FILM INDEX
effective. if not entirely remarkable. as Zeffirelli manages to tune into the darker. more brooding aspects of the novel. General release.
I “ (I8) (Michael Winterbottom. UK. 1996) Christopher Eccleston. Kate Winslet. Rachel Griffiths. 120 mins. Based on Thomas Hardy‘s uncomprornisingly bitter final novel. this tremendously powerful adaptation shares the novel's romantic tragedy between its two central characters. Determined and honest Jude (Eccleston) is snubbed by Victorian society as he strives for a university education. but worse is in store when he falls in love with his cousin (Winslet). Hard-hitting acting. a director and writer who uuly understand Hardy's themes. and stunning photography elevate this to classic status. See features and review. Glasgow: ABC Sauchiehall Street. Odeon at the Quay.
Edinbu h: Cameo. UCI.
I Kids ination (U) 85 mins. Wallace and Gromit star in The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave alongside two lesser known animated films from Czechoslovakia - Little Umbrella arid Mole And The Rocket. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Lost III Standing (l8) (Walter Hill. US. l996) Bruce Willis. Christopher Walken. Bnrce Dem. Hill ‘borrows' the plot of Kurosawa‘s Yojimba and Leone‘s Fistful Of Dollars. with Willis as the mercenary playing two warring factions against each other. Colourful characterisations come from Walken and Dem. but the overall production is a dire warning that classics should be left alone. particularly by a director whose career seems about to be added to the body count. General release.
I lame 0t Arabia (PG) (David Lean. UK. 1962) Peter O'Toole. Alec Guinness. Jack Hawkins. Omar Sharif. 222 mins. Lean‘s mammoth desert epic. restored to its director's original cut and the big screen. where film- making on this scale belongs. O‘Toole's debut as the enigmatic adventurer still impresses. but apart from the majestic action sequences. it's the disturbing sense of clinical and cold-blooded violence hanging over the highly literate characterisation that today seems especially striking. Edinburgh: Cameo. -
Into lodgertPGHUK/US. l926/l944) 85/84 mins. A double bill ofdifferent version of the Jack The Ripper movie. Hitchcock‘s first suspenser has features some of the master‘s most powerful early sequences. while the I944 version is not as good overall as the Hitchcock's. but boasts some atmospheric scenes of foggy London and good performances by Laird C regar and Merle Oberon. Glasgow: GFI'.
I I.” St. (IS) (John Sayles. US. l996) Chris Cooper. Elizabeth Pena. Kris Kristofferson. 135 mins. When a modem-day Texan sheriff investigates a decades-old murder. past clashes with present and local mythologies have to be re-examined. Sayles's various sub-plots don't distract from each other: in fact. they re-inforce and counterpoint. building a complex social. historical and political backdrop to the rivetting thriller on the surface. Another masterpiece from America's greatest independent director. See review. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I The flask Ill Dimitrios ( l 5) (Jean Negulesco. US. I944) Sydney Greenstreet. Zachary Scott. Faye Emerson. 95 mins. An interesting noir with the enigmatic Greenstreet and novelist Peter Lorre following bad guy Scott across the world. Cleverly constructs its story from fragments. Edinburgh: Film Guild.
I Hirrorttall 1: Pm BMyi (I5) 67 mins. Following on from the success of the Foster‘s Ice Mirrorball events at this year's Drarttbuie Edinburgh Film Festival. this screening collects together the works of the man who put Britpop on screen. As well as a host of recent Pulp videos. Rohntanyi's work includes Blur's Park-life and the \I ‘l I’r-- hers" .-I Design For Lift H
I Minorltall 2: Slerrnbra. :rtl5;-15tttirts. Stripped-down work by Wiltcr Stern arid Jonathan Glazer. including I’r‘odigy's No (ioml and Radiohead‘s Street Spirit. Glasgow: (if-T.
