FILM INDEX
FILM -1m-
Films screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate, credits, brief review and venue details. Full length reviews of new releases can be found in the listings section wich follows. Film index compiled by Alan Morrison.
I Artnahelle Partagee ( l8) (Francesca Comencini. France. 1992) Delpine Zingg. Francois Marthouret. Jean-Claude Adelin. 80 mins. Young. pretty French girl is caught between a lover her own age and an architect in his 50s. Despite some images that are ground- breaking in their explicitness (but nothing else). this is French pretension at its worst. Glasgow:
I Anny of Darkness ( 15) (Sam Raimi. US. 1992) Bruce Campbell. Embeth Davidtz. MarCus Gilbert. 109 mins. First the definitive video nasty. then the definite slapstick horror comedy. now the definitive disappointment. Picking up from where Evil Dead 2 left off. with Ash (Campbell) and chainsaw arm in the Middle Ages. it all runs out of steam as it tries its best to please. Glasgow: MGMs. Edinburgh: UCl. Borders: Roxy.
I The Assassin (18) (John Badham. US. 1993) Bridget Fonda. Gabriel Byme. Dermot Mulroney. 108 mins. Scene-for-scene remake of 1990‘s Nikita. with emphasis on the action rather than moody contemplation. Fonda brings depth to her character (a teenage drug addict turned govemment killer). making this a Hollywood thriller with more emotional sympathy than most. In its own terms. easily as good a movie as the original: it's a case of same song. different singers. See preview. General release.
I Asterix in Britain (U) (Pino Van Lamsweerde. France. 1986) With the voices of Jack Beaber. Bill Keams. Graham Bushnell. 89 mins. The Romans have invaded Britain and only one village refuses to surrender. Their chief sends a message to his distant cousin Asterix the Gaul. who rushes to the rescue with his sizeable colleague Obelix and a bottle of secret potion. Strathclyde: Magnum.
I Asterix and The Big Fight (U) (Keith lngham. UK. 1989) With the voices of Bill Oddie. Michael Elphick. Andrew Sachs. 82mins. Asterix celebrated his thirtieth anniversary with this new animated feature in which he and his band of plucky Gallic mates take on the might of the Roman army. Strathclyde: Magnum.
I Batnhl (U) (David D. Hand. US. 1942) 69 mins. Disney at his cutest. purest best. A baby fawn enjoys life in the forest with his friends (Thumper the rabbit is surely one of Disney's most memorable creations). grows up. has a run- in with Man. and becomes Great Prince of the Forest. Nice animation. with touches of extreme tweeness. and a massive hankie count when Bambi's mum dies. Glasgow: (irosvenor. Edinburgh: Dominion. Odeon. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. All UCls.
I Benny and Joon (I2) (Jeremiah Chechick. US. 1993) Johnny Depp. Mary Stuart Masterson. Aidan Quinn. 98 mins. This off-centre romance between a mentally ill young woman and an eccentric who thinks he‘s wandered out of a silent comedy would have us believing that anyone with mental problems is a ‘loveable loony‘. At times the film seems little more than
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an excuse to show off Depp‘s mime versitility. but by stressing kookiness instead of genuine confusion. it's patronising and misleading. See review. Glasgow: MGMs. Edinburgh: MGM. All UCIs.
I Bitter Moon ( 18) (Roman Polanski. UK/France. 1992) Peter Coyote. Hugh Grant. Ernmanuelle Seigner. 134 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 side of desire may not be to everyone‘s taste. but it certainly has its moments of outrageously black comedy. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Blade Runner: The Director’s Cut ( l5) (Ridley Scott. US. 1982/92) Harrison Ford. Sean Young. Rutger Hauer. 116 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. Glasgow: GFT.
