INDEX FILM
FILM
Films screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate, credits, brief review and venue details. Film index compiled by Alan Morrison.
I Above The Rim ( 15) (Jeff Pollack. LS. 1994) Duane Martin. Leon. Tupac Shakur. 98 mins. Best kid on the block. Kyle (.Martin). turns his back on the school basketball team w hen he's offered temptations by a local gang boss. btit the baddie's good brother plays his hand at restoring Kyle to decency. While not the most original stoiy in the world. l’ollack's debut is backed by a lelcnllcss rap soundtrack and comes at a time when sports movies are back in vogue. Edinburgh: [(1.
I The Adventures Of Priscilla. Queen Of The Desert ( 18) (Stephan Elliott. .-\ti.stralia. 1994) 'l'eience Stamp. Hugo Weaving. Guy Pearce. 104 mins. Two transvestites and a trans-sexual team up fora trip across the Australian outback fora drag show in Alice Springs. Serious isstres pop tip from time to time. but the emphasis is on the camp humour of the iii-bus bitchiness and outrageous musical set-pieces, Glasgow: (ii-'1‘. Edinburgh: ()deon
I Andrei Bublev ( 13) ( Andrei ‘l‘aikmsky. t‘SSR. 19(i6).-\natoly Solonitsyn. lvan 1.;iprkov. Nikolai (iiinko. 185 mins. 'l'arkovsky takes the life of a little known 15th century icon painter and turns him into a (‘hiist-lrke figure suffering the pains of a til\1\iCti Russia under the Taitais. A true epic told in visually stunning set pieces. with an uplifting sense of the strength of the human spirit. Edinburgh: liiliiihouse.
I Bad Girls ( 15 ) (Jonathan Kaplan. LS. 1994) Madeleine Stowe. Andie MacDow e11. Drew Bai'i’yiiioic. Mary Stuart Masteisori. 98 ruins. Four prostitutes take hold of their own destinies and set out to make a land claim in Oregon. battling off outlaw s. l’inkcitoii detectives and other iiiisfoitunes. More male fantasy about buckskinned babes than a feminist western. the plot and character development have huge chunks missing. Enjoyable. but probably for all the wrong reasons. Glasgow: G171".
I The Bandwagon (l') (\‘ineenre Minnelli. ('8. 1953) Fred Astaire. ('yd (‘harisse. ()scar Levant. 111 mins. lixuberant Arthur Freed-prtxluced MGM mtrsical has Hollywood dancer Astaire trying to regain his popular appeal with a broadway comeback. A tart satire on theatrical behind-the-scenes goings-on and on the conventions of the musical genre. This is one musical that has the lot — including ‘That's Entertainment‘ and the famotts "l‘riplets' routine. Glasgow: (il-‘l‘.
I Barcelona ( 15) (Whit Stillman. t‘s. 109.1) ‘liaylor Nichols. (‘hris liigeinan.'1‘trslika Bergen. 100 mins. As a follow -up to Metropolitan. writer-director-pr'txlucer Stillman focusses on another group of young people who seem to converse solely through witty dialogue The backdrop is interesting: a pair of American cousins get on each other's nerves in Barcelona during the 70s. a time when their countrymen were unpopular because of anti-NATO tensions. Stillman will be in discussion after this screening. Sttn 8 only. Edinburgh: (‘ameo
I les Biches ( 15) ((‘latide (‘habroL France/Italy. 1968) Jean-Louis 'l'rintignant. Steplrane Audran. Jacqueline Sassard. 99 mins. An architect falls in love with both halves of a lesbian couple. btit the emotional cruelties which result bring about horror anti despair. (‘habrol loads an apparently superficial story with his distinctive wit and with a bleak. obsessive darkness which gives it hidden depths. Glasgow: Gl’l'. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Bob Roberts ( 15) (Tim Robbins. LS. 1992) Tim Robbins. Alan Rickman. Giancarlo Esposito. Gore Vidal. 103 mins. Man-of-the- moment Robbins takes over as director. writer and star of this wonderfully sharp satire on contemporary American politics. The eponymous Roberts is a right-wing folk singer with senatorial ambitions. appearing here in a mocked-up Spinal Tap type documentary. Funnv and pertinent. Edinburgh: Cameo. 4 I Blade Runner: The Director’s Cut ( 15) (Ridlev Scott. US. 1982/92) Harrison Ford. Sean Young: Rutger Hauer. 116 mins. ()ut go the psetido-noir narration and the tacked-on happy ending; in comes a more defined sense that Deckard himself may be a i'eplicant. The look and feel remain as powerful. and the acting is superb. A flawed masterpiece is now a restored masterpiece. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Chasers ( 15) (Dennis Hopper. LS. 1994) Tom Berenger. Erika Eleniak. William McNamara. 101 mins. Berenger and McNamara are the two sailors ordered to take AWOL Eleniak to a navy
detention centre in this totally pointless remake of the 70s Jack Nicholson movie. The Last Detail. What Hopper - or. indeed. anyone iiivoled in this sorry mess — thought they were doing is beyond anyone's guess. Not even worth a look on video. General release.
