REVIEW FILM
SGOTTISH FILM
I New Visions: The second part of New Visions‘ Scottish Zeitgeist series takes place at the Street Level Gallery in Glasgow‘s King Street on Friday 17 at 7pm. This programme contains a selection of film and video works by Scottish-based artists previously screened at the 1994 New Visions Festival.
Three pieces show a variety of animation techniques — Simon Fildes' Missing The Point Cmnpletely. the Rosehall Arts Group’s Dangerous Game and David Hutchison's Ceurr:
while its broadcasters as a whole employed almost 1,500 people fora
. combined turnover of £214 million.
And while cinema attendances continue
- to rise in Scotland. it‘s encouraging to
Agus Ubh: the other works on show are f
You 've Been Tungued by Tara Babel. Shaz Kerr’s Tool. Shiona McCubbin’s Les Angluises Arrives and On A Train, Kevin Cameron's Show The Refugees. lrrigo Garrido's The Phone. Ben Skea’s Virtual Rota/inn and Ewan Morrison's Closer. the single screen version of his New Visions ‘94 installation.
Scottish Zeitgeist aims to promote innovative. indigenous film and video production by establishing a regular platform for audiences and artists to corrre together and discuss moving image culture. Entry to this event is free. and two international programmes will follow in March.
I Scottish Screen Data Digest: it‘s common knowledge that the broadcasting and screen industries in Scotland are playing an ever~increasing role in the country’s economy. and so the timing is perfect for a comprehensive economic overview of this sector. The recently launched Scottish Screen Data Digest. ajoint venture by the Scottish Film Council and various other leading organisations in the industries, contains a wealth of revealing statistics.
In 1993/94. Scotland had 102 independent production companies.
note that. since 1990. 33 films — thirteen of which are of Scottish origin — have been shot here. ploughing rrrore than £22 million into the local economy.
The 40-page publication is split into eight tabulated sections ranging across the industries. from funding to exhibition. employment to commercials. ‘By revising the figures annually. we can identify strengths and weaknesses and take action accordingly.‘ commented Maxine Baker. director ofthe SFC. Free copies of the Digest are available to the public (please enclose £1 post and packaging) from the SFC at 74 Victoria Crescent Road. Glasgow G 12 9JN.
I Dead By Dawn: Now’s your last chance to get tickets for the thrills and chills that make up the 1995 Dead By Dawn horror festival, taking place in Edinburgh from 1 1—13 February. The line-up of films to take you through the night of Saturday 12 at the Filmhouse is now settled: Fulci's The House By The Cenrerry. Carpenter‘s The Thing. Argento‘s 'lenebrue. cult classic Carnival ()j'Sou/s and Robert Golden’s slice of British arthouse horror. Beg.’.
Elsewhere on the programme there are
i readings (Friday evening), a personal ; appearance by Doug Bradley. the man behind the Pinhead icon. and a visit —
for Dead By Dawn ticket holders only — to Mary King‘s Close under the city‘s old town at 5.30pm on Saturday. For details and tickets at this late stage. contact Adele on 0131 228 9558.
I Wheels: Writer-director Brian Ross‘s film. shot at the end of last year in Tain. receives its broadcast premiere on Grarnpian Television on Wednesday 15 at 10.30pm. The story of CB fanatic Janice. her biker boyfriend and the other inhabitants of a small Highland town during a summer night in 1982. Wheels was produced by Barony Film and Television Productions. with funding from the Scottish Film Production Fund and Grampian
: Television. Ross is currently
negotiationing for a network screening.
Fear is the key
The exhibition of three video installations at Edinburgh’s Collective Gallery gets the Fringe Film and Video Festival underway in its tenth year. Alan Currall’s Card Trick - ‘a video installation that deals with a relationship to belief which invokes a futile yet necessary self deception’ - and Dryndis Snaebiomsdottir’s The Other Side - which explores opposing perceptions through the use of computer animation, video monitors,
on show.
The centrepiece is Fear by Edinburgh artist Dob Last, a ioint Collective Gallery/FFVF initiative to commission a new Time Based Media installation. Fear takes the viewpoint that so- called interactive technology, far from being a democratic devolution of power to the viewers is, in many
* cases, a means of establishing greater
control over their reactions. At the core of this laserdisc work are a series of enigmatic loops which,
é through repetition, lose their shape
and meaning, and thereby prompt reassessment of assumptions.