I Multiplicity (l2) (Harold Rarnis. US. 1996) Michael Keaton. Andie McDowell. Harris Yulin. I l0 mins. When life becomes too much for Doug Kinney (Keaton) to cope with. he takes his multiple personality breakdown to a literal level by having himself cloned by a leading geneticist. While he's managing to work. rest and play all at the same time. his wife (McDowell) has to cope with the chaos. Neat screen tricks allow for visual gags. but it's not as fttnny as Ramis‘s previous movie. Gmundhog Day. General release.
I New Visions Glasgow ‘s third international festival of film. video and media embraces a variety of forms and venues. As well as the screenings below. there are residencies. exhibitions and installations worth checking out at the Glasgow Film and Video Workshop. Tramway. Java lntemet Cafe and Gallery of Modern Art. See preview. lenVIsionszmnenatIIl'ransgression1(18)90 mins. Jack Sargeant. author of Deathtripping. introduces the first of two programmes of work from the influential but little seen New York
28 The List 4-l7 Oct 1996
underground movement. First comes a set of (in)famous films by Richard Kern: Submit To Me Now, Woman At The Wheel. Deatlt Valley '69. Fingered and X Is I’. Wed I6 only. Glasgow: GFVW.
New Visions: Cinema or Transgression 2 (I8) 90 mins. A more mixed programme of work from the New York underground movement. which features Nick Zedd‘s Police State and soundtrack music by Wiseblood and The Birthday Party. Introduced by Jack Sargeant. Wed l6 only. Glasgow: GFVW.
New Visions: Fire Gallery Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art‘s Fire Gallery has been specially curated front open submissions. with sixteen works showing daily in five rooms. In GOMA 4. Paul C artteron's Looking For Mr Rogers is an experimental documentary on the history of Castlemilk which uses family film. news articles. interviews and photographs. GOMA also plays host to New Visions' CD-ROM gallery. Sat lZ—Sat l9. Glasgow: GOMA.
lien Visions: German Avant Barrie ( I 2) 90/90 mins. A two-part examination of the work of Oskar Fischinger. who attempted to find an appropriate cinematic form for popular and classical music. Sat 12 only. Glasgow: GFT. New Visions: International Zeitgeist 1 (IS) 97 mins. A programme of works originating on film. opening with the premiere of Currency For The Superstitions by Glasgow-based artist Gillian Steel. Also included is Enrico Harvey's beautiful and touching To Whom It May Concern. Sat [2 only. Glasgow: CF]:
New Visions: International Zeitgeist 2 (IS) 68 mins. Video works examining communication. surveillance and control — front language and meaning to polernics on electronic media. Sun l3ffhurs l7. Glasgow: Tramway. Strathclyde: East Kilbride Arts Centre.
Ilew Visions: International Zeitgeist 3 (IS) 77 mins. A video portrait of two of the most influential artists working in the video field - Nam June I’aik and Paul Gartirt — opens a programme about cultural. political and sexual identities. including Shionna McCubbin's text- based The Country. which questions what it means to be Scottish. Mon l4 only. Glasgow: GFVW.
Ilew Visions: International Zeitgeist 4 (IS) 68 mins. The relationships and levels of interaction between sound and image. including Gregg Wagstaff‘s pure sound experiment Ercerpt X/dia Kleodon. Mon I4 only. Glasgow: GFVW.
lien Visions: International Zeitgeist 5 (IS) 46 mins. Super-8mm films including Neil Glancey’s Castlemilk home movies from the 60s artd 70s. Tue 15 only. Glasgow: GFVW.
lien Visions: International Zeitgeist 8 (IS) 7t mins. Idiosyncratic. off-the-wall wonders. including Rob Ryan’s Velvet Stripes. a sensitive and hilarious portrait of a man obsessed by corduroy. Wed 16 only. Glasgow: GFVW.
Itetr Visions: Intemational Zeitgeist 1 (IS) SI ntins. Camera-aimed performance art by Lennaart van Oldenborgh. Bert Ross. Stephanie Snti. Edwa Stewart and Takahiko limura. Wed 16 only. Glasgow: GFVW.
