Turner. 90 mins. When she makes a wish for her singer-actor dad to land the lead in a Broadway musical. Mara Wilson (of Matilda fame) finds herself saddled with a bumbling fairy godfather in the shape of Martin Short. The magic world of the fairytale is updated to the 90s fora colourful but ultimately sickly sweet kids movie that features good effects. General release.
The Slab Boys (15) (John Byrne. UK. 1997) Robin Laing. Russell Barr. Louise Berry. 98 mins. John Byrne combines his plays The Slab Boys and ('um'n 'A Rug for a semi-autobiographical vision of urban lads dreaming about making it to the work dance and then to a better life. However. despite its wonderful stylised look. this film just doesn‘t do the theatre pieces justice. The cast (with the exception of Robin Laing) overact to the back stalls and the banter doesn‘t get the sharp delivery it needs. but the magnificent sets save the feature from being too much of a disappointment. Glasgow: Andrew Stewart. Gf’l‘.
Small Faces (18) (Gillies Mackinnon. UK. I995) lain Robertson. Joseph McFadden. J.S. Duffy. 108 mins. Co-written with producer brother Billy. Gillies Mackinnon's marvellously detailed study about the growing pains of a boy caught in the fringes ofGIasgow'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: Film Guild.
Smilla's Feeling For Snow (15) (Bille August. Germany/Denmark/Sweden. 1997) Julia Ormond. Gabriel Byrne. Richard Harris. 120 mins. When Greenland native Smilla (Julia ()rmond) investigates the death of her neighbour‘s child in a fall. her highly developed ‘sense of snow‘ convinces her it was murder. An Arctic conspiracy of iceberg-sized proportions unravels in August‘s version of Peter Hoeg‘s bestseller. Stark blue photography captures the landscape so effectively it makes you shiver. but doesn't stop the film from being any more than a bland thriller. Glasgow: ABC Filtn Centre. Edinburgh: ABC Wester Hailes. UCI.
Snowriders 2 (Warren Miller. US. 1996) Veteran ski filmmaker Warren Miller promises more thrills and spills from Alaska to Australia in his latest extreme action movie. 'lhat's not all though — the evening includes opportunities to win ski merchandise. equipment and holidays. Full details in Sport Listings. Glasgoit-s (il‘T Edinburgh: [Jo/trillion. .S'IAm/rt'u's: New I’it‘lurt' Home. SIir/ing.‘ MacRobert.
The Square Circle (15) (Amol l’alekar. India. 1996) Sonali Kulkarni. Nirmal Pandey. Faiyyaz. lIO mins. Kidnapped into prostitution then gang-raped when she manages to to escape. Kulkarni‘s unnamed protagonist experiences the worst that rural India has to offer a single woman. Salvation comes by dressing as a man and travelling with male transvestite Pandey. The direction is fairly rough and ready to Western eyes. but it really does play every emotion to the hilt. Glasgow: (JET.
Suspiria (l8) (Dario Argento. Italy. 1976)
Ice maiden: Julia Ormond in Smilla's Feeling For Snow
Jessica Harper. Stefania Casini. Flavio Bucci. 97 mins. Perhaps Argento's most successful and best known film — set in witches' coven hidden within a ballet school - finds the Italian slashmeister at the height of his power. The heart-stopping set pieces remain as shocking today as they did decades ago. and throughout there's good use of colour. framing and design. With Therapy'."s disturbing video for Diane. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Swingers (15) (Doug Liman. US. I996) Vince Vaughn. John Favreau. Ron Livingston. 96 mins. A wannabe actor Mike and his pal Trent drive to Vegas to play the tables and pick up some babes. Later. in LA. the boys hang out with their friends. wandering the trendy bars. generally being young. single and without love. Which is just about all there is to Swingers — a heap of talking. the odd lionmgc (Scorsese and 'l‘arantino) and lots of male bonding. A highly watchable. very funny and entertaining piece of low-budget filmmaking. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith.
Tales of Hoffman (PG) (Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger. UK. I951) Moira Shearer. Robert Helpmann. Leonid Massine. 127 mins. Offenbach's operetta (conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham) is a typically lavish blend of song. music and spectacle. The three individual stories have a roughly linked theme of unrequited love. but the overall feeling is of a lack of cohesion. Glasgow: GET.
The Telegraphist ( 18) (Erik Gustavson. Norway. 1993) 102 mins. This bawdy screen adaptation of Knut Hamsun‘s novel Dreamers tells of a con-man inventor employed as a telegraphist in a coastal town. While working on anew fish glue. he becomes susceptible to the charms of a local merchant. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Tenderness Of The Wolves (18) (Ulli Lommel. Germany. I973) 83 mins. Based on the events that inspired M. this dark comedy thriller uses a patchwork of incidents to stop moralising from being too easy. Con-man and police informer Fritz Haarmann picks tip runaway boys. kills them and sells their remains as meat. and although his acts remain horrific. society itself isn‘t let off the book. With the surreal world of Nine Inch Nail's video for Closer. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
This World. Then The Fireworks (18) (Michael ()blowitz. US. I997) Gina Gershon. Billy Zane. Sheryl Lee. 100 mins. Gershon and twin brother Zane are immersed in an incestuous affair when murder comes along in this moody new movie based on a novel by hard-boiled king Jim Thompson (The G riftcrs‘. After Dark My Street). A special preview screening. before the film's release in December. Edinburgh: Cameo.
