BACARDI BLACK
INDEX FILM
Michele Burgers. 111 mins. The friendship of three women from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds is tested when the anti-apartheid activities of one have fatal consequences. Writer- director Proctor shows considerable skill by creating a heartfelt examination of life as a woman under the volatile regime of 80s South Africa. See preview. Glasgow: Gl’l‘. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Fugitive (15) (Andrew Davis. US. 1993) Harrison Ford. Tommy Lee Jones. Jeroen Krabbe. 130 mins. Wrongly accused of murdering his wife. Dr Richard Kimble (Ford) goes on the run. trying to track down the one- armed man who is the real killer while being hunted by a US Deputy Marshal himself. Great acting. but what could have been one of the best thrillers in recent years lacks edge-of-the-seat appeal as director Davis fails to light the fuse on a dynamite plot. Edinburgh: 1‘-("l.
I The Girl Can't Help It (PG) (Frank Tashlin. US. 1956) Jayne Mansfield. Tom Ewell. Julie London. Fats Domino. Little Richard. 97 mins. Ewell's grasping agent grooms dumb blorrde Mansfield for stardom in this classic satiric comedy on the early days of r'ock'n‘roll marketability. Former animator 'l‘ashlin revels in any number of sight gags about his leading lady's statuesque frame and lays the basis for a type of film-making vision that remains highly influential. All this plus lots of great music. including Julie London's unforgettable original perfomiance of Cry Me A River. A genuine Grade-A treat. Edinbrrrgh: Cameo.
I Groundhog Day (PG) (llarold Rarrris. (TS. 1993) Bill Murray. Andie MacDowcH. Chris Elliot. TV weatherman Phil (‘onners (Murray) finds himself in the back of beyond. trapped in an ever-repeating single day. Partying and babe- chasing leads to serious romancing as he goes after his producer (MacDowell). Murray‘s cuddly sarcasm stops the movie from becoming the kind of rnoralising mush that surrounds so many of his contemporaries. At last. a Hollywood comedy that is really funny. Borders:
Roxy.
I llartl Boiled (18) (John Woo. llong Kong. 1992) Chow Yuri-Fat. Tony Leung. Teresa Mo. 126 mins. A tough cop nicknamed Tequila is driven by obsession to nail a Triad gun-runner in John Woo's incomparable llong Kong gangster movie. The action sequences — particularly the opening tea-house shoot-out and the climactic hospital finale - show the action movie master at his best. as he takes moments of on-screen violence to levels of choreographed genius. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I heaven and Earth (15) (Oliver Stone. US. 1993) lliep Thi Le. Joan Chen. llaing S. Ngor. Tommy Lee Jones. 141 mins. The third episode in Stone's Victnanr trilogy follows the almost constant suffering of Le Ly 11ayslip.a Vietnamese farmer‘s daughter who is tortured by the US and the Viet Cong. and who moves to America only to undergo further abuse. The acting. cinematography and production design cannot be faulted. but Stone's direction is so wearingly over-emphatic in its straining for effect that the result is counter-productive. See review. Glasgow: Grosvenor. MGMs. Edinburgh: Dominion. MGM. All 1.'(‘ls.
I Ilifll 11001305) (Pedro Almodovar. Spain. 1991) Victoria Abril. Miguel Bose. Marisa Paredes. 115 mins. More melodramatic frolics from Spain‘s finest. this time in the shape of a murderous triangle between a mother. her daughter and the latter's husband. While Almodovar isn't quite at his best. Abril excels as the TV news presenter who admits on air to her hubby's killing. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Illfl't Tide (15) (Gillian Armstrong. Australia. 1987) Judy Davis. Jan Adele. Claudia Karvan. 101 mins. Backup singer for a second-rate Elvis impersonator finds herself stranded in a small coastal town. There she comes across the teenage daughter she abandoned as a baby and begins to face up to the responsibilities of parenthood. Well acted Australian drama. with a heady eye for the details of the generation gap. and an atmosphere of unsentimentality that is most commendable. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I How: Focus (PG) (Kenny Ortega. US. 1993) Bette Midler. Sarah Jessica Parker. Kathy Najimy. Omri Katz. 97 mins. Three 17th century witches are brought back to life in modem-day Salem. and go searching for young blood to keep them immortal. Katz. is our hapless hero. helped out of one predicament to the next by resourceful heroine Vinessa Shaw. The story cracks along. the effects are moderate. the gags good. but it's for the younger end of the teen market. Edinburgh: UCI. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. WMR.
