FILM index
FILM INDEX continued
My Son The Fanatic (15) (Udayan Prasad, UK, 1997) Om Puri, Rachel Griffiths, Stellan Skarsgard. 86 mins. In Hanif Kureishi’s screen adaptation of his own short story, put-upon Bradford taxi driver Puri is caught up in a domestic battle that pits pits whisky and Louis Armstrong against the Koran. Those expecting another rock 'n' roll rites of passage tale a la Buddha 0f Suburbia may be disappointed, but here is an absorbing account of conflicting moralities and generational tensions in fin de siecle Britain. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Night Train (15) (John Lynch, Ireland, 1998) John Hurt, Brenda Blethyn. 92 mins. An ageing ex-con and rail enthusiast moves into digs run by a lonely landlady when he's released from prison, but finds his past life coming back to haunt him. Part thriller, part romance, this film marks the directing debut of John Lynch. Part of the London Film Festival on tour. Glasgow: GF'I‘.
Night Wind (18) (Philippe Garrel, France, 1999) Catherine Deneuve, Xavier Beauvois, Daniel Duval. 95 mins. Mature drama centring on three people: Deneuve’s middle- aged woman, torn by her love for a young art student; Bcauvois's artist, uncertain if he wants the older woman; and an architect, deeply troubled by the May 1968 troubles. Part of the French Film Festival. Glasgow: GF'I‘. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Notting Hill (15) (Roger Michell, UK, 1999) Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts. 110 mins. Screenwriter Richard Curtis's eagerly awaited follow-up to Four Weddings And A Funeral has Grant playing William Thacker, the divorced owner of a travel bookshop into whose life walks Hollywood megastar Anna Scott (Roberts) and, before you know it, they kiss. Edinburgh: ABC.
October Sky (PG) (Joe Johnston, US, 1999) Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dem. 108 mins. Encouraged by their teacher, a miner’s son and his friends build miniature rockets for a science fair competition, but face opposition from the local authorities. Set in the working-class
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Trongate. Glasgow
505, this isn't your typical Hollywood coming-of-age flick. Part of the London Film Festival on tour. Glasgow: Odeon. Onegin (12) (Martha Fiennes, UK, 1999) Ralph Fiennes, Liv Tyler. 106 mins. Alexander Pushkin's epic poem, Evgeny Onegin, is the source of Fiennes's impressive debut film, which hurls its characters through an intensity of passion, betrayal and unbearable loss within the thoroughly elegant and codified context of the Russian aristocracy of the 18205. Ralph Fiennes's Onegin is an initially arrogant, cynical man who learns his own heart when tragic circumstances force him to re- evaluate his feelings for a woman, Tatyana
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(Liv Tyler). A heart-aching film, marked by fine performances. Edinburgh: Dominion, Filmhouse.
Orphans (18) (Peter Mullan, UK, 1998) Douglas Henshall, Gary Lewis, Stephen McCole. 95 mins. On the eve of their mother's funeral, four grown-up orphans express their grief as storm clouds gather in the skies. Less the social realism of Ken Loach than a surreal expressionism which takes everything to its illogical conclusion. Edinburgh: Cameo. .
The Out Of Towners (12) (Sam Weisman, US, 1999) Steve Martin, Goldie Hawn, John Cleese. 90 mins. Taking on the roles originally filled by Sandy Dennis and Jack Lemmon, Hawn and Martin cruise indifferently through this remake of Neil Simon's 1970 comedy as a married Ohio couple who leave their empty nest for the Big Apple. He is bound for an important job interview, but the entire world appears to be conspiring against his getting there on time. The leads get shufl'led from one mis-timed comedic situation to another in this screwball love letter to NY, which is ultimately just stupid. Glasgow: Showcase. Edinburgh: ABC. Paisley: Showcase.
