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loveable brat. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Peter's Friends (15) (Kenneth Branagh. UK. 1992) Kenneth Branagh. Stephen Fry. Emma Thompson. 102 mins. A decade after their last performance together. a varsity revue team «unite for a New Year break and discover that
. 'eer security is no match for happy .. :ationships. A highly assured. extremely funny and deceptively touching character drama. whose only fault is that it sends up Branagh's media image a little too knowingly. Fife: New Picture House. I The Piano (15) (Jane Carnpion. Australia/New Zealand. 1993) Holly Hunter. Sam Neill. Harvey Keitel. 120 mins. Jane Campion‘s masterpiece follows mute Scotswoman Ada (Hunter) as she travels to 19th century New Zealand with her piano and daughter to enter into an arranged marriage. Soon she begins a passionate and erotic affair with her illiterate neighbour as the means of regaining her treasured instrument. Impeccable perfonrrances lift this highly charged piece to the realms of classic cinema. undoubtedly one of the best films of the 90s. Glasgow: Odeon. Grosvenor. Edinburgh: Cameo. LC 1. I The Pirate (PG) (Vincente Minnelli. US. 1948) Judy Garland. Gene Kelly. Walter Slezak. 102 mins. A wandering player (Kelly) passes himself off to a bored girl (Garland) as a famous pirate. and thereby sets up another colourful MGM musical. which is admittedly not one of the best. despite the Cole Porter songs. Glasgow: GFT. I The Player (15) (Robert Alunan. US. 1992) Tim Robbins. Greta Scacchi. Fred Ward. Peter Gallacher. 12-1 mins. Altman‘s satire on the wheeling and dealing of modern day Hollywood is more than just an excuse for cineastes to play trainspotter with the famous faces in cameo roles. It is also a terrific thriller about a studio exec receiving death threats from a spurned writer. Tim Robbins is magnificent in the lead role. while Altman manages to grin as he bites the hand that feeds him. Glasgow: GFI'. I Puerto Escondido (15) (Gabriele Savatores. Italy. 1993) Diego Abatantuono. Valeria Golino. Claudio Bisio. 110 mins. Recovering from gunshot wounds. an Italian assistant bank manager recognises one of the interrogating policemen as his attacker and the man he witnessed kill a fellow cop. He flees to Mexico and gets caught up with some hippies.
' Unfortunately. the story is less strre where it‘s
heading. Mildly diverting. but one might have expected more from the director of Mediterraneo. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Rear Window (PG) (Alfred Hitchcock. US. 1954) James Stewart. Grace Kelly. 112 mins. Laid up with a broken leg. Slim Jim takes to neighbour-spotting with binoculars and camera at the ready. Before long. he‘s getting hot under the collar about the dirty deeds done across the yard. is it murder'.’ Or just naked voyeurism? Glasgow: MGM Film Centre.
I Reservoir Dogs (18) (Quentin Tarantino. US. 1992) Harvey Keitel. Tim Roth. Michael Madsen. 100 mins. A gang of hoods. known only to each other by colour-coded nicknames. meets at an abandoned warehouse to figure how out their rigorously planned heist went so drastically wrong. The best debut in years from writer-director 'l'arantino. whose stylish violence
seduces the audience into complicity. Brilliant in l
every sense of the word. Glasgow: MGM Parkhead. Edinburgh: ()deon.
I Rocco And His Brothers ( I8) (Luchino Visconti. Italy/France. 196(1) Alain Delon. Renato Salvatori. Annie Girardot. Katina Paxinou. 18(1mins. Depressing neo-realism as a peasant family moves to the city. where nothing but trouble awaits them. Initially. the film dwells perverser on gloom. bill as it gathers pace :1 more poetic quality emerges. and the ending is truly climactic cinema. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I flosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead (PG: (Tom Stoppard. UK. 1991 ) Tim Roth. Gary Oldman. Richard Dreyfuss. Iain Glen. 117 mins. Stoppard's own screen version of hrs first play. premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1966. Set in the world of Hamlet. but with a new and highly quirky perspective on events. it presents Shakespeare's peripheral characters as existential fall-guys trying to work out how the situation brewing around them might relate to their future. Witty and very clever. btrt probably better on the stage. Glasgow: (1171‘.
I le Santoural (PG) (Jean-Pierre Melville.
Minimalist dialogue and perfect attention to detail make this the director's masterpiece. Glasgow: GFT.
