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A series of films that started so darkly has undergone some drastic changes in recent years The suicidal cop-hero who purposefully lived his life or) the edge, has found a reason to live He rs soon to be a family rizan, so has lost that lethal edge Perhaps these films Should be called r‘rlrdu'i’e Aired Pipe is" Slippers Weapon
As the violence rs (low:relayed, the humour comes more to the fore, espemally the bickering relationship between Riggs (Mel Gibson) and hrs long-suffering partner hillll‘iéillCll) (Danny Glover), who are coming to the realisation that they are past their
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La Vie De Jesus (18) 96 mins Capturing the rhythm: of iziiem- ployment rs rarely atteriiptesl on screen these days. Usually the derrianrls of narrative kick in, with characters dryer: purpose rust long enough to stave off audience boredom, Bruno Dumont's marvellous film, La Vie De Jesus, asks us to see what urieiriployriie'it, if) all its manifestations, actually feels like
t has as its focus Isn't-rityyear--.ml Freddy, an epileptic lrvrng with hzs in the small northern town of Baillr-ui near Lille. She owns a too sparsely populated cafe which doubles zip as their home, he spends most of his time on hrs moped, sleeping with his girlfriend 0r hanging out with hrs mates.
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emerging, such as Butters (Chris Rock), who is keen hut shoa-‘Js a little l') Fglurtaugh's \‘JtFlllTC-llltl for the older c :>p’s likrr‘g. Then there are the had guys They’re younger, and in the gracefully lethal form. of Wah Sing Ku ’the brilliant Jet Li) pose a bigger
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new releases FILM
Girls’ Night
Love Is The Devil
(18) 90 mins ‘K‘fic‘kafi'
Francis Bacon’s paintings are full of twisted, pained figures. John Maybury's impressronistic biography also distorts the human anatomy - people are photographed through glass bottles, reflected in mirrors, in dislocating close-ups — but his subject is the tortured psyche beneath that frail flesh.
By no means a documentary-style portrait of the artist, Love ls The Devil rs concerned with the destructive relationship between Bacon (Derek Jacobi) and his lover George Dyer (Daniel Craig). A petty East End criminal, Dyer crashes into Bacon's studio during a botched burglary and almost immediately the pair begin a strange sado-masochistic affair. We’re later remrnded that Lucifer, the most beautiful angel, also fell from Heaven; and when the handsome, working-class Dyer finds himself out of his depth among Bacon's clique of camp intellectual friends, it's clear he has descended into a personal hell of misery and alcoholism.
Subtitled ’Study For A Portrait Of Francis Bacon’ (as if it were an unfinished work), the film rs effectively a succession of sketches that gradually achieve a sense of completeness. It’s not as vrsually experimental as Maybury’s Man To Man or Remembrance Of Things Fast, but rt is more visual and experimental than most of what passes for British cinema these days. Jacobi has an uncanny physical resemblance to Bacon, but the real acting revelation is Craig (Geordie in Our Friends In The North) who superbly gives life to this human tragedy waiting to happen. (Alan Morrison)
Glasgow Film Theatre and Edinburgh Cameo from Fri 78 Sep.
Dereck Jacobi as Francis Bacon
FILM SOUNDTRACKS
Titanic: The Essential James Horner Film Music
Collection (Silva Screen) see it vs-
The Omen: The Essential Jerry Goldsmith Film
Music Collection (Silva Screen) s a it:
James Homer's score for Titanic put him at the forefront of contemporary film composers, so it's no surprise that this double CD collection of his work begins ansi ends with evc'erpts from the watery epic. Without the overwrought warbling of Celine Dion, the symphonic arrangement of 'My Heart Will Go On’ emerges as a beautiful melody, and many of the other compositions here are also pleasantly tuneful lior‘ner's talent develops from early, tacky synthesiser works (Red Heat blushes with embarrassment) to the rich orchestrations he now provides for ’A’ list Horns-re. Nd movres like Braveheart and Apollo 73.
The City of Prague Philharmonic are also drafted in for a two-hour-plus celebration of the skills of Jerry Goldsmith. Hrs Oscar-winning gothic choral score for The Omen takes pride of place and is a good indication of the strong rhythmic sense that distinguishes the likes of The Blue Max and First Knight. Built around defined percussive beats, Goldsmith’s film music gets to the heart of the drama on screen, often weaving in appropriate geographical or historical colour. Alan Morrison)
(15) 102 mins
This British big screen offering from screenwriter Kay ly‘leHOr' of Band Of Gold and Playing The Field fame, directed by .“th'k Hirrran, rs a bitter» sweet c‘eiizedy about two middle-aged \‘Jori‘imi whe have a huge \.‘V|ll on the hinge,
When =ater Jackie (Julie \r‘.’alters: and her best friend Dawn (Brenda Blethyn) win a fortune, they decide to take a breather from their factory iohs and Jet off to Las Vegas for some really serious gambling However, rust before they leave, Dawn learns that she has terrirrnal cancer, making their trrp also their final spree together.
‘l.‘.’hrle his film rs full of both wrtty moments and memorable scenes of movrng tenderness, its structure rs less accomplished, causing character development to fall short of EM true potential. The Las Vegas scenes, although amusing in that they feature two working-class Northern women like fishes out of water in the glitzy world of American casinos, come across as somewhat unrealistic, especially given the casting of Kris Kristofferson as Jackie’s handsome rancher bOyfriend
With qualities more appr'c'iprrate to the small screen than the Cinema, Girls’ Night does nevertheless contain some comic gems, but it falls off the rails before rt gets to its weepy destination. (Beth Williams) es Now on release at selected cinemas
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. .. i Brenda Blethan and Julie Walters in Girls' Night
10-24 Sep 1998 THE usr 25