and hetero) coming up trumps. Stirling: MacRobert.
Big Daddy (12) (Dennis Dugan, US, 1999) Adam Sandler, Joey Lauren Adams, Jon Stewart. 93 mins. Sadly not an homage to the late wrestling great, this is the new comedy vehicle for Adam Sandler's similarly unsubtle comedy talents. Which is not to say he isn’t funny, just that most of it, in this case, seems to revolve around his abrasive screen persona Sonny Koufax, a full time slob who becomes the unwilling daddy to a sweet five-year-old. Silly it may be, but despite the lack of ambition it’s occasionally funny, and brief too. General release.
The Big Tease (15) (Kevin Allen, UK. 1999) Craig Ferguson, Francis Fisher, Chris Langham. 88 mins. The American Dream comes to Scotland in this tale of Crawford Mckenzie (Ferguson), a Glaswegian hair- stylist cutting and crimping his way to the top of the hair hierarchy. Shot in semi-mock documentary style, the film follows his endeavours to take on all comers at the World Freestyle Hairdressing Championships in LA. The Big Tease is a premier league feelgood movie that taps well into Ferguson‘s national identity and, no doubt, the abundance of tartanry will go down a treat Stateside. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith.
Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss (15) (Tommy O‘Haver, US, 1999) Sean P. Hayes, Brad Rowe, Meredith Scott Lynn. 89 mins. Technicolour. Cinemascope. Melodrama. Three words that conjure up images of a Golden Age of Hollywood cinema, which era director Tommy O’Haver almost perfectly recreates on celluloid. The look sets the tone for the story of Billy Collier, a young, gay, photographer intent on taking a series of photographs mimicking classic screen kisses from, yep, Hollywood’s Golden Age. Edinburgh: Lumiere.
Blade Runner: The Director’s Cut (15) (Ridley Scott, US, 1982) Harrison Ford, Sean Young, Rutger llauer. 116 mins. Out go the pseudo-noir narration and the tacked-on happy ending; in comes a more defined sense that Deckard himself may be a replicant. The look and feel remain as powerful, and the acting is superb. A flawed masterpiece is now a restored masterpiece. Glasgow: GF'I".
Blade Runner ( 15) (Ridley Scott, US, 1982) Harrison Ford, Rutger llauer, Sean Young. 117 mins. A tough cop tracks down a group of malfunctioning androids in this gritty hi-tech retread of Raymond Chandler, executed with Scott's customary visual flair, and with strong performances, especially from Ford and llauer. But try following the confusing plot first time around. Edinburgh: Cameo.
The Blair Witch Project (18) (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, US, 1999) Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard. 90 mins. Special preview screening of what's been dubbed ‘the scariest film ever made’, commemorating the disappearance of the three student filmmakers five years ago this very night on October 21 1994. See feature and review next issue. Edinburgh: Cameo.
Bonnie and Clyde (18) (Arthur Penn, US, 1967) Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman, Michael J. Pollard. 111 mins. This stylish and gritty account of the relationship and activities of two self- publicised bank robbers was a late-1960s milestone in making extreme screen violence curiously fashionable. Great performances from Hackman and Dunaway, a genuine sense of the thrill involved in their nefarious activities, and telling period detail make this one of Penn's best. Edinburgh: Cameo.
The Borrowers (U) (Peter Hewitt, UK, 1997) 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 inheritance, families big and small join forces. The design and effects create a strangely familiar, oddly unplaceable world, and children will have little difficulty suspending enough disbelief to be spellbound by the magic of the film. Glasgow: GFI‘. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Break Even (Plus Minus Null) (18) (Eoin Moore, Germany, 1997) 81 mins. Irish filmmaker Moore shot his graduation film over twelve days without a script and on a
very low budget and has come up with a winning tale of three disenfranchised people desperate to change their lives: Alex, a lonely construction worker, a prostitute named Ruth and Svetlana, a Bosnian refugee. Glasgow: GFT.
