FILM LIST

I I

0 Kings at the Road (18) (Wim Wenders. W Germany. 1976) 175 mins. An oddly-matched platonic male pair trek around the country repairing cinema equipment. Wenders is obviously a fan of American road movies. so much so that he made his own in Germany. Fun for those who know the

originals. Edinburgh; Filmhouse

0 Kiss oi the Spiderwoman (15) (Hector Babenco. US-Brazil. 1985)

William Hurt. Raul Julia. Sonia

l Braga. 119 mins. Two men share a : prison cell. victims in their very

1‘ differing ways. of an unspecified

fascist regime. One is a flamboyant

; homosexual. the other a macho

3 revolutionary. The pain oftheir

= confinement ultimately provokes i mutual understanding. love and a : moving exchange of roles.

.' Edinburgthilmhouse

0 Legend (PG) (Ridley Scott. UK.

1985) Tom Cruise. Mia Sara. 94

mins.Wildlyself-indulgentfairytale

; in which good and evil clash once

more. Strathclyde; ABC.

Kilmarnock

O Lenny ( 18) (Bob fosse. US. 1974)

Dustin Hoffman. Valerie Perrine.

Stanley Beck. 111 mins. Stark. accomplished biography of scabrous A nightclub comic Lenny Bruce.

I Edinburgh; EU Filmsoc

o Letterto Brezhnev ( 15) (Chris

Bernard. UK. 1985) Peter Firth. Alfred Molina. Margi Clarke. Alexandra Pigg. 95mins. Lively

Liverpudlian comedy-romance in which two ‘scallies’ paint the town red with a couple of Russian sailors.

s low-budget triumph of rough charm

and ready wit. Glasgow: Grosvcnor.

Strathclydc;ABC(Greenock). Odeon(Hamilton).

- The Little Drummer Girl (15) (George Roy Hill. US. 1984) Diane Keaton. Klaus Kinskl. David Suchet. 130 mins. Keaton is a minor league actress recruited by the Israeli

secret service to assist them in the

slaying ofa top Palestinian operative in this turgid. globe-trotting intrigue from the Le Carré novel. Glasgow;

GET 0 Macbeth ( 15) (Roman Polanski.

UK. 1971)Jon Finch. Francesca Annis. Martin Shaw. 140 mins. Polanski‘s retelling of Shakespeare‘s turbulent Scots tragedy manages to

; forcefully convey the play‘s - pervasive spirit ofevil. with the

Pole‘s dark imagination providing

bloody scenes of horror

encompassed in a brooding vision of

fate. mortality and power. Glasgow: GET

0 Mad Max— Beyond Thunderdome (15) (George Miller and Geroge Ogilvie. Australia. 1985) Mel Gibson. Tina Turner. 107 mins. Max is hailed as a new Messiah by a group ofchildren and faces the challenge of Tina‘s controller of Bartertown in this overblown . eccentric disappointment. Lothian; Regal

0 Mad Max 2 ( 18) (George Miller. Australia. 1981) Mel Gibson. 94 mins. Exhilarating post-Apocalypse adventure as lone hero Max rides to the rescue of beleaguered survivors caught in an oil war. Pure cinema. the highpoint of the series. Lothian;

Regal

o The Magniiicent Ambersons (PG) (Orson Welles. US. 1942) Joseph Cotten. Agnes Moorehead. Tim Holt. 88 mins. A wealthy and prominent family refuse to make concessions to the changing times of the 20th century and suffer the loss of their prestige and standing.

Despite studio interference enough pure Welles remains to convince the viewer that here is the equal ofCitizen Kane. a dazzling truly cinematic drama ofverve and depth. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Film Guild

0 Mrs Soiiel (PG) (Gillian

Armstrong. US. 1984) Diane Keaton. Mel Gibson. 111 mins.

Repressed warden’s wife Keaton

: shocks turn of the century Pittsburgh when she takes flight with charming

l

condemned murderer Gibson in this elegant period piece redolent ofa

genteel Bonnie and Clyde. Glasgow;

Grosvenor

0 Monty Python’s Liie oi Brian ( l5) (Terry Jones. UK. 1979) 93 mins. lrreverent . wonderfully offensive Biblical parody about a man who is not the Messiah just a ‘very naughty boy‘. The Pythons best feature. Glasgow; ABC (Clarkston Road)

0 Monty Python's Meaning oi Liie ( 18) (TerryJones. US. 1983) 9(Imins. Uneven Python collage ofsketches and songs ruminating on the human

1 time scale from birth to death.

Glasgow; ABC (Clarkston Road) 0 My Beautiful Laundrette (15) (Stephen Frears. UK. 1985) Gordon

' Warnecke. Daniel Day Lewis.

Shirley Anne Field. 97 mins.

Conspiring to turn a rundown

business into the ritziest laundrette in town young Asian Omar and his white schoolfriend-Iover Johnny encounter all the pressures of Thatcher‘s Britain where the only victors are those left standing at the end of the day.

One of the most original and provocative British films of 1985 with critical bouquets merited by all involved but especially by wn'ter Hanif Kureishi whose richly textured script stimulates the mind and engages the senses. Edinburgh; Filmhouse. Glasgow; GFT

0 National Lampoon's European

. Vacation (Amy Heckerling. US.

1985) Chevy Chase. 96 mins. The dreaded Griswald clan head for Europe in this lamentable

transcontinental wake. Glasgow;

. ABC (Sauchiehall Street).

= Strathclyde; Kelburne, Rialto

RENOIR, ARTIST OF THE SILVER SCREEN

Born in 1894, the son at impressionist painterAuguste Renoir, Jean Renoir is undoubtedly one oi the greats oi French cinema, with a career spanning some lorty-ilve years irom La Fille De I’Eau (1924)) to the Little Theatre at Jean Renoir (1968) and including some at the enduring classics oi European cinema. Currently running atthe French Institute in Edinburgh is a season oi his iilms (all with English subtitles, oi course) presenting a welcome opportunity to catch up on the work oi an acknowledged master.

Yet, a masterwho has oiten divided critical opinion with the release at each iilm, and whose work commentators have tended to divide into two periods revolving around the pinnacle and turning point of 1939. Indeed, it is the ore-1939 iilms that the present series concentrates upon; the period oi Renoir’s cinematic maturity aiter polishing his technique on several silent and early sound eiiorts, leading up to La Regle Du Jeu/The Rules oi The Game (8 Mar), probably his greatest

masterpiece.

The Frenchman’s view at Iiie can be judge by a line irom the iilm, ‘The

; terrible thing about this world is that , everybody has his reasons', and he

shows a deeply-lelt sympathy ior people driven to actions he may not

: necessarily agree with. In 1935's Le

Crime de M. Lange (8 Feb) the publisher on the run is played with considerable charm, even though he is the villain oi the piece; his 1938

adaptation oi Zola's La Bete Humaine

(1 Mar) portrays a hereditary epileptic whose tragic actions seem already predetermined; and a year earlier La

Grande Illusion (22 Feb), his

best-known iilm, details the havoc that can be wreaked in the name oi

, patriotism in its story oi a World War I 1 prison camp. All oi which is handled

with a warm and inexhaustible

humour.

Another aspect oi Renoir’s 30s work Is his social and political awareness.

i While recognising that ‘everybody has ' his reasons' his criticism of the social 1 and political climate of the time

: reaches its most iorceiul yet delightiul

expression in La Regle Du Jeu. A witty

; depiction oi the bourgeoisie at play ; during a weekend hunting party exposing their superilclallty and the

emptiness 01 their ideals in a irothy

Q brew oi comedy and tragedy.

A considerable iailure at the time, it

i was later destroyed by the Vichy authorities and only rediscovered in

the late 50s, when it took up its rightful place among the greats (voted No 2 in the 1982 Ten Best crltlcs’ poll), La Regle Du Jeu marked a change at

' direction ior Renoir. Its almost abstract . artliiciallty, prellguring the work of

absurdists like lonesco, contrasted

5 with the predominantly realist tone at his previous work. He had, ior

instance, iilmed La Bete Humaine on location in railway yards, supplying a documentary ieel to what would

usually have been shot in a studio. Like . his lather, he also displayed a proiound ;

' sensitivity to landscape and nature,

especially in the ravishing Partie de Campagne (22 Feb). Such versatility marks Renoir out as one oi the

clnema's Intuitive artists, and this

laudable season gives us a worthwhile

chance to sample his art. (Trevor Johnston)

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