Pi (15) (Darren Aronofsky, US, 1997) Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman. 84 mins. The science fiction of Pi is more Stephen Hawking than Star Trek; its conspiracy theory plot makes most episodes of The X-Files seem like children's fairytales. Obsessed with discovering numerical patterns in life and nature, mathematical genius Max comes across a 216 digit sequence that precedes a stock market crash and reveals the hidden name of God. Look no further for pre-millennium tension in its purest cinematic form. Edinburgh: Film Guild at the Filmhouse. Place Vendome (15) (Nicole Garcia, France, 1999) Catherine Deneuve, Jean- Pierre Bacri, Jacques Dutronc. 118 mins. This sleek thriller has some of the same pleasures as last year’s L 'Appartement: an intricate narrative, criss-crossing relationships and an iconographic use of Paris. Garcia's film, though, has a bit more emotional resonance, courtesy, perhaps, of the characters' seniority here - Deneuve as a woman in her fifties whose life has fallen apart; whose husband is suicidal. There’s plot enough here for Garcia to rollercoast, but the director ’5 more interested in character study. Glasgow: GFI‘. Stirling: MacRobert.
Post Coitum, Animal Triste (18) (Brigitte Roiian, US/France, 1999) Brigitte Roiian, Nils Tavemier, Boris Terral. 97 mins. Married with two kids to a lawyer, with a good job in publishing and an attractive Parisian flat, actor/director Roiian’s lead character has it all. Or has she? Problems with a writer struggling to produce his second novel and an afl'air with a younger man toss her into an emotional abyss, and
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Civil unrest: Tobey Maguire in Ride With The Devil
nothing less than a full self-examination is likely to bring her out of it. One of the most exacting and challenging takes on sex, ageing and self-confidence in years. And also one of the funniest. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
The Prince Of Egypt (U) (Brenda Chapman, Steve llickner, 1998) Voices of Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Sandra Bullock, Michelle Pfeiffer. 99 mins. The Exodus story, animated for the big screen. With some artistic licence, it follows Moses from his discovery as a baby by Pharaoh’s wife, through his formative years as a Royal Prince to his fall from grace when he discovers his true Hebrew background. The familiar tale is told in an imaginative and inventive fashion, yet in aiming for such a bold, epic approach the human focus is lost. Ayr: Odeon.
Random Hearts (15) (Sydney Pollack, US, 1999) Harrison Ford, Kristin Scott Thomas. 123 mins. Ford and Scott Thomas play a Washington DC cop and a New Hampshire congresswoman whose paths unexpectedly cross after their respective spouses are killed in an air crash. A second blow soon follows: the dead man and woman were lovers. In this glossy romantic drama, former carpenter Ford salutes his old trade with a performance of such woodenness that he cries out for a coat of varnish. It's a shame because opposite him Thomas delivers a nuanced and moving performance that deserves a better co-star. General release. Ratcatcher (15) (Lynne Ramsay, UK, 1999) William Eadie, Tommy Flanagan, Mandy Matthews. 93 mins. Seen through the eyes of twelve-year-old James Gillespie, a sensitive boy haunted by the drowning of a neighbour's son, Ratcatcher paints a bleakly realistic picture of Glasgow family life. Yet despite its stifling familial relationships, rubbish-strewn streets and casual cruelties, James's life is illuminated by vivid moments of ecstatic release. Ramsay uses meticulous framing, unusual camera angles and atmospheric images to capture the subtle textures of everyday life, as well as complex inner feelings. This is the work of a gifted visual stylist and a deeply sensitive human being. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Cameo. Ride With The Devil (15) (Ang Lee, US, 1999) Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich, Jeffrey Wright, Jewel. 138 mins. Ride With The Devil is a dusty epic of Gone With The Wind proportions, set amid the bloody chaos of the same war. Jacob Roedel (Maguire) rejects his father s Unionist beliefs to follow best friend Jack (Ulrich) in fighting the Confederate cause. Amongst their companions is black slave Holt (Wright), whose devotion to his master confuses his loyalty to his own people, whose bondage he is ghting to preserve. An Oscar-worthy and unashamedly traditional Hollywood war movie that benefits from Lee 's deft way with the intimate, the ambiguous and the morally