FILM index
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FILM INDEX continued
ofAmerican superhero comic books on the big screen. The darker Batman film series may hold more appeal for modern audiences. bill this film remains the benchmark. although it did spawn of too many sequels. Part of the West End Film Festival. Glasgow: Grosvenor. Sweet Smell Of Success ( l5) (Alexander Mackendrick. US. I957) Burt Lancaster. Tony Curtis. Susan Harrison. Martin Milner. 96 mins. A dark-centred conspiracy thriller with a superb evocation of fear and paranoia. sltot on the streets of New York. Lancaster stars as a powerful journalist obsessed with destroying his sister’s mamage. while Curtis is the gossip ltack whose Willingness to oblige leads him into a web of trouble. Part of the West End Film Festival. Glasgow: GiImorehiII Centre. Tea With Mussolini (PG) (Franco Zeffirelli. Italy/UK. I999) Cher. Joan Plow-right. Maggie Smith. I I7 mins. Zeftirelli's film is partly autobiographical. partly fictitious. and con- cerns the effect on his own upbringing and education by a group of Iinglish ladies living iii Florence at the time of II Dtice's rise to power. This particular brew seems oddly lack- ing in zest. Edinburgh: Lumiere.
The Ten Commandments (PG) (Cecil B. DeMille. US. I956) Charlton Heston. 220 mins. An epic the way they really do not make them any more. Heston's Moses leads the Israelites to freedom from ligyplian tyranny. parting the Red Sea in the process. Heston. who has since played God himself. makes for a towering bearer of the stone tablets of wis- dom in a film wuh real epic scope. Glasgow: GFT.
Testimonies (ldo Sela. I985) St» mins. Documentary in which Israeli soldiers involved in .sui'pressing the Palestinian upris- ing discuss the emotions they experienced and the memories they harbour today. Part of Descriptions ()f A Struggle. an Israeli/Palestinian film season. Iidinburgh: Fruitmarkct Gallery.
The Thin Red line ( l5) ('l'errence Malick. LlS. I998) Nick Nolte. lilias Kotcas. Sean Penn. l7l) mins. This is very much a director's film. with the mythic and revered .\Ialick as the star. Movie A-list types make cameo appearances. while the bulk of the action cen- tres on the boys from Company C. the luck- less outfit charged with taking a \ ital hilltop stronghold III the battle for Guadalcanal. Edinburgh: Lumiere.
Three Sisters ('I‘sipi Reibenbach. I998) ()8 mins. This documentary focuses on three Holocaust survivors. sisters denied their youth by the Nazis and now old attd approaching their last days. Yet Reibenbach‘s film is also full of humour and optimism. Part of Descriptions Of A Struggle. an Israeli/I’alestinian film season. Edinburgh: Friiitmarket Gallery.
Titanic Town ( I5) (Roger Michell. L'K. I998) Julie Walters. Ciaran Hinds. Nuala O'Neill. I00 mins. Like Some Mother's Son. Titanic Town deals with Ireland's 'I'rouhles from a WOIIIIIIFs perspective. Based on .\‘Iai‘y Costello's antobiographical novel. the filth charts wile and mother Berni‘s efforts to obtain a cease-lire on a Catholic housing estate in West Belfast in the late l97()s. Glasgow: Gross-enor.
A Title Deed From Moses (Azza til-Hassan. I998) 30 mitts. Documentary dealing with plans made for the expansion of the Israeli Ma'aleh Adumim colony to link it to East Jerusalem. at the expense of five Palestinian villages. Part of Descriptions ()f A Struggle. an Ismelt/Palestinian film season. Edinburgh: Fi'uitmarket Gallery.
To Have And Have Not (PU) (Howard Hawks. LES. I945) Humphrey Bogart. Lauren Bacall. Walter Brennan. Hoagy Carmichael. I()(l mins. Bogart and Bacall worked together for the first time in Hawks‘ Heiiungway adap- tation. set III the Caribbean during the war. where Bogart‘s fishing-boat owner is drawn into the conllicl by his (real life) line for Bacall. Part of the West Iind Film Festival. Glasgow: (iilmorehill Centre.
True Crime i IS) (Clint lzttslwootl. L's. I999) Clint Iiastwood. Denis Leary. Isaiah Washington. l3? mins. \‘ow nearly 7(). Eastwood brings his years ofe\pet‘ience to the role of Steve Iiverett. a washed-up journalist who is asked to write a routine piece about a black Death Row prisoner's last hours. Glasgow: Showcase. Virgin. Irvine: Magnum. Paisley: Showcase.
