FILM LIST
I The Cranes Are Flying (PG) (Mikhail Kalatozov. USSR. 1957)Tatiana Samoilova. Alexei Batalov. 94 mins. A young hospital worker learns that her fiance has been killed in the war. and subsequently marries a man she does not love. Unpretentious and lyrical love story which saw the beginning of a thaw in the post-war Soviet cinema‘s institutionalised austerity. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Crimes of Passion ( 18) (Ken Russell. US. 1984) Kathleen Turner. Anthony Perkins. John Laughlin. 1117 mins. Russell's debunking ofthc American way of sex is an uproariously black satire where moonlighting whore meets dildo-packing clergyman meets l luman Penis. A strident and courageous piece of filmmaking iti that it casts the men asthe oppressors. Russell‘s best in years. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Cry Freedom ( PG) (Richard Attenborough. CS. 1987) Denzel Washington. Kevin Kline. John Thaw. 158 mins. Although not without its flaws. Attenborough's biographical re-creation of the friendship between black civil rights activist Steve Biko and white liberal newspaperman Donald Woods is his best film to date.('entral:
Regal.
I Dangerous Liaisons (15) (Stephen Frears. US. 1988) Glenn Close. John Malkovich. Michelle Pfeiffer. Keanu Reeves. 121) mins. See panel. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon.
I Dead Men Don‘t Wear Plaid (PU ) (Carl Reiner. US. 1982) Steve Martin. Rachel Ward and a cast of revived luminaries. 87 mins. Film noir spoof has private eye Martin involved with femme fatale Ward and fiendish Nazi scientist Reiner. Much of the humour stems from the intercutting with actual l‘orties movies in a device now copied by the adverts for a certain lager. Glasgow: (irosvenor.
I Dead Ringers ( l8) ( David ('ronenberg. US. 1988) Jeremy Irons. Genevieve Bujold. lleidi l’alleske. 115 mins. Extraordinary movie examining the destructive effect ofsexual jealousyon identical twins.
Deeply melancholy. irrationally powerful exercise in wayward psychology and the entanglements of identity. which boasts a magnificent achievement in carefully differentiated characterisation by lrons. Glasgow: Salon. Edinburgh: Cameo. Strathelyde: Cannon. La Scala. I Death Race 2000 ( 18) (Paul Bartel. US. 1975) Keith Carradine. Simone Griffith. Sylvester Stallone. 78 mins. In a barbaric futuristic society a deadly auto race has become the national sport. and competitors gain extra points for the number of pensioners they run over. Brutal black comedy with a few sick laughs. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Maya Deren: Rituals In Transligured Time (15) Four programmes of materialsurvey the work of the foremost American woman avant-garde film-maker ofthc century. who died from a brain haemorrhage at the age of 44 in 1961. Deren‘s own work focusses on the major themes of ritual. dance. myth and the search for female identity. As well as including some of the fascinating voodoo material she shot in Haiti. the season includes shorts by Jean Cocteau. Kenneth Anger and Stan Brakhage which place the Deren canon in context. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Die Hard (18) (John MeTiernan. US. 1988) Bruce Willis. Alan Rickman. Bonnie Bedelia. 131 mins. On a Christmas visit to his estranged wife in California. New York cop Willis is trapped in anew tower block when the corporate party he is attending with his spouse is attacked by international terrorists after the millions in the company safe.
Unbearany tense actioner that gets
Slipstream (Steven Lisberger, UK, 1988). Mark Hamill, Dob Peck, Bill Paxton, Kitty Aldridge. 108 mins. A bit oi an oddity, this one. Slipstream is a British-funded near-future thriller
. produced by Gary Kurtz, who produced
Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, and starring Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars Trilogy. There the resemblence ends, though, and anyone hoping for a major special effects extravaganza along those lines is going to be sorely disappointed.
The premise in the film is that the world as we know it has been destroyed in an unspecified catastrophe of nuclear origin. The survivors are operating within primitive models oi our present society. Matt (Paxton) trades along the Slipstream, a powerful wind generated during the disaster which now provides the only means oi long-distance travel (the film is set in an often striking kind of
SLIPSTREAM
a,”
nowhere land compounded from the Yorkshire dates and Turkey) by microlight aircraft. Tasker (Hamill) and Belitskl (Aldridge) are law officers who have captured a wanted murderer with a liking for philosophy, Byron (Peck), who proves- literally- not to be quite
what he seems.
