FILM LIST
forge onc's own identity and the alienation it can bring. Intense and stylish. Edinburgh: Cameo
I Scotfilm ’88 Organised by the increasingly enterprising Edinburgh Film Guild with sponsorship from the Scottish International Education Trust. this isa one day non-professional film festival offering a comparatively rare opportunity to view recent work from non-professionals working in Scotland. The programme includes film and video from local groups. individuals. art schools. colleges and the National Film and Television School. Among the titles to be screened are Gilles MacKinnon‘s priZe—winning Passing Glory. Michael Caton-Jones The Riveler and Full From Grace abotit a band ofJacobites trying to shelter Bonnie Prince Charlie afterthe battle of Culloden.
The event runs from 9.30am to 5.30pm at Filmhousc on May 21 and many ofthe filmmakers will be present to discussor defend their work. Tickets are £2.5(lfor the whole day. Edinburgh: Filmhousc I Sebastiane ( 18) (Derek Jarman. Paul llumfrees. UK. 1976) Leonardo Reviglio. Barney James. Richard Warwick. 85 mins. The exile and persecution ofa Roman captain in A1) 303 who has interceded on behalf of a Christian sentenced to death. provides the focus for Jarman's debut feature. The first film made entirely in Latin is also renowned for its depiction of male nudity and homosexual passion in a characteristically forthright manner. With subtitles. Edinburgh: Filmhousc I The Secret of NIMH (if) (Don Bluth. US. 1982 ) With the voices of Derek Jacobi. Dom De Luise. John Carradine. 82mins. A widowed mouse and her fouroffspring. including the ailing Timothy. face the upheaval of moving front their comfortable nook in a farmer‘s field in this classically animated non-Disney feature. Edinburgh: Filmhousc I Short Circuit ( PG) (John Badham. US. 1986) Ally Shcedy. Steve Guttenberg. Fisher Stevens. 98mins. Formula romp in which a sophisticated military robot is struck by lightning and develops human characteristics. Glasgow: GFT I Sid and Nancy ( 18) (Alex Cox. UK. I986) Gary ()ldman. Chloe Webb. David I layman. I 10 mins. The story ofSex l’istols' bassist and his American girlfriend Nancy Spungen from their gung-ho days as puppy superstars and future rock legends to their final hours in New York‘s Chelsea Hotel and a losing battle with the big H. For the most part a breathlessly enjoyable biopic. it gets bogged down in an interminable last half-hour. Glasgow: Gl’T I Slam Dance ( 15) (Wayne Wang. US. I987)Tom llulce. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Harry Dean Stanton. 98 mins. llulce is carefree underground
', cartoonist C. C. Drood whose unwitting i involvement in unravelling a bizarre
conspiracy afford him a greater sense of
responsibility towards his estranged wife and family. Offbeat. Hitchcock-ster thriller in which the labyrinthine plotline may seem insubstantial but its unfoldingis smart and stylish. assisted by an engaging cast and the director‘s coolly impressive range of visual imagery. Edinburgh: Filmhousc
I Static ( 15) (Mark Comaneck. US. 1985) Keith Gordon. Amanda Plummer. 88 mins. An alienated young man is fired from his job at a religious artefacts factory and spends his time working on a revolutionary invention-a TV screen that will show a live picture of l leaven. Strange and beguiling American independent with great eye for bizarre detail and a splendidly deranged performance from
co-scenarist Gordon. Edinburgh: EUFS
I The Stepfather ( 18) (Joseph Ruben. US. l987)'l'erry O'Quinn. Shelley Hack. Jill Sehoelen. 89mins. O‘Quinn isa deceptively mild-mannered fellow hoping
25 'l‘heiljst l3 — 26 May 1988
TRAVELLING NORTH
Travelling North (PG) (Peter Brook, UK/France/W. Germany, 1983) Helen Dalavault, Howard Hensel. Jake Gardener. 85 mins. When it came to playing ‘an irascible, dogmatic. snarling, crotchety old bugger', Leo McKern claimed he was ideally suited to the part. Indeed his performance in Travelling North earned him a Montreal Film Festival Award, with the film itself picking up numerous other awards in Australia.
As Frank, the retired engineer with a love of Mozart and the philosophy that ‘there’s nothing unreasonable about my convictions', Leo McKern is excellent and really the prime reason forseeing the film. The story is simple, a tale of Frank's pilgrimage northwards to the paradise of Queensland with his lady-like lover Francis. While there, the two discoverfishing, beautiful scenery and a noisy next-door neighbour called Freddie. Unfortunately Frank also discovers that he has a potentially fatal heart condition, a problem which will require even more patience from the already saintly Francis.
Francis‘s daughters, dubbed ‘Goneril and Reagan’ by Frank, can't see why
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she is doing it and are jealous other absence from their own marital turmoils in Melbourne. ‘Did you know they had sex the second time they met?’ bitches one to the other, and you can't help feeling a voyeuristic curiosity about it yourself. As the audience never witnesses any real intimacy— emotional or sexual — between Frank and Francis, it does become difficult to see what the attraction is, for Francis at least.
That said, the screen play by David Williamson (writer of Gallipoli and The Year of Living Dangerously) is frequently witty and engaging and there are enough clues about the pair‘s past lives to make sense of their world-weary expressions and their desire to celebrate a new love away from it all. It is not that you don’t believe in these characters, just that you don’t feel you know them ortheir relationship. Travelling North is a funny and beautifully made film, offering a timely reminderthat life begins at sixty plus, but in avoiding
- sentimentality at any cost the film may
have suffered a little. For me at least, it was difficult to identify with the characters or to feel any more than neighbourly concern at their fate. (Stephanie Billen)
to establish the perfect all-American family. However. he turns out to be a sick psycho with a penchant for marrying and dicing vulnerable widows. Taut and humorous with the familiar mastery of Hitchcock always within sight. Glasgow : GET. Edinburgh: Filmhousc
I Sunday in August ( PU ) ( Luciano Emmer. Italy. 195”) Vera Carmi. Anna Baldini. Marcello Mastroianni. 8ft mins. This semi-documentary presents an affectionate and unpretentious mosaic capturing a Sunday at the seaside as all
humanity. from young lovers to petty crooks. congregate on the teeming beaches. Opening film in the ( 'omedy. Italian style season. See I’anel. Edinburgh: Filnthouse
I The Switchboard Operator( is) ( Dusan Makaveyev. Yugoslavia. l9o7) Izva Ras. The story of a teleplionist who sets up home with a sanitary inspector. becomes pregnant anti accidentally drowns. Characteristic Makav eyev brew ofblunt sexual visions. dark humour and political comment. Glasgow: (il-‘l‘
I The Terminator( I8) (JamesCameron. US. 1984) Arnold Schwarzenegger. Michael Biehn. Linda Hamilton. 107 mins. In 2029 machines have all but conquered the planet but a saviour is at hand in the form of a new human leader. Part-man. part-machine. Schwarzenegger’s cyborg is sent back from the future to 1984 on a mission tokill the future leader‘s mother. Inventive. excitingly-paced science-fiction adv enturc with a notable performance from Arnie in his first villainous role. Glasgow : Gl’l'.
I The Three Amigos ( l’( i l (John Landis. US. 1987) Steve Martin. Chevy Chase. Martin Short. 105 mins. A rare Martin misfire as Steve and the boy s go vainly searching for laughs in old mexico as silent screen stars mistaken for real cowboy
heroes. A dreadful comedy-musical fiesta turkey that barely musters a sympathetic chuckle. Edinburgh: EUFS.
I Three Men and a Baby (PG) (Leonard Nimoy . US. 1988) Tom Selleck.Ted Danson. Steve Guttenberg. 103 mins. A trio of swinging bachelors about town get landed with a littl‘un and much wee wee and poo poo ensues. Large grossing American comedy remake of French original. Glasgow: ()deon. Cannon Clarkston Road. Cinema. Grosvenor: Edinburgh: ()deon: Central: Cannon: Strathclyde: Cannon Kilmarnock. Kelburne. ()deon Ayr. ()deon Hamilton. Rialto.
