BACARDI BLACK
INDEX FILM
FILM .1512—
Filnts 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 Adda-s Fully Values (PG) (Barry Sonnenfeld. US. 1993) Anjelica Huston. Raul Julia. Christopher Lloyd. 95 mins. The Addams clan are back in residence. but this time with the addition of baby Puben and gold-digging nanny Joan Cusack. who's got her eyes on Fester's riches. Twisted humour and inverted morality for the adolescent in us all. Great set design. but jokes that will go way over the head of the kids. Glasgow: MGMs. Edinburgh: MGM. Strathclydc: Cannon. Motherwell. All UCls. I Aladdin (U) (John Musker/Ron Clements. US. 1992) With the voices of Robin Williams. Scott Weinger. Linda Larkin. 91 mins. Panto time. Disney style. as street-wise thief Aladdin woos Princess Jasmine with the help of the Genie of the Lamp and hindrance of the evil Jafar. Colourful. entertaining stuff that will be lapped up by children and adults alike. Williams's whirling dervish of a Genie inevitably steals the show. General release. I Aliens (18) (James Cameron. US. I986) Sigoumey Weaver. Michael Biehn. 137 mins. Revived from a 57-year snooze in deep space. Warrant Officer Weaver is cajoled into joining a marine rescue mission to the planet that is home for the original alien beastie. Unrelentingly paced with a terrifically gutsy performance from Weaver. this nerve-shredding sequel not only matches its predecessor but cannily surpasses it. An Oscar winner for special effects. Glasgow: OFT. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Anerlcan Heart (15) (Martin Bell. US. 1993) Jeff Bridges. Edward Furlong. Lucinda Jenney. 114 mins. Newly out of prison. Bridges is tagged by son Furlong. and the two move into a shabby room in Seattle. They share dreams of moving to Alaska. but find it difficult to pull themselves free of the mire that surrounds them. Brilliantly acted by both leads. this generation-gap drama is perhaps gratuitously downbeat. See review. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Another sum (PG) (John Badharn. US. 1993) Richard Dreyfus. Emilio Estevez. Rosie O'Donnell. 109 mins. More routine buddy cop stuff that not even charismatic playing from the male leads can save this time round. Here they're hindered on their surveillance mission by brassy. inexperienced assistant DA O'Donnell. Conuived and unmemorable. General release. I Bad Girls Program“ -ilell’sBelles(18) Bad girls across the generations. Interview With Lydia Lunch covers her taboo-breaking work in music and literature: Thanoropis and Black Box see Beth B. blasting America and looking at torture; and Girl Power and It Wasn 'I Love marks a new talent in the making. Sadie Bennin . Glasgow: GET. Ilad lmfiWZ-Thelgonyhndihe Ecstasy (l8) Erotic avant-garde. K iss Film is an extract from a German feature that recuts exploitation flicks; The Dead Man adapts Georges Bataille‘s poetic prose: and Mano Desrra is an extraodinary self~portrait by Cleo Ubleman. Glasgow: GFT. I The BFG (U) (Brian Cosgrove. UK. 1989) 105 mins. Animated version of the Roald Dahl favourite has young Sophie battling against evil. aided and abetted by the Big Friendly Giant. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Mi It the Beach (15) (Gurinder Chadha. UK. 1993) Kim Vithana. Jimmi Harkishin. Sarita Khajuria. 100 mins. A group of Asian women from Birmingham leave their day-to-day cares behind them and head in a van for Blackpool. But the problems of culture clashes. a patriarchal community. domestic violence and generation gaps follow them onto the sand. A magnificently fresh. uplifting view of life in Britain through Asian eyes. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I T“ Ill Parade (15) (Chen Kaige. China. 1986) Wang Xueqi. Sun Chun. Lu Lei. 94 mins. Kaige's long-delayed second feature is a contemporary drama following the fate of 400 volunteers embarking on one year's gruelling. intensive training to win a place in the troop parade across Beijing's Tiananmen Square on National Day in 1984. Although altered because of its less-than-flattering image of the amty. this has still been hailed as an important commentary
on the issue of how far Chinese history has actually progressed. and is a visually arresting and stirring slice of cinema that more than confimts the promise of Yellow Earth. Glasgow: GFT
I Black llareissrrs (PG) (Michael Powell. UK. 1947) Deborah Kerr. Sabu. Jean Sitnmons. 100 mins. Kerr's colony of nuns in the Himalayas find their faith tested by the desires of the flesh. An unlikely subject matter. astonishingly evocative studio settings and affectineg controlled performances are combined in a beautiful. unique film. Glasgow: GET.