I Blood lied hoses (PG) (John McGrath. UK. 1986) Elizabeth Maclennan. James Grant. Gregor Fisher. 150 mins. A typically strong. moving depiction of Scottish working class history. shot for TV and based on a 7:84 Theatre Company production. Centring on the life of Bessie Gordon. from her school days to her time as an internationally reknowned trade unionist. through family struggles and oppression in the workplace. it paints a broad canvas. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Born Yesterday (PG) (Luis Mandoki. US. 1993) Melanie Griffith. John Goodman. Don Johnson. Sheer indulgence as real life husband and wife team Griffith and Johnson try to find any excuse for on-screen snogging. She's the embarrasing dumb blonde married to a scrap metal man with political ambitions; he‘s the reporter hired to educate her in social graces. Born yesterday. forgotten tomorrow. Strathclyde:
WMR.
I Boxing llelena (18) (Jennifer Chambers Lynch. US. 1992) Sherilyn Fenn. Julian Sands. Bill Paxton. 105 mins. An obsessive young surgeon hides the object of his desires in his house and dismembers her in an attempt to win her love. Bizarre subject matter. as you would expect from the daughter of David. suffers from debut jitters and the ever-wooden Sands. but has some interesting things to say about male fantasies and the power in sexual relationships. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. All UCls. I Brigadoon (PG) (Vincente Minelli. US. 1954) Gene Kelly. Cyd Charisse. Van Johnson. 108 mins. Two yanks on vacation in Scotland discover a sleepy village that comes alive once every hundred years. Rather flat and uninvolving Minelli musical. especially in comparison with his other Fifties work. with the unconvincing (and unintentionally hilarious) Scots background the main problem. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Cage 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. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Choose Me (15) (Alan Rudolph. US. 1984) Keith Carradine. Genevieve Bujold. Lesley Ann Warren. Rae Dawn Chong. 106 mins. A slightly unreal LA bar is the setting for this classic series
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of vignettes chronicling the quest for love and fulfilment of numerous protagonists. all of whom find it just the wrong side of possible to get what they‘re looking for. Glasgow: GF'T. I Champions (PG) (Stephen llerek. US. 1992) Emilio Estevez. Joss Ackland. Lane Smith. 104 mins. Under the title The Mighty Ducks. this lame flick took over $50 million at the US box office. It's hard to fathom why. A lawyer on community service after a drunk driving conviction helps a little league ice hockey team to victory. The worst level of moviemaking by numbers. See review. General release. I Cliffhanger (18) (Renny Harlin. US. 1993) Sylvester Stallone. John Lithgow. Michael Rooker. Stallone returns to top fomt as a guilt- ridden mountain rescue pro battling it out amongst the peaks in Colorado with a gang of hijackers. Spectacular vistas and stunt sequences ensure a white-knuckle. vertiginous experience from the comfort of your cinema seat. General release. I Cop and a Half (PG) (Henry Winkler. US. 1993) Burt Reynolds. Normal D. Golden 11. Ruby Dee. 97 mins. A kid who’s a material witness in an important case demands to live out his TV fantasies before he agrees to co-operatc. So give him a badge. cuffs and Reyolds as a partner. Soggy programme filler that. if anything. is worse than the synopsis sounds. Glasgow: MGM Parkhead. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. All UCIs. I Brush ( 18) (Alison Maclean. New Zealand. 1992) Marcia Gay Harden. Caitlin Bossley. William Zappa. 97 mins. After trashing a car and placing literary critic Christine in a coma.fentme fatale Lane ends up in bed with an aspiring author by way of a manipulative friendship with his daughter. After an hour ofdisjointed set-up. Crush transforms into a ferocious. stricken drama that is. ultimately. absolutely compelling. Edinburgh: Cameo. I The Crying Game (IS) (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. Central: MacRohert. I llamage(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 llare‘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: GET. Central: MacRobert. I Days Of lleaven (PG) (Terence Malick. US. 1978) Richard Gere. Sam Shepard. Brooke Adams. 