film
index
Films screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate, credits, brief review and venue details. Film index compiled by Miles Fielder.
The Acid House (18) (Paul McGuigan. UK. I998) Stephen McCole. Kevin McKidd. Ewen Bremner. Ill mins. Irvine Welsh adapts a trio of tales from his early short story collection. From the coarse revenge scenario of "fhe Granton Star Cause'. through the sorrowful despair of ‘A Soft Touch'. to the iii-your-face body swap comedy of "I‘he Acid House' — Welsh and director McGuigan vary visual style and dramatic tone. Two lingers in the face of anyone expecting a 7inins,miting clone. Glasgow: Odeon Quay. Edinburgh: Cameo. UCI.
Alien (I8) (Ridley Scott. US. I979) Sigourney Weaver. Ian Holm. John Hurt.
I I6 mins. Agatha Christie in outer space as a freighter lands on a mysterious planet and is ingeniously invaded by a ravenous intruder which proceeds to chomp its way through the cast list. Edge-of-ihe-seat suspense thriller with a strong cast and ghastly special effects. Glasgow: GI’I'. Edinburgh: I-ilmhouse.
Antz (PG) (Eric Darnell/lint Johnson. US. I998) The voices of Woody Allen. Sharon Stone. Gene Hackman. 83 mins. When worker ant Z-4I95 (Allen) meets Princess Bala. he falls completely in love; btit. while trying to prove himself as a soldier. he uncovers a dastardly plan to flood the colony. Ant: is brightly coloured and full of gags. so adults will chuckle while kids are pulled in by the slick computer animation. Glasgow: Grosvenor. ()deon Quay. Showcase. UCI Clydebank. Virgin. Edinburgh: Dominion. Ealkii'k: l-‘I‘H. Motherwell: Moviehouse.
Arth (The Meaning) (PG) (Maltein Bhaii. India. I982) Shabana Azmi. l43 mins. Director Bhatt's autohiographieaI film starring New Indian Cinema icon Anni in an award-winning performance as a jilted wife. Coincides with an illustrated talk on Indian film by film historian I.alit Mohan on Tue 9 Feb. Edinburgh: l-‘ilmhouse.
Babe: Pig In The City (PG) (George Miller. US. I998) James Cromwell. Magda Szubanski. 99 mins. Just as precocious as before. young Babe accidentally injures Farmer Hoggett and puts the farm in jeopardy . In desperation Mrs H and Babe set off to make a fee-paying appearance at a State Fair. Btit fate is not smiling upon the farmer's wife and her innocent pig. as their adventures in the big city begin. General release.
Bicycle Thieves (PG) (Vittorio De Sica. Italy. I948) Lamberto Maggiorani. Enzo Staiola. An unemployed Italian workman has his bicycle stolen. and badly needs it for a new job. so he and his small son search the btisy streets of Rome for it. The epitome of Italian neo-i'ealism. with the Roman setting vividly sketched and the performances compellineg natural. so that this unromantic drama takes on an overwheming power.
Masterly stuff. Edinburgh: Italian Cultural Institute.
Black Rain (18) (Ridley Scott. US. I989) Michael Douglas. Andy Garcia. Ken Takakura. 125 mins. Not so much the land of the Rising Sun as the land of Shiny Surfaces as adman extraordinaire returns to a set not unlike Blade Runner. However. some promising ideas are shunted t0 the sidelines by Douglas‘s sour and rather
uninspiring heroics as the New York cop
sent to Osaka to counter a counterfeiting ring. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
The Borrowers (U) (Peter Hewitt. UK. I997) John Goodman. Jim Broadbent. Celia lmrie. 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 inhen’tance. families big and small join forces. Children will have little difficulty suspending enough disbelief to be spellbound by the magic of the film. Edinburgh: Lumiere.
Brassed Off (l5) (Mark Herman. UK. I996) Ewan McGregor. Tara Fitzgerald. Pete Posilethwaite. I05 mins. When the local pit is due to be closed down. it's the end of the day for the colliery brass band as well. even though they've got a chance at winning the national competition. Politics are the heart of the story. btit v. titer-director Harmen has created a film that balances nicely between pithy humour and heartbreaking poignance. Edinburgh: Eilmhouse.
Braveheart ( l5) (Mel Gibson. US. I995) Mel Gibson. Patrick McGoohan. Sophie Marceau. I77 mins. Gibson‘s long and bloody account of the life of Scottish warrior hero William Wallace aims to entertain on a wider scale than the more literate Rob Roy. Touches of sentimentality and ‘dramatic‘ historical inaccuracy aside. it's a fine. full-blooded attempt to tap into the spirit that fires Scotland's history and heroes. Edinburgh: Lumiere.
Breaking The Waves ( I 8) (Lars von Trier. Denmark/France. I996) Einin Watson. Stellan Skarsgard. Katrin Cartlidge. l58 mins. In a close-knit Calvinist community in the north of Scotland. a young woman faces banishment from the church when she makes a self-sacrificing pact with God in order to save her husband's life. Emotional connection transcends everything else in one of the most moving films ever made. Edinburgh: Cameo. Lumiere.
