FILM SCOTTISH
I Tartan Shorts: Following the television broadcast of the 1994 trio of shorts produced under the BBC Scotland/Scottish Film Production Fund scheme comes news of the projects chosen for this year‘s batch. The three films will shoot later this year, using an award of £45.()()() from the Tartan Shorts scheme.
Dancing is written by Stevan Rirnkus. who will also direct. and is produced by Pamela Wilson for Stonybridge Productions. it describes how an old woman takes control of her present life through her reflections on a past love affair. Wilson is also executive
producer of the second of the 1995 Tartan Shorts. The Pen. which will be directed by Bill Pryde and produced by Barbara McKissack for Stonybridge- Navigator Productions. Written by Iain Heggie ofA Wholly Healthy Glasgow fame. it details the pressures on a man whose destiny depends on finding a pen on a packed train. Writer-director Peter Mullan follows his first film (love (which won the Michael Samuelson Best Film Award) with Fridge. the story of two alchoholics trying to save
. the life of a boy trapped in a disused
fridge in a Glasgow backcourt. l’rirl‘ec
willbe produced by Frances lligson for Greenbridge Films.
I Script Girls: To coincide with the publication of Lizzie Francke's book Scrip! Girls: ii’onlcn .S'r'rewrn'rilers In
Hollywood (rm Publishing. £1 1.95).
Edinburgh Filmhouse and Glasgow Film Theatre are looking at the work of four women prominent during the studio years. Francke will present an illustrated lecture and discussion after the screening of Rum/1o Notorious on Monday 23 (Filmhouse) and Tuesday 7-1 (GET).
_ Brothers beyond
,. f
C Q .. i . 35‘ Mat
The inspired casting of real-life brothers Russell and Tam Dean Burn gives
Brotherly love, Angus Reid’s Scottish road odyssey, a sharper edge. One of the best-kept surprises at last year’s Drambuie Edinburgh Film Festival, and broadcast on national television soon afterwards, the film now receives a welcome pair of screenings at the Glasgow Film Theatre on Monday 16 (followed by a discussion with cast and crew) and at the Cameo, Edinburgh, on Sunday 15 (on a triple bill with This Boy’s Life and Gregory’s Girl). Reid’s concise approach captures the paradoxical lack of communication and need for dependency between two brothers driving to the Highlands, while reinforcing his themes visually as the claustrophobic confines of the car are set against
wild landscapes. (AM)
_ Fringe benefits
The Fringe Film & Video Festival reaches double figures this year when a selection of work from 36 countries is presented for the first time in the UK between 24—26 February. This year's event will also feature a retrospective from the last ten years and a specially commissioned piece of new time-based
video art by Edinburgh's Bob Last. exhibited at the Collective Gallery from 11 Feb.
A charity screening of 'l‘lielmu A’- Louise. in aid of FFVF. will take place
at the Cameo cinema at l lam on
Saturday 14 January. Tickets cost £2.50 (1‘ l .50). and the feature will be
3 supported by l/ ii’usn '1 Low. a short
made with :1 Fisher» Price Pier Vision
camera by Sadie Benning. the winner
of the last FFYF's Special Jury Award.
Copies of the festival catalogue will be available late January from FFVF, 29 Albany Street. Elli 3QN (please enclose a 37p stamp). (AM)
“HEE- worrm crnrs
A fresh, funny and poignant look at the sex industry, lizzle Borden’s Working Girls (Connoisseur, £15.99) proves that this writer/producer/director/editor has an eye for honesty and enviable technical skill. Shot on a low budget on 16mm, virtually all the film takes place indoors, giving the effect, at times, of a fly-on-the-wall
, documentary. But the story is indeed
Molly (loulse Smith) as she leaves the bed of her lesbian lover to spend a day working in a high-class Manhattan brothel.