Fear opens to the public on Saturday 11. The Collective Gallery will screen experimental film and video work as part of the Festival beginning Tuesday 21 , while the ‘Edinburgh Shorts’
1 competitive screenings take place at 30"“ and Photography - are already the Filmhouse from 24-26 February,
and will be previewed next issue. (AM)
VIDEOS
WEE-- WAGNER
‘lie occupied a loftier station than King or Kaiser, pope or president’ intones the pre-credits eulogy to composer Richard Wagner in Tony Palmer’s truly epic biopic. Spread over three tapes and at just under eight hours in length, this is one of the few European television co-productions of genuine cinematic worth, more in the Reimat or Berlin Alexanderplatz class than any mini-series winging its way over the Atlantic. Duality exists on every level — Richard Burton in the title role; support from the thespian triumvirate of Olivier, Gielgud and Richardson; Vittorio Storaro’s misty
landscapes and amber interiors; Sir
Georg Solti’s control over the Philharmonic orchestras of london, Vienna and Budapest.
With so much time on his hands (the film was originally broadcast in ten one-hour episodes), Palmer has more than enough time to build a clear picture of the man, his times and his work. This Wagner dabbles in politics, misuses his wife, scrounges money at every opportunity and sets out a vision of a united Germany born from the myths and past culture of its people. Frequently the pace slows to allow Burton to add his poetic weight to set- piece monologues, as the story moves towards the creation of Bayreuth as a nationalist symbol that is more than a music festival. (Alan Morrison) Wagner is released in a box set by Connoisseur Video at £39.99.
RENTAL L
I llorth (PG) A rare box I office flop for director Rob Reiner. this picaresque movie for kids bounces along with enjoyable comic inventiveness until an unforgivable final cop- out. Well liked by everyone but undervalued by his parents. North (the wonderful Elijah Wood) sets out to find a more worthy household. while his manipulative schoolmate plans to keep kid-power top of the world agenda. (Guild)
I Drainscan (15) Another one that takes a narrative dive at the end. this teenage horror thriller works better on the small screen than it did in the cinema on account of the interactive video game visuals that are central to the plot. Edward Furlong is chilled to discover that the murders he commits on his CD-ROM are actually happening in his neighbourhood. (Guild)
I The Hour Of The Pig (15) Superstition and ignorance combine with racism and murder in medieval France as idealistic young lawyer Colin Firth tries to keep a gypsy‘s pig from the gallows. The bawdy atmosphere is so strongly rendered that you can almost smell the dung in the streets. but there's a dark edge to the laughter. Last year‘s most underrated British movie. it also boasts terrific character turns from lan Holm. Donald Pleasence and Michael Gough. (Curzon £15.99)
I AsTears Go By ( Is) Wong Kar-Wai is currently one of the names to watch anywhere in the world. This. his 1988 debut. also features the beautiful young people of Days Oj'Being Wild; framed as a gangster action movie. it has.
however. more of a realistic street feel than the exaggerated gunplay of John Woo. Wong‘s stylistic experimentation is in its early stages. but still raises the film above most of its peers. And the end is a stunner. (Made In Hong Kong £13.99) I Edvard Munch (PG) Mirroring the erratic style of the unpublished diaries of a man forever on the borderline between genius and madness Peter Watkins's absorbing film sets Munch in the midst of an austere country and family tragedy. The atmosphere is one of harsh melancholy. while the fly-on-the-wall documentary style is startling given the period drama setting. Watkins himself found his early work misunderstood by a conservative society. and his personal approach adds an extra dimension to this study of an artist revealing inner truth. (Academy £15.99) I The Erotic Dreams Of Cleopatra ( 18) Remember le‘trmrlr/‘s companion fantasy land which indulged in the orgy legacy of Roman times? Well. here we are. as Cleopatra passes the hours with political intrigue. prophetic dreams and a fair amount of bonking. it’s not Shakespeare. but it’s still amusing and has the advantage of being directed by Cesar (no kidding!) Todd. (Jezebel £12.99) I Hawks And Sparrows (PG) Recently broadcast as part ofChannel 4's
North Pasolirri season. this comedic break from the director's neo-realist style is perhaps too obvious in its attempts to be a cinematic parable. The images are strong. but the ideology is too heavily underlined and the ‘funny' dialogue often descends to mere stream- of-conscrousness babble. (Connoisseur £15.99)
I Through The Cake Hole ( IS) Jo Brand has never been a favourite of mine. using the ‘fat' joke over and over with little variation. This selection of highlights from her TV series has some good tiiotiicnls. but doesn‘t quite get over the pitfall of amusing stand- up/disappointing sketches. A sttrdy of sex 'n' food seen from her own unique perspective. but the targets are just too cheap to claim originality. (PolyGram £10.99)
I The Red Squirrel ( (s) The best European psychological thriller since The Minis/ring. The Red Squirrel is a teasingly erotic slant on identity crisis. Disillttsioned rock singer Jota \\ itticsscs the motorbike crash that leaves a beautiful young girl arr arrrnesiac. and so he persuades her that she is his girlfriend by inventing a life history for her. it's a cracking story that keeps just inches away from your outstretched arms. .-\s for the title. maybe that's inst a few steps up the evolutionary ladder from a red herring. (Tartan £15.90) (AM)
Tire List 10-23 Feb 1995 23