FILM INDEX
I Edward Scissorhands (PG) (Trm Burton. US. 1991) Johnny Depp. Winona Ryder. Dianne Wiest. thcent Price. 105 mins.’ Burton followed up the excesses of Batman with this fairy tale for the 90s. which works as a welcome return to the darker side of the genre. Depp is the unfinished creation of The Inventor (Price). who lives alone in a crumbling mansion. unable to even scratch his nose without needing stitches. Discoverd by a friendly Avon lady. his talent for coifTure and topiary makes him a neighbourhood favourite until tragedy strikes. Beautifully shot. tenderly acted and full of hidden depths. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I The Exorcist (18) (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 scary. dead priest. Glasgow: Odeon. I Free Willy 2 (PG) (Dwight Little. US. 1995) Jason James Richter. Michael Madsen. Jayne Atkinson. When his real mother dies. Jesse (Richter) discovers that he has a half-brother. who then joins him and Jesse's foster parents on an island holiday. Killer whale Willy's also there with his family. as is an oil slick (attd. of course. a convenient eco-message). A tad too anodyne and uninventive to really justify its existence. the movie does have its familiar charms. Edinburgh: MGM. UCI.Strathc1yde: UCls. I French Film Festival Now in its fourth year. with its strongest programme yet. the runs concurrently at the Glasgow Film Theatre (GI-‘1') and Edinbrugh Filmhouse (EF). with selected screenings at the MacRoberts Arts Centre in Stirling (MAC). Adultere. Mode D’Entplol (18) (Christine Pascal. France. 1995) Karin Viard. Vincent Cassel. Richard Berry. 95 mins. Two architects test the strength of their relationship over a day of infidelity. jealousy and deceit. An in-your-face user’s guide to adultery from the director of Le Petit Prince A Dir. (EF) La Bount (PG) (Claude Pinoteau. France. 1980) Brigitte Fossey. Claude Brasseur. Sophie Marceau. 100 mins. A box office smash on its release in France. but not shown here. this was its home country's Saturday Night F ever. the filth that defined a generation of teen rebellion. It also launched the career of Sophie Marceau (Brttvelreart). and her directing debut L'Aube A L'Envers (8 mins) will also be screened. (OFT) Les 101 Iluits (PG) (Agnes Varda. France. 1995) Michel Piccoli. Marcello Mastroianni. Henri Garcin. 125 mins. Varda celebrates the centenary of cinema by casting Piccoli as the living embodiment of the screen's first hundred years. A young film student polishes up his memory with clips featuring a cast of thousands: Deneuve. De Niro. Harrison Ford. Martin Sheen. Jeanne Moreau. and on and on. (MAC) Consentetnent Mutuel (15 ) (Bernard Stora. France. 1994) Richard Berry. Anne Brochet. Adrienne Winling. 105 mins. An exceptionally assured debut from Stora. this dissection of a marriage on the rocks also lambasts the French legal system for its attitude to women. Big stars and a big subject. it has far more credibility than. say. Kramer vs Kramer. (OFT) (lieu. l’Anrant De Ma Mere Et le File Du Charcutler (15) (Aline lssemtan. France. 1995) Richard Bohringer. Lio. Francis Iluster. 91 mins. The director of the excellent A Shadow Of Doubt turns her hand to a delightfully silly comedy about mischevious children and wayward adults. An amateur production of Don Juan is the setting for this ensemble comedy which gaily blurs fact and fiction. (EF) Ills Idol Gui (PG) (Alexandre Arcady. France. 1995) Jean-Hughes Anglade. Julia Maraval. Claude Rich. 111 mins. Anglade calms down after some manic recent outings. playing a doctor whose life is turned upside down when he comes into contact with a twelve-year-old runaway girl. Light and channing. (OFT) Fast (15) (Dante Desanhe. France. 1994) Frederic Oelard. Jean-Francois Stevenin. Karin Viard. 99 mins. A country boy stumbles into the big city to find the .sexy Parisienne who seduced him during a brief visit to his village. To make some money. he takes a job in a fast food franchise. and his rise to the top of the ladder astonishes everyone. A frothy comedy as pacy as its title. (GFI‘. MAC) Gaton Maudit (18) (Josiane Balasko. France. 