When Matt discovers that Byron has a handsome price on his head, he steals him from the law and sets off down the Slipstream to turn him in and claim the bounty for himself. Tasker and Delltskl are inevitably somewhat peeved by this elfrontery, and set off in pursuit. The remainder of the film is dedicated partly to that chase, at a fairly straight adventure story level, and partly to a bizarre series of metaphysical enquiries conducted through the lifestyles and beliefs of the various groups which they meet, being a bunch of low-life neo-gypsles (led by Robbie Coltrane), a closed religious order (led by Ben Kingsley), and a group of people attempting to rebuild civilization in the ruins of a public building (led by F. Murray Abraham). it may have hot and cold running Dscar winners, as Mark Hamill engagineg put it, but the whole never adds up to the sum of its curious parts. (Kenny Mathieson)
good tiiileage out o1 yawninglift-shalts and flying bullets. w liilc \Villisis conyiticingas an ordinary guy tryingto cope w ith it all. Watch ottt for the RSC's Alati Rickman as a y illain with a highly -developed sense of humour. (ilasgow: ()deon. lfidinburgh: ()deon. Strathelyde: AMC ( ‘lydcbank it). I East DtEden(1’( i i ( lzlia Kazan. US. 1954) James Dean. Ray mond Massey. Jo \'an l‘leet. 115 mins. 1913. iii a Californian farming valley a wild adolescent boy rebels against his father and discov crs a dark secret about the mother he tliotiglit was dead. Self-consciously meaningful family histrionics. a film always far toopleased with itself and rampantly over-acted with it. Edinburgh: (’ameo. I Empire of the Sun (P( i i (Steven Spielberg. LS. 1987) ( 'hristian Bale. John Malkovitch. Miranda Richardson. 152 mins. J.(i. Ballard's bestseller throughthc eyes of Spielberg becomes a long. sentimental account of a young boy's character-binlding exploits during the Japanese invasion of Shanghai and his subsequent internment in a prison camp. Technically admirable bttt ponderously paced and wildly uneven. it lacksthe emotional heart to capture the viewer and becomes just another big-screen spectacle. Strathelyde: Artchntre. I Farewellti’m ( lilcm Klimov. USSR. 1981 ) Stefania Staytita. l.ev l)urov. 126 mins. A rural Siberian village is to be destroyed to make way for a new hydro-electric scheme. btit one old matriarch refuses to leave. Slow-moving but rewarding presentation of the conflict between old and new. and the price tobe paid for progress. The feel ofthc landscape is beautifully captured. Edinburgh: l-‘ilmhouse. I Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! ( is) ( Russ Meyer. US. 1966) 'l‘tirana Satana. 83 mins. Three go-go dancers release their tensions after work by driving sportscars through the desert and behaving aggressively towards men. Prime Russ Meyer kitsch. from his so-called ‘sex and violence' period. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Fatal Beauty ( 18) (Tom llolland. LS. 1987) Whoopi (ioldberg. Ruben Blades. Sam liliott. Brad Dourif. Cheech Marin. 104 mins. ()ne of Whoopi‘s myriad post-( 'olor Purple disasters. this has the unsuitably-cast but undoubtedly talented black comedienne adrift in an unfunny narcotics cop caper. An interesting supporting cast does not atone for an abominable script and too much
gratuitous violence. (ilasgow: (irosvenoi. I A Fish Called Wanda ( 15 ) ( ( 'liarlcs Crichton. l'K. 1988).lohn ('lccsc..lamic Lee Curtis. Kcy iii Kline. Michael l’alin. Totn(ieorgcson. 108 mins. Stuffy English law yer Archie Leach ((‘lcese ) gets unwittingly involved with a gangof diamond thieves. including brash American Kline and stammering animal lover l’aliti.