I the!“ Bellld (U) (Duwayne Dunharn. US. 1993) With the voices of Michael J. Fox. Sally Field. Don Ameche. 87 mins. Disney
remake of The Incredible Journey. in which two dogs and a cat cross the Californian mountains to return to their family. More than mere anthropomorphism: the dratted animals have characteristics that would put Ghandi to shame. Under-sixes will love it. parents probably not. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Strathclyde: Motherwell. I Imitation of life (PG) (Douglas Sirk. US. 1959) Lana Turner. Juanita Moore. John Gavin. 124 mins. Sirk‘s remake of the Claudette Colbert weepie lays on the soapie melodrama as the mothers of two intertwining families struggle to bring up their daughters. Glitzy. glamorous Hollywood wrapped in a pessimistic shroud. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I In The line 0i Fire (15) (Wolfgang Petersen. US. 1993) Clint Eastwood. John Malkovich. Rene Russo. 128 mins. A Secret Service veteran
. in the twilight of his career is haunted by the
Kennedy assassination. so when a former government killer threatens the life of the current President. he vows now ensure history won't repeat itself. Lavish action scenes don't detract from the film's crucial emotional core as Petersen delivers the best mainstream Hollywood movie in years. Edinburgh: Cameo. Central: MacRobert. -
I "’5 ( 15) (Jean-Jacques Beineix. France. 1991) Yves Montand. Olivier Martinez. Sekkou Sall. 159 mins. Beineix follows Betty Blue and Diva with this image-laden story of an old man who befriends two delinquints while searching for an almost mystical lost love. Montand's death dtrring the final days of shooting gives poignancy to one of his most dignified roles. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Janron. Jatnon ( l8) (Bigas Luna. Spain. 1992) Penelope Cruz. Anna Galiena. Javier Bardem. 94 mitts. ‘Jamon' equals ham; ‘una rnulier jamona' equals hot hispanic babe. Prrt them together and you‘ve got this mix of reprehensible depravity and tease of social significance. As it tells of the desire of a pregnant woman for the bulgineg becrotched Manuel (with weightly subplots
involving various mums). you can‘t help feeling it's aiming at too many targets. Sex. leering and exploitation. but not necessarily a fine film.
Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I Jane Campion Shorts Early work by the director of The Piano. consisting of I’assimr/ess Moments ( l 3 mins). A Girl Is ()ivn Story (26
mins) and the Cannes award-winner Peel (8
mins). Glasgow: G171".
I Jurassic Park (PG) (Steven Spielberg. US. 1993) Sam Neill. Laura Dem. Jeff Goldblurrr. A group of scientists are invited to give their approval to a theme park filled with genetically engineered dinosaurs. but the giant reptiles are soon rrrnning amok. Unsurpassed computer effects ensure that the dinosaurs themselves are terrifyineg believable (moreso than the PG cenificate would suggest). but by the halfway point. it's more or less a chase movie with
superior technology. Edinburgh: UCI. : I Katarina milova (PG) (Mikhail Shapiro. ; USSR. 1966)Galina Vishnevskaya. 116 mins. A
restaging. in naturalistic settings. of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. with Konstantin Simeonov conduting Kiev's Shevchenko ()pera and Ballet Theatre Orchestra.
Glasgow: GET. 3 I The Killer (18) (John Woo. Hong Kon. 1989)
Chow Yun-l-‘at. Danny Lee. Sally Yeh. 111 mins. Genre-led thriller. with old school buddies turned cop and contract killer as sparring partners. transferred into the sleazy gangland of llong Kong. The violence puts Robocop to shame. brrt there‘s a glorious. oriental fatalism about the whole shebang that lends it a certain sheen of romanticism. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Kind Hearts and Comb (PG) (Robert llamer. UK. 1949) Dennis Price. Alec Guinness. Joan Greenwood. Valerie llobson. 106 mins. Blacker than black Ealing comedy has a suave and sophisticated Price killing off an entire family tree (all played by Guinness) in order to move himself closer to the d'Ascoyne family title. Low-key cynicism and disarming callorrsness make it a true gem of British post- war cinema. Glasgow: GFT.