I To Kill a Mockingbird ( 15) (Robert Mulligan. US. 1962) Gregory Peck. Mary Badham. Robert Duvall. I29 mins. Peck gives an intelligent ()scar-winning performance in his most personal role as the liberal. widowed lawyer Atticus Finch who defends a black man accused of rape in the Depression-era South. A leisurely but affecting adaptation of the Harper Lee novel. Edinburgh: Cameo
I The Tragedy of Carmen ( PG) (Peter Brook. U KlFrance W. Germany. 1983) Helene Delavault. Howard Hensel. Jake Gardner. 85 mins The film version of Brook‘s Paris stage production in which he chose to present Bizet's opera as astark. stripped-bare folk-tale of primitive. savage emotions and fatalistic tragedy. Edinburgh: French Institute
I Travelling North (PG) (Carl Schultz. Australia. 1987). Leo McKern.Julia Blake. Graham Kennedy. 95 mins. See Panel. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I The 12 Tasks of Asterix (L7) (France. 1975) 82 mins. Furtheranimatcd adventures of the plucky little Gallic warrior. aided. as always. by Getafix‘s magic potions. Edinburgh: Filmhousc
I 20 Days Without War ( 15) (Alexei Gherman. USSR. I976) l()()mins. An
anti-war statement. unseen for almost a decade after its production. Gherman‘s characteristically provocative look back at his country's past tells of a noted war correspondent w ho leaves the liorrorsof the Battle of Stalingrad to return homeon leave. He witnesses the rnakingof a film from his writings that is a mere travestvof his original intent and is left to reflect on the dilution of art to satisfv the State. Glasgow: GET '
I The Unbearable Lightness of Being ( 1s) (Philip Kaufman. US. I987) Daniel Day-Lewis. Juliette Binoclie. Lena ()lin. 167 mins. Ambitious adaptation of Milan Kundera's elliptical. complex novel about a womanising ( 'zech brain surgeon who falls in love for the first time with a doe-like beauty from a small spa town. Abandoning his freew lieeling former existence. he faces commitment and togetherness at the time ofthe Prague Springand Russian invasion of l9o8. A rather austere and overlong narrative is spiced with an overwhelming eroticism. a beautifully judged evocation of Prague and gorgeous photography. Edinburgh: Cannon
I Vagabonde ( [5) (Agnes \'arda. France. 1985) Sandrine Bonnaire. Macha Meril. Yolande Moreau. ltlb mins. An austere and lyrical portrait of Mona. a dropout from society. wandering the wintry landscapes of the South of France in an aimless quest for freedom. bill a freedom that involves only loneliness. hunger and hypothermia. An uncompromising performance from Miss Bonnaire graces this unhurried. intense and affecting memorial to a troubled and despairing representative of Iiighties youth. Edinburgh: EUl-‘S IWallStreet(15)(()liversione.t‘s. 1987) Michael Douglas. Charlie Sheen. Daryl Hannah. l2b mins. Returning tothe trenches. unabashed moralist Stone again presents a flawed hero with character-dcfining dilemmas and invites its to observe as he is excited..seduced. overwhelmed. abandoned and ultimately redeemed by the wrong turns and twistsof his encounters with malfeasance. Contemporary robber baron and stockrnarket legend Gordon Gekko (Douglas) takes a shine to ambitious yuppie Sheen and eventually offers him the choice of becoming a ruthless player like himself. or maintaining his self-respect and integrity.
Wall Street finds Stone's fire tempered by a more seductively ambiv alcnt incarnation of evil. but the result is still an impressive. engrossingdiama that. for memorable dialogue and fluid cinematic skill remains comfortably ahead of the current pack. Glasgow: ()deon. Edinburgh: ()deon I Witchcraft Through The Ages ( Pt i ) (Benjamin Christensen. Sweden. l921)83 mins. Three years in the making. Christensen's painstaking historyof witchcraft reveals the enduring appeal of silent cinema as a medium ofstartling visual power. Clearly ahead of his time. the director uses mobile camerawork. light and shade and a heightened sense of surrealism to explore one's darker fears. The sadism and nudity featured in the recreation of sortie of the rituals led to the film being banned in certain countries. Edinburgh: EUFS I Witches of Eastwick( 18) (George Miller. US. 1987) Jack Nicholson. Cher. Susan Sarandon. 118 mins. Suffocating in the prim tranquility of a small town in New England. three single women set their collective brains towards conjuring up the perfect Mr. Right. Next rnorninga mysterious stranger suddenly appears. as if in answer to their prayers. and begins to charm the pants off them. But the ripe. randy and rakish Daryl van Horne isthe devil in disguise. and there is a price topay for their pleasure . . . A joyous.diabolical romp. with Nicholson having the time of his life. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
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