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38 THE lIST l—lS Feb 2001
FILM INDEX continued
Street Of The Mad People (Darb el- Magaqbil) (PG) (Tawt'iq Saleh. ligypt. 1955) 93 mins. Part of Cincmamed. see preview. l-‘ilmhouse. Edinburgh.
Student Shorts (NC) (Various directors. UK. 2000) Presented in collaboration with TZUFS. students from [Edinburgh University and Edinburgh College OfArt and members of the Film Society present their own works. A full programme is yet to be confirmed but those Confirmed so far include [)esperuru and ()ur ()fBrear/i. The Lumiere. Edinburgh.
Suzhou River ( 12) *tti (Lou Ye. China. 2000) Zhou Xun. Jia Hongsheng. Yao Anlian. 83 mins. Suzhou River is the Asian lerrigo, but don't expect Hitchcock-style camerawork in this film. In the vanguard of China's new ‘(ith Generation' filmmakers. Ye's style is shaky hand-held camerawork representing the video diaries of a lonely videographer (a Cipher for China's disillusioned youth?) who lives on the eponymous Shanghai waterway. The plot. however. riffs on Hitchcock's classic about obsession and mistaken identity. For cincphiles and social observers alike. this is a clever. contemporary film which bodes well for the ()th Generation. l-‘ilmhouse. lidinburgh.
Tarzan And The Lost City (U) (Carl Schenkel. US. 1998) 84 mins. A rather slapdash chapter in the ape man's screen appearances. this eco-tale sees Tarzan abandon his wedding to go head to head with a destructive explorer. Vikingar Cinema. Largs.
Tarzan (U) iriirt (Kevin Lima and Chris Buck. US. 1999) Minnie Driver. Glenn Close. Nigel Hawthorne. 88 mins. Disney has finally turned its attention to the second most filmed character in Western cinema (Dracula is the first) and has created some astonishing images. Storytelling-wise. Tarzan remains reasonably faithfully to lidgar Rice Burrough's original. Shipwrecked on a tropical island. baby Tarzan loses his human parents to a terrifying tiger and is adopted by an ape clan. All grown up. the Ape Man is reunited with man and womankind when a trophy huntinganthropological expedition arrives and 'l‘arzan meets Jane. Vikingar Cinema. largs.
This Is Spinal Tap (15) *t*** (Rob Reiner. US. 1983) Christopher Guest. Michael McKean. Harry Shearer. R.J. Parnell. lid Begley Jr. 82 mins. Certainly the most ingenious. accurate and funny of all spoof rockumentaries. with wonderfully spontaneous dialogue. convincing fly-on- the-wall camera work. self-penned heavy metal parodies. and of course the amp that goes to 11. Odeon. lidinburgh.
Thomas And The Magic Railroad (U) *vk (Britt Allcroft. UKUS. 2000) Voices of Alec Baldwin. Peter Fonda. Michael li. Rodgers. 79 mins. This adaptation of the Reverend Wilbur Avvdry books is aimed squarely at under tens. Whilst children will be lapping up the tale of Thomas The Tank lingine aiding The Conductor (Baldwin) against the evil DiCscl train. accompanying guardians will be wondering what happened to Allcrolt's classic series narrated by Ringo Starr. Surely it was never this juvenile! ()deon. Dunfermline.
Three Violent People (15) *i* (Rudolph Mate. CS. 1956) A character-led Western in the mould of Duel In The Sun with Charlton Heston. Anne Baxter and a young lilaine Stritch sees three brothers quarrelling over the wife of one. St Bride's Centre. Edinburgh.
Titus (18) *t* (Julie Taymor. US. 2000) Anthony Hopkins. Jessica Lange. Alan Cumming. 102 mins. In this appropriately gruesome adaptation of Shakespeare's bloodiest play. 'Ii’rus.-lndronrcus. Roman general Titus (Hopkins) returns home after conquering the Goths. But when playboy Emperor Saturninus (Cumming) takes as his wife. the surviving Goth queen. Tamora (Lange). a series of tragic events are set in motion which wreaks havoc on the Andronicus lineage. Visually. the film looks great. though it tips crude cinematic snooks at everything from Romeo And Juliet to The .llurru'. Hopkins is brilliant and there‘s strong support from all of the cast to make
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Steven Soderbergh's Traffic is an epic drama exposing the USA’s drugs hypocrisy this an absorbing. if derivative three-hour ride. ()deon. Dunfermline. Tom's Midnight Garden (P0) * (Willard Carroll. UK. 2000) Anthony Way. Greta Scacchi. James Wilby. 107 mins. Based on Philippa l’earce's 1959 novel. this adaptation is a mix of [Jack 72) The Future and Narnia. An old grandfather clock that chimes thirteen times at midnight is Tom's passport to the l9th century. where he befriends orphan girl llatlie. The storyline is exciting enough. but with acting more wooden than the trees in the garden. Joan l’lowright's live-minute cameo is the film's only saving grace. (irosvenor. (ilasgow. Toy Story 2 (U) ***** (John lasseter. US. 2000) Voices of Tom Hanks. Tim Allen. Joan Cusack. 95 mins. The new film expands on the original settings and themes: When Woody is not taken to Cowboy Camp by his owner Andy, he begins to question the meaning of his 'lifc'. When he's subsequently stolen by a collector - who plans to sell him to a Japanese toy museum - Buzz and the gang travel across town to rescue their pal. The emotive range of the animated characters is extraordinary; they say that computer generated images will never replace the real thing. but 'Iov- Story 2 makes you wonder. The Lumiere. lidinburgh. Traffic ( lb’) **** (Steven Soderhergh. 2000. US) Benicio Del Toro. Michael Douglas. Catherine Zeta-Jones. 147 mins. This ambitious. multi-layered epic drama exposes the confusion. hypocrisy and sheer futility of America's war on drugs. Three interwoven storylines — involving decent cop Del Toro. conservative ()hio judge Douglas. the Country's newly appointed new drug czar. and well-heeled society wife Zeta- Jones — show how the drug trade touches and corrupts every level of society on both sides of the US Mexico border. l‘sing different film stocks and techniques. Sodcrbergh provides each of these storylines with a distinct look while linking them with persistent use of hand-held cameras. which gives the film an air of documentary authenticity and gripping immediacy. Intelligent and provocative. Trix/Iii avoids sermonising. but in scene after scene. the message gets through. General release. Unbreakable (12) **** (M. Night Shyamalan. US. 2000) Bruce Willis, Samuel l.. Jackson. Robin Wright Penn. 100 mins. David Dunn (Willis) crawls from the wreckage of a train crash. the sole survivor of 1 18 passengers. Dunn's miraculous escape is the catalyst for three events: him and his estranged wife Audrey (Penn) re- think their impending split; eccentric art collector and sufferer of a debilitating brittle bone condition lilijah Price (Jackson) pesters Dunn about his medical history; and Dunn's son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark) takes hero worship a little too far. ()nce again. Shyamalan (The Sith Sense) takes a preposterous story full of crazy revelations and grounds it with low key plotting and a spare style. making a Hollywood blockbuster in the style of an art house film. General release. Under Suspicion (15) the (Stephen Hopkins. US. 2000) Gene Hackman. Morgan Freeman. Monica Bellucci. 1]] mins. is it enough that two veteran actors