DOCUMENTARY HOLLYWOOD DRAMA cm", going ,0, himsem Even THE CELLULOID SWIMMING WITH SHARKS sensitive Guy’s romance with Michelle
CLOSET Movies about the movies have long i Forbes’ producer is exploited by
been a Houywond statue, hut the truty ; Ackerman for his material advantage.
successful ones are about something ; Wang’s 0W" se'eehplall attempts *0 .
more than making deals and name- i mix 508ka Verbal comedy With high i l
FILM REVIEW humiliate his underling and grab any i
dropping stars, nohert Altman’s rhe drama, as the narrative switches from Player managed to weave a dark tale i scenes 0' ritual dehasement to the of crime and punishment into its Q lathe? less humomus cehc'umhg
Tinseltown setting, and in Swimming 2 passages, giving the film a disiointed , a a $1- I With Sharks debut director George I feel which does it no favours. Spacer ‘ s Huang attempts to say meaningful j is superb as the bossfrorn hell, I 5 things about the priorities we place on f savomlhg eller ahlliillie “he, hut a i _. work in relation to life’s other ; hehdeseiipt Whaley only dominates l component parts while recounting a 3 Proceedings "WHY- A'theugh a let” , i nightmarish master-and.servant real-life execs similar to Buddy come i relationship, to mind, his character is ultimately ; The Celluloid Closet: ; Frank whale, ptays Guy, the newly too monstrous to be universal, and the ‘pe'cew'e' m" "m‘! ' appointed assistant to Keystone ; film remains merer a funny but meme“ 5 Studios production executive Buddy ' grotesque Peek behind the scenes 0' a ' (.HHCWMW (m l Ackermah' a scene-stealing turn by very peculiar industry. (Simon Wardell) ‘ excav atinlr te‘llillt.y .trchivc a Kevan spacey- Anything but a bum” " i l V clips. lipsic‘lli Tll‘tl ‘My bathmat means more to me than Swimming With Sharks (15) (George I . llriedillan's dtx‘ulrlentary you,’ he spits out in an early diatribe —' Huang, US, 1995) Kevin Spacey, Frank SW'mmmg With Sharks: ‘lunni but IS on inivmmim‘ study of 3 Buddy takes every opportunity to } Whalev. Michelle Forbes. 95mins. l 9'0‘95‘1“ 9'39" “em” "'9 scenes
Hollywood movies featuring coded gay characters or themes From the e ffelmnate pansies used as stocl: figures of fun ill silent Westerns, to the sissy costume designers swishing about backstage
li/m .S'm'el director Wes Craven pays ; off handsomely. his intimate knowledge Introducing classy production values of the genre ensuring that the shocks. and comedy to the Black Vampire cycle suspense and comic pay-offs arrive
. , . Murphy’s choice of."\'l.s’/l””“"" 0”
m W3“ WNW“! these 2 that surfaced in the 70s with movies ‘ right on cue. A Christian in real life. early pmlmmk “NC 1 I like [Slam/(1. lzddle Murphy play s g I Bassett brings a deep convlctlon to her alm'uq “Climwh. ! I dehonalr bloodstlckel‘ Maxrrnllllan ln role as a woman haunted by her ncgmiw. BU, may mm. l ; this contemporary tale of a New York l mother’s madness and suicide. yet torn
Nosferatu. j between the calling of her blood and The last of his line, Maximillian sails the dictates of her soul.