Torch Song Trilogy (15) (Paul Bogart. US. 1988). Harvey Fierstein. Anne Bancroft. Matthew Broderick. I I9 mins. The story of Arnold. a New York drag queen's search for acceptance of his sexual orientation from his mother (Bancroft) and a steady relationship with his lover (Broderick). Adapted from the hit stage show with writer Fierstein taking
the lead role. its theatrical roots lead to a sucession of sharp one liners and knock ‘em dead musical numbers. The result is a heady mixture of laughter and tears. Glasgow: OFT.
Two Green Feathers ( I 8) (Henning Carlsen. Norway. I995) 115 mins. Knut Hamsun's novel Pun. shot as a silent film in 1922. tells the same story of a lieutenant living alone in the woods until he falls fora merchant's daughter. This most modern version adds some forthright sex scenes. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Unhook The Stars( 15) (Nick Cassavetes. US/France. I996) Gena Rowlands. Marisa Tomei. Gerard Depardieu. 104 mins. Following in the footsteps of his famous father — American indie godfather John - Cassavetes casts his mother. Gena Rowlands. as a middle-aged widow who starts to reconsider her own life through the changes happening to others around her. The film quickly makes us feel that the characters are the driving force behind the unfolding drama. Rowlands. maternal yet isolated. capable yet vulnerable. is absolutely wonderful. Stirling: MacRobert. Up On The Roof (12) (Simon Moore. UK. 1997) Adrian Lester. Amy Robbins. Daniel Ryan. 101 mins. Five friends meet at college in the 70s and form an a cup/wilt: group; while their personalities and circumstances change over the next two decades. they're still able to belt out an unaccompanied song or two. The film‘s theatrical origins show through clearly in its structure and performance style. making it a rather static successful of musical highlights. See review. Glasgow: Showcase. Edinburgh: ABC Wester Hailes.
Victim (15) (Basil Dearden. UK. 1961) Dirk Bogarde. Sylvia Syms. John Barrie. 100 mins. A landmark British film that openly deals with homosexuality. Bogarde took great risks with his former pin-up image. starring as a rich middle-class lawyer who‘s blackmailed by a rent boy. forcing him to admit his sexuality to his wife. On one hand a thriller. 0n the other a detailed. sympathetic portrait of a country entering the more liberal era of the 60s. Glasgow: GFI'.
Volcano (12) (Mick Jackson. US. 1997) Tommy Lee Jones. Ann Heche. Gaby Hoffman. 103 mins. When Los Angeles is hit by a mighty earthquake. the tremor opens a volcanic cavity and soon a torrent of molten lava is heading downtown. Unlike other recent disaster movies. ant'ulm doesn‘t take itself too seriously and the effects are superb. Jones and Heche deliver far better performances than the script deserves. but Jones is given little opportunity to flash his cool. deadpan wit. Glasgow: Showcase. UCI Clydebank. Edinburgh: UCI. Irvine: Magnum. Paisley: Showcase.
Wayfarers (15) (Ola Solum. Norway. 1989) 138 mins. In the I880s. an adventurer returns to the poor community where he grew up and sets up a business with a new partner. But soon the duo are behaving like vagabonds. Based on the first of Knut Hamsun's August trilogy. the film was shot on location in the north of Norway. Glasgow: OFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Wilde(15) (Brian Gilbert. UK. 1997) Stephen Fry. Jude Law. Vanessa Redgrave.
I 17 mins. The casting of Fry as Victorian wit. novelist and playwright Oscar Wilde seems almost inevitable. and it pays off. with the actor getting beyond surface details to the intelligent. kind man beneath. Gilbert's film is gritty in its portrayal of homosexual relationships than most British period dramas. but first and foremost it is a moving story of tragic. obsessive love. Glasgow: Odeon Quay.
Witchfinder General (18) (Michael Reeves. UK. 1968) Vincent Price. Ian Ogilvy. Rupert Davies. 87 mins. ()ne of the best British horror films ever. utterly bleak and filled with the nihilism of director Reeves (who committed suicide a year after its completion). Price is at his most completely evil as true-life witchfinder Matthew Hopkins. sadistically travelling the country to torture unfortunates in the name of church and state. Glasgow: Andrew Stewart.
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Thursday 6 Nov 8.00pm-11 .OOpm } 2-4 Hope Street Edinburgh
Eran Via
Friday 7 Nov 9.00pm - 1 2.00pm > 3 South St. Andrews Street Edinburgh
Bar Fig Thursday 6 Nov 9.30pm-12.30pm > 12 Shuttle Street
Paisley
Friday 7 Nov
7.00pm -1 0.00m“ } 81 Renfield Street Glasgow
7 Nov—20 Nov I997 THE LIST31