1994) Josiane Balasko. Vtctoria Abril. Alain Chabat. 105 mins. Balasko. best known for her role in Trop Belle Pour Tor'. writes. directs and stars in this very funny sex comedy that celebrates the libido and turns around the love triangle. A ballsy dyke disrupts the household of a sexist git and an open-minded beauty. (OFT) (In home it Une Fenune (15) (Claude Lelouch. France. 1966) Anouk Aimee. Jean-Louis Trintignant. Pierre Barouh. 102 mins. Some odd camera and editing effects born out of the nouvelle vague sit oddly with the story of an affair between a racing driver and a script girl. Hugely successful at the time — winner of the Cannes Palme D'Or and the Best Foreign Filtu
Oscar — it's now best known for its 'da-da-da-da- daaa. da-da-da-da-daaa' music. Rare screening of subtitled print. (OFT. EF. MAC)
lln lndlen Dans la Ville (PG) (Herve Palud. France. 1994) Thierry Lhennitte. Patrick Timsit. Miou Miou. 89 mins. The French family film of the year. which rivalled Disney's Tire Lion K ing at the box office. plays Scotland in both subtitled and dubbed form (check Listings). A kid raised in the Amazon is brought to Paris by his long- lost father. who himself is undergoing romantic complications. A channer. (OFT. EF)
Metisse (15) (Mathieu Kassovitz. France. 1993) Jttlei Maudech. Hubert Kounde. Mathicu Kassovitz. 95 mins. The work of Kassovitz has been compared to Spike Lee and Woody Allen rather than any of his countrymen. This. his first feature. is a fast-paced interracial comedy which stars the writer-director as a Jewish bike courier who shares a West Indian girlfriend with an African law graduate. When she announces that she is pregnant. htrt isn't strre w ho the father is. arty notions of animosity must be pushed to the side. (EF)
Neuf Mois (PG) (Patrick Braoutlc. France. 1994) Patrick Br‘aoude. Daniel Russo. Philippine Ler'oy-Beaulieu. 107 mins. Before Hugh Grant and Hollywood got their hands on the story. this superior original had charmed France. The story's the same — an unwilling father tries to cope with his girlfriend's pregnancy — brrt the observation is mrrch sharper. (GET. EF) N’Oubliez Pas flue Tu Vas Mourir (18) (Xavier Beauvois. France. 1995) Xavier Bcauvois. Chiara Mastroianni. Roschdy Zem. 121 mins. An HIV-positive student (played by writer- director Beauvois) copes with life by exploring the heightened perception brought on by the certainty of death. On a dream trip to Italy. he finds love and drugs. Sexually candid. with strong drug content. the filtn may find subsequent trouble with the UK censors. but in its fttll form. it's definitely one of the French films of the year. (EF)
Regarde les Homrnes Tomber (18) (Jacques Audiard. France. 1994) Jean-Louis Trintignant. Jean Yanne. Matthieu Kassovitz. 100 mins. An unsuccessful salesman abandons his wife to find the killers (Trintignant and Kassovitz) of his friend itt this superbly written/71m noir. The individual stories are deftly interwoven. bringing together the old and new generations of French cinema. (GI-T. MAC)
Tout Ca . . . Pour Ca (15) (Claude Lelouch. France. 1993) Vincent Lindon. Gerard Dar‘mon. Jacques Garnblin. 120 mins. When Lelouch ttrrned his attention to his 30th film. he had slipped somewhat in the world rankings. Nevertheless this (and theforthcoming [.I'S .lli.ve/'rr/>le.t) have proved he's no spent force. Three suicide survivors meet in hospital in this bubbly concoction of marital comedy and small- time crime. Darmon won the Cesar for Best Supporting Actor. while the film itself took the Grand Prix National dtr Cinema. (EF)
I French Kiss (12) (Lawrence Kastlan. US. 1995) Meg Ryan. Kevin Kline. Jean Reno. 111 mins. When her fiance skips off with a French beauty while on a Parisian business trip. Kate (Ryan) jumps on a transatlantic flight and tries to track him down. Tltere she meets dodgy Frenchman Lttc (Kline). and animosity gradually develops into something else. The script is mediocre. the plot formulaic. the middle sags. and the two stars don‘t muster the necessary chemistry to make it work as a romance.
