FILM index
FILM INDEX continued
Mrs Brown (PC) (John Madden. UK. I997) Judi Dench. Billy Connolly. Antony Sher. 103 mins. Queen Victoria's obsessive mourning for Prince Albert is casting gloom over the entire country. so Highland ghillie John Brown is called down from Balmoral to shake up the stuffy English court. Madden's film can't match the comic brio and visual panache of The Madness 0f King George. but his understated direction undeniably suits the story. The performances are uniformly splendid. with Dench and Connolly (both perfectly cast) giving the film a surprising emotional depth. Galashiels: Pavilion.
Mrs Dalloway (PG) (Marleen Gom's. US/UK/Netherlands. I997) Vanessa Redgrave. Natascha McElhone. Michael Kitchen. 97 mins. Oscar-winner Gorris (Antonia '5 Line) adapts Virginia Woolf's novel into a moving and romantic drama about an intelligent and vibrant woman. Set in 1923. with numerous flashbacks. it presean the thoughts. memories and actions of a middle-aged society lady as she prepares for an evening party on one single summer day. Beautifully filmed in a period London and held together by a strong British cast. East Kilbride: Arts Centre. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith.
My Beautiful Laundrette (15) (Stephen Frears. UK. I985) Daniel Day Lewis. Roshan Seth. Gordon Warnecke. Shirley Anne Field. 97 mins. A young Asian from South London is given the chance to manage his uncle's laundrette. which he and his err-skinhead boyfriend transform into the latest word in laundromats. Originally made for TV. this provided Channel Four's first foray into the cinema. Glasgow: GF’I‘.
My Son The Fanatic (l5) (Udayan Prasad. UK. I997) Om Puri. Rachel Griffiths. Stellan Skarsgard. In Hanif Kureishi‘s screen adaptation of his own short story. put-upon Bradford taxi driver Puri is caught up in a domestic battle that pits pits whisky and Louis Armstrong against the Koran. Those expecting another rock 'n' roll rites of
FROM FRIDAY IST MAY
MY SON THE FANAT/C (15) 2.50, 4.45, 7.05. 9.20911»
JI'IGKIE BROIlllI (15)
2.30. 5.40, 8.50PIVI
Midnight iii the (itiltit‘ll
(Ii. (iUtNi (1 mi I..\'lil (15) 2.20, 5.45 (both not Sun), 9.005m
FROM FRIDAY 8TH MAY
THE BIS IEBIJWSKI (18)
1.25, 4.00, 7.00, 9.30PM
JI'ICKIE rmourn (15)
2.30, 5.45, 8.50PM
MY SON THE FAN/VIC (15) 1.45, 4.25 (both not Sun), 6.40, 9.15pm
FOR LATE NIGHTS AND MATINEES SEE LISTINGS
For all filmsgcall Cameo Cinema 24 hour Info/ine
0131 228 2800
28 TIIEUST 30 Apr-14 May 1998
passage tale a la Buddha 0f Suburbia may be disappointed. but here is an absorbing account of conflicting moralities and generational tensions in fin de siecle Britain. See preview and review. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Cameo.
The Nutty Professor (12) (Tom Shadyac. US. I996) Eddie Murphy. Jada Pinkett. James Cobum. 95 mins. Stealing the plot from the Jerry 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 revens to gross size at inopertune moments. The make-up is good. but the fart level of humour is way too simplistic. Irvine: Magnum.
Oscar and lucinda (15) (Gillian Armstrong. US/Australia. I997) Ralph Fiennes. Cate Blanchett. Ciaran Hinds. 132 mins. Adapted from Peter Carey's Booker Prize-winning novel. this tale of passion and unconsummated love falls short of its shimmering goals. Fiennes is a 19th century man of the cloth obsessed with gambling who bets he can transport the glass church designed designed by an Australian heiress across the treacherous outback. Fiennes animates Oscar with a nervous. crow-like intensity. but there is a definite sense of some vital element missing. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Out of the Past (15) (Jacques Tourneur. US. I947) Robert Mitchum. Jane Greer. Kirk Douglas. Rhonda Fleming. 96 mins. Gripping. moody and expertly mounted flashback nm'r. starring Mitchum as the condemned man. a private detective whose investigation of Douglas's girlfriend Greer takes him to Mexico and eventually a confrontation with death. Classic B-movie with a hallucinatory. almost existentialist atmosphere. See review. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Paws (PG) (Karl Zwicky. Australia/UK. 1997) Nathan Cavaleri. Emilie Francois. voice of Billy Connolly. 83 mins. Clever doggie PC is on a mission to deliver a computer disc. but is being tracked down by the unpleasant baddie who killed his master. Befriending computer whizz kid Zac. the mutt links up to a voice simulator and starts talking with the broad twang of Billy Connolly. Some genuinely funny moments allow for a whole range of teenage crises to be dealt with in an uncringeworthy fashion. Glasgow: Odeon Quay. UCI Clydebank. Edinburgh: UCI. East Kilbride: UCI. Greenock: Waterfront. Irvine: WMR. Private Parts (18) (Betty Thomas. US. 1997) Howard Stern. Robin Quivers. Mary McCormack. 109 mins. This autobiography of America‘s leading ‘shock-jock‘ Howard Stern is as abrasive. loud and raunchy as you might have anticipated: but it's also highly intelligent. ironic. downright hilarious at times. and burns with an anti- censorship fervour that’s really cheering to
see. Stern plays himself. and by the end. we‘ve rooted for him in his struggle against airwave bureaucracy and the repressive network powers-that-be. Falkirk: Town Hall. The Rainmaker (15) (Francis Ford Coppola. US. 1997) Matt Damon. Jon Voight. Danny DeVito. I36 mins. It's Grisham time again. as idealistic law school graduate Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon) discovers the realities ofAmerica's legal system when he takes on a giant corporation running a monumental insurance scam. Grisham and Coppola's indignation at the iniquities ofAmercan capitalism is impressive. but the film's plot is too cliched and predictable for their analysis to make the impact it deserves. The acting. however. is excellent. General release.