I Cinema Paradiso: The Special Edition ( l5) (Giuseppe 'l'ornatore. ltaly/France. 1988) Salvatore (‘ascio. Philippe Noiret. Jacques Perrin. 170 mins. The nostalgic chronicle of a Sicilian youngsters formative relationship with his local movie house and its wise old pr'ojectionist is largely unaltered; the new material details the older Salvatore‘s traumatic
return home. showing exactly what happened to
his teenage paramotir'. Consequently. the tone is darkened. a counterpoint to the central slushiness. A masterpiece restored. Central: MacRobeit.
I The Client ( 15) (Joel Schumachei'. LS. 1994) Strsan Sarandon. Tommy Lee Jones. Brad Renfro. 121 mins. Roundly superior to both The Firm and The l’elit'an Brieflwhich isn't saying much). this John Grisham adaptation has the benefit of credible performances by its leads. A young boy becomes the pawn in a legal battle when he finds himself on the rtrn from both the Mob and the FBI. No masterpiece. btit as a popcorn movie. there's more to savour than other airport novel fillers. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
MGM Filrn Centre.
I The Company Of Wolves ( 18) (Neil Jordan. l'K. 1984) Angela Lansbttr'y. David Warner. Graham (‘rowderL Biian Glover. 95 mins.
Sensual and gory cinematic realisation of Angela (‘aiter's sexually charged parables of puberty
and wer‘ewolf—phobia. Explicit special effects are not. however. the best vehicle for the implicit trndercurrents in Carter‘s fiction. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Corrina Corrina (PU) (Jessie Nelson. (is. 1994) Whoopi Goldberg. Ray Liotta. Tina Majorino. 116 mins. Goldberg stars as the maid to a recently widowed jingle writer (Liotta). whose daughter helps them overcome the social distance that the times — the 1950s — demand. (‘omedy and drama move with seamless skill. although the triumph of romance over cynicism may prove too sweet for some. Edinburgh: 1'(‘1. I Count Of The Old Town (PU) (Edvin Adolphsorr/Sigurd Wallen. Sweden. 1935) lngrid Bergman. 75 mins. A story about a gang of crooks and booze smugglers and their girlfriends in the old city of Stockholm. It is a kind of thriller and lngrid Bergman plays the daughter of a woman who owns a small batchelor hotel where the crooks hide out. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Crow ( 18) (Alex l’i'oyas. US. 1994) Brandon Lee. Ernie Hudson. Richelle Davis. 101 mins. Infamous as the film on which martial arts star Bruce Lee's son Brandon was killed by a defective stunt gun. this is the most consistent attempt yet to create on film the distinctive feel of the graphic novel. The characterisation and plot development may be slight — a rock star comes back from the dead to wrech revenge on the gang who killed him and his girlfriend - btrt stylistically. it's a gem. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Days Of Being Wild (12) (Wong Kar-Wai. Hong Kong. 1991) Leslie Cheung. Maggie Clieting. Andy Lau. 93 mins. Denied knowledge of his true parents by his desperately jealous foster mother. ice cool Ytiddy (Leslie Chang) goes through life leaving a trail of broken beans behind him. A fresh. chic original that uses the cool mood of 1960 and universal themes of restless youth to capture the current uncertainties surrounding 1997. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Dazed And Confused (18) (Richard Linklater. US. 1994) Wiley Wiggins. Jason London. Rory (‘ochrane 95 mins. The last day of the 1976 term for a bunch of US schoolkids. and. for some. it's time to face the initiation btttniliations as they move fromjrrnior to senior high. Linklater abandons the baton-passing narritive style of his seminal work. Slacker. and shows masterful skill as he weaves together a multitude of plot strands a la American Graffiti. Coo-til. With excellent Scottish short Iloppla.’. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Dear Diary(15)(.\'anni Moretti. ltaly. 1994) Nanni Moretti. Renato Carpentieri. 100 mins. An intimate joumal. captured with both narrative and technical freedom. Moretti's Cannes award- winner sees him zip around Rome on his Vespa. visit the Aeolian island home ofa friend. and come tip against the doctors who are having problems diagnosing his possibly malignant illness. What may seem loose and unordered is actually very carefully structured. with a level of intimacy rarely achieved in the crnerna. Glasgow: GET. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Dialogues With The Devil 3 (18) 77 mins. The third programme examining the work of animator Jan Svankmajer focusses on ‘dcath. surrealism and imagination'. Showing are 1.3. Back: Fantasia In C Minor. The ()ssttary. Death Of Stalinirtn In Bohemia and The Pit. The Pent/alum And Hope. with stylistic support from Walen'an Borowczyk's Le Phonograplre: Les
Jetu‘ Des Anger and Rosalie. Tue 20 only. Glasgow: GEE
I The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie ( 15) (Luis Buntrel. France. 1972) Fernando Rey. Delphine Seyrig. Stephane Atrdran. 105 mins. A group of friends find their dinner gathering interrupted by a series of bizarre. mostly dreamt- trp events. Not as savage a satire as Bunuel's earlier work. btit he is certainly more assured as he tires at his constant targets — the church. the state and the army. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Dona Herlinda and Her Son ( 15) (Jaime Humberto Hermosillo. Mexico. 1985) Arturo Meza. Marco Antonio Trevio. Guadalupe del Torro. 91 mins. Occasionally ponder'ous btit generally likeable gay Mexican satire in which the strong-willed matriarch Dona Herlinda ensures that her son is a happily married husband and father despite his ongoing passionate affair with young music student Ramon. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I les Enfants Du Paradis (PG) (Marcel Carrie. France. 1944) Ailetty. Jean-Louis Barrault. Pierre Brasseur. 195 mins. Paris in the 1840s. Amid the seething heart of the French capital's theatre street. a mime artist falls in love with the delicious but flirtatious Gainace. ()ne of the cinema's tnost extravagantly enjoyable productions. this gorgeous elephantine wallow of a film is crammed with incident and compellingly curious Gallic comic characters. Edinburgh: Filmhotrse.
I L’Enfer ( 15) ((‘laude (‘habroL France. 1994) Emmanuelle Beart. Francois (‘luzeL Andre Wilms. 100 mins. 1n the 70s. Henri-Georges (‘louzot stopped shooting this script after a nervous breakdown. Picked tip 20 years later by ('habrol. the sense of impasse is obvious and. while interesting enough. it's less than satisfying. C‘luzet suspects that coquettish yotrng wife Beart is unfaithful; she denies it. Credibility is pushed aside as the director concentrates on male paranoia. See review. Glasgow: Gl’l'. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Even Cowgirls Get The Blues ( 15) (Gus Van Sant. LS. 1993) L'ma Thurman. John lltiit. Rain Phoenix. 88 mins. Thurman stars as the free— wheeling Sissy llankshaw. sent to the all-female Rubber Rose ranch to shoot an advert for female hygiene products. in this unsuccessful adaptation of Tom Robbins‘ seminal 70s novel. Van Sant neither sticks to straight narrative nor fully endorses the esoteric. so the result falls between two stools. See review. Glasgow: GET.
I The Exorcist (18) (William Friedkin. US. 1973) Linda Blair. Ellen Burstyn. Max Von Sydow. 110 mins. Eamest priest Von Sydow steps in to save poor little possessed girl in this hugely effective scarefest. Dead good. dead scarey. dead priest. Glasgow: Odcon. Edinburgh: ()deon.