Itevt Visions: Intematlonal Zeitgeist 8 (I8) 82 mins. Sexuality. the body and transgression - a
disabled drummer. prostitution and snuff movies.
Wed 16 only. Glasgow: GFVW.
New Visions: International Zeitgeist 9 (IS) 54 mins. Works by women including a half-hour twist on the buddy movie by Zalcock and Chambers. Thurs I? only. Glasgow: GFVW. Itetr Visions: lntemational Zeitgeist It) (IS) 69 mins. Dance and movement. from contemporary to ballroom to aerobics. Thurs I7 only. Glasgow: GFVW.
New Visions: International Zeitgeist 11 (IS) 59 mins. Animation at the cutting edge. including new work by Dagie Brundert. Jacek Szleszinski and Simon llarath. 'l‘hurs I? only. Glasgow: Gl-T.
Itew Visions: Saul Metastein (PG) 120 mins. Young Scottish filmmaker Saul Metzstein presents Wesm'ay Story - a look at the underworld beneath the A40 flyover which carries l50.000 cars each day in and out of Central London. Wed l6 only. Glasgow: GFVW. I The Nutty Professor ( l 2) (Tom Shadyac. US. l996) Eddie Murphy. Jada Pinkett. James Coburn. 95 mins. Stealing the plot from the Jeny Lewis vehicle. this Jekyll-and-Hyde variation has Murphy in a variety of roles. Principally. he‘s overweight but sweet scientist Sherman Klump. who comes up with a formula that shrinks him to sexy but egotistical Buddy Love. Unfortunately. he often reverts to gross size at inopertune moments. The make-up is good. but the fart level of humour is way too simplistic. See review. General release.
I Packaged Bands (l2) 90 ntins. Two BBC films - A Band Is Born and Everything Changes - examine the phenomenon of the packaged band: respectively Upside Down and Take That. The issues raised will be discussed by a panel comprising journalists. managers and filmmaker Neil Dougan. Glasgow: GFT.
I The Passion 0t Darkly IIoon (l8) (Philip Ridley. UK/Germany. I995) Brendan Fraser.
Ashley Judd. Vtggo Mortensen. IOl mins. A disuubed young man from a wiped-out religious cult is cared for by a beautiful woman in the middle of a forest. but his confusion over his sexual desires leads to madness and murder. Ridley follows The Reflecting Skin with a jaw- dropping blend of adult fairytale and gothic horror. The film is a glorious fusion of distorted images and dislocated sounds that build to a tremendous climax. Strathclyde: East Kilbride Arts Centre.
I Hillto- m Corps (IS) (Japan. I995) 60 mins. Horror and comedy come together in an action-packed adventure which follows the stall“ at a supernaturally-powered exorcist detective agency. Glasgow: GFI'.
I Phenomenon (PG) (Jon Turteltaub. US. l996) John Travolta. Robert Duvall. Kyra Sedgwick. l23 mins. When a strange white light knocks him flat. rural mechanic George (Travolta) becomes a super-achiever overnight: but his new-found genius tums him into the town pariah and soon the FBI are on his case. This is a big- hearted. big-minded film lit up by cracking performances from every single one of the cast. with Travolta playing the lead with total commitment and honesty. General release.
I The Guam Eaten-tent (18) (Val Guest. UK. 1955) Brian Donlevy. Jack Warner. Richard Wordsworth. 8] mins. Also known as The Creeping Unknown. this TV spin-off finds an astronaut back on Earth carrying an alien fungus which is eating up his body. Hammer may be behind the production. but it's all kept tight under the hand of Guest. Glasgow: GFI‘.
