REVIEW FILM
GAY SOAP BUCKINGHAM PLACE
First seen in short episodes on video label Man For Man’s other releases, Buckingham Place is now available in its complete hour-long format, making it Britain’s first self-contained gay soap opera. lot that it’s explicit or ghettoised - in fact, for the most part, it works successfully on soap terms and doesn’t militantly force gay issues
to the forefront.
The setting is Brighton, the characters are a mixed group of live who live together in a large house. Eric and Paul are a couple with a defined set of rules concerning their relationship, not that this seems to stop them having unannounced flings; Joe is separated from his wile and at first resists his need to come out; Donna is a bit of a flaw Ager who’s got secrets of her own; and in is a bisexual student with an amoral
manipulative streak.
oirector Gordon Urquhart makes the most of this closed situation in order to create a nice balance of humour and drama between the characters. More serious issues arise naturally
VIDEOS
Buckingham Place: ‘sllclt plot~iumps’
from the storylines, so on the whole there’s a genuine everyday feel about the problems, the fun and the love lives up on screen. Within ten minutes or so, the slick sub-plot lumps between individuals, and their relationships have captured the viewer’s interest. If there was scope to give the characters a bit more definition and the storiesa bit more room to breathe, there’s no doubt that Buckingham Place would be worth future visits. (Alan Morrison) Buckingham Place is on the Man For Man label, priced £12.99.
RENTAL
I Before Sunrise (15) Director Richard Linklater graduates from slackerhood into more mature filmmaking with this sweet. wise romance. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy give career-best performances as strangers on a train who take time out for a night-time walk around Vienna. (Columbia Tristar)
RETAIL
I Die Harder ( l8) if Hong Kong action fans are feeling left out of the panto season. then they won't find a more hissable villain than Officer Fu. a total bastard who frames his fellow cops in order to blackmail them into drug running for him. Plenty of action — gun and hand-to- hand play — plus some unusually stylish camera angles. We’re on fairly familiar ground with Man Wanted (18) — two friends on either side of the law. testing the limits of brotherhood -— but there’s more of an edge here when the cop sets up the thief. who‘s then presumed dead. but comes back with a vicious revenge plan. This convincing gangster flick really sweeps you up. Unfortunately. that can‘t be said for Deadly Dream Women (l8). a messy. formulaic. low budget movie with an implausible amnesia plotline and so-so fight scenes. There's nothing inspirational or original here worthy of recommendation - and the
subtitles stretch beyond
I the full screen picture.
F The most surprising
release in this batch is Jail
. 0i llo Return (18). in which a group of inmates
; of an island prison suffer under the brutal regime of
an American warden. He's
I a more complex psycho
than most. and there's good ensemble playing
i from everyone. in many
' ways. it’s a better expose
' of institutionalised cruelty
A than Midnight Erpress.
: and is a hard-hitting
| drama of international note. (Eastern Heroes.
I £13.99 each)
-, I Marriage Italian Style
! (12) This deceptively
I moving comedy-drama from master neo-realist
Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle
I Thieves) was made in the
i mid-60s. when he was fascinated by sexual
hypocrisy. Marcello
Mastroianni stars as an
egotistical Don whose
mistress of twenty years is
spurred into action when
he announces that he is to
wed another. younger
woman. Flashbacks to the
key stages of their
. relationship from both
1 points of view gives their
Tim Burton and friend bickering love story a sensible balance. but the film surely belongs to Loren — a feisty lover and a caring mother. It’s a
' shame that the print is ' bleached out in parts. but
the performances and polished direction more than make up for it. (Arrow. £ 14.99)
I Faber Video Box Sets The ultimate Christmas pressies for the film buff. these collections ooze quality. Pulp Fiction features screenplay. widescreen video and CD soundtrack; Tint Burton has the book Burton on Burton and widescreen video of Edward Scissor/lands; Cinema Paradise is in its Special Edition. with screenplay; Bonnie a Clyde has annotated screenplay and uncut video; Edward D. Wood Jr consists of biography Nightmare 0f Ecstasy and video of Plan 9 From Outer Space; and Martin Scorsese has the widescreen Raging Bull and a new edition of Scorsese on Scorsese. (£24.99 each. except Pulp F iction. which is priced £34.99)
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family orbison 0 bay city rollers
0 captain shifty 0 the gyres 0 gary blair ceilidh band 0 sunscreen 0 mccluskey bros 0 johnny 7 0 elvis - ABCD 0 karaoke 0 fireworks 0 pipe band
0 performers in the square
31 december 1995
10pm-1am free entry by ticket only 1 george sguare glasgow
phone the ticket centre 0141 227 5511 special access facilities
5
co-ordinated by Glasgow City Council Department of Performing Arts
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munme Soulofclugow . . -. 2 a M tilt-snout
‘ Produced .7 by
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The List 15 Dec l995-ll Jan I996 39