94 mins. Malick is one of the great wayward talents of the contemporary American cinema (Btu/lands is his only other feature) and this is an exquisite triangular love story set against the wheat farming Midwest at the turn of the century. You can almost feel the sweat of labour and smell the soil. such is the power of undoubtedly majestic film-making. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Delicath ( 15) (Jean-Pierre Jeunet/Marc Caro. France. 1991) Dominique Pinon. Marie- l.aure Dougnac. Jean-Claude Dreyfus. 99mins. in a sepia wasteland somewhere in the future. a butcher feeds his neighbours with the juicy joints of his lodgers. But when former clown Louison (Pinon) wives and falls for his daughter. an underground vegetarian resistance group come
to the rescue. Hilarious blend of bizarre characters. slapstick and comic tension makes for the first true cult item of the Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Desperate Hours (15) (Michael Cimino. US. 1990) Mickey Rourke. Anthony Hopkins. Mimi Rogers. Lindsay Crouse. Kelly Lynch. Elias Koteas. 105 mins. On escaping from police custody. Michael Bosworth (Rourke) needs a place to hole up for a few hours before hopping over the border to Mexico. Where better than the ltaute Imurgetiise home of Nora and Tim Cornell (Rogers and Hopkins)? With the FBI and his wronged girlfriend (Lynch) on his tail. Bosworth pitches psychological battle against his terrified hostages. but can be hold out? Tense remake of William Wyler's 1955 original. from the director of Tlte Deer Hunter and Heaven '.r Gate. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I La nolce Vita(18) (Federico Fellini. Italy/France. 1960) Marcello Mastroianni. Anita Ekberg. Anouk Aimee. 173 mins. Paparazzi Mastroianni mixes with the beautiful people of rich Roman society and is ambivalently shocked and fascinated by the vigour of their excessive decadence. Everything you ever wanted from a Fellini movie - black humour. grotesque sexuality. inspired visual imagination and the wonderful Marcello. See it. Glasgow: GET.
I Duke Ellington Jazz (PG) 90 mins. Two great jazz films: Black and 72m. Ellington's first screen appearance. and acclaimed documentary On The Road With Duke Ellington. Glasgow:
GF'l.
I Edward Scissorhands (PG) (Tim Burton. US. 1991 ) Johnny Depp. Winona Ryder. Dianne Wiest. Vincent Price. 105 mins. Burton follows up the excesses of Batman with this fairy tale for the 90s. which works as a welcome return to the darker side of the genre. Depp is the unfinished creation of The Inventor (Price). who lives alone in a crumbling mansion. unable to even scratch his nose without needing stitches. Discoverd by a friendly Avon lady. his talent for coiffure and topiary makes him a neighbourhood favourite until tragedy strikes. Beautifully shot. tenderly acted and fttll of hidden depths. Strathclyde: Paisley Arts Centre.
I Equinox (15) (Alan Rudolph. US. 1992) Matthew Modine. Lara Flynn Boyle. Fred Ward. 1 10mins. Another carefully constructed. subtly mannered exercise in symbolic storytelling from Alan (Trouble In Mind) Rudolph. This time Matthew Modine plays separated-at-birth twins. one a shy mechanic. the other a rising hitman. A labyrinthine thriller with existential yeamings. Glasgow: GET. Edinburgh: Filmhose.
I ET (U) (Steven Spielberg. US. 1982). Dee Wallace. Henry Thomas. Peter Coyote. 115 mins. An alien creature gets stranded on earth (the opening sequence of threatening legs and flashing torches is beautifully done). where he is adopted by some kids. who help him construct a communication device to summon back his spaceship. All the little guy wanted to do was go home. but Spielberg made sure he had lots of cute and agreeable adventures first. and slipped in the most tear— jerking psuedo—death since Baloo the Bear in The Jungle Book for good measure. Central: MacRobert.
I The Exorcist (18) (William Friedkin. US. 1973) Linda Blair. Ellen Burstyn. Max Von Sydow. 1 10 mins. Earnest priest Von Sydow steps in to save poor little possessed girl in this httgely effective scarefest. Dead good. dead scarey. dead priest. Strathclyde: WMR.
I Falling Down ( 18) (Joel Schumacher. US. 1992) Michael Douglas. Robert Duvall. Barbara Hershey. l 12 mins. A sacked defence worker abandons his car in a traffic jam and goes on an escalating rampage across Los Angeles. No mere vigilante movie this. but the zeitgeist movie of
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