I Savage Nights Les Nuirx Faut'es (18) (Cyril Collard. France. 1993) Cyril Collard. Romaine Bohringer. (‘arlos Lopez. 126 mins. This story of an llIV+ photographer who has unsafe sex with both his male and female lovers is much more than an ‘AIDS movie': it is a staggering paean to being alive and in love. This is life and death stuff: life. as it is really lived on an irresponsible edge; death. as tragically took actor/director/writer Collard only days before his movie swept the French (‘esar Awards. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I The Secret Garden (U) (Agnieszka Holland. US. 1993) Kate Maberly. Maggie Smith. John Lynch. 102 mins. The unusual combination of the director of [firm/m [Sum/m and the writer of [Edward Sr'ixsm'hundx conspires to create an authentic and affecting version of the children's
classic novel. Shipped back front India. lonely
orphan Mary makes friends with a local lad and
her sickly cousin. exerting a magical
rcctrrx'rative process on the latter and a hidden
walled garden. touching and unconttived.
General release.
I Sleepless In Seattle (PG) (Nora Ephron. US. 1993) Meg Ryan. Tom Hanks. 105 mitts. ()ne of the most warm-hearted romantic comedies to emerge from Hollywood in years. again proving the talent of Nora Ephron. who wrote When Harry Met Sally. Newspaper reporter Ryan hears a radio talk show which features recently widowed architect Hanks. She's sure they are made for each other. but the whole of the United States lies between them. Date movie of the year. Glasgow: ()deon. Edinburgh: UCI.
3 Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank. I Sliver ( 18) (Philip Noyce. US. 1993) Sharon
France/italy. 1967) Alain Delon. Francois Perier. !
Nathalie Delon. 105 mins. The classic French film noir. re-issued with. for the first time. subtitles rather than the appallingly dubbed version that did the rounds years ago. Delon is Jeff Costello. an enigmatic hired killer who
becomes obsessed with the beautiful pianist who witnessed a hit but refuses to testify against him. ;
Stone. William Baldwin. Tom Berenger. 100 mitts. Shazza moves into a modern New York appartment block. which has been the site of several murders. the perpetrator of which has been captured - along with several other indiscretions — by the in-house surveillance system. Self-censorship has pretty much done for the much-touted sex scenes in this supremely empty pile of old poo passing itself off as a ‘psychosexual mystery'. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. I The Snapper (15) (Stephen Frears. UK. 1993) (‘olm Meaney. Tina Kellegher. Ruth McCabe. 90 mins. Don't expect the plusher production values
of The (‘mnmitmmrs with the latest screen version of Roddy Doyle‘s novels: instead. enjoy a hilarious comedy that never loses sight of its human heart. Sharon C urley announces her pregnancy but not the name of the father. setting the small Barrytown community into uproar. but bringing her family closer together. A gem. Glasgow: GFl‘.
I So i Married An Axe Mom (15) (Thomas Schlamrne. US. 1993) Mike Myers. Nancy Travis. Brenda Fricker. 110 mins. Charlie Mackenzie is a bit paranoid about his girlfriends. such has been his bad luck: but now he's sure he‘s dating Miss X. a female serial killer who chops her hubbies. Fun. over-the-top stuff from the Wayne half of ll'uvne's World. and which includes some of the best Scottish gags recently ptrt on screen - watch out for the ‘Do Ya Think I‘m Sexy'?‘ Rod Stewart bagpipe karaoke. Honest. General release.
I Some Like It Hot (PG) (Billy Wilder. US. 1959) Tony Curtis. Jack l.etrtmon. Marilyn Monroe. 12(1mins. '1‘wo impecunious male musicians inadvertently witness the St Valentine‘s Day Massacre and take refuge in Florida w ith Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopators. an all female band. Brilliant. brittle. crackerjack farce with all concemed at a peak in their careers. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I The Stolen Children (15) (Gianni Amelio. Italy. 1992) Enrico 1.0 Verso. Valentina Scalici. Guiseppe leracitano. 112 mins. A relatiionship develops between an Italian policeman and two delinquent kids in his charge after their mother is arrested. Superb perfonnances grace this gentle study of the meaning of genuine freedom. European Film of the Year at the 1992 Felix Awards. Glasgow: GF'T.
I Strictly Ballroom (PG) ( Baz Luhrmann. Australia. 1991) Paul Mercurio. Tara Morice. Bill Hunter. 94 mins. Dancelloor hopeful Scott Hastings incurs the wrath of the Australian Dance Federation by using his own steps in competition. loses his partner and his friends. but finds love and artistic integrity with the local wallflower. The ultimate feelgood movie. it is crammed with colour. glitter. music and spectacle. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Super Mario Bros (PG) (Rocky Morton/Annabel Jarrkel. US. 1993) Bob lloskins. John Leguizamo. Dennis Hopper. 105 mins. The film of the video game featuring Italian pipe-menders plurnbs new and tedious
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The List 1 16 December 199319