Films screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate. credits. brief review and venue details. Film index compiled by Alan Morrison.
Un Air De Famille ( I 5) (Cedric Klapisch. l’rance. I997) Jean-Pierre Bacri. Claire Maurier. Agnes Jaoui. I09 mins. Klapisch's follow-up to the delightful When The Cats Away is a witty expose of family interaction. Gathering to celebrate a birthday. the family‘s dinner conversation crescendos from gossip to bitchiness. The film retains an element of its stage roots. btit has a sharply comic point of view. lidinburgh: Filmhouse.
Alien Resurrection ( I I'll (Jean-Pierre qunet. I'S. I997) Sigourney Weaver. Winona Ryder. I05 mins. livil boffins clone Ripley and the unborn alien inside her. btit the monster escapes and rampages about a labyrinthine spaceship. It's a shaky premise. with a pick 'n' mix selection ofelements from earlier Alien movies. [Minutemen director Jeunet retains enough of his own distinctive. retro-future vision but damages the series‘ serious tone with unfunny one- liners. liqually otit of place is Winona Ryder. Edinburgh: Cameo. Stirling: MacRobert. Amistad (I5) (Steven Spielberg. US. I997) Anthony Hopkins. Morgan l-‘reeman. [)jimon Hounsou. ISZ mins. After a revolt on a ship off the coast of Cuba in l839. a group of slaves are captured by an American naval cutter and put on trial for piracy and murder. Spielberg botches this fascinating tale not because of historical inaccuracy. but through narrative incompetence — the film falls apart in the courtroom. where scenes come across as [A Law done in period costume. lidinburgh: Cameo.
Anastasia (U) (Don BIuth/(iai‘y (ioldman. US. I997) Voices of Meg Ryan. Christopher Lloyd. John Ciisack. 94 mins. With this vvidescreen romantic musical adventure. animator Don Bluth offers a film that rivals
FROM FRIDAY 3RD APRIL
ULEE’S GOLD (is) 1.30, 4.15, 6.45, 9.15pm chDD \I’ILL HUN TINL} (15)
1.10, 3.55 (both not Sun), 6.40. 9.20pm
[£5 VOLEURS (18)
1.05, 3.40 (both not Sun), 6.25pm
LA. COIIFIDEIITIAL (18) 9.00pm FROM FRIDAY 10TH APRIL
JACKIE BROWN (15)
2.00, 5.40. 8.50pm
TwenfyFourSeven (18) 1.45, 4.20, 7.00, 9.35pm
ULEE’S GOLD (15)
1.25. 3.55 (both not Sun), 6.30, 9.15pm
FOR LATE NIGHTS AND MATINEES SEE LISTINGS For all films call Cameo Cinema 24 hour Info/ine
0131 228 2800
32 THE LIST 2—I6 Apr 1998
Disney. Rewriting history somewhat. evil magician Rasputin puts a curse on the Tsar's family and causes the I917 Revolution. The child princess Anastasia survives. but grows as an orphan. unable to remember her past. With extraordinary action sequences. exquisite characterisations and beautiful songs. See review. General release. Animation For Adults Producer Nico Crama talks us through ‘A History Of Animation In The Netherlands'. introducing a programme of highlights from the past two decades. Followed by a Q&A session. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
AS Good As It Gets ( l 5) (James l.. Brooks. US. I997) Jack Nicholson. Helen Hunt. Greg Kinnear. I39 mins. Neurotic writer Melvin suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. but compensates for his loner life by becoming a master of abuse. Carol. the waitress in a local restaurant. is the only person tough enough to take him on. As romantic comedies go. it‘s an odd pairing. but the match works thanks to a sharply witty script and Spot-on performances from Nicholson and Hunt. General release.
The Basketball Diaries (I8) (Scott Kalvert. US. I995) Leonardo DiCaprio. Bruno Kirby. Lorraine Bracco. I02 mins. This dull and disappointing screen version of Jim Carroll's cult book is full of the usual drug cliches as DiCaprio's good Catholic boy slips down an increasingly hysterical path to ruin. An inadequate script and bad direction are the ball and chain around the ankles of a reasonable performance. Glasgow: UCI Clydebank.