I Faust (PG) (Jan Svankmajer. Czech. 1994) Petr Ccpek. with the voice of Andrew Sachs. 97 mins. Surrealist animator Svankmajer turns his attention to the Faustian legend in his second feature (following 1987's Alice). As he draws from Goethe and Marlowe. btrt principally from Czech marionette theatre. he brings in a political aspect about personal choice. Another masterpiece. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I La Femme lnfidele (15) (Claude Chabrol. France/Italy. 1968) Stephane Audran. Michel Bouquet. Maurice Ronet. 98 mins. Chabrol's masterful study of bourgeois marriage features three magnificent perfonnanccs and a cracking script. The plot outline may be straightforward — a husband discovers his wife is having an affair. so he kills her lover — brrt the eye behind the camera is gleefully black. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Flintstones (U) (Brian Levant. US. 1994) John Goodman. Rick Moranis. Elizabeth Perkins. Rosie O'Donnell. 92 mins. Fred is promoted to an executive post at the quan‘y. but only as a stoogc for his boss‘s corporate rip-off: nevertheless. money and power go to the Flintstones' heads. causing friction with the Rubbles. The movie keeps to the TV series' prehistoric parody of modem suburban life. adds bright and chunky sets and a post-yuppie morality tale on greed that doesn‘t quite sit right. and comes out a little plot-heavy. The one-liners will be picked up by adults. kids will get bored. But it's no the yabba-dabba dodo it could have been. Glasgow: GF'T. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Forrest Bump (12) (Robert Zemeckis. US. 1994) Tom Hanks. Robin Wright. Gary Sinise. 142 mins. Even those with the lowest [05 can rise to the top in the land of the free. as this picarcsque tale sets out to prove. But despite its incurany sweet hero and its fairly standard love story core. Forrest Gump has a surprisingly dark-tinted view on recent American history — complete with racism. drug and child abuse. war and political assassination. There are some bitter tasting choices hidden among the soft centres. General release.
I Four Weddings And A Funeral (15) (Mike Newcll. UK. 1993) Hugh Grant. Andie MacDowell. Kristin Scott Thomas. 117 mins. Sweet but stuffy Englishman Charlie (Grant) is
PICK OF ’94
The list’s scourges of the screenlng room select the year’s best movies.
THE BEST
I Schindler’s List Hollywood’s top commercial property. Steven Spielberg. came of age with this artistically beautiful and emotionally resonant combination of cinematic craft and historical detail. The black- and-white photography gave the film an almost documentary feel, while the acting captured the complexity of the real-life characters.
HUHHEHS UP
I Pulp Fiction Ambitious casting and storytelling by Quentin Tarantino. who blends inane pop culture with cinema’s strongest narrative genres to create a self- contained world of hip humour and violence.
I 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould The year‘s most formally inventive film. a fractured study of the Canadian keyboard genius, which stretches the potential of the bi0pic format.
I Bad Boy Bubhy Australian writer- director Rolf de Heer takes the most outrageous, taboo-breaking route for an examination of contemporary society.
convinced that he is not the marrying sort. but when he keeps meeting the alluring American Carrie (MacDowell) at an assortment of church ceremonies. he begins to doubt his resolve. The sort of charming British comedy that was destined to storm America. btrt which adds a little grit to the glamour of the pretty settings thanks to Richard (Blaekatltler) Curtis‘s script. Edinburgh: Dominion.
I Bhostlrusters (PG) (lvan Reitman. US. 1984) Bill Murray. Sigourney Weaver. Dan Aykroyd. 105 mins. Three wacky unemployed parapsychologists pursue a little private enterprise as cxtenninators in spook-infested Noo Yawk. Wildly over-rated comedy. Glasgow: Cannon.
I Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer (18) (John McNaughton. US. 1986) Michael Rooker. Tom Towles. Tracey Arnold. 80 mins. Based loosely on the true life (and subsequently recanted) confessions of Henry Lee Lucas. McNaughton's exemplary film is a harrowing account of an amoral mass murderer. Scenes of rape and mutilation transcend the usual titillation of the genre and force the audience to question the use of murder as entertainment. Simultaneously one of the most important releases of recent years. and one recommended with caution. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Highlander (15) (Russell Mulcahy. UK. 1986) Christopher Lambert. Beatie Edney. Sean Connery. 111 mins. A handful of immortals battle through the centuries to win a mythical prize. A curious mixture of romance in 16th century heather and car chases in present day New York. the film is an inelegant. often ludicrous. bttt enjoyany daffy adventure. Lambert seems more at home with the contemporary passages and only the ever wonderful Connery has the requisite style for the kitsch Scottish scenes. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Highlander 3 (15) (Andy Morahan. US. 1994) Christopher Lambert. Mario Van Peebles. 98 mins. Similar more to the original than the lamentable sequel (even down to mirroring some scenes). the third and (we pray) f'inal instalment takes Macleod to the French Revolution and
The List 16 December 1994—12 January 1995 35