SCOTTISH FILM
SCOTTISH FILM
I Trashcans Film: A few months ago. The List featured a location report on .S'puukrime. the short filtn by West Coast band The Trashcan Sinatras. based around characters from their songs. At the time of shooting. it was hoped the filtn would be seen alongside l2 Monkevs. but now it‘s ready to be unveiled in the support slot for Blood Simple at the Glasgow Film Theatre from 2—8 Aug. At l().3()pm on Fri 2. the band will play an acoustic set in the bar exclusively for the audience of the tnain evening screening.
I Outdoor Movies: The Stella Attois
Movie Classics tour comes to Inverleith Park in Edinburgh on Tue l3 and Wed l-I Attg with open air screenings of (iregnryiv (iirl and Some Like It Hot. Projection starts at 9pm each night. and entry is free - bttt for a chance to win VIP treatment. see Competitions Page. I Video Information Project: A new six-month training course in video production begins on l2 Aug. covering research. development. editing. sound. lighting and graphics. Attendance is two days per week (Mon/Wed or Tue/Thurs). and benefits aren't affected. The course is also open to the deaf and hard of hearing in Glasgow. Contact Robert Booth on ()l4l 550 2485.
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flow that Ken loach’s Carla’s Song looks set for a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and the production schedule of Stella Does Tricks has made an August completion date impossible, the llrambuie Edinburgh Film Festival is left without a new home-grown feature for its 50th year. During a summer that has seen a healthy production state in Scotland, it’s frustrating that circumstances have conspired against the Festival; on the bright side, however, the programme does boast an increased number of very strong shorts from local filmmakers.
As ever, the Festival features the unveiling of the latest trio of Tartan Shorts - Martin McCardie’s Initiation, lion Coutts’s Dead Sea Heels and llavid Moore’s The Star. Also screening as sets of films derived from Scottish- based funding programmes are the eleven Centenary lieels, the first two Gaelic Shorts - Gerda Stevenson’s An Iohalrf (The Sacrifice) and Bill Macleod’s iloinrh Chafoth A’Chearnhraidh (Before The Winds)- and the first fruits of the Scottish Film Production Fund/Scottish Television Prime Cuts scheme.
There are also three complete programmes of Scottish shorts from flint schools and indggndents, In addition to the titles listed In the Film-
Getting out of the ghetto: Andre) Walda’s mm film IIon Week
Festival’s Free Preview publication, Cavin Cordon IIogers’ Plastering The cracks and Martin Thomton’s Ifeadcleaner screen in ‘Scottish Shorts 3’ on Wed 21 and Sun 25.
Other additions not previously publicised include: I Ilon Week, the 30th film by acclaimed Polish director Andrzei Waida, whose previous work includes Danton and Kanal. The story follows a woman who escapes from Warsaw’s Jewish Ghetto in 1943 only to find further persecution and anti-semitism when hidden by friends. (Wed 14 and Sat 24) I Cinema Under The Stars, a series of three outdoor screenings in the forecourt of the City Chambers on the Iligh Street. Films confirmed so far are Powell and Pressburger’s Black Narcissus and Cecil B. IIeMiIIe’s Cannon. (Fri iG-Sun 18) I IIaybreak, a ten-minute extract from Bernard Iludden’s work-in-progress follow-up to Hunger Artist, which Is being shot on the latest digital video technology before being transferred to 35mm film. It will screen on Wed 14 alongside Devil’s Island, the work-in- progress by Fridrik Thor Fridricksson, winner of the Channel 4 Director’s Award last year for Cold Fever. (Alan Morrison)
RENTAL
I Mall Bats ( l8) Kevin Smith's follow-up to Clerks is more of the same. but without the originals loose slacker appeal. Two guys with purposeless lives hang out in the local shopping mall. trying to work out ways to get their girlfriends back. Boys behaving badly. talking lewdly to a post- grunge soundtrack. But it‘s not funny enough. just desperately crude: at times there’s an unpleasant anger pulsating beneath the surface. Smith better watch out. or he might become the Mel Brooks of his generation — and that's not a compliment. (CIC) I Johnny Mnemonic ( l5) For the tnost part. this futuristic tale of a human information transporter on the run frotn bad guys looks good. bttt the story never takes hold of the audience. The casting (apart frotn Takeshi Kitano) is inappropriate. and Robert Longo's direction of his actors. including star Keanu Reeves. seems non- existent. A major disappointment. made worse on video as the juicy violent scenes are trimmed too fast to follow what's happening. (20th Century Fox) I la Cérémonie ( I5 ) Right from her first appearance. there's an oddness about Sandrine Bonnaire's quiet character. hired as a maid by a rich family. When she strikes up a strangely dependent friendship with posttnistress Isabelle Huppert. it emerges that she‘s an illiterate who may have killed her father. With this politicised version of Ruth Rendell's A Judgement In Stone. veteran director Claude Chabrol keeps us sitting upright. leaning close to the screen. There's life in the old dog yet. (Tartan; also retail £l5.99) I Citizen X ( l8) Even the presence of Stephen Rea doesn‘t save this unnecessarily vicious serial killer movie. The twist this time is that the story takes place in Soviet
Russia. where forensics
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Also out: Ilarilson Ford leaves business for romance in Sabrina (Clo fefltall
tape. but by the Cotnmunist belief that a good citizen wouldn't murder and rape his fellows. Asa thriller. however. there's nothing new on offer. (20:20 Vision)
I Tattooed Tears ( IS) During the first stage of his career. Nick Brootnfield — along with Joan Churchill — tnade powerful observational documentaries like this depiction of life behind bars for young offenders in a Californian prison. It's a despairing vision: short sentences multiply once inside. and there‘s no sense of rehabilitation. only locking problematic people away from the rest of society. Broomfield's more recent work is stamped with his own personality and The leader, IIis IIriver And The Driver's Wile (E) is perhaps the strongest example of this style. In mock-shambolic manner. the filmmaker tries to secure an interview with South African neo-Nazi Eugene Terreblanche attd succeeds in subverting fascist rhetoric and potnposity. Fast-moving. funny and very sharp. (Academy £12.99 each) I Younger And Younger (IS) Art extremely camp Donald Sutherland is the philandering owner of a storage facility used by a weird set of Californian oddballs. When his son comes home to help run the business. Sutherland begins to see the ghost of his recently deceased wife in bursts of unconvincing magic realism. Percy Adlon's latest film is indulgent in the extreme. (Arrow £9.99)
I Rendezvous In Paris (15) Eric Rohmer's vision of pure cinema would appear to be long takes with people talking and talking and talking. But even his detractors tnight warm to this film. as it breaks nicely into three
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separate stories about youthful romance and infidelity. There’s a fine sense of Paris as a city to live in - as opposed to a tourist stop-off — and it's difficult not to get a feeling ofenjoyment as we eavesdrop ittto conversations. (Artificial Eye 1' I 5.99)
I Kaspar Ilauser ( l8) Werner Her/.og's version of the true tale of an enigmatic man. cut off from the outside world. who is thrust ittto l9th century Gcrtnany relied on the uniqueness of the central performance by Bruno S. Peter Sehr's new account. however. focuses much more on political intrigue: his Kaspar is the victim of a plot to change the line of the court of Baden. Upper class hypocrisy and immorality are pitted against good intentions of Kaspar's teacher. but the plot seetns unnecessarily complicated. (Arrow
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I Elisa ( IS) A teenage girl (Vanessa Paradis). in care since her mother committed suicide. vows vengeance on her missing father. the pimp whose desertion pushed tnutn over the edge. In the film‘s early stages. Paradis comes over as something of a designer delinquent and nymphet hustler living life as a melodrama; bttt later. when she comes face to face with scuzzy alcoholic dad Gerard Depardieu. the performances take on psychological strength. They might be touting Paradis as a new Bardot. but Vanessa's acting range is infinitely superior. (Tartan £l5.99)
I Cold Fever ( I5 ) Those who‘ve seen Fridrik Thor Fridriksson's little masterpiece will know that his neat cinematic trick in the early part of the movie won't work to the same effect on video. but rest assured that nothing else in this unique road movie is lost. A young Japanese man discovers a warmer side to life in the frozen landscapes of Iceland. :1 country where 'ecc'e-rit'ricftyJ is a national trait. Offbeat humour and wonderful photography raise the film to the highest level of international filmmaking. (Electric/Polygram £l5.99)
The List 26 Jul-8 Aug I996 25