I A Question 0t Silence ( I 8) (Marleen Gorris. Netherlands. I982) 96 mins. What could have been a routine courtroom thriller is lifted by the fact that the defendants are three ordinary women who have murdered a seemingly inoffensive Amsterdam boutique owner. As their trial continues. a sense of insiduous male oppression emerges. The film may have feminist leanings. but they‘re not allowed to dominate with dogma. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Richard III (l5) (Richard Loncraine. UK. I995) Ian McKeIlen. Annette Bening. Jim Broadbent. I03 mins. Updated to England during the 30s. Shakespeare's play is sensibly trimmed to concentrate fully on the crookbacked king's murderous rise to the throne. McKeIlen gives a commanding performance amidst some wonderful supporting tums. while Loncraine ensures that the bard has rarely been treated in such splendidly cinematic terms. The fascistic look of the costumes does help clarify some of the divisions in the text. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Seore(18) l00 mins. A celebration of music and film. including classic experimental works by Kenneth Anger and Norman McLaren set to new music by Slab. Two Lone Swordsmen and others. A highlight is Damien Hirst's Hanging Amuntl. starting Keith Allen and Eddie Izzard. Glasgow: GFT.
I Sores-ere (l8) (Christian Duguay. Canada. I995) Peter Weller. Roy Dupois. Jennifer Rubin. l08 mins. It's 2078. and on the mining colony of Sirius 68. a ground war has degenerated into stalemate because of nasty flesh-chopping fighting machines called Screamers. Weller is the Colonel who disobeys orders and tries for peace. Moments of tension and nightmare- inducing horror are let down by poor dialogue and holes in the plot. It’s based on a story by Philip K. Dick. but his enduring themes were better handled in Blade Runner. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I Strait (15) (Gordon Parks. US. l97l) Richard Roundtree. Moses Gunn. Charles Cioffi. l00 mins. Not really as blaxploitative as it's reckoned to be. this hardboiled private eye thriller has a decent com. a tight plot. and that cool Oscar-winning title song from Isaac Hayes in its favour. Better than its two sequels. the plot centres on the kidnapping of a gangster's daughter. Glasgow: GFT.
I She (U) (Robert Day. UK. I965) Peter Cushing. Ursula Andress. Christopher Lee. 105 ntins. A ZOOO-year-old African Queen is cursed with eternal life until she falls in love in this exciting Hammer version of the much-filmed Rider Ha gard novel. Glasgow: GFT.
I Small aces (l8) (Gillies Mackinnon. UK. I995) Iain Robenson. Joseph McFadden. 15. Duffy. l08 mins. Co-written with producer brother Billy. Gillies Mackinnon‘s marvellously detailed study about the growing pains of a boy caught in the fringes of Glasgow's gangland violence in the 60s emerges as a warm and accurate portrayal of working-class family life. Centring on three brothers. it avoids the pitfalls of the Glasgow hard man movie. instead becoming a superior rites-of—passage tale. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Strathclyde: UC I East Kilbride.
I Snake (I5) (Wayne Wang. US. I995) Harvey Keitel. William Hurt. Harold Perrineau. l08 mins. Novelist Hurt offers homeless lad Perrineau a place to stay after he is saved from being run over. Elsewhere. well observed
Brooklyn characters hang out in the tobacco store where Keitel dispenses homespun
philosophies. A delightful and compelling treat. based on the work of Paul Atrster. With the excellent short documentary. Ar 2] . Central: MacRobert. I Stealing Beauty ( IS) (Bernardo Bertolucci. ltaly/France/UK. l996) Liv Tyler. Jeremy Irons. Donal McCann. l|8 ntins. A teenage American beauty (Tyler) visits her late mother‘s bohemian ex-pat friends in Tuscany with a mind to lose her virginity to the young man for whom she has had a lasting infatuation. Rivals for her affections are many. and her arrival unsettles the balance of the house. The photography and Itandlirtg of Bertolucci's first Italian-set film for fifteen years is characteristically masterful. although the storyline may contain a little too tntrclt middle- aged rttale lechery. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Striptease (15) (Andrew Bergman. US. l996) Demi Moore. Burt Reynolds. Armand Assante. ll7 rttins. Moore got paid a ludicrous amount of money for one of the biggest teases itt cinema history. and disappointed fans in dirty macs won‘t find much else in the story to replace their thwared expectations. The story of a munt who strips to ensure the upkeep of her daughter. Striptease doesn't know if its comedy. thriller. satire or drama. To say it‘s better tltart Slrott'gir/t is like saying fallirtg off a cliff is better than being hit by a bus. General release. I I Summer’s tale (U) (Eric Rohmer. I-rance. l996) Melvil Popaud. Aurelia Nolin. Arttanda Langlet. I I3 mins. Ort holiday irt Dinard. young Gaspard sturttbles into two-timing complications while awaiting the arrival of ltis nomirtal girlfriend. It's astonishing how much richness of insight and incident the French master packs into a relatively confined canvas. A witty and
I touchingly humane portrait of youthful
indecision. See review. Glasgow: GI-‘l'. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Svengali (l5) (Noel Langley. UK. I954) Donald Wolfit. llildegarde Neft'. Terence Morgan. 82 mins. A famous Itypnotist loses the place when he starts to use his skills to win a woman. With extracts from an earlier version of Du Maurier’s novel. 'I‘rilhv. which is better at recreating the atmosphere of late Victorian theatre. Glasgow: Gl-‘l‘.