I A Bronx Tale (18) (Robert De Niro. US. 1993) Robert De Niro. Chazz Palminteri. 122 mins. De Niro's directorial debut. here shown as a preview before its release on 18 Feb. is set in the Bronx during the 60s and tells of a boy growing up under the opposing influences of his law-abiding father and a street hood. De Niro feature next issue. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Carlito’s Way (18) (Brian De Palma. US. 1993) Al Pacino. Sean Penn. Penelope Ann Miller. 141 mins. Out ofjail after five years. former drug runner Carlito Brigante can't come
- to terms with the erosion of any sense of honour ' on the streets. and finds his struggle to go
straight becoming more and more impossible. Pacino at times slips into perfonnance rather than characterisation. but still squeezes sensitivity from the character; Sean Penn is excellent in his return to acting: and De Palma pulls it all off with more restraint than usual. General release.
I Casablanca (PG) (Michael Cuniz. US. 1942) Humphrey Bogart. Ingrid Bergman. Dooley
Wilson. 102 mins. You must remember this . . . ' Bogart being impossibly noble. Bergman torn
between two lovers. Claude Rains playing both ends against the middle. devious Nazis. a fogbound airport. a piano-player tinkling that tune . . . A wonderful hill of beans. Central: MacRobett.
I The Cement Garden ( 18) (Andrew Birkin. UK/Germany/France. 1993) Charlotte Gainsbourg. Andrew Robertson. Sinead Cusack.
105 mins. Based on the acclaimed book by Ian
‘ McEwan. Birkin's award-winning film
intertwines themes of incest and death with innocent insight. Not so much a coming~of-age movie as a regression into childhood. it is meticulously observed and contains flawless performances from its young cast. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Centrirnm (Stephen Poliakoff. UK. 1993) Clive Owen. Charles Dance. Miranda Richardson. 114 mins. A rarity: a British film.
' set in the past. that actually looks forward. An
ambitious young doctor comes to a London institute but is banned when he disagrees with its charismatic head. No staid period drama this. but a fresh look at the late Victorian era and its attitudes to poverty. class. immigration and medical science. See preview. Glasgow: GET.
I The ConnitnentsUS) (Alan Parker. UK. I991) Robert Arkins. Michael Aheme. Angeline Ball. Maria Doyle. 118 mins. Sod U2 - when would-be manager Jimmy Rabbitte (Arkins) puts together The Commiunents. soul comes to Dublin and the band become the force to really put Irish music on the map. Alan Parker delivers a hilarious. down~to-earth. close-to-home movie. stuffed full of good music and with some relevent social comment to boot. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Dead Poets Society (PO) (Peter Weir. US. 1989) Robin Williams. Robert Sean Leonard. Ethan Hawke. 129 mins. In a staid private boys' school in Fifties New England. an unconventional teacher (Williams) interests his charges in literature and philosophy to such an extent that they form a secret club to investigate them (along with booze and girls) further. Though Williams is on good form. the film focuses mainly on the boys' emotional development and crises. and on the mystery and beauty surrounding their midnight meetings. A sensitive. tense and moving study of the conflict between passion and authority. even if the plot is something of a cliche. Fife: New Picture House. I Decadence (18) (Stephen Berkoff. UK/Ger/Lux. 1993) Stephen Berkoff. Joan Collins. Christopher Biggens. 108 rrtins. A spectacularly inept celluloid transcription by Berkoff of his own play. which tells us nothing we didn't know already about the scumbag nature of the Mayfair set and nouveaux riche. Shapeless structure. barely coherent editing. inelegant mise-en-scene. One of the worst films of the decade. See review. Glasgow: MGM Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Desperate lie-edles (15) (Stewart Main/Peter Wells. New Zealand. 1993) Jennifer Ward-Lealand. Kevin Smith. Lisa Chappell. 92 mins. Hunk stumbles off boat into fin-de-siecle NZ town and is immediately set upon by a millner who reckons he could wean her opium
addict sister from her nasty boyfriend. Melodrama? Stylised taffeta sets? Labyrinthine
narrative? You've got the lot here in this in-your-
face exercise in flashy visuals. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Dirty Weekend ( l 8) (Michael Winner. UK. 1993) Lia Williams. David McCallum. Miriam Kelly. 102 mins. Not'a female Death Wish. but a feminist revenge fantasy taken to extremes. Winner captures the tone of Helen Zahavi's novel perfectly. but the film's shoddy editing. lighting and dubbing is unforgivable.
Technically inept. extremer offensive. but of some social relevance. Glasgow: GFT.
I urea. of the Abyss (I8) (Oscar Lucien. Venezuela. 1992) Erich Wildpret. Frank Spano. Sonya Smith. 98 mins. Two young men struggle to win national interest in their project to climb Mount Everest. Lucien builds a portrait of a country eaten up by its own cynicism. where those who desire more than is expected of them are frequently repressed. Glasgow: GFI'.
