacob is Ladder. General release.
I cue Fear ( 18) (Martin Scorsese. US. 1991) Robert De Niro. Nick Nolte. Jessica Lange. Juliette Lewis. 127 mins. Scorsese's stunning remake of the 1962 original leaves Silence of the Lambs pallid by comparison. De Niro is terrifying as white trash psycho Max Cady. out of prison and stalking the family of the lawyer who suppressed evidence to put him away. Disturbing sexual undertones. centring on 15- year-old Danny (Lewis). make this an even more uncomfortable. but unmissable. top-notch scare- fest. Fife: New Picture House.
I Changing Our Hinds (15) (Richard Schmiechen. US. 1992) 77 mins. A tribute to the work of Dr Evelyn Hooker. who was instrumental in establishing that homosexuality was not a mental disorder. Using archive footage. this documentary shows her battles against a medical establishment that preferred ‘cure' homosexuals with lobotomies and electric shock treatment. With 17-minute short musical The F airy Who Didn 't Want To Be A Fairy Anymore. 7th Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Chaplin (12) (Richard Attenborough. UK/US. 1992) Robert Downey Jr. Moira Kelly. Geraldinc Chaplin. 144 mins. Attenborough's craftsmanlike biopic of the cane-twirling celluloid clown skims most surfaces. but there are rewards to be found in the acting department. Cameos are uniformly good. but Downey towers above them all. The mass youth market may not give a toss who the Little Tramp was. but the lead helps make this a much more approachable prospect for regular movie-goer than you‘d expect. Fife: Adam Smith. Strathclyde: UCI East Kilbride.
I Charlotte’s Weir (U) (Charles A. Nichols. US. 1972) Voices of Debbie Reynolds. Henry Gibson. 85 mins. Animated version of the EB. White classic in which a farmyard spider befriends a shy piglet. Not badly done by the Hanna-Barbera studio. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Cinema Paradiso (PG) (Giuseppe Tomatorc. Italy/France.1988) Phillipe Noiret. Jacques Perrin. Salvatore Cascio. 123 mins. Told largely in flashback. the winner of the 1990 Oscar for Best Foreign Film traces young Salvatore's infatuation with his village cinema. and his growing friendship with its projectionist (played to perfection by Noiret). Essentially. it’s Tomatore's lament for the joyous movie-going experience of his youth and a recognition of the price we pay for our maturity. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Consenting Adults (15) (Alan J. Pakula. US. 1992) Kevin Kline. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Kevin Spacey. 99 mins. How many more of these yuppie-households-in-peril movies can we take? The Parkers' family life is perfect until dodgy financial advisor Eddy Otis (Spacey) and his babetitious spouse move in next door. and Mr P. (Kline) decides to break a commandment or two. When she‘s found beaten to a pulp. he‘s suspect No.1. A contrived set-up that slides into absurd convolutions. Central: Regal. Fife: Glenrothes. New Picture House. Robins.
I Cool World ( 12) (Ralph Bakshi. US. 1991) Kim Basinger. Gabriel Byrne. Brad Pitt. 102 mins. Pitt is a soldier newly returned from WWII. who's zapped into a line-drawn world sketched by graphic artist Bymc. Cartoon fantasy figure Holly Would (Basinger) becomes the conduit between animation and reality when she gets it together with her creator. Dismally lacking in pace and rhythm. with unconvincing interaction between the two- and three- dimensional characters. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I the Crying me (15) (Neil Jordan. UK. 1992) Stephen Rea. Forest Whitaker. Jaye Davidson. 112 mins. A disillusioned IRA terrorist strikes up a friendship with the black British soldier he has kidnapped. and subsequently finds himself in London and in love with the latter‘s girlfriend. A bold. unpredictable film that has plenty to say about notions of personal and sexual identity. If only all British movies were as good as this. Strathclyde: UCI Clydcbank.
