REVIEW FILM
BED RDGK WEST
Turned down because of a dodgy knee for an oil )ob he’d travelled hundreds of miles for, Michael Williams (Nicolas Cage) stops off for a coffee in the lied Bock Bar with his last $5, where a case of mistaken identity leads the bar’s owner and town sheriff (J.T. Walsh) to offer him a down payment of $5,000 to snuff out his wife. In a confused state between ethics and euphoria, Michael decides to warn the targetted lady before scooting out of town with the dosh, only to have her double the money if he reverses the hit. More keen than ever to do a runner, he heads to the outskirts but bumps into the real hitrnan (Dennis Hopper) and, from then on, all roads lead back to lied Rock.
A slick tale of double, triple and quadruple dealing, Bed Bock West dips a toe into the rural underworld of Blood Simple, substituting a dark humour for the Doens’ torniquet of menace. With a cinematic tone that
Three of Hearts: ‘an enjoyable twist on the love
see-saws happily between violent blood-letting and farce, this one has cult hit written all over it. Nevertheless, it avoids forcing its appeal upon the audience, preferring instead to let each plot development jump out unexpectedly from the shadows.
Cage is at his best in a custom- tailored role, once again playing the sympathetic (but not entirely innocent) hero way out of his depth. Dennis Hopper is Dennis llopper, not exactly adding to his acting range, but dry, deadly and cool enough to be the antithesis of Cage’s amateur assassin. Lara Flynn Boyle - all grown up since Twin Peaks’ Donna — is a sly, if stereotypical, femme fatale. But it’s the plot that’s the real star, twisting and turning and picking up speed like a runaway car racing down a mountain road. (Alan Morrison)
Red Rock West (15) (John Dahl, US, 1992) Nicolas Cage, Lara Flynn Boyle, Dennis Hopper. 98 mins. From Fri 2. Glasgow: Ddeon. Edinburgh: Cameo.
All UGIS.
THREE 0F HEARTS
Girl meets girl. Girl loses girl. Girl
. hires male gigolo to break other girl’s
i heart so she’ll come running back. Not
. your typical liollywood three-handed
- romance, it has to be said. But more
traditional complications do follow:
inevitably, guy falls for girl, and vice
versa, pushing love and loyalty into
. opposite corners of the ring. The plot convolutions involving a lesbian, a bisexual and a male prostitute may usually find their place as top shelf
i rather than top quality entertainment,
‘ but Three 0f llearts is more emotionally complex than most of its peers and it doesn’t ghettoise its
3 characters’ sexualities. At least, not
until the final, uniorgivable, cop-out
and quadruple dealing”
ending.
Kelly Lynch seems uncomfortable in her role, not because she plays a lesbian, but because comedy isn’t her forte, particularly when further hindered by a character whose mood swings are overworked and cliched. Sherilyn Fenn copes well enough with being an object of affections rather than a player in the game, but at least William Baldwin glides through the movie in seductively relaxed mode. An enjoyable twist on the love triangle, certainly, but one which is doubly guilty for falling back into line when it had dared to stand out so proudly. (Alan Morrison)
Three of llearts (18) (Yurek Bogayevicz, US, 1993) William Baldwin, Kelly Lynch, Sherilyn Fenn. 110 mins. From Fri 9. Edinburgh: Ddeon. All Bills.
triangle'
lied llock West: ‘a slick tale of double, triple
t SUPER MARIO BROS
i The film of the Nintendo video game, an episodic adventure featuring fearless Italian pipe-menders Mario and Luigi (Bob lloskins and John Legulzamo) that plumbs new and tedious depths. Sucked into a parallel dimension, the brothers try to wrest kidnapped dinosaur researcher/princess Daisy from the slimy clutches of the lizard-like King Noopa (Dennis Hopper), his sartorially stunning paramour Lena, and incompetent henchmen Iggy and Spike. There’s a lot of mumbo-(umbo about de-evolving and fusing the two dimensions, and more expository dialogue than you could shake a dinosaur bone at.
The characters, meanwhile, are dwarfed - and often lost amidst - the over-designed sets and variable special effects. This has more holes than a drain-cover and stinks more than a blocked sewer. To all concerned, I say, ‘Pass me that Dyno- rod and bend over.’ (Nigel Floyd) Super Mario Bros (PG) (liocky Morton/Annabel Jankel, US, 1993) Bob lloskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper. 105 mins. From Fri 9. General release.
plumb new and tedious depths'
EGA FILMS
Diary of a Madman Being caught in a sticky morass of graduation movies can be Film-Critic
2 Hell. but l'm happy to
report - and more than a little relieved — that. on the whole. this year's crop from the Edinburgh College of Art hit the spot. Ofcourse. there was the obligatory piece of pretentious nonsense. courtesy of Marina Silcox‘s 3453 - The Death
f of Vinyl. which left the
, audience wondering if the
film was over. or had even i started yet. and the under-
rehearsed Imn which dragged on. And on. And
Highlight of the evening
was Diary ()fll Madman.
directed and adapted from
i Gogol‘s short story by Morag McKinnon.
Lighting. sound. camerawork. an excellent script and the simplicity of the piece
' complemented actor Colin McLaren's manic ‘ monologue. as he slid into
dementia. McKinnon will
go far. Emma Aylett's Miss Dobheliria was a
wickedly funny look at life on a posh Edinburgh
‘ stair. which although flawed. demonstrated her ability to orchestrate a
i
complicated situation.
Paper Planes. an animation from Amanda Oldroyd. contrived to outperform all expectations: an opening. reminiscent ofA Little Piece of Dresden C hina, quickly explored new fields of female
7 representation with an
entertaining and original
combination of modern ’ music and photography.
Adam Larkum‘s surreal
§ woodcut animations defy : quick description but are 5 pure invention.
Something Like ()m‘e a
Wee/t. Stuart Brown‘s 5 documentary about student prostitutes was a
startling and revealing piece of work. His undercover research. posing as a potential rent- boy at an Edinburgh sauna. went beyond
anything World in At'flffil
would dare commission and provided amusing relief from his sensitive treatment of the subject. (Thom Dibdin)
I
J
The List 2—15 July .9995