Best Men (IS) (Tamra Davis. US. I997) Dean Cain. Luke Wilson. Drew Barrymore. 90 mins. On their way to the wedding of recently released ex-con. a group of friends stop off for a bank robbery and become embroiled in a tense stand-off with the police. With performances that are nicer judged. the individual scenes trip over themselves in a mix 'n' match selection of homages to other movies. Hip. funny and knowingly derivative entertainment — a kind of Reservoir Dogs-lite. Glasgow: ABC l-‘ilm Centre.
Best Of British Animation OK. .so the Brits didn't nab the animation Oscar this year. but this selection of prize-winners from the I998 British Animation Awards proves that we're still the best in the world. Among the films on show is The Little Princess 's Birthday Party. made by Jim Lefevre at Edinburgh College ofArt. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Das Boot: Director's Cut (IS) (Wolfgang Petersen. Germany. I981) Jurgen Prochnow. Herbert Gronmeyer. Klaus Wennemann. 207 mins. A hunter-killer sub is unleashed on Allied shipping in the North Atlantic. btit the captain shares few of the Nazi ideals of his superiors. This visceral. twisty action drama redefined the ensemble realism. and its claustrophobic brilliance is only redoubled in this 207-minute version. See review. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
The Borrowers (U) (Peter Hewitt. UK. I997) John Goodman. Jim Broadbent. Celia Imrie. 86 mins. At a height of only four inches. the Borrowers hide in wall cavities and living beneath the floorboards of the Lender household. When a nasty lawyer tries to swindle the humans out of their inheritance. families big and small join forces. The design and effects create a strangely familiar. oddly unplaceable world. and children will have little difficulty suspending enough disbelief to be spellbound by the magic of the film. Glasgow: UCI Clydebank. Virgin. Edinburgh: Odeon. East Kilbride: UCI. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith.
Chasing Amy (I8) (Kevin Smith. US. I996) Ben Afflect. Joey Lauren Adams. Jason Lee. I I I mins. The third film by the writer/ director of Clerks is a wry and surprisingly mature look at twentysomething relationships. Comic book artist Holden (Affleck) falls desperately in love with Alyssa (Adams). but she prefers gals to guys. Sexual desire and a crisis of masculinity come under the microscope in a film that‘s bloody funny in a risque way. Falkirk: Town Hall.
Cinema Paradiso (PG) (Giuseppe Tornatore. Italy/France. I988) Phillipe Noiret. Jacques Pertin. Salvatore Cascio. I23 mins. Told largely in flashback. the
winner of the I990 ( )scar for Best l'hl'c‘lgli l-‘ilm traces young Salvatore's infatuation with his village cinema. and his growing friendship with its projectionist (played to perfection by Noiret). Iissentially. it‘s 'l'ornatore‘s lament for the joyous movie- goitig experience of his youth and a recognition of the price we pay for our maturity. (ilasgow: (il’l‘. lidinburgh: l‘ilmhouse.
Close-Up (P(i) (Abbas Kiarostami. Iran. I990) 93 mins. Kiarostami brings questions of what is real and what is fabricated to the fore as he films a courtroom trial and drainatises events leading tip to the ‘crime'. using real people as themselves. The principal subject is llosscin Sabzian. an unemployed printer who passes himself off as a reclusive director. btit is charged with fraud. Kiarostami‘s openly honest manipulations introduce a complex series of arguments about social standing and the nature of art. but also uncover some very human behavioural quirks. (ilasgow: (il’l‘. lidinbtirgh: Cameo.
Clubbed To Death ( I8) (Yolande Yatiberman. I-"rancc. I997) lilodie Bouchez. Beatrice Dalle. Roschdy 7cm. 90 mins. l‘alling asleep on the last bus home. l.oIa fitids herself stranded in an unknown part of Paris. where she meets an enigmatic. Arab guy and is sucked into the city's techno nightlife. With its hand-held camera and techno soundtrack. the stylish ('lublit'i/ 7}) Death is more of an atmospheric portrait than a narrative piece. See review. (ilasgow: (il-‘l‘.
Crash ( IS) (David Cronenberg. I996) James Spader. Holly Hunter. lilias Koteas. I00 mins. I-‘inally passed uncut. (rash is not -— as The Daily Mail would have you believe — a film which will inspire copycat car crashes or copulation amidst the ensuing wreckage. Instead it is a cool. insidiously disturbing study of art evolving human pathology based on eroticised car crashes and techno- fantasies. livery hetero and homosexual permutation is explored as the fixed boundaries of 'normal’ sexuality give way to a creatively ‘perverse' fluidity. Provocative. extreme and intellectually exhilerating. lidinburgh: l-‘ilm (hold.