Remarkably effectiy c comedy . with the absurdly black humour ofthc l’ython generation giy en a narrative control and sense of timing that only a veterans steady hand could provide. And it makesa wonderful romantic lead out of the rather unlikely .‘yerleese. (ilasgow: (‘annon Sauchiehall Street. lidinburgh: Dominion. Strathelyde: A.\l(‘(‘lydcbank it).
I Fitzcarraldot l5) (Werner l lerzog. W. (iermany. 1982) Klaus Kinski.Jose l.ewgoy.(‘lautlia Cardinale. 158 mins. The turn of the century. an eccentric lrish rubber-baron. known as l-"itzcarraldo to the natives. in his obsessive bid to build an opera house high in the Peruvian jungle has to have his massive steamship battled over a mountain. Determinedly realistic South American odyssey that proved punishing for director. star. and the unfortunate hordes sucked into making their dreams a reality. Still. the result is damned impressive. Glasgow: (il’l'.
I Frantic ( 15) (Harrison Ford. L's. 1988) Harrison Ford. Betty Buckley. LinnianuellSeigner. 12(lmins. Cardiologist f’ord and wife Buckley travel to Paris for a conference. but en route manage to exchange one of their cases for a high precision electronic detonator.
(iood to see Polanski partially redeeming himself after the soggy Pirates. But it is only partially. because this attempt at a llitchcockian thriller is really rather dog-cared in conception and sluggish ofexecution. though the cast are worth watching. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Good Morning Vietnam ( 15) ( Barry Levinson. US. 1987) Robin Williams. Forrest Whitaker. 'l‘ungThanh Tran. 121 mins. At last getting the speciallytailored role his itnprovisatory comic talent deserves. Robin Williams gives a dazzling performance as iconoclastic armed forces radio disc jockey Adrian (.‘ronauer. assigned to 1965 Saigon and soon creating headaches for the military top brass.
While the more serious aspects ofthe film can seem a little flat. this is probably because Williams‘ stintson the radio mike are so hilariously
clecti thing they leave the rest ofthc moy ic standing.
ludinbui'gh: l'lllTiliUtlSC.
I The Good Mother ( 15) 1": (Leonard Nimoy . LS. 1988) Diane Keaton. Liam Nccson. .lason Robards. 100 mins. Divorced Anna (Keaton) is bringing tip six- year-old daughter on her own and doing very nicely. Yet her relationship with a sexy sculptor (Liam Neeson) is to threaten her custody of the child. forthe little girl reports to her father thatthe lrishman has let her touch his penis. and the couple have had the child sleepingin bed beside them.
There might have been an interesting. serious movie here if the film-makers had had the guts to deal with it. for inthis bowdlerized effort the crucial scene of innocent Neeson and kid in the bathroom has been cut. What‘s left is a leadcn domestic epic with yet another cloying Keaton performance. Glasgow: ()deon. Edinburgh: ()deon.
I Gorillas In The Mist ( 15) (Michael
Apted. LS. 1988) Sigourney Weaver. Bryan Brown. .lohn ()mirah Miluwi. 129 mins.'1'he story of Dian Fossey. an American naturalist who went tocentral Africa in 1966 with noexperience. yet who oy er the next two decades was todevote her life to the pioneering study ofthc mountain gorilla.
l’ricelcss footage of the real wildlife. shot on location in the Rwandan jungle. and Sigourney ‘s convincing rapport with the gorillas. the keystone of a sympathetic and committed pcrformatice. are the prime reasons for catching this patchy biopic. which suffers unduly from a sagging and cluttered narrative. lidinburgh: Dominion. Central: Allanpark. Strathelyde: WMR Film Centre.
I High Hopes ( 15) (Mike Leigh. UK. 1988) Philip Davis. Ruth Sheen. Edna Dore. lleather Tobias. 110 mins. The state of contemporary Britain as seen through the eyes of Mike Leigh is summed tip in the foibles and divisions of asingle family, (‘yril (Davis) and Shirley (Sheen) are a wholesome left-wing. working-class couple. persevering in looking after his ageing mother ( Dore). who has been neglected by her appalling nouveau riche daughter Valerie ('l'obias). and tensions come to a head at the old lady‘s birthday party.
('austic and at times excruciatingly painful comedy of social embarrassment. though the withering satire rather tittsubtly signposts w hose side we are
The List 10— 23 March 198913