TwentyFourSeven ( l5) (Shane Meadows. UK. I997) Bob Hoskins. Bruce Jones. Frank Harper. 97 mins. A down and out (Hoskins) sets tip a boxing club ti) give the locals a sense of purpose. bitt tragedy is always lurking. Shot
in dazzling black and while. this is almost cer- tainly the most notable portrayal of Nottingham since Albert Finney refused to be ground down in Salim/(iv Night. Sum/(iv Morning. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Up In Smoke (Lou Adler. US. I978) Cheech Marin. Tontmy C hong. Stacy Keach. II7 mins. Two LA dopeheads attempt to drive a van made entirely out of marijuana back home from Mexico. Shamblmg festival ofdrug- related humour. Edinburgh: Cameo.
Venus Beauty ( IS) (Tonic Marshall. France. I999) Nathalie Baye. Samuel Ie Bihan. Bulle ()gier. I05 mins. Despite ruling the roost at Venus Beauty. the local beauty salon. Angele (Baye) is very lonely. so much so that she fre- quently has one night stands with total strangers. Marshall's warm and perceptive drama dispenses advice in the form of truthful and worldly insights about the nature of l'uiiioiir. See review. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Virus ( I8) (John Bruno. L'S. I999) Donald Sutherland. Jamie Lee Cums. William Baldwin. 99 mins. This time the nasty infec- tion that needs to be eradicated is the human race. targetted by an alien lifeform which beams down to a satellite-tracking ship. Sci-ft movie as surrogate haunted house horror flick. with the characters picked off one by one. Selected release.
Wadi 1981-1991 (Amos Gitai. |99I ) 97 mins. Gitai's I'ilm focuses on three groups liv- ing in Wadi Rtismia valley: an Arab family. a Jewish family and a mixed couple. Part of I)esci'iptions Of A Struggle. an Israeli/Palestinian film season. Edinburgh: Fruitinarket Gallery.
Waking Ned (PG) (Kirk Jones. UK. I998) Ian Bannen. David Kelly. Fionnttla Flanagan. 9| iiiitis. Actually. Ned's dead. A shame that. because the old fella just won £7 million play- ing The Lottery — the discovery of which killed him. However. wily seventysomething pals Jackie and Michael spy a golden opportu- nity to claim the cash. Charming and eccentric with a defiant spirit. Glasgow: Showcase. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith. Largs: Barrfields. Paisley: Showcase.
War Of The Worlds (I’G) (Byron Haskin. US. I953) Gene Barry. Ann Robinson. Les 'I'remayne. 85 mins. H.G. Wells's classic is hijacked by the Americans and transported to California in the |95()s. thereby giving it that distinctive post-atomic sci-ft feel. The sfx (still pretty impressive) won ()scars in their day. and it is stirring to see these vast cityscapes under attack from Martian space- ships. Part of the West End Film Festival. Glasgow: Gi'osvenor.
The Waterboy ( I2) Adam Sandler. Kathy Bates. Henry Winklei‘. 9() mins.
Sandler plays Bobby Boiicher. a socially inept. 3I-year-old iiiiimmy's boy. who goes from being the watcrboy to the star of an American football team. As the Wedding Singer. he might have been a drip. bill as the Waterboy. he's just a washout. Galsgow: Showcase. UCI Clydebank. Edinburgh: L'CI. liast Kilbride: L‘CI. Paisley: Showcase.
The Wicked Lady (PU) (Leslie Ai-Iiss. UK. I945) Margaret Lockwood. James Mason. I04 mins. A real romp of a melodrama which caused much censorship consternation in its day. Anioral aristocrat Lady Lockwood takes to the highways with Mason's robber to.
well . . . rob travellers. Glasgow: GFT.
Wilde (I5) (Brian Gilbert. UK. I997) Stephen Fry. Jude Law. Vanessa Redgrave. I I7 mins. The casting of Fry as Victorian wit. novelist and playwright Oscar Wilde seems almost inevitable. and it pays off. with the actor get- ting beyond surface details to the intelligent. kind man beneath. Grittier in its portrayal of homosexual relationships than most British period dramas. Stirling: MacRobert.
Your Friends And Neighboum l8) (Neil LaBiite. US. I998) Catherine Keener. Jason I’atric. Amy Brennemaii. Aaron Eckhart. Catherine Keener. l()() mins. While III The ('oni/mnv ()l Mm left itself open to charges of misogyny with a depiction of women as the passive victims of male cruelty. Your Friends :lllt/ Neighbours adopts a much more equal opportunities approach. These ladies are very nearly as fucked tip as the fuck-tips they fuck. Stirling: MacRobert.
FILM REVIEWS
New releases are reviewedon pages 22—24.
Short reviews of all other hints?”f 5 showing this fortnight arein the} ’ Film Index, pages 26—30; . jg?