Bronco Billy (PG) (Clint Eastwood. US. I980) Clint Eastwood. Sondra Locke. Geoffrey Lewis. I 19 mins. Lightweight by director Eastwood’s later standards (Bird. While Hunter. Black Heart). this comic tale of a shoe salesman's dream to ride the rodeo is nevertheless an enjoyable piece of whimsy. Clint and his cast of pals look like they are having a fun time. Edinburgh: St Bride's Centre.
A Bug's life (U) (John Lassetcr. US. I998) Voices of: Dave Eoley. Kevin Spacey. David Hyde Pierce. 95 mins. Made by Pixar Animation Studios (72in Story). A Bug's Life takes us to Ant Island. where the colony is being oppressed by a gang of menacing grasshoppers. When inventive but clumsy worker ant Ii-‘lik incurs the wrath of gang
l
leader Hopper. he heads off to find help heavyweight help in the battle against his oppressors. See review. General release. Bulworth (l8) (Warren Beatty. US. I998) Warren Beatty. Halle Berry. ()Iiver Plait. 108 mins. In the final stages of a political campaign. disillusioned Democratic senator J. Billiitgton Btilworth finds himself unable to mouth the bland platitudes needed to get himself re-elected. So he buys SH) million worth of life insurance. hires an assassin to bump him off. and speaks his own mind for the first time in years. Glasgow: ()deon Quay. Kilmarnock: ABC.
The Caine Mutiny (PG) (Edward Dmytryk.
US. 1954) Humphrey Bogart. Jose I'Cl'l’L‘I'. Van Johnson. IZS mins. Courtroom drama adapted from Herman Wouk's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the court martial of two US navy officers for their mutiny against Bogart's Captain Qiieeg. who looses his nerve during a storm. An ageing ‘Bogie' looks tired otit and. while his lack of vitality is somewhat sad. it works in his character's favour. Glasgow; GI’II
Carl - My Childhood Symphony I I3) (Erik Clausen. Denmark. I994) I35 mins. Before S/iint'. music and drama met in this poignant portrait of the early life of Denmark‘s Carl Nielsen. one of this centuries foremost syinphonists. Edinburgh: Lumiere.
Catene (Raffaello Matara/Jo. Italy. I949) 86 mins. The marriage of Naples craftsman Guglielmo and his wife Rosa is upset by the arrival of her es-Iover in this low-budgeted. hugely successful Italian classic. Edinburgh: Italian Cultural Institute.
Class Trip In (Your /)(' .Vt'iet' I IS) ((‘laudc Miller. France. I998) ('leineiit Van Den Bergh. I-‘rancois Roy. 97 mins. Young Nicolas is given to morbid thoughts. a product of suffocatineg possessive parents and of too many nights poring ()\ er accidents on the TV news. During a theraputic school trip into the mountains his outsider status confirmed. a further escusc for Nicolas to remain inside his head. I-‘iiiely etched portrait of angst which iiiicrnalises the usual rite of passage. Glasgow: GI’I‘, Edinburgh: I‘ilmhouse.
SAnds of time: Carrie Mullan and Kate Winslet in Hideous Kinky
Clavigo (PG) (Marcel ()phuls. Germany. I970) I38 mins. ()phtils' film version of l-‘ritz Kortner's Hamburg stage production of Goethe‘s tragedy written iii I774 and based on historical events as described by Pierre de Beaumarchais in his memoirs. Supported by the short film The Woman Whose Mother ()nt't' Sun: (int/iv . . . Film In [978. Glasgow: Goethe Institute.
Death And The Maiden ()8) (Roman Polanski. UK/US/Erance. I994) Sigourney Weaver. Ben Kingsley. Stuart Wilson. l04 mins. A former torture victim believes the man who helped her husband when his car had a flat is the doctor who abused her years before. Polanski thinks he's doing a I-Iitchcockian thriller. while Weaver waves a gun around like there's something creepy. crawa and extraterrestrial under the bed. Edinburgh: I-‘ilmhouse.
Dobermann (Jan Kounen. France. I998)
( l8) Vincent Cassel. 'I‘cheky Karyo. 103 mins. Casscl plays Yann. nicknamed ‘The Dohermann'. a tough but sexy criminal who leads his gang in a series of bank robberies pursued by corrupt cop Christini. Kounen's references are l()()‘& cinematic. btit beneath its flashy surface. I)()/)t'l'lllllllll is a shallow movie. (ilasgow: (il'vI‘. Edinburgh: I-‘iliiihouse.
Don't Go Breaking My Heart (PG) (Willi Paterson. UK. I998) Jenny Seagrove. Charles Dance. Anthony Edwards. Suzanne (Seagrove) is a widow with two young children. surrounded by a group of loving friends who are — it seems — intent on fixing her up with a new man — in particular. randy dentist I-‘i'ank (Dance) and his rival American sports therapist Tony (ER's Edwards). Effortlesst watchable while hardly pushing the envelope of screen romance. See review. Glasgow: Odeon Quay. ()deoii City Centre. Edinburgh: ()(lcoti.
Elizabeth ( I5) (Shekhar Kapur. UK. I998) ('aie Blancheit. Geoffrey Rush. Christopher l-Icclestone. I20 mins. Not your typical frock flick. Shekhar Kapur‘s film may be ravishing to look at. but it's altogether darker and more disturbing than you'd
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