Glasgow: Odeon. All UCls.
I German Video Art (18) A screening of eighteen works entered for the Video Art Prize of the City of Marl last year. including prize- winning tapes from Claus Blume. Katharina Wihmer. Thomas Zitzwtiz. Robert Hutter and Kai Zimmer. The screening will be introduced by Ulrich Krempel. director of the Sprengel Museum in llannovcr and member of the Marl jury. Glasgow: CCA.
I Ghost In The Shell (15) (Mamoru Oshii. Japan. 1995) 85 mins. It's 2029. and secret service cyborgs are battling with a megalomaniacal super-hacker. The philosophical tracts and techno jargon are a bit of a problem. but the visuals are undeniably impressive. The most expensive feature-length adaptation of a mango comic ever. it's worth catching on the big screen. See review. Glasgow: MGM Film Centre.
I Goldeneye (12) (Martin Campbell. UK/US. 1995) Pierce Brosnan. Sean Bean. lzabella Scorupco. 130 mins. A long wait. a new Bond. a twist to bring him up to the 90s. It‘s definitely worth it. because this is a solid two~and-a-bit hours of fun. filled with all the old puns and gadgets. but with a bit of character development. Brosnan is the best Bond since Connery. and his wry smile helps our hero through his trials as he tracks down the baddies who have hijacked a satellite system that can wipe the world's computers clean. General release.
I La Ilaine (l8) (Matthieu Kassovitz. France. 1995) Vincent Cassel. Hubert Kounde. Said Taghmaoui. 85 mins. This edgy. black-and-white
portrait of racial tension and police bnrtality on a run-down estate outside Paris won twentysomething Kassovitz the Director‘s Prize at the 1995 Cannes Filrn Festival. Three ethnically mixed lads come up against the cops when one of their pals is hospitalised after a raid. Urgent. compelling filmmaking that's as punchy as a blow to the head. Glasgow: OFT. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I hamlet (U) (Lawrence Olivier. UK. 1948) Laurence Olivier. Eileen llastie. Basil Sydney. 155 mins. Not as stirring as his Henry V. but less embarrassing than his Othello. Olivier's take on the Prince is cinematically accomplished. but he's not at his best as an actor. The gloomy mood is sustained. and there are some gems to be found in the smaller roles. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I IIarnlet Goes Business ( 15) (Aki Kaurismaki. Norway. 1989) Pirkka-Pekka Petelius. Kati Outinen. Elina Salo. Esko Salminen. 86mins.
; Described by its idiosyncratic Finnish director as r a ‘black-and-white underground B-movie classical drama'. this bizarre version of Shakespeare's Scandinavian opus is set in the 20th century. and alongside Kaur'ismaki's customary offbeat humour contains references to rockabilly. comic books and the world trade in rubber ducks. Glasgow: GET.
I Hard Boiled (18) (John Woo. Iiong Kong. 1992) Chow Yun-Fat. Tony Leung. Teresa M0. 126 mins. A tough cop nicknamed Tequila is driven by obsession to nail a Triad gun-runner in John Woo's incomparable Ilong 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 \0 levels of choreographed genius. Edinburgh: MGM.
I Hot Shorts (18) 85 mins. A programme of seventeen films which brings together a cross- section of work from Duncan of Jordanstone College in Dundee and Kent Institute of Art and Design. Witness some of the most significant video imaging work to come out of the UK in the past two years. Glasgow: OFVW.