.I The Ladylrilltm (PG) (Alexander
Mackemdrick. UK. 1955) Alec Guinness. Cecil Parker. Katie Johnson. 97 mins. A bunch of not- sobright crooks planning a daring robbery get more than they bargain for when they set up
headquarters with a seemingly harmless little old lady. Wry Ealing comedy. with Guinness as usual outshining a plethora of vigorous comic character actors. Glasgow: GET.
I The Last Boy Scout (18) (Tony Scott. US. 1991) Bruce Willis. Damon Wayans. Chelsea Field. 105 mins. Ill-matched buddy duo of scuzzball private eye (Willis) and disgraced sports idol (Wayans) biff. bang and crash their way through bone-crushing violence and producer Joel Silver's trademark explosions. State-of-the-art fluff. which works like a good dirty joke — shameful but kind of fun. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Last Days of Che: lions (15) (Gillian Armstrong. Australia. 1992) Lisa Harrow. Bruno Ganz. Kerry Fox. 96 mins. A Sydney household. peopled by a successful novelist. her French husband and her daughter. is thrown out of balance by the arrival of the woman's sister. The latest from Gillian (My Beautiful Career) Annstrong has some of the most believable characters you'll have seen on screen for ages. while script. cast and director chime in resonant harmony. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I last Year In Marienbad (U) (Alain Resnais. France/Italy. 1961) Delphine Seyn'g. Giorgio Albertazzi. Sacha Pitoeff. 93 mins. Evocative and enigmatic tale of a man who meets a woman in a rambling hotel. and believes he had an affair with her the previous year. Past blends with present to the point where they are indistinguishable. and you can only really enjoy it if you don't worry too much whether they did or didn't. Not one for Blind Date enthusiasts. Glasgow: Gl’l'.
I Like Water For Chocolate (15) (Alfonso Arau. Mexico. 1991) Marco Leonardi. Lumi Cavazos. Regina Tome. 114 mins. At the end of the 19th
century. Mexico is caught up in the Revolution.
Against this backdrop. Laura Esquival’s novel and this film adaptation by Arau depict one woman's struggle for freedom from tradition. A classy melodrama that Hits from comedy to tragedy to culinary excess. raising the new generation of Mexican filrnrnaking talent to truly international levels. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Lord Of The Flies (PG) (Peter Brook. UK. 1963) James Aubrey. Tom Chapin. llugh Edwards. 91 mins. The gradual descent into savagery of a group of English schoolboys marooned on a desert island carries so much thematic weight in Golding's classic novel it's a shame to see the same events looking so crude in this ambitious brrt misguided atempt to film the rrnfilmable. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Madame Bovary (PG) (Claude Chabrol. France. 1991) Isabelle lluppert. Jean-Francois Balmcr. Christophe Malavoy. 140 mins. The veteran of French cinema's latest is a beautiful. entirely faithful. but slightly dull version of Flaubert's classic. Emma (llrrppert) is bored with social conventions and scandalises 19th century bourgeois France with her infidelity. Glasgow: GET. Central: MacRobert.
I Made It America (12) (Richard Benjamin. US. 1993) Whoopi Goldberg. Ted Danson. Will Smith. 111 mins. When eighteen-year-old Zora raids the spemr bank's computer files to find her daddy. she uncovers a mix-up that brought her radical African-American mother and a crass cowboy car salesman together in a test tube. Completely rrnftrnny ‘romantic comedy‘ that is undoubtedly one of the worst films of recent years. Central: MacRobert.
I Malice (15) (llarold Becker. US. 1993) Alec
Baldwin. Nicole Kidrnan. Bill Pullman. Hot-shot
surgeon Baldwin provides the outsider element in yet another ‘married couple under threat' movie which makes you wonder if the formula thriller has finally run out of gas. Throw in a college setting and a few unsolved crimes. and the result still suffers from its amusineg predictable twists and turns. General release.
I Man In The White Suit (PG) (Alexander Mackendrick. UK. 1951) Alec Guinness. Joan Greenwood. Cecil Parker. 85 mins. A dishwasher in a textile mill invents a fabric that never wears out or gets dirty. Mackendrick adds a touch of acidity to the Ealing comedy formula. Guinness is spectacularly good. exploiting his trademark smanniness to great effect. Glasgow: GFT.
