FESTIVAL FILM
FILM
PREVIEWS/llSTINGS
HITLIST
I NEW PARADISE CINEMA Sentimental history oi a Sicilian cinephile. a love-letter to the cinema from director Guiseppe Tomalore.
Cameo Cinema, Home Street 228 4141. Tickets from Filmhouse Festival Box Oiiice, Lothlan Road 228 2688. 12 Aug 7pm. £4.
I LET'S GET LOST From Fillies pin-up to Eighties
casualty. Bruce Weber’s
t film on the late Chet Baker charts the costly excesses oithe iazz lifestyle. Filmhouse1. Lothian Road 228 2688.16 Aug 9pm. E4.
557 0707. Aug 14-26 (not Suns). 9pm. £4 (£3)
Trevor Johnston makes his pick ofthe Film Festival. Below and overleaf— previews of Pasolini. Animation. and the Film Festival Diary— Week I.
I SLAVES OF NEW YORK James lvory's screen version of Tama Janowitz's chic short stories malies tor measured. tinally moving viewing.
Cameo Cinema, Home Street 228 4141. Tickets
irom Filmhouse Festival
Box Oiiice, Lothian Road I BREAKING m memo
228 2688. 13 Aug 9.30pm. 3m Reyna”: and
g" greenhom Casey Siemaszito as sale-crackers in Bill Forsyth's American-made character comedy.
Cameo Cinema, Home Street 228 4141. Tickets irom Filmhouse Festival Box Office, Lothian Road 228 2688. 13 Aug 7pm. £4.
I JESUS 0F MONTREAL Acclaim at Cannes but only a minor prize ior Denys Arcand's intelligently realised contemporary passion. ~
Filmhouse 1, Lothian Road 228 2688. 13 Aug 7pm. £4.
I THE PURSUER 'An exploration into the metaphysics ot]azz.' Charlie Parker hy the writer oi “Blow Up', Julio Cortazar. Roderick Cameron. Pleasance (Fringe Venue 33). 556 6550. 21-27 Aug. 3pm. 28 Aug-2 Sept. 9.30pm £3 (£2).
Trevor Johnston catches his breath and runs through a few of the highlights of the 43rd Edinburgh International Film Festival.
With the centenary of Charles Chaplin‘s birth coinciding with his biographer David Robinson’s stint as the event‘s guest director, the 1989 Edinburgh International Film Festival has understandably seen its fair share of Chaplinification. A special endowment from Lady Oona Chaplin has enabled Robinson to initiate a Chaplin New Directors award, with
fifteen selected films in competition; the newly re-recorded version of his 1931 classic City Lights provides the closing gala (27 Aug, Cameo Cinema); while the Charlot design by Cuban poster artist Bachs and George Wyllie’s Charlie Chaplin Slept Here facade for the Filmhouse building should lend an attractive and much-needed corporate image.
Now in its 43rd year, Edinburgh is in fact the longest continuously running event of its kind in the world (both the Cannes and Venice festivals have taken breathers), and from the opening night, Guiseppe Tornatore‘s New Paradise Cinema (12 Aug, Cameo Cinema), onwards, 1989’s selection by and large ranks with the best of them. Retaining the eclecticism of the Hickey era, a major Pier Paolo Pasolini retrospective nestles alongside a sampling of contemporary British cinema and a look back at 1939’s native output, while there’s also an impressive animation series for lunchtimes.
The major galas include British premieres of Cannes Palme D’Or winner Steven Soderbergh‘s
Sex, Lies and Videotape 18 Aug; (all films mentioned below are at the Cameo Cinema, unless otherwise indicated), Bill Forsyth‘s latest American venture Breaking In ( 13 Aug) with Burt Reynolds as an ageing safecracker, and James Ivory’s adaptation of Tama J anowitz‘s Slaves ofNew York (13 Aug). Prominently featured too are several special screenings of restored masterworks with Laurence Olivier’s Henry V(27 Aug), joining Gone With The Wind (20 Aug), and Murnau’s 1922 silent Nosferatu The Vampyre (23 Aug) with a new score performed by Adrian Johnston.
Robinson himself particularly recommends Lewis Gilbert’s Shirley Valentine ( 19 Aug). with Pauline Collins reprising her stage role in the Willy Russell play, and I would personally direct viewers towards A Short Film About Killing (19 Aug, Filmhouse) by the brilliant Pole Krzysztof Kieslowski, and Anne Turner’s splendidly dark Australian twist on the children’s film, Celia (22 Aug, Filmhouse). As ever, too many movies, too little time.
the season is an excellent introduction to the variety
and potential ofanimatcd film. Some ofthe daily
programmes concentrate
Making up twelve on the work of single
animators: Tex Avery and Chuck Jones of Warner and MGM; Canadian George Dunning, who established the British studio TVC and made. amongst others ‘Yellow
one-hour programmes. the Film Festival‘s ‘Lunchtime Animation' series is designed to help change the reputation of animation as simply ‘soupcd-up‘ cartoon.
Selected by Jayne Pilling. Submarine‘ and ‘The
history of animation and a selection of the best international work being produced today. The former seems weak ifwe are looking for a ‘complete history‘. But ‘Lunchtime Animation‘ concentrates rather on rare archival material and extracts from longer films. It is a potted history of lesser known and technically and personally significant work from 1910 onwards. But whatever the historical view. we are given here a unique opportunity to enjoy the contemporary scene of this relatively ignored area of film-making.
Flying Man'. a short film on the legend of William Tell; as well as lesser-known European animators like Vera Neubauer. Ladislas Starewicz and Lejf Marcussen.
Others concentrate on studio and national animation. such as the programme from the Estonian studio Tallifilm. and one titled. rather glibly. ‘Gems ofBritish Animation‘. One programme is dedicated to ‘Women and Animation‘, which centres on work by. rather than about. women. Considering women’s
absurdly belittled place in (Douglas McCabe)
the history of cinema. this
is a more than justifiable — exercise. and what a pity
perhaps that there is nothing in it from before 1987.
The festival moves towards two ends: a
Running right through this year‘s Film Festival is a complete retrospective of the works of Italian
‘DC‘ 7‘
method (film posters. photographs. stills). and a day-long symposium at the Filmhouse where his work will be discussed and his poetry read.
The vision at the centre of Pasolini‘s challenging. subtle intelligence is its primary controlling force. shaping and influencing his art. Taking on the
director Pier-Paolo Pasolini. Murdered in 1975. the true breadth of his genius is only now being realised in this country, and associated Festival Pasolini events include The Form of the Vision, an exhibition in St Cecilia‘s Hall which explores his general aesthetic and working
The List ll— 17 August 1989 51
CONT. OVERLEAFV