I I Was Nineteen ( 15) (Konrad Wolf. East Germany. 1968) Jaecki Schwarz. Wassili Liwanow. Alexei Ejboshenko. 119 mins. Jtrst before the end of WW2. a young bilingual German finds himself working with the Red Army in order to get German soldiers in Berlin
to surrender. Although the story is basically autobiographical. Wolf injects an objective note by including newsrcels and interview footage.
5 With an introductory talk by Hilde lloffrnann of Glasgow University. Edinbtrrgh: Film Guild.
! I In The Bleak Midwinter (15) (Kenneth
E Branagh. UK. 1995) Michael Maloney. Julia
.- Sawalha. Richard Briers. 99mins. A group of
j actors undergo individual voyages of self- discovery while rehearsing a low-budget version of Hamlet. It sounds like luvvie hell. but there
i are some poignant moments and plenty of one- liners to win over the most hardened Branagh
r cynic. See review. Edinburgh: Cameo.
l I Jefferson In Paris ( 12) (James Ivory. L’S. 1995) Nick Nolte. Greta Scacchi. Thandie
1 Newton. 140 mins. Merchant-lvory's take on the ' third American President's years as Ambassador in Paris has the high production values we've come to cxpecr. but the narrative's pace is far too slack. Elsewhere he may have reckoned ‘all men are created equal‘ but that didn‘t stop him. the film alleges. having an affair with one of his own slaves. Glimpses only of the team at its best. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Land And Freedom (15) (Ken Loach. UK/Spain. 1995) Ian Hart. Rosana Pastor. lciar Bollain. 109 mins. A magnificent. moving. politicised epic on the Spanish Civil War by Britain’s most committed director on the Left. An unemployed man (Hart) leaves 30s Liverpool to fight with the POUM Militia. and sees first hand the betrayal of his cause by the Stalinists. His story is told in flashback. as his granddaughter reads his hidden letters home - a link to the present day that proves these events have a strong relevance to today. Central: MacRobett.
I [con (18) (Luc Besson. France. 1994) Jean Reno. Nathalie Portman. Gary Oldman. 110 mins. When his neighbour's family is wiped out by crooked cops on a bungled drugs bust. ice cool hitman Leon finds himselflooking after the sole survivor - twelve-year-old Mathilde. Luc Besson‘s first film in English is. nevertheless. a French film in terms of style. editing and its boldness in story and theme. It's good to see that the director has finally got over the all-style-no- content obstacle. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I living In Oblivion (15) (Tom DiCillo. US. 1995) Steve Buscemi. Catherine Keener. Dermot Mulroney. 98 mins. The boom keeps getting into the shot. the male and female stars are sleeping with each other. the smoke machine‘s on the blink. the dwarf objects to his typecasting . . . all of the nightmares of low budget filmmaking seem to have descended upon the head of Nick Reve (Buscemi). DiCillo's hilarious follow-up to
Johnny Suede has a very cool cast. who all bring a human touch to their roles. This isn’t just for film buffs. it's for anyone who has struggled to achieve something in a group situation against the odds. Glasgow: GET. I Had Love (15) (Antonia Bird. US. 1995) Drew Barrymore. Chris O'Donnell. Joan Allen. 97 mins. O'Donnell falls for wild child Banymore and the lovebirds head off on the road in this dull. passionless romance from the director of Priest. There are a few glimmers of the movie that might have been. but studio interference means they're few and far between. See review. Edinburgh: UCI. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank. I Monkey Trouble (U) (Franco Amurri. US. 1994) Thora Birch. Harvey Keitel. Mimi Rogers. 96 mins. Birch is a weeny with family trouble. who happens on a rogue captrchin monkey as a pet. Problem is. it's a trained thief belonging to strange-accented Etrropean gypsy Keitel. Unirnaginative. sentimental tale with an insufferable Hollywood mix ofgroup hugs and cute furballs. Fife: MGM. I Murder In The First (15) (Marc Rocco. US. 1995) Kevin Bacon. Christian Slater. Gary Oldman. 