‘I Easy Rider (18) (Dennis Hopper. US. 1969) Peter Fonda. Dennis Hopper. Jack Nicholson. 94 mins. Artless. archetypal road movie in which two dope-loving bikers travel the highways and by-ways of America. Dated cult attraction with Nicholson stealing the show as a boozy lawyer persuaded to join up for the trip. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I The Exorcist(l8) (William Friedkin. US. 1973) Linda Blair. Ellen Burstyn. Max Von Sydow. 110 mins. Earnest priest Von Sydow steps in to save poor little possessed girl in this hugely effective scarefest. Dead good. dead scarey. dead priest. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
-I Fairly I‘d Alexartder (PG) (Ingmar Bergman. Sweden. 1982) Gunn Wallgren. Jarl Kulle. Erland Josephson. 189 mins. Many of those familiar Bergman themes — religious doubt. a puritanical father. the materialisation of God - are present in this tum-of-the-century family saga. which was 300 minutes long in its original TV format. The harsher semi-autobiographical references are softened by the fact that it captures some of the childish joy of its young protagonist. particularly in the dazzling Christmas scenes. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I lel My Wine (15) (Chen Kaige. China. I993) Gong Li. Leslie Cheung. Zhang Fengyi. 156 mins. The story of two Peking Opera actors and the woman who comes between them provides an intimately detailed story which is set to a constantly shifting backdrop of Chinese politics during the 20th century. The Opera setting provides colour and spectacle. and questions how far a man will go for his art; the historical episodes give this Palme d'Or winning film the flavour of a genuine epic. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I The Fly (18) (David Cronenberg. US. 1986) Jeff Goldblum. Geena Davis. 100 mins. Brilliant reconceptualisation of the camp 1958 classic. with Goldblum highly effective as the scientist whose experiments in teleportation go disastrously wrong. and his wife Davis no less impressive as the love of his life. Special effects superlativer revolting. tension sustained throughout. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Friends (15) (Elaine Proctor. UK/South Africa. 1993) Kerry Fox. Dambisa Kente. Michele Burgers. lIl 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. Glasgow: GFT.
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- arrned 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: UCl.
I MallasUB) (Martin Scorsese. US. 1990) Robert De Niro. Ray Liotta. Joe Pesci. Lorraine Braco. Paul Sorvino. 145 mins. Liotta plays Henry Hill. a real-life mafioso. with De Niro as his mentor in crime. And while the bullets. fists
and carving knives fly. Scorsese brings us back
to that unavoidable question — yes. it's glamorous and lucrative to live this way. but can anyone really live with the consequences?
Winner of BAFTA awards for best film. director
and screenplay. and a Best Supporting Actor
Oscar for Joe Pesci. Edinburgh: UCl.
I Grease (PG) (Randal Kleiser. US. I978) John
Travolta. Stockard Charming. Olivia Newton
John. 110 mins. The long-running broadway
show arrives on screen dripping with Fifties'
.s'po/Imrecl by BACARIN BLACK
Catch the Fit. on: fortnight
‘. 'v. \
I The Lavender Hill Mob/Whisky Galore Sparkling Ealing double-bill: bank-teller Alec Guinness in a bullion heist and the late Alexander Mackendrick’s Scottish comedy classic. GFI‘. 2
I The IlentaIns 0! The Day Anthony Hopkins has never been better in this Merchant-Ivory tale of an emotionally repressed inter-war butler. General release.
I Manhattan Murder Mystery Woody Allen casts seriousness aside in favour of a tight plot and witty one-liners as his New York neighbour dies suspiciously. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I I Grand Day Out Hilarious claymation from Nick Park as Wallace and Gromit find a late-night slot supporting Stanley Kubrick’s 200]. of all things. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Sale Rare cinema screening of Antonia Bird’s harrowing depiction of teenage homelessness in London, followed by discussion on political UK cinema. Edinburgh Filmhouse.
nostalgia. cheery tunes. a high camp value and the winsome charms of the plastic Newton-John and the toothy Travolta. A nice collection of old timers enhance the cast. Fife: New Picture House.
I Heaven and Earth (15) (Oliver Stone. US. 1993) lliep Thi Le. Joan Chen. Haing S. Ngor. Tommy Lee Jones. 141 mins. The third episode in Stone's Vietnam trilogy follows the almost constant suffering of Le Ly ilayslip. 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 wearineg over-emphatic in its straining for effect that the result is counter-productive. Glasgow: MGMs. Edinburgh: MGM. All UCls. I Ilellraiser Ill: Hell on M ( I 8) (Anthony Ilickox. US. 1992) Terry Farrell. Doug Bradley. Paula Marshall. 93 mins. Pinhead and Cenobite chums take to the streets of New York in this admirable third outing for Clive Barker's creations. A capital blend of sado-masochistic imagery. stunning special effects and meaningful characters raises the movie above standard horror fare. and in Doug Bradley we have an actor who really can bring some depth to the lead monster. Fife: Adam Smith.
I llocus 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. Fife: Robins. Strathelyde: Odeon Ayr.
I The Hill Of The P1005) (Leslie Megahey. UK/France. 1993) Colin Firth. Ian Holm. Donald Pleasance. 117 mins. A hotshot Parisian lawyer arrives in a medieval French backwater and finds he has too defend a pig on a dubious murder charge. Aunospheric Middle Ages murder mystery that doesn't lose its sense of the comic absurd. See preview. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon.
The List 28 January—10 February 1994 27