FILM new releases
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Family values: Anne Mearer Liev Schrieber and Parker Posey in The Daytrippers
The Daytrippers
(15) 87 mins aim-xv a
Greg Mottola’s first film delves into the nooks and crannies of familial relations. Mom and Pop Malone have nothing of worth to say to one another, and their daughters Eliza and Jo have so little in common they could have been made from separate gene pools. Still, outwardly they function as a unit, and when Eliza suspects her husband is having an affair, everybody bands together to discover the truth. So begins a chaotic and disputatious trawl through New York in the family station wagon, during which the Malones experience what it really means to be together. Other families
crop up on the way and remind us that what the Malones have is by no means as dysfunctional as it gets
The first great strength of The Daytrippers is Mottola's script, which is as painfully incisive as it is funny and compassionate That it succeeds as a film is thanks to its talented cast, who revel in the psychological subtleties of their parts. Stanley Tucci is one of the better known faces in a list that also includes Parker Posey, Hope DaVis and Liev Shreiber. It's a low-budget affair, but that shouldn't put off those who appreciate intelligent characterisation and challenging wrt. (Hannah Fries) § Edinburgh Cameo from Fri 24 Jul Glasgow Film Theatre from Fri 74 Aug See preview.
In at the deep end: Matt Day and Frances O'Connor in Kiss Or Kill
Kiss Or Kill
(18) 96 mins i ‘k it a:
It is the faltering trust between two lovers which provides the drivmg force behind Kiss Or Kill, a road movie from Australian director Bill Bennett.
Nikki (Frances O'Connor) and Al (Matt Day) are involved in a scam, luring businessmen into hotel rooms for sex, only to drug them and rob them. When a jOb goes wrong, leavmg the victim dead, they flee into the Australian outback with the dead man's possessions, which include an incriminating video of a famous football star.
With the police, an Aboriginal tracker and the Sportsman’s minders on their
34 THE lIST 23 Jul—6 Aug 1998
heels, the couple run from motel to motel, leavmg a mysterious and disturbing tally of dead bodies in their wake. As each grows to Suspect the other of the murders, they both become increasingly mistrustful and isolated.
The alienating feel of the mowe is reinforced by the iaggeclly shot vast Australian bush setting and a preponderance of weird characters. A creepy soundtrack of environmental nOises reinforces this unnervmg mood, making Kiss Or Kill not only an exciting thriller but also a truly powerful example of the corroswe character of suspicion. (Beth Williams)
a Glasgow Film Theatre from Fri 24 Jul.
RE-RELEASE Psycho
(15) 109 mins 1H: swim
Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece of psychological horror has become such a familiar part of our cinema culture that’s it’s Virtually impossible to relive that first-time moment of shock when Mother Bates’s chair swwels round at the climax. For a kid illiciitly watching the film on a black-and- white portable TV in his bedroom years ago, it was a jdVV-(JTODDCY that's only been equalled a couple of times since. Perhaps there are a few people out there who don’t know all the mists and turns of the story Well, are you in for a treat.
The re-release of Hitchcock's Psycho can only underline the bemusing pointlessness of Gus Van Sant's forthcoming shot-for-shot remake The latter, of course, Will be in colour replacrng a neon Bates Motel sign for creepy patches of shadow lurking on screen and in the corners of Norman's mind7 ~- and it \Vl” contain fresh interpretations of the characters. Surely, however, Anthony Perkins' shy, unnmvmgly nervous performance IS definitive and anything else can only suffer iii compaiisoii.
Regardless of how many times it receives TV ie-iiins, this is a moVie whose power is magnified by the big screen experience. The shrieking \.'|()lll)S during the shower murder, the dense imagery involvmg eyes, the tracking shots and journeys that draw us into darkness — nobody does it better (Alan Morrison)
a Glasgow Film Theatre from Fri 37 Jul Edinburgh Fi/irihouse from Fri 7 Aug
Mama's boy: Anthony Perkins in Psycho
RE-RELEASE 'm“ The Adventures Of Robin Hood (PG) 106 mins a v:- vz se-
Kevm Costner and Patrick Bergin never even came close to equalling the dashing charm of Errol Flynn in this 1938 version of the Sherwood Forest legend Decked out in Lincoln green, With his pointed hat set at a Jaunty angle, Flynn leads l‘ilS Merrie Men on a thrilling adventure that's a true matinee-style delight of old.
While King Richard is off fighting in the Crusades, his corrupt brother John (Claude Rains) over-taxes the people Along comes Robin of Locksley and his bunch of Jolly outlaws, and it’s time to rob the rich and give to the poor. Romance blossoms between our hero and the Lady Marion (OliVIa de HaVilland), while he and the Villainous Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone) become rivals worthy of each other.
Although the passing years have exaggerated the camp qualities of Robin‘s antics, there's so much here to be enjoyed: Flynn’s self—mocking humour, the stirring Korngold score, the climactic swordfight (complete With shadows on the wall) between Flynn and Rathbone, the colourful characters who surround the leads. You get the feeling that Hollywood would never dare have as much fun With a movre these days. (Alan Morrison)
fi Edinburgh Filinh0use from Fri 37 Jul Glasgow Film Theatre from Fri 7 Aug.
RE-RELEASE Animal Farm (U) 75 mins 1? 1c a a It may have been an odd choice to take on the might of mid-SOs Disney, but husband-and-Wife team Halas and Batchelor’s adaptation of George Orwell's classic political allegory —- the first full-length British cartoon -- is asswed of its place in film history. Whatever the temptations to fillet its message, however, the result emerges as a surprismgly faithful treatment of the tale of barnyard revolution. Filtered through a generation of school set texts, the may of how the porkers lead a mutiny to overthrow the humans is pretty well known, as are the correspondences With the sacred cows of Russia's BolsheVik movement, Versatile character actor Maurice Denham (everything from DaVid Lean's Oliver TWist to 84 Charing Cross Road) provides all the animal v0ices, and does an extraOidinary JOb too Quality-Wise, there’s an ObVIOUS gap between this pioneering homegrown effort and the Hollywood studios, but the animation is never less than enthusiatic and possesses its own cheery quirkiness. This print, too, has been struck from a freshly restored negative in all its Technicolor glory; that, if nothing else, should be an incentive to get out and see it. (Andrew Pulver) B Edinburgh Cameo from Fri 24 Jul.
Pen pushers: pig bureaucracy in Animal Farm