% to the Big Apple from the Caribbean in The only sour note is the talented search of his unwitting blood sister. Murphy's iIiSlSICIlCL‘ 0” Playing “01 WC troubled cop Rita Vetlel' (Angela but three roles -- as w ell as
and then, something more subversive slipped the censor‘s net. most famously Marlene . Dietrich‘s deliciously ambiguous, tusedoed
- i 3; ss‘ .W' * r i' 's' ' '1 v Maximillian. he ilavs the bombastic. man/woman m MUMWM ' l l ctt) lift the help (’i hl mm 1”. . ) t _) Tm. Chm arc 5 reluctant ghoul Julius llsadeem I alcoholic l reacher l auly and a lnouthy. interspersed with ’ Hardison), who sacrifices various ' small-time Italian mobster. There are perceptive. often witty : rotting pieces of his anatomy in return f plenty of fine character actors who lmt‘n’lt‘W—‘i Hill'“‘)' 5 for steady employment, the suave 3 might have filled these roles without “gig?!” argues mr vampire sets about seducing Rita with Murphy's need for layers of latex. Such v}???qu _zu.allf§l‘m ‘ k i promises of eternal life and untold , selfish vanity aside. Murphy and w le eminlsi llillTiZt"l‘ .. . . . ._ .‘ _. L , riches. lhlngs get a little colllpllcated. C raven s updated vampire plt dcllvcls Jan ()xenberg asserts that l . r ‘ . . . . ,. : romantically speaking, w hen , plenty of stylish. scary lun. (Nigel
the images of homosexuality and lesbianism in The Detective and Wqu 011 The Wild Sit/e were distorted and damaging. These interviews with directors. scriptwriters. actors and commentators
Maxilnillian starts to fall for Rita, and Floyd) she in turn spurns the tentative l tam/rm In Brooklyn (/5) (lies ('ruvell. advances of her sensitive police partner i (3'5. IWS) lit/(lie Murphy. Ange/ll Warren Justice (Allen Payne) in favour liaise/i. Kilt/emu Hill-(limit. /()2 ruins. of Maximillian's smooth charm. l’rmil I‘ll /(). General release.
vampire In _Broo_lt_l_yn:_‘_styllsh, scary fun’ ;
show how gays. starved of at an Edinburgh Hip!” and Video Film celluloid images of Festival retrospectlve). Easy to read themselves. would sit Even in a black and white photograph, and informative, the book gets beyond through two hours of those eyes draw all the attention. And the confines Of the lahlihe. hinting ‘ dross Simply to revel in 11 one thing that Newman (pavilion that further instalments of this Singlescene ihoi touched £19.99) can beast is an abundance at ‘Journal Of Alternative Cinema’ could a n W pictures of the star: classic portraits, While "59"". . ; enfonun'mch, ,f you movie stills, location shots, in crisp Colourful characters. high drama. , have any knowledge of monochrome and lull colour. The settings that range from Soho to - the subject whatsoever. book’s subtitle Paul Newman: A hollrwood to Cannes. An airport this is like ‘0‘ level ‘Gays celebration might hint at an out-and. bestselling paperback? No, the 1'} Film'; MW: out hagiography ot the star, hut write, unofficial history of Palace Pictures, d‘i“PP.‘"“““e‘-‘* “‘6 Eric Lax delves behind these images to which makes for an engrossing. oase- “““‘:‘7T'.‘l°fg“$j‘c{”e”, find llewman the political activist and tumor ot a read in Angus Honors The 2:2;hm;,Zaf’:,;f,‘j?“‘ lamin man. the actor himself has Enos Hare Lander! (Heinemann £16.99). Undeniany entertaining, give" the how his blessmgr granting "’5 a tale 0‘ 69$ Ide,als and 708. but one would have ‘ the author extensive interviews. energies meetth With 303 business . expected more from the Also packed with interview material, booms. as a parr of plucky Davrds burlt director or the but pyesented, to, the most part, in ; their own financially ricketty stilts to lrleticulously resct’trchcd. stfaight question/answef transcript ‘ come "0584041088 the {hicnso‘hjnim’lng "to format, is nesperate yisian51;camp l world’s Goliaths. Finney finds the right 11:33“: 73"” "Wk- America (creation, £11.95) in which ' balance between irreverent fun at the (77,1?261hj’fimj CM.“ (M, Jack Stevenson looks first at the trash l expense of the central iilluros and 5pm,,“ 1,, mm. Hm 1mm, aesthetic of John Waters and then at ' 0hV[0"S ad'hhatiOh h" the" U5, 1995)]0: mt,” M", the Bronx underground filmmakers l aehieVemehtei that‘th It ah _ . 13-qu l5: (Ilusgmv who inspired him, George and Mike 1 entertarnrns Insrsht Into the entrsh -- -~ . Film Theatre. Kuchar (whose work was seen recently i end of the industry. (Alan Morrison) Young star material in Newman (Pavlllon £19.99)
32 The List 3-H) May 1996