I Damage (18) (Louis Malle. UK/France. 1992) Jeremy Irons. Juliette Binoche. Miranda
Richardson. Rupert Graves. 111 mins. A Tory MP. headed for high office. drops his
parliamentary briefs in favour of his son's new girlfriend. David Hare‘s script is restrained and dispassionate. leaving the audience detached from the potential melodrama. A very English sexual repression pulled apart by French master Malle. Glasgow: Odeon. I The Distinguished mum (15) (Johnathan Lynn. US. 1992) Eddie Murphy. Lane Smith. Sheryl Lee Ralph. 112 mins. Con artist Murphy scams his way into Congress and discovers that Capital Hill is more a Bisto factory than a mere gravy train. No sense of a political satire here — even though Brit director Lynn brought us TV‘s Yes. Minister — as Murphy rolls over all subtlety in this star vehicle. headed ever onward to a lane of predictability. General release. I Do The Right Tllllg (18) (Spike Lee. US. 1989) Spike Lee. Danny Aiello. Ossie Davis. John Turturro. 119 mins. New York‘s deprived Bedford-Stuyvesant district on the hottest day of the summer. and racial tension escalates between Italian-American Sal (Aiello). his two sons and the mainly black local community who make up the bulk of his customers. A forceful exploration of the socio-economic and cultural causes behind white racism. Lee's film also operates as a tightly controlled multi-character drama. Edinburgh: Cameo. I m Briest (15) (Rainer Werner Fassbinder. W Germany. 1974) Hanna Schygulla. 93 mins. Fassbinder‘s adaptation of the Fontane novel is filmed in icy black and white. and its leisurely pace replicates the narrative form of the original. Schygulla is fine as the woman married to an older man. who finds herself taking a lover out of boredom. though discovery leads to a duel between the two men. Well made. if faintly unapproachable. Glasgow: GFI”. I The Exorcist (18) (William Friedkin. US. 1973) Linda Blair. Ellen Burstyn. Max Von Sydow. 110 mins. Eamest priest Von Sydow steps in to save poor little possessed girl in this hugely effective scarefest. Dead good. dead scarey. dead priest. Strathclyde: UCIs. I Fear Eats The Soul (15) (Rainer Werner Fassbinder. W. Germany. 1974) El Hedi Ben Salem. Brigitte Mira. 93 mins. A middle-aged charwoman who used to be a Nazi Party member. takes up with a young Arab immigrant worker. much to the consternation of her friends and neighbours. Typically melodramatic Fassbinder study of a disintegrating relationship. which also examines the problems of racism in West German society. Glasgow: OFT. I FernBelly: The Last Baintorest (U) (Bill Kroyer. US. 1992) With the voices of Tim Curry. Samantha Mathis. Jonathan Ward. Robin Williams. Christian Slater. 76 mins. In a secret forest world touched by magic. a young fairy shrinks a human lumberjack. who then has to help save the rainforest from destruction. Eco- edged animation has a lot to recommend it other than its well-meaning intentions: lush colour. sweeping computer-aided cameras. and a decent set of songs. One for the grown-ups as well as the kids. Glasgow: Mercat. I A Few Good Alon (15) (Rob Reiner.US.1992) Tom Cruise. Jack Nicholson. Demi Moore. Keifcr Sutherland. 138 mins. Navy lawyers Cruise and Moore are called upon to defend two suspected murders. but as the case develops. it becomes clear that their superior officers (Nicholson and Sutherland) may have had a role in the affair. A fine return to real acting for Nicholson and yet another engrossing piece of work from Reiner. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: UCI. Strathclyde: UCI Clydcbank. I Forbidden Love ( 15) (Aerlyn Weissman/Lynne Femie. Canada. 1992) 85 mins. Eye-opening tales from older lesbians who reminisce on the days when single sex parties were illegal. A diverse set of characters pitched against snippets of period background. Also with British short My Grandma '5 Lady Caberet. 7th Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Forever Young (PG) (Steve Miner. US. 1992) Mel Gibson. Elijah Wood. Jamie Lee Curtis. 102 mins. A 3-52 test pilot volunteers for cryogenic experiments. gets frozen. then thaws out in 1992. After befriending a young boy. off he goes to find his lost love. Escapist twaddle this may be. but it is a shimmering example of the Hollywood weepie machine at its best. Three packs of Kleenex and a box of chocs. General release. I Bas Food lodging (15) (Allison Anders. USA. 1991) Fairuza Balk. lone Skye. Brooke Adams. 102 mins. A waitress mother and her two teenage daughters suffer family upsets while being continually charmed and disappointed by the men in their lives. A world away from the typical Hollywood attempt to make a women‘s issues movie. Anders debut is as full of humour as it is integrity. with characters who have a resonance far beyond their screen lives. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Blengarry Bien Boss ( 15 ) (James Foley. US. 1992)A1 Pacino. Jack Lemmon. Ed Harris. Alan Arkin. 100 mins. The combination of Foley‘s camera and Mamet's dialogue makes for verbal choreography in this hard-hitting. word-heavy account of the bonding and back-stabbing in a