Buena Vista Social Club (U) (Wim Wenders, Cuba, 1999) Ry Cooder, Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén Gonzalez. 104 mins. Cuba looks a little like the land that time forgot. A theme Wenders brings out both in the over- exposed images of Havana and also in the musical brilliance of these octogenarian and nonagenarian musicians who have for so long been neglected. And it's ironically thanks to an American that their careers have been resurrected. Wenders’ regular musical collaborator Ry Cooder's interest in the Cuban scene, and his large reputational clout, results in album recordings, a performance in Amsterdam and, in a rousing finale, a show at no less an institution than Carnegie Hall. See review. Glasgow: GF'I‘. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Calendar (15) (Atom Egoyan, Armenia/ Canada/Germany, I993) Arsince Khanjian, Ashot Adamian, Atom Egoyan. 72 mins. A Canadian-Armenian photographer and his wife travel on an assignment to take images of twelve Armenian churches. But as they learn about the history of their homeland, she falls in love with the tour guide, forcing her husband to face life at home without her. A personal but nevertheless engaging film by the director of The Adjuster. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Casper (PG) (Brad Silberling, US, 1995) Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman, Cathy Moriarty. 100 mins. Everyone’s favourite friendly ghost has been living with his three bad-tempered uncles in an abandoned mansion. When it’s bequeathed to a money- grabbing heiress who thinks it’s filled with, hidden treasure guarded by unquiet spirits, Casper comes into contact with ghost psychologist Pullman's tomboy daughter (Ricci). A very messy amalgam of Ghostbusrers effects, Addams F amin gothic humour and the sort of overblown feelgood Spielbergiana that revels in funny gadgetry and family values. Stirling: Carlton.
Citizen Kane (PG) (Orson Welles, US, 1941) Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead. 119 mins. Stunningly successful biographical mosaic centring on a Hearst-like media tycoon. Welles' first film remains scintillating viewing for its sheer technical verve, narrative confidence and spellbinding performances. The best film ever made? Who’s arguing? Glasgow: Grosvenor. Comedian Harmonists (15) (Joseph Vilsmaier, Germany, 1997) 127 mins. In 19205 Berlin, six young men form a singing group based on the American acapclla formation, The Revellers. The band‘s success blinds its members — three of whom are Jews — to the implications of Hitler‘s rise to power. Glasgow: GF'I'.
Cookie's Fortune (12) (Robert Altman, US, 1999) Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Patricia Neal. 118 mins. Neither a masterpiece like Short Cuts, nor a piece of studio hack work like The Gingerbread Man, Robert Altman’s latest is a likeable, very minor slice of Americana. The plot is simple enough, negligible even. Neal's titular character commits suicide; her nieces, avaricious Close and docile Moore, arrive and find the body and frame the live-in help (Charles S. Dutton). However, Altman’s inquiring visual style fails to find characters of any substance. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith.
Deep Blue Sea (15) (Renny Harlin, US, 1999) Saffron Burrows, Samuel L. Jackson, LL Cool J. 104 mins. With its ferocious action, heart-stopping suspense and rib- shaking explosions, Harlin‘s hugely entertaining ‘smart shark' movie pulls out all the stops, making maximum use of post- Jaws improvements in animatronic effects. and CGI technology. Lashed by a tropical storm, the Aquatica marine research laboratory, where Dr McAllister (Burrows) and her team are using brain issue extracted from genetically manipulated sharks to search for a cure to Alzheimer's disease, is rapidly turned into a flooded environment that suits the mutated, predatory sharks better than their human prey. See feature and review. General release.
Continued over page
index FILM
See it
Hear it Feel it
lheieritnl Follies
Fri 8 Oct at 2pm & 7pm
Tickets From £7.00 fi '
3 Huual Starfish Nalieal flrhesira
Sibelius - Saint-Saéns - llvo‘r'fiH
Sun 10 Oct Tickets From £8.00
EDINBURGH
EE/TIVAL THEATRE
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[JUPITan
Joseph and ~ lEEIllIICflIfll flreamrnni
Mon 11 to Sat 16 Oct Tickets From £6.50
Maximum anur 'n‘ Blue The Manfreds
BIIII SDECIBI GUESTS
Chris Farlouie. Hlan Price and Colin Bluntsiene Mon 18 Oct
IEIIIDBIIZ Dance Companu Programme line: TIIIJIB HI"
Wed 20 & Thurs 2] Oct Programme Tlllfli God‘s Plentu
CilfISiflllilEl HI'IICE'S IIEIIJ full length mnrli
Friday 22 & Sat 23 Oct Tickets From £5.00
Tickets From £13.50
Box office fllil 529 8000 Groups 013] 529 8005
7—21 Oct 1999 THEUS‘I’23