The Raw And The Cooked (18) 90 mins. The first of three programmes of futuristic short British works (compiled for the FuncT 98 festival) focuses on drama. Works include It's Not Unusual. a taxi journey with a Tom Jones obsessive. and Prince Naseem. Regeneration (l5) (Gillies Mackinnon. UK/Canada. 1997) Jonathan Pryce. James Wilby. Jonny Lee Miller. 113 minutes. Faithful to Pat Barker's source novel. Mackinnon‘s film touches on trench life during WWI. but is mostly confined within the walls of Edinburgh's Craiglockhart Hospital. where psychiatrist Dr Rivers (Pryce) nurses the shell-shocked back to mental fitness. It's a sober. mournful work. and most of the fireworks comes from the actors. all of whom excel. Edinburgh: Cameo.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (18) (Jim Sharman. UK. 1975) Tim Curry. Susan Sarandon. Barry Bostwick. Meat Loaf. 100 mins. The cult film to end all others. this rock spoof on old horror movies has created a breed of Rocky Horror crazies. and packs them in at late shows everywhere. The film has its moments. and Curry is splendidly camp as the bisexual Frank N. Furter. Edinburgh: St Bride's.
Sansho The Bailiff (l2) (Kenji Mizoguchi. Japan. I954) Eitaro Shindo. Yoshiaki Hanayagi. Kinuyo Tanaka. 125 mins. Master filmmaker Mizoguchi turns a story of oppression in feudal Japan into a moving statement on injustice. When a provincial governor is forced into exile. his son and daughter are sold as slaves to a tyrannical bailiff. Years later. the son is reunited with his blind. crippled mother. A slow pace and beautiful images add to the film's power. Glasgow: GFT.
Saturday Night Fever (18) (John Badham. US. I977) John Travolta. Karen Lynn Gomey. Julie Bovasso. I19 mins. Remember the Bee Gees music. the white suits. the days when Travolta was a promising young talent? A teen rebellion/dance mini-classic in which an ordinary working-class youth finds the only meaning in his life during his energetic peregrinations on the weekend dance floor. Organised by Fleapit Film Club as part of
Japanese masterpiece: the Kend Mizoguichi season nears a close with Ugetsu Monogatari
I‘uncT 98. and it's followed by 2170s disco by DJ Love from Disco Inferno. Tickets through club membership from Fleapii. PO Box 471 I. Glasgow. Gl2 8YF or fieapit®dial.pipex.com by e-mail. Glasgow: Arches.
Scream 2 (l8) (Wes Craven. US. I998) Neve Campbell. Courtney Cox. Leiv Schreiber. I20 mi its. Two years after the Woodsboro murders. Sidney Prescott (Campbell) is now a college student. trying to piece her life back together. But when an audience member is slashed to death during the premiere of horror movie Stab. the nightmare begins again. The film fails to fully integrate the many in-jokey references to horror sequel conventions. but it's still streets ahead of what passes for horror nowadays. See review. General release. Shall We Dance? (PG) (Masayuki Suo. Japan. 1997) Koji Yakusho. Tamiyo Kusakari. I35 mins. The biggest Japanese hit ever at the US box office. this upbeat movie might grab some of the mainstream crowd in the same way as I! Pnsrinn. Shoei leads a predictable life at work and at home until he is transfomied by his new hobby — ballroom dancing. A real charmer. with a hidden sense of emotional maturity. See review. Glasgow: OFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
The Shining ( 18) (Stanley Kubrick. US. I980) Jack Nicholson. Shelly Duvall. Philip Stone. H6 mins. Kubrick‘s overwrought. overlong horror film dispenses with much of the psychic apparatus of Stephen King's novel to concentrate on the deeper horror of a family turning in on itself. Nicholson. with all the stops out. is bug-eyed and demonic as the writer cracking up violently in an isolated hotel. and the final scenes are. literally. chilling. Edinburgh: Cameo. Silent Comedy Classics (U) 113 mins. The big names of silent comedy are here in force: Harold Lloyd in Net-er Weaken. Laurel and Hardy (and Falkirk's James Finlayson) in Big Business and Buster Keaton’s feature The Cameraman. With live piano accompaniment from Forrester Pyke. Sliding Doors (l5) (Peter Howitt. UK. I998) Gwyneth Paltrow. John Hannah. John Lynch. 99 mins. Mousy-haired PR executive Helen gets fired and discovers her handsome Irish boyfriend is a two-timer. Blonde PR woman Helen is more successful and dates a handsome Scot. This sharply observed romantic comedy splits Helen‘s life in two when she misses/catches a tube train. Utterly entertaining. and one of the best British movies of I998. See feature and review. General release.
Something To Believe In (PG) (John Hougli. UK/Italy. I998) William McNamara. Maria Pitillo. Tom Conti. 113 mins. Two young Americans cross paths while on separate pilgrimages to Naples: one in search of a miracle cure. the other on the way to a piano competition. The story. characters and dialogue are so corny they are embarrassing. and Tom Conti and Ian