106 mins. Blacker than black Ealing comedy has a suave and sophisticated Price killing off an entire family tree (all played by Guinness) in order to move himself closer to the d'Ascoyne family title. Low- key cynicism and disarming callousness make it a true gem of British post-war cinema. Edinburgh: Film Guild at the Filmhouse.
the Last Days (PG) (James Moll, US, 1999) 87 mins. Any Holocaust documentary is inevitably a footnote to Shoah, Claude Lanzmann’s exhaustive 1986 study of guilt and the process of remembering. The Last Days takes a similar approach with its in- depth interviews, but its claim to have captured the truth, to have created a definitive record, is to be regarded with caution. Still, this Oscar-winning first release from Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation adds a further chapter to the dossier of testimonies; that of the Hungarian Jews, who were amongst the last to be rounded up by the Nazis and taken to the camps. Edinburgh: Cameo.
Life Is Beautiful (PG) (Roberto Benigni, Italy, 1998) Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi. 116 mins. A comedy about the Holocaust? Surely not. Well, that's what Italian writer-director-star Benigni has done in fashioning a poignant comic fable about the resilience of the human spirit and the power of the imagination. A humane and moving film. Edinburgh: Cameo.
The Limey (18) (Steven Soderbergh, US, 1999) Terence Stamp, Peter Fonda, Luis Guzman. 89 mins. Stamp’s criminal cockney reject, Wilson is off his manor and in Los Angeles to avenge his daughter's death in Soderbergh's take on 60s cinema and the British crime movie. But this is no simple revenge caper, although the action thrills and the one-liners are smart. The casting 60$ icons Stamp and Fonda as Wilson’s nemesis, record producer Terry Valentine, is inspired. Glasgow: GF'l'. Lucky People Centre International (12) (Johan Soderberg/Erik Pauser, Sewden, 1998) 81 mins. An exploration of the many forms of spiritualism around the world, a
hymn to cultural diversity, LPC International fuses image and music along the lines of Koyaanisqatsi. LPC’s mix follows trance with dance, Japanese music is mixed with voodoo drumming. Glasgow: GET.
Manhattan (15) (Woody Allen, US, 1979) Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway. 96 mins. Woody wanders through the female jungle of New York in search of a perfect soulmate after the demise of his marriage. Sublime comic delight with a soulful Gershwin score. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Miiune (15) (Staten Kragh-Jacobsen, Denmark/Sweden, 1998) Anders W Berthelsen, Jesper Asholt, lben lljejle. 98 mins. On the eve of his wedding, Copenhagen yuppie Kresten (Berthelsen) learns that his father has died and reluctantly returns to the remote, neglected family farm. Unable to cope with his mentally handicapped brother, Rud (Asholt), he advertises for a housekeeper, and is delighted when the beautiful Liva (Hjejle) arrives to take on the job. But Liva too has a secret. Kragh-Jacobsen's film, the third made under the Dogma banner, distinguishes itself by not playing fast and loose with the rules, by telling a simple, linear story with a minimum of formal fussiness. Edinburgh: Lumiere.
Muppets From Space (U) (Tim Hill, 1999, US) Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Frank 02. 88 mins. For their sixth big screen adventure, the focus of our Muppet attentions is Gonzo, that blue, hooked nosed . . . thing. No-one is really sure what Gonzo is, so when he gets a message which he believes is from space, the race is on to make contact with his extra terrestrial brethren. Muppets From Space captures the spirit of the first movie and the original TV series where the subsequent films never did. General release.
Mystery Men (PG) (Kinka Usher, US, 1999) Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Janeane Garofalo. 122 mins. Although it’s a spoof, Mystery Men is more knowing about the conventions ofAmerican comic book
superheroes than other comic adaptations — that's largely down to .lfyslery Men's origins in Bob Burden's Dark Horse Comic, Flaming Carrot. Caped crimetighter Captain Amazing has been kidnapped by super villain Casanova Frankenstein and it's up to underachiever heroes: the Mystery Men to save the day. General release.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (PG) (Ilenry Selick, US, 1993) With the voices of Chris Sarandon, Danny lilfman, Catherine O'Hara. 76 mins. Jack Skellington, the skinny trickster king of Halloweentown, is restless with success and needs a new challenge, so he hatches a plot to kidnap Santa and create a mixed-up Yuletide isn't quite what the kids of the world expected. Produced and based on a story and characters by Tim Burton, this is a real imaginative treat — deliciously dark stop- motion animation on the big screen. Edinburgh: Cameo.
Notting Hill (15) (Roger Michell, UK, 1999) Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts. 110 mins. Screenwriter Richard Curtis‘s eagerly awaited follow-up to Four ll'eddingsAnd 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. Dunfermline: Carnegie Hall. 101 Dalmatians (U) (Stephen Herek, US, 1996) Glenn Close, Joely Richardson, Jeff Daniels. 103 mins. Disney turns one of its favourite animated films into a live action pantomime with spodges of Home A lone buffoonery, making sure there are plenty of dogs to make the kids go ‘aaahhh'. The story remains pretty much untouched - vile villainess Cruella De Vil (Close) kidnaps enough spotty pups to make a stunning coat, but the animal world gets the better of her - and so does the old-fashioned morality, which stresses the sanctity of marriage and that a woman's place is by her man's side. Edinburgh: Odeon. Kilmarnock: Odeon. One More Kiss ( l2) (Vadim Jean, UK, 1999) Valerie deonds, James Cosmo, Gerry Butler. 99 mins. Preview screening of this drama about a woman (Edmonds) who
listings FILM
comes to realise her successful New \ork
lifestyle has no meaning. Returning to her Borders home town, she looks up her widowed father, who shows little interest in life until her learns the real reason his daughter has come home. Glasgow: GFI'. Onegin (12) (Martha Fiennes. UK, 1999) Ralph Fiennes, Liv Tyler. 100 mins. Alexander Pushkin's epic poem, Ergo/iv ()negin, 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 1820s. 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. Edinburgh: ABC, Dominion.
Pandora's Box (15) (0. w. Pabst, Germany, 1929) Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer, Gustav Diessi. 98 mins. Jolly Teutonic monochrome, in which a woman kills her boyfriend and goes on the game, only to run into an unfortunate scrape with Jack the Ripper. Surprisingly enjoyable piece, with terrific performance from Ms Brooks. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Poor Cow (18) (Ken Loach, UK, 1967) Carol White, Terence Stamp. 101 mins. Poor cow, indeed. Saddled with a marriage to a criminal doing time and living with prostitute aunt, White's teenage girl has no luck whatsoever. When she falls for her husband's charming friend (Stamp) things begin to look up, but this being a Ken Loach film . . . Poor Cow's footage of the then youthful Stamp appears in the actor's new film, The Limey. Glasgow: (EFF.
Pushing Tin (15) (Mike Newell, US, 1999) John Cusack, Billy Bob 'lhornton, Angelina Jolie, Cate Blanchett. 124 mins. Cusack is Nick Falzone, the hot shot aircraft navigator at New York's busiest airport. The arrival of Russell Bell ('l'hornton) brings out cracks in Fallone's once unfiappable exterior. Bell's pouting wife (Jolie) provides further
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