Borden never portrays her characters as stereotypes: they are women who in a way have found a sense of independence. If there is any sense of sleaze in what they do, it comes from the attitudes of the male customers, alternately embarrassed creeps or loudmouthed jerks obsessed with careers and income. The prostitutes in this group get on with the [ob they have to do, they give each other support, they react with genuine warmth to generosity and kindness from their regulars.
Without resorting to the usual filmmaking tricks, Borden manages to touch some scenes with erotic appeal, others with comedy or psychological insight. Working Girls had problems on its release over certification and due to attacks by Women Against Pornography, but it certainly deserves a wider audience for its positive depiction of women in control of their sexuality. (Alan Morrison)
é fiction, following a day in the life of
I Bad Lieutenant ( 18)
Hot on the heels of the release of True Romance
: on video comes another . one they said you might i never see in your home.
Abel Ferrara‘s gritty look at a drunken. crooked. junkie cop (Harvey Keitel) starts in the gutter
and goes down from there. Keitel’s commitment to the role is astounding. Ferrara's direction is intense. and the gruelling sense of redemption is unique. (Guild)
I Full Eclipse (18) Mario Van Peebles is a disillusioned cop picked up by a secret vigilante squad who use a special
serum to give its members superhuman powers. Unfortunately. the side effect is that they also become subhurnan crossbreeds — so Mario's now a werewolf with a badge. Enjoyable nonsense with good effects from unsung horror hero Anthony Hickox. (20:20 Vision)
/ ~£ E
Q I le Parfum D’Yvonne
(18) A young man posing as a Russian count in Switzerland during the
1 early 50s has an affair
with a beautiful young model who is constantly watched over by her gay. Svengali-like mentor. Past memories are rendered in warm colours. the mood is generously sensuous. but the camera is too often voyeuristic and the themes wilfully n'relancholy for Patrice Leconte's latest to be much more than the perfect cliche of a French art movie. (Artificial Eye £15.99)
I The Puppetmaster ( l5) Told from the point of view of real-life Taiwanese puppeteer Li Tienlu. Hou Hsiao Hsien's award-winning film covers the period from the moment of Li‘s birth until
the Japanese surrender at the end of World War 11. Behind the personal chronicle lies a culture under occupation. where superstitions and rituals define a way of life that is disrupted by the Japanese. but not destroyed. Few films manage to be so lyrical and engaging while also being as interesting on a historical level. (Electric £15.99)
I Identification Of A Woman(18) Michaelangelo Antonioni’s film. from 1982. is one of those European art movies that some critics praise to the heavens. but others believe merely substitutes obscurity for substance. A narrative jigsaw that finds a famous film director searching for the ideal woman. both in his new project and in his private life. the full picture slowly evolves at a painstaking pace. Extremely subjective filmmaking. (Connoisseur £15.99)
I City Of Women (18) Another highly personalised piece of Euro-art. Fellini‘s satire on the male pursuit of the female is framed within the logic of a dream as the director’s alter-ego Marcello Mastroianni follows a woman from a train and finds himself in the midst of various set-
pieces where women have the upper hand. interesting as an indication of the director’s own inner universe. but instantly dated. (Artificial Eye £15.99)
I Night Of The Living Dead (18) The film that almost overnight altered the style of the modern horror film is at last presented in a digitally re- mastered version in its original black-and-white 25 years after its initial release. What ensures that Romero’s classic remains at the top of scare lists is the social dimensions beyond the images of the stumbling zombies: this one is as interesting for the verbal battles inside the house as the physical ones outside. (Tartan £10.99)
I Equinox (15) As ever. Alan Rudolph's work manages to bridge the gap between American narrative cinema and European visual stylishness. This intriguing thriller. starring Matthew Modine, follows the attempts of identical twin brothers to cope with life when they meet up after a lifetime of separation. As the name implies. this is a story of darkness and light. with a fine balance of comic moments and thriller plotting. (Tartan £15.99)
24 The List 13—26 January 1995