I The Hat Without A Face (12) (Mel Gibson. US. 1993) Mel Gibson. Nick Stahl. Fay Masterson. 114 mins. A lonely boy gets the town recluse. a former teacher badly burned from a car accident. to help him with an exam resit. but local prejudices rear their heads. A delicate. emotionally balanced debut as director from Gibson. who also puts in possibly his best performance to date. The sentimentality is not overdone. and there is a tenderness to the central relationship that is more credible and fulfilling than in other American dramas. Glasgow: Cannon. Central: Cannon. Fife: Glenrothes.
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I Multan m Mystery (PG) (Woody Allen. US. 1993) Woody Allen. Diane Keaton. Alan Alda. 108 mins. When her elderly neighbour dies mysteriously and suddenly. Carol Lipton (Keaton) does some amateur sleuthing along with the New York literary set. Allen returns to the comic formula that first made his name — neat plot. snappy one-liners - making this a much more approachable and enjoyable experience than his more serious work of late. See preview. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh:
Cameo.
I Man’s Best Friend ( 18) (John Lafia. US. 1993) Ally Sheedy. Lance Henn'cksen. Fredric Lehne. 90mins. A TV reporter unwittingly allows an experimental prototype killer dog loose from a top secret animal lab. The film itself is a bit of a hybrid. lurching uncertainly between gratuitous carnage and the occasional attack of doggie-woggie cutesies. The kind of thing you wouldn't inflict on dumb animals. See review. Edinburgh: UCI.
I Menace 11 Society ( 18) (Allen and Albert Hughes. US. 1993) Tyrin Tumer. Jada Pinkett. Larenz Tate. 97 mins. A brutal but thoughtful tale of life in Watts. LA. where guns and drugs rule the day. Unlike other recent movies by young Black directors about inner city life. this one concentrates on the criminal element typically dismissed. Superbly played and technically brilliant. it's depressing. disturbing strrff. But it's also the slap in the face we sometimes need. Recommended. Glasgow: MGM Sarrchiehall Street. Edinburgh: UCl.
I Monsieur llulot's Holiday (PG) (Jacques Tati. France. 1953) Jacques Tati. Nathalie Pascaud. Michelle Rolla. 91 mins. M. llulot. the bachelor with the accident-prone touch. arrives at a jaunty coastal resort and devastation very soon ensues. Comic timing at its most irresistible. as Tati gets away with a number of memorable. slow- brrrrring gags. all undercut by the stabbing notion that we all have an uncle exactly like llulot. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Mr Wonderful (12) (Anthony Minghella. US. 1993) Matt Dillon. Annabella Sciorra. William Hurt. 97 rrrins. Gus wants to rernarry. but the alimony he pays his ex-wife is killing him. The solution: find her a new husband. a Mr Wonderful. But in the process. he discovers that he isn't ready to let go. An old-style romantic comedy with a bean. and a performance front Dillon that shows he's the only actor of his age who could carry off the working-class leading man role with any credibility. Great stuff that will leave you with a wann feeling inside. Glasgow: Gl’f.
I Much Ado About Nothing (PG) (Kenneth Branagh. UK/US. 1993) Denzel Washington. Kenneth Branagh. Emma Thompson. Keanu Reeves. 111 mins. A lusty. lively version of Shakespeare's comedy of love and deceit. set in the sun-drenched Tuscan hills. Barbed witticism fly across the screen as British thesps and American stars acquit themselves with honours. Central: MacRobert. Fife: Adam Smith.
at?“ '1 I “ A a -» use" T I Naked (18) (Mike Leigh. UK. 1993) David Thewlis. Katrin Cartlidge. lesley Sharp. 126 mins. Johnny. a cynical drifter. wanders around the homeless of London spouting a bitter philosophy. An episodic. bleak. but bitineg funny portrait of 90s Britain that suffers from a few characters who could only exist in a Mike Leigh world. Scenes of sexual violence may be difficult for some audience members to sit through. but the virtuoso performance from Thewlis is one of the best of the year. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Ilear M (18) (Katherine Bigelow. US. 1987) Adrian Pasdar. Jenny Wright. Lance llenriksen. 98 mins. A chance sexual encounter for a Texas youth leads to his abduction by a group of nrarauding bloodsuckers and his difficult transfomration to their parasitic mode of existence. As vampire-biker westerns go. this is a pretty good one. Edinburgh: Cameo.
The List 14—27 January 1994 23