The Devil's Advocate ( I8) (‘I‘aylor Hackford. US. I997) Al Pacino. ls'eanii Reeves. CharIi/e 'I‘heron. I45 mins. Hot shot lawyer Kevin l.omax (Reeves) is recruited by a New York firm. but comes to realise its founder. John Milton (Pacino). is head of something a lot more scary than the legal industry. This modern-day morality play allows Pacino to grandstand in a part that's plainly absurd. while Reeves is too wooden for his supposedly charismatic role. Edinburgh: Catneo.
Easy Rider ( l8) (Dennis Hopper. CS. I969) Peter Fonda. Dennis Hopper. Jack Nicholson. 9-4 mins. Artless. archetypal road movie in which two dope-loving bikers travel the highways and by-ways of America. Dated cult attraction with Nicholson stealing the show as a boozy lawyer persuaded to join up for the trip. Edinburgh: Cameo.
The End Of Violence ( I 5) (Wim Wenders. US/(iermany/l5rance. I997) Bill Pullman.
To kill and kill again: Denzel Washington in Fallen
I
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Andie Alticlhivv ell. (iabricl llyrne. llll mins. Reminiscent of those open-ended paranoia thrillers of the 70s illit- ('mii'ersuli'mt. 'I‘lii' l’tirtilltit View). The [int] 0/. Violence casts a caustic eye on modern I..-\. where reality and fiction are both most keenly experienced through the camera lens. The plot revolves around the city's Iii-tech surveillance system and a murder attempt on a top film producer. btit although the themes are intriguing. the overall effect is very patchy. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith. Stirling: MacRobert.
Eskiya ( l5) (Yavu/ 'l‘iirgiil. ’l‘tirkey. l99o) IZS‘ mins. 'I‘urkey‘s all-time number one box office hit tells the story of aii old bandit who is released from prison only to discover that his countrymen have forgotten his legendary exploits and his former stalking ground submerged beneath a reservoir. Described IIV lime Out as ‘warm. accessible and socially engaged'. [iv/(rm is a perfect example of its nation's populist style of filmmaking. lidinbtirgli: I’ilmhoiisc.
Event Horizon ( IS) (Paul .-\nderson. US/UK. I997) Laurence l'lSlIlHlflIL‘. Sam Neill. Joely Richardson. 9| mins. The crew of a rescue ship discover that heII has been unleashed inside a missing craft that reappears near Neptune. as their deepest fears begin to terrorise them in physical form. liffcctively a haunted house movie set iii space. Iz'i't'n/ llorimn boasts stunning"l‘echno Medieval' design; but tight editing leaves the characterisation and story stripped to within an inch of their lives. (ilasgow: ()deon. lidiiiburgh. Cameo. Face/Off ( l8) (John \Vtiti. US. |997I John 'l‘i'av‘olta. Nicolas Cage. Joan Allen. I33 mins. I’BI agent Sean Archer ('I'ravolta) undergoes radical surgery to become terrorist Castor 'l'roy (Nicolas Cage); but when 'l‘roy comes otit of a coma and undergoes a similar operation. he too is able to slip into his enemy's domain - domestic and professional. Part horror. part sci-Ii. full-oii action. with a cast that's uniformly excellent. Stirling: MacRobert.
Fairytale: A True Story (t') (Charles Sturridgc. UK. I997) l5lorence Hoatli. lili/abcth liarl. Paul .‘vlc(iann. 9S mins. In telling the story of two litlvvardian girls who cause a sensation when they capture a photographic iriiagc of fairies. I'itirilii/t' manages to be more coherent and less downbeat than the similar /’lmioerti/ihme l’uirit's. A carefully judged film that provides moving entertainment for the family audience. (ieneral release.
Fallen ( IS) ((iregory Hohlii. [18. I997) Den/cl Washington. John (ioodiiian. Iimbeth Davidtz. Ill mins. An atmospheric serial killer movie with supernatural overtones. l-‘u/lt'n is spoiled by tricksy direction. Denzel Washington is aii increasingly paranoid cop w ho's sure a spate of murders have the mark of a killer he recently saw executed. The filial twist is clever. btit comes too late to save the film (ilasgow. ()deons. Showcase. Paisley. Showcase
A Feast 0f Animation oi mins. A Inn of recent animated works are gathered together with children In mind. l‘rom Northern Ireland comes Mir/night Dante. set to the