FILM LIST
strand of this daffy Gallic cult favourite. Style exudes from every sprocket hole. Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Dogs in Space ( 18) (Richard Lowenstein. Australia. 1986) Michael Hutchence. Saskia Post. Chris I laywood. 109 mins. The young and infuriatingly talented director of Strikebound returns with something completely different;a punk-era version of Nashville brimming with raw energy. a multiplicity of characters and the expected interlocking stories. Set in 1978 Melbourne the ramshackle plot centres around Sam. the lead singer in a punk band called Dogs in Space. and his girlfriend Anna. whoare two ofthe inhabitants ofa drop-in anytime house populated by punks. vegetarians. students and anyone else interested in an alternative lifestyle incorporating parties. gigs. TV. random discussions and loadsa drugs. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Drifting Ice (PG) (Kaljo Kiisk. Estonia. 1962) 81) mins. A British premiere forthe New Beginnings season. this World War Two drama from Estonia’s leading narrative film-maker tells how two feuding families from the Baltic islands put aside their differences when faced with the threat of the Nazi occupation. It is hoped that Kiisk will be present afterthe film‘s 9 Nov performance. Glasgow: GI‘T. I Eraserhead ( 18) (David Lynch. US. 1976) John Nance. 91) mins. You may never eat jelly babies again after the repellent but compelling tail of i lenry. his haircut. his girlfriend. his strange offspring and a sizeable quantity ofpus. Disturbing stuff. mercifully filmed in black and white. Edinburgh University Film Society. I Estonian Animation (PG) