FILM index
FILM INDEX continued
the Blair Witch Project (15) (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, US, 1999) Heather Donahue, Josh Leonard, Michael Williams. 90 mins. Myrick and Sanchez’s ten'ifying docu-horror movie purports to be an edited version of the film and video footage that Donahue, Leonard and \Vrlliams shot in the days before they disappeared in the woods around Burkittsville, Maryland. While you're watching you’re too sacred to think, but it’s the subtle artifice that sustains the illusion of unfiltered reality that make the events so vivid, and which allows the film to play such clever tricks with your mind. See feature and review. Glasgow: GF’I‘, Odeon. Edinburgh: Cameo.
Bound (18) (Larry and Andy Wachowski, US, 1996) Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gerson, Jo Pantoliano,. 97 mins. Ex-con Corky (Gershon) is seduced by Violet (T rlly) into helping steal $2 million from mob money- launderer Caesar (Pantoliano), but the sting doesn’t go smoothly. After a slighly cliched opening, oozing with steamy lesbian sex, this neo-noir thriller comes into its own. Tightly plotted and full of stylish quirks, its story takes unpredictable twists to keep any for the characters holding all the cards at one time. Glasgow: GFT.
Bowflnger (12) (Frank 02, US, 1999) Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham. 97 mins. Ecstatic after reading a ’great script’, Martin, the proprietor of the low budget Bowfinger lntemational Pictures, begins the farcical attempt to make a movie with Hollywood’s flavour of the month, Kit Ramsey (Murphy), as its unwitting star. Exposing Hollywood’s neurotic underbelly, but sadly all too briefly, the plot then develops into double trouble for Murphy. In his second role in the film, he plays the stunt-double and - unbeknownst to the film crew - brother of Kit Ramsay. See review. General release. The Boy Who Turned Yellow (U) (Michael Powell, UK, 1972) 55 mins. The great Michael Powell ’s children’s adventure film, voted the Children’s Film Foundation Film Of The Year three years running. Supported by the Aardman Animation short, Creature Comforts. Stirling: MacRobert.
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: GFI‘. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Buena Vista Social Club (U) (Wirn Wenders, Orba, 1999) Ry Cooder, Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben 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. Wenders’ regular musical collaborator Ry Cooder's interest in the urban 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. Glasgow: OFF. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Canadian Fall/Videos d'Ecosse (Various, Canada/Scotland, 1999) 140 mins. Acclaimed video artists Nelson Henricks and Nikki Forrest introduce two programmes of experimental video art, the product of a cultural exchange. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Celebrity ( 18) (Woody Allen, US, 1999) Kenneth Branagh, Melanie Griflith, Winona Ryder, Charlize Theron, Leonardo DiCaprio. 113 mins. A not always successful dissection of the nature and price of fame. The film revolves around Branagh’s philandering hack and wannabe screenwriter, Lee Simon (Allen’s alter-ego), irresistible to a succession of attractive women. Dunferrnline: Carnegie Hall. Citizen Kane (PG) (Orson Welles, US, 1941) Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead. 119 mins. Stunningly successful biographical mosaic centring on
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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? Edinburgh: Brunton Theatre.
Comedian Harmonists (15) (Joseph Vrlsmaier, Germany, 1997) 127 mins. ln 19205 Berlin, six young men form a singing group based on the American acapella formation, The Revellers. The band ’5 success blinds its members — three of whom are Jews - to the implications of Hitler's rise to power. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Cookie’s Fortune (12) (Robert Altman, US, 1999) Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Patricia Neal. 118 mins. 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. Edinburgh: Lumiere. Falkirk: FTH Cinema.