117 mins. After three years of mental torture in solitary confinement. Henri Young (Bacon) kills the fellow inmate who landed him there. The case looks pretty one-sided until tyro lawyer Slater reckons that it's really the harsh Alcatraz administration that‘s guilty and puts the US prison system on trial. A well-meaning (but at times over-emphatic) movie. with career-best performances from the two leads. See review. Glasgow: MGMs. Edinburgh: MGM. UCI. Strathclyde: UCls. I My Girl (PG) (Howard Zieff.US.1991) Macaulay Culkin. Dan Aykroyd. Jamie Lee Curtis. Anna Chlumsky. 102 rrtins. Annoying Culkin sorts out the lives of his tomboy neighbour and her widowed rnortician dad. A kiddies' romance with a (literal) sting in the tail. Also with the best character name in recent years (can you imagine admitting to knowing someone called Vada Sultenfuss?) Glasgow: MGM Parkhead. I Neutral Born Killers (18) (Oliver Stone. US. 1994) Woody Ilarrelson. Juliette Lewis. Robert Downey Jr. 119 mins. Stone's visual and aural assault makes for one of the most remarkable cinematic experiences in years: his attempts to marry style with content. and provide a damning expose of the media adulation of serial killers is less successful. let down by his trademark overstatement. Violent. mesmerising. hallucinatory and bold in its use of various film fonnats. NBK is a landmark in MTV-influenced filmmaking. Glasgow: Grosvenor. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I The leverentllng Story 111 (U) (Peter MacDonald. US/Gertnany. 1994) Jason James Richter. Melody Kay. Freddie Jones. 100 mins. Now relocated with dad. steprnorn and sister in a new town. Bastian finds that the all-important book as fallen into the hands of the local bullies. who use it to cause havoc in Fantasia. The twist this time is that a couple ofthe Henson-style creatures are transported to modem-day America. but this only means there are fewer effects to distract kids from this sad decline in standards. Strathclyde: UCI East Kilbride. I New Visions: Diaspora ( 18) Themes of migration are examined using diverse styles and film and video-making techniques in this third and final programme of work screened to coincide with Fotofeis. Scottish input consists of Mandy Mclntosh's examination of knitting. isolation and conununity. Donkey Skin; Scott Ward's political trilogy Nation 1. 2. 3'. Brian Kane's Perfect Holiday. constructed from found footage: and Emma Davie's subjective documentary about Rothesay. Sear-[ens Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I The Nightmare Before chum (PG) (Henry Selick. US. 1993) With the voices of Chris Sarandon. Danny Elfman. Catherine O'Hara. 76 mins. Jack Skellington. the skinny trickster king of Halloweentown. is restless with success and needs a new challenge. so he hatches a plot to kidnap Santa and create a mixed-up Yuletide isn't quite what the kids of the world expected. Produced and based on a story and characters by Ttm Burton. this is a real imaginative treat - deliciously dark stop-motion animation on the big screen. Strathclyde: UCls. I lightwatch (18) (Ole Bomedal. Denmark. 1994) Nikolaj Waldau. Ulf Pilgaard. Kim Bodnia. 104 mins. A law student. moonlighting as a nightwatchman in a hospital morgue. becomes involved in a sex killer case. Tightly scripted. with just a drop of wicked black humour. Nighm-atch delivers creepy hints of necrophilia. visceral shocks and heart-racing suspense. Superior genre movie-making. See review. Glasgow: OFT. I Orphee (15) (Jean Cocteau. France. 1950) Jean Marais. Marie Dea. Maria Casares. 95 mins. Cocteau creates an unrivalled cinema fantasy in this stunning modern version of the Orpheus legend. replete with surprising technical
‘24 The List 1-14 Dec 1995