I A Time To Kill ( I 5) (Joel Schumachcr. US. I996) Matthew Mc(‘onaughey. Sandra Bullock. Samuel L. Jackson. I49 rttins. Based on an early John Grisharn novel. this hellisth over-extended courtroom drama wastes its stellar cast on a crass-fuelled ride to cliche city. llot newcomer McConaughey plays the struggling lawyer defending Jackson on a charge of murdering the white racist thugs who raped his young daughter: this being the Deep South. the job ain't going to be easy. Ultimately. it‘s all very pat and patronising. General release.
I ToInIy(l8) (Ken Russell. UK. I975) Roger Daltry. Ann-Margret. Oliver Reed. l08 mins. A gloriously over-the-top rendition of The Who‘s rock opera. with Daltry as the traumatised kid who corttes out of his self-inflicted stupor to become a new messiah. Fuelled by a succession of marvellously unsubtle cameos from the likes of Elton John. Tina Turner and Keith Moon. The art direction. by John Clark. has richly stylised sets. Glasgow: GET.
I Twister (PG) (Jan De Bont. US. I996) Helen Ilunt. Bill Paxton. Jami Gertz. “3 mins. A meteorologist and his estranged scientist wife get together again while chasing the biggest tornado to hit Oklahoma itt decades. The plot is slight. bttt the characters are interesting and. of course. the special effects are amazing. Btrt the structure is too repetitive — eaclt storm is a little bigger. each encounter a little closer — for this to be something really special. Glasgow: ABC Sauchiehall Street. Odeon at the Quay. Edinburgh: UCI. Fife: Adant Smith. Strathclyde: UCIs.
I The Wanderers ( l8) (Philip Kaufman. US. I979) Ken Wahl. John Friedrich. Karen Allen.
I I7 rttins. The Bronx. the early 60s. and a gang of Italian-American teenagers pull together in response to the danger of the streets. Basically a string of atmospheric vignettes. the film boasts strong performances and some memorable runtbles. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Warriors ( l8) (Walter Hill. US. I979) Michael Beck. James Rernar. Thomas Waites. 9-1 mins. Stylised gang warfare flick that avoids the temptations of graphic violence and instead lifts the subject matter to something approaching medieval myth: the New York streets are labyrinths. the gangs are decked out irt tribal dress. and a dangerous nightime journey across the city becomes an heroic quest. Moments of humour and a great soundtrack add to the enjoyment of what is one of Hill‘s best achievements. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Vlind In The Vlillows (U) (Terry Jones. UK. l996) Terry Jones. Steve Coogan. Eric Idle. 88 mins. Take a couple of ex-I’ythons and turn them into Toad and Rat. and what you've got is a loveable live action version of the children's story. If you‘re looking for something to keep the kids quiet this October break. this is probably the one. Reviewed in full next issue. General release.