Cruel Intentions (15) (Roger Kumble, US, 1999) . Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillipe, Reese Witherspoon. 98 mins. This teen remake of Dangerous Liaisons with horny high school kids taking the place of the sexual schemers is terrific fun. Kathryn (Gellar) and Sebastian (Phillipe) are two spoiled, wealthy step-siblings living in Manhattan who devise a wager: he must seduce the new school principal ’5 daughter Annette (Witherspoon). lf Sebastian fails, Kathryn gets his car; if he succeeds, he gets to have sex with his stepsister every which way. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Days Of Heaven (PG) (Terence Malick, US, 1978) Richard Gere, Sam Shepard, Brocke Adams. 94 mins. Malick is one of the great wayward talents of the contemporary American cinema (Badlands is his only other feature) and this is an exquisite triangular love story set against the wheat farming Midwest at the turn of the century. You can almost feel the sweat of labour and smell the soil, such is the power of undoubtedly majestic film- making. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
The Debt Collector (18) (Anthony Neilson, UK, 1999) Billy Connolly, Ken Stott, lain Robertson. 110 mins. Reformed and out of prison, ex-loan shark Nicky Dryden (Connolly) is a rich, happily married celebrity on the Scottish art scene, but policeman Keltie (Stott) is determined to crash his party. The lives of Jimmy Boyle and Hugh Collins spring to mind, but writer-director Neilson uses the tale to picks away at the nasty jealousies and small- mindedness that can fester beneath the surface of a small nation. Edinburgh: Lumiere.
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 CG! 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. General release.
Der Golem (15) (Paul Wegener, Germany, 1920) 70 mins. Based on the medieval legend of the Golem, a clay statue with the power to protect Jewish people from harm in a sixteenth century Prague ghetto. When Rabbi Low foretells misfortune for his people, he creates the giant figure, but when his assistant misuses the creature’s power the Golem runs amok. Glasgow: GF'l‘. Detroit Rock City (15) (Adam Rifltin, US, 1999) Edward Furlong, Giuseppe Andrews, Natasha Lyonne. 80 mins. in 70s Ohio, four teenagers look forward to an upcoming
concert in Detroit by their rock heroes, Kiss.
Unfortunately, the tickets fall into the hands of drummer Jam’s bible-bashing harridan of a mother and the friends find themselves stranded outside the venue scrabbling
around for any half-baked plan to get them into the gig. A hackneyed slice of teen nostalgia, Rifltin’s comedy mistakes period authenticity for humour. See review. General release.
Le Diner De Cons ( 15) (Francis Verber, France, 1999) Thierry Lherrnitte, Jacques Villeret, Catherine Frot. 80 mins. Each Wednesday upmarket professional, Pierre and his friends invite someone for dinner as a plaything for their own amusement. Lhermitte's chosen victim on one such night is Francois, an accountant whose hobby is making models out of matchsticks. if one finds interesting the idea of a lonely accountant abused for his stupidity before the tables are turned, then Verber’s film offers much mirth. Edinburgh: Cameo. Dog Day Afternoon (15) (Sidney Lumet, US, 1975) Al Pacino. 130 mins. Pacino’s grandstanding as the anxiety-ridden New Yorker attempting to rob a bank to pay for his gay lover’s sex change operation continued his status as one of his generation’s leading actors. Edinburgh: Film Guild at Filmhouse.
Doug's 1st Movie (U) (Maurice Joyce, US, 1999) 77 mins. The animated adventures of quirky adolescent Doug Funnie graduates from its popular Saturday morning slot on American television to big screen glory, courtesy of Disney. Movie no. 1 sees the twelve-year-old torn between taking action against environmental pollution and taking his beloved Patti Mayonnaise to the high school dance. Glasgow: Odeon At The Quay. Edinburgh: ABC, UCl.
Dr Strangelove (PG) (Stanley Kubrick, UK, 1963) Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden. 94 mins. Superb satire and cautionary tale based on Terry Southem’s script about what can go wrong with a supposedly fail-safe nuclear armaments facility. What goes wrong is Hayden’s paranoid, megalomaniac US Air Force base commander who starts a nuclear war before the Ruskies get a chance to do likewise. St Andrews: New Picture House.
