FILM REVIEW BACA R Dlré. Premium Black rum
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With Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes in the lead roles, a script by ultra-hot Michael (Jurassic Park) Crichton and a sizeable budget, Rising Sun should have been a state-oi-the-art Hollywood thriller. All the ingredients are here: a topical conilict between American and Japanese cultural values and business practices, the murder oi a woman with pervewe erotic overtones and some amazing hi- tech stuii about the visual manipulation oi a video disc record oi the killing. However, by concentrating on the coniusing complexities oi the murder enquiry, director Philip
Michael Crichton fans can enjoy the performance of yet another growling old monster as Sean Connery bathes in the rays of a mu, *flchllflmu
Rising Sun, That and the other new suganfu ‘00th? Mei?!“ 0' tampered with a video disc recording characters drlit releases of the next fortnight on a 9 “"59"” "ma “"9 " oi the murder are visually iascinating about like ghosts comprehensive spread.
explanations oi how someone has
particular, the poorly handled mentor/pupil relationship between chalk-and-cheese Los Angeles investigators Connery and Snipes. Aiming instead tor a controlled, almost philosophical study oi the clash between old-iashioned, loose- wristed American individualism and the clinical ruthlessness oi modern Japanese corporatism, Kaufman maintains that ‘business is war’. What he doesn’t show us is why we should care which side wins. How this ties in with the strangulation oi a beautiiul young woman on the Japanese corporation’s executive boardroom table is a little too complicated to explain, but computer expert Tia
in the machine.’
and mentally intriguing.
Sadly, only Dean Tavoularis’s iuturistic set designs match this technological wizardry, leaving the sketchily drawn characters to drift about like ghosts in the machine. incidently, it you think you know the iending already because you’ve read Ithe book, don’t be fooled: the ; accusations oi racism and Japan- !bashing levelled at Crichton’s novel fare skirted round here by a radical ; reworking oi the plot resolution. (Higel 3 Floyd) ‘
i Rising Sun (18) (Philip Kauiman, us,
i 1992) Sean Connery, Wesley Snipes, fcary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Harvey Keitel. g 129 mins. From Fri 15. General
I Hard Boiled (18) Forget all other action movies and kneel at the feet of the master. John Woo's 1992 Hong Kong thriller. made before his recent jaunt to Hollywood. centres on a tough cop (genre superstar Chow Yun-Fat) whose obsession with nailing a Triad gun-runner after the death of his partner brings him into conflict with his superiors. From the opening balletic shoot-out in a tea-house to the fast-
performances of its two 5 stars. the dedicated Angela Bassett. and Lawrence Fishbume who magnificently captures lke‘s repellent and seductive qualities. Overall. it seems a bit cramped, and maybe here is a subject that would have benefited from being a double-length television feature, allowing some of Tina's other virtues — and vices — to fill out her character. See feature.
i i
cut pyrotechnics of the r i 1
hospital climax. this is I The Wedding Banquet I may.” 8 wet“) carom s - release' filmmaking at the level of I (IS) Successful. gay. - - genius. There have been naturalised American
several pretenders to the citizen Wai-Tung lives _
Reservoir Dogs throne happily in New York with
this year but. believe me. his white lover Simon
this is the one. See until parental pressure to
f t . f ' '
e“ "’6 ' fwfiaffj’fifufligg‘gf "‘6 That Polish director Agnieszita Holland
I Raining Stones ( l5) An forming a marriage of and Amelie” “mnmnfl 03'0"“
‘I’hompson (oi Edward Scissorhands iame) should somehow conspire to create an authentic and aiiecting version oi Frances Hodgson Bumett’s quintessentially English children’s classic is as disarming as it is unexpected; but, then again, the silver screen always has been an arena ior
out-of-work father brings terror into his household when he approaches a loan shark to pay for his daughter's first communion dress. Humour binds together this northern community. imbuing the film with an
convenience with a young Chinese artist in need of a Green Card. All seems to be going smoothly until Mum and Dad decide to
i hop on the next plane from Taiwan for the wedding celebrations. The farcical situation takes on
uplifting sense of hope. a more serious side as the most singular alchemies.
Director Ken Loach teases g tensions build in the Headless to say though, the
superb performances from apartment. with Simon homegrown them cam the day_ As
h's.la’g?ly “mm?” “.5” ‘: 905mg as wai‘Tung's lonely orphan girl Mary Lennox ? emotional kick and lays down its ‘Events touch you with Mfme hm Allen 83mm i flatmateo'landlord' . . (newcomei Kate Mabel”) is Shipped : ultimate claim to classic status. Mary 3 their uniorced charm Einiifieh‘irflifycgincil‘fnes i angulaiii'i‘v‘SZ‘JT-Efnm "3"" "°“‘ °°'°""" “"3 ‘° “'° and her vouoo cohorts not onlv rorivo . when other hands of working-class l Banque, is no, ma, ,rs inhospitable surroundings oi reclusive ; the garden in question, its storybook, l might have drowned solidarity. See preview. resolution has everyone huncm’ack uncle Jon“ “news 3 green presence puts the colour back them in syrup.’
rambling Yorkshire manor and the starchin strict care oi Maggie Smith’s housekeeper, matter-or-iact perionnances keep in check any tendency towards post-Dickensian Iachrymosity. Even when our youthiul heroine begins to exert a magically recuperative iniluence on both her sickly cousin Colin (Heydon Prowse) and the long-neglected walled garden that gives the piece its title, events touch you with their uniorced charm when other bands might have drowned them in syrup.
Most oi all, it’s Holland’s way with the natural elements in the story that ( remains the key to the iilln’s
into everything around it, restoring 1 .ioie de vivre and slipshod iamin ties ; i in a climactic ilourlsh oi iloral eiiervescence and endlessly ( lirolicking beasts and birdies. The i trained robin steals the show, oi g l
involved in making some sort of compromise. but that this is perhaps the most heartening aspect of the film. Each character is slightly happier and slightly sadder. but all enjoy a more liberated sense of identity. A humorous, touching depiction of how one can be isolated by race, family (Wai~Tung is an only child) and sexuality, that manages to maintain its respect for the clashing beliefs of different generations and cultures. See preview. (AM)
I What’s love Got To Do With It (18) The life of Tina Turner. depicted as an inspirational figure for any woman trapped in a violent marriage. The film concentrates on her years of abuse with husband lke, setting colourful pen'od sequences and raunchy music against distressing scenes of domestic beatings. Like any biopic of a living public figure. it cuts comers (but less than some); greatly in its favour are the
i course, yet you do come away truly
1, convinced by the special power oi this, é leaiy corner oi uncontrived goodness. ; , See it and be genuinely transported. ; (Trevor Johnston) I j The Secret Garden (U) (Agnieszka
5 Holland, us, 1993) Kate Maberly, }Maggie Smith, John Lynch, Haydon ( iProwse. 100 mins. From Fri 15. ; Glasgow: MGM Parkhead. Edinburgh: ' Dominion, MGM. All liGls.
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16 The List 8—21 October l993