ART 25/BOOKS 41/CABABET 20/DANCE 20/FILM 8/KIDS/37/MEDIA16/MUSIC 29/0PEN 39/SPORT 38/THEATRE17

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o This section aims to provide a review of every film to be seen in central Scotland over the next fortnight. For programme times see individual cinema listings.

(U)—Universal, suitable for all ages. (PG)— Parental Guidance suggested as some scenes may be unsuitable for younger children.

(15) No one under the age of 15 admitted.

(18) - No one underthe age of 18 admitted.

s: New Release.

0 About Last Night ( 18) (Edward Zwick. US. 1986) Rob Lowe. Demi Moore. Jim Belushi. Elizabeth Perkins. 113 mins. David Mamet‘s one-act Sexual Perversity in Chicago emerges sugar-coated from the Hollywood treadmill and almost winds up a yuppie Love Story. Lowe and Moore progress from years of casual honking to the full-scale traumas ofmaintaining a permanent relationship and find themselves unable to cope. Although prettified and softened. enough tart. cynical writing remains and the dispatches from the sexual battleground are truly insightful. Belushi and Perkins. partners in mutual loathing. maintain a spirited and vituperative sparring match. have all the best lines and give the best performances. but Lowe has the cutest ass. Glasgow; ABC Clarkston Road

0 Allens(18) (James Cameron. US. 1986) Sigourney Weaver. Carrie Hehn. Michael Biehn. 137 mins. Revived from a 57 year snooze in deep space. Warrant Officer Ripley is cajoled into joining a marine rescue mission to the planet LB 426. home for the original alien. A nerve-shattering sequel that not only

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matches its predecessor. but cannily surpasses it.

Glasgow; ABC Clarkston Road. Salon.

0 Allez France (PG) (Robert Dhéry. France. 1964) Colette Brosset. Raymond Bussieres. Bernard Cribbins. Two days before his wedding Robert indluges in a petit white lie. telling his intended that he‘s off to visit a sick aunt in Bordeaux as a cover for his traditional trip to 'I‘wickenham for the rugby international with England. However. even the simplest deceptions have unforeseen

The Decline DlThe American Empire (18) (Denys Arcand, Canada, 1986) 95 mins. Despite the portentous title, this French-Canadian film is actually concerned not so much with impersonal historical forces as with the very intimate tensions and motivations driving the eight principal characters in their personal lives and relations. All eight (three couples, tyio unattached, at leastto each other) are Iinkedby their connection with the History

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consquences. and the truth will out . . . Edinburgh: French Institute

1982) Klaus Kinski. Don Hopper. Brie Howard. 80 mins. AD 2036. A remote space station. Mad scientist Kinski is working on a female android which upsets the almost-human male android Max 404. who realises that he is about to be put out ofcommission. 'I'hen three renegade criminals arrive on thescene. Offbeat. amusing science-fiction with a good deal of charm. Edinburgh: Filmhouse o The Angelic Conversation( PG) (Derek Jarman. UK. 1985) Paul Reynolds. Phillip Williamson and the voice ofJudi Dench. 81 mins. Jarman turns his painterly sensibilities to a meditation on desire. matching a reading of 14 Shakespearean sonnets with a succession ofgrainy. generally homoerotic images of ‘people I like in places and spaces that I like'. Edinburgh: EU FS

1 o Bébert et L’Dmnibus (PG) (Yves Robert. France. 1963) Blanchette Brunoy. Pierre Mondy. Michel Serrault. Bawling. ten year-old brat

Department of the local university: we are introduced to the four women as they work out at the local health club, while the men help prepare a gourmet meal.

Principal topic of conversation is sex:

the women discuss the men, the men discuss the women, and both groups dissectthe subject in a way that is sometimes personal, sometimes almostaesthetic, flirting with revelations, revealing confidences and

0 Android ( 15) (Aaron Lipstadt. US.

Bébert is left stranded on the train to Paris by his absent-minded elder brother. Rescued by a bachelor railway worker he causes untold havoc. Part of the French Comedies season. Edinburgh: French Institute 0 La Belle Equipe (U) (Julien Duvivier. France. 1936) Jean (iabin. Charles Vaner. Viviane Romance. Five layahout friends win the jackpot in a lottery and open their own restaurant. but competition for a woman's affections almost ruins their newfound joy. (‘lassic Popular Front morality tale with the theme that money doesn't necessarily bring happiness in its wake. (ilasgow; French Cine-Club

o The Big Sleep( I’U) (Howard Hawks. US. 19-16) Humphrey Bogart. Lauren Bacall. Dorothy Malone. 114 mins. (‘rackerjack detective yarn with Bogart as gumshoe Philip Marlowe investigating a serpentine blackmailing scam.

Never mind the unfathomable twists of the plot. just savour some table—tennis dialogue exchanges. smoulderineg stylish performances and bravura direction. A must. Edinburgh: IEIIFS

THE DECLINE OWF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE

fantasies. When they come togetherfoi the meal, their range broadens only slightly, but the conversation drifts in a dangerous direction, leading eventually to a casual confession from Dominique that (at least temporarily) rends the complex tissue of deceit and desire that binds their relationships. The film is an exploration of the

attitudes and trailties of a generation living under the loss of a common faith in shared values in favour of sell-gratification, as Dominique explains: ‘this frenetic desire for individual happiness in our society may well be historically linked to the decline of the American empire that we are now beginning to witness.‘ Like academics everywhere, the protagonists inhabit a world dominated by their own interminable discourse, exhaustively analysing their every act. The film does break through to some fragile emotional truths, but it is difficult to resist concurring with the impatience of the interloper Mario, Diane's current piece of rough trade, at all this intermittently fascinating but ultimately exasperating talk. (Kenny Mathieson)

8The List 14— 27 November