Drop Dead Gorgeous (15) (Michael Patrick Jann, US, 1999) Denise Richards, Kirsten Dunst, Kirstie Alley, Ellen Barkin. 98 mins. Set in America’s heartland of traditional values and Christian morality, this deliciously savage satire takes a bite out of an aspect of American life held most dear - the beauty pageant. Good girl Dunst begins to fear for her life when she goes up against bad girl Richards for the pageant queen title and fellow contestants start meeting with unfortunate accidents. Irvine: Magnum Theatre.
Election (15) (Alexander Payne, US, 1999) Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein. 103 mins. Payne ’5 adaptation of Tom Perrotta's novel, a comic satire on the 1992 American presidential election campaign set in a high school, focuses on the conflict between Jim McAllister (Broderick), a dedicated teacher who’s also suffering from a mid-life crisis, and Tracy Flick (Witherspoon), a model but precocious pupil over a student government election. The smartest comedy to come out of the States in years. Glasgow: Odeon At The Quay. Edinburgh: Cameo.
Elizabeth (15) (Shekhar Kapur, UK, 1998) Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Christopher
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Casting couch: Heather Graham and Steve Martin in Bowfinger
Ecclestone. 120 mins. Not your typical frock flick, Kapur's film may be ravishing to look at, but it's altogether darker and more disturbing than you’d expect. A political thriller from Tudor history, in which Blanchett's performance turns cherished notions about England's Virgin Queen on their head. A gripping and intelligent work. Edinburgh: Film Guild at Filmhouse.
Entrapment (15) (Jon Amiel, US, 1999) Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones. 112 mins. Former ace cat burglar Robert ’Mac' MacDougal (Connery) attracts the attention of sexy insurance investigator Gin Baker (Zeta-Jones). She is determined to find evidence connecting him with that opening sequence robbery, just as he is determined to not have that crime pinned on him. it's all very To CatchA Thief, but not really in the same league. Edinburgh: Brunton Theatre. The Exorcist (18) (William Friedkin, US, 1973) Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, Max Von Sydow. 110 mins. Earnest priest Von Sydow steps in to save poor little possessed girl in this hugely effective scarefest. Now re- released in remastered form, with a super stereo soundtrack (so you can hear those Obscenities in full). Dead good, dead scary, dead priest. Stirling: MacRobert.
Exotica (18) (Atom Egoyan, Canada, 1994) Bruce Greenwood, Mia Kirschner, Elias Koteas. 104 mins. A brooding set of troubled souls who collect in a strip club are linked by a dark event in their pasts. in a way, Egoyan's film, despite its setting, isn't about sex at all. it certainly doesn't allow the viewer to escape into fantasy, instead focusing on how these traumatised individuals cope with their personal sense of loss. The filmmaker’s most accessible film to date. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Eyes Wide Shut (18) (Stanley Kubrick, US, 1999) Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sidney Pollack. 159 mins. Had Kubrick chosen to stage his adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s Dream Novel in its original fin de sr'Ecle Viennese setting, audiences might have found the whole primitive Freudian mess easy to stomach. Transposing the would-be decadent psychosexual shenanigans to contemporary Manhattan, however, proves disastrous. What makes Eyes Wide Shut just about watchable is the screen presence of its two stars. Glasgow: Showcase. Edinburgh: UCl. Irvine: Magnum Theatre. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith. Felicia's Journey (12) (Atom Egoyan, UK/Canada, 1999) Bob Hoskins, Elaine Cassidy, Peter McDonald. 116 mins. After the sublime heights of the seductive Exotica and mesmerising The Sweet Hereafter, Atom Egoyan has fallen from grace with this clunking adaptation of William Trevor ’5 novel. Felicia is a young lrish girl who journeys across the sea to England to find the father of her unborn child. Arriving in Birmingham, the naive girl accepts the help of Ambrose Hilditch, a seemingly benign middle-aged bachelor who has more than one skeleton in his closet. Glasgow: GFI‘. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Final Cut (18) (Dominic Anciano/Ray Burdis, UK, 1999) Jude Law, Sadie Frost, Ray Winstone. 93 mins. The death of a young actor Jude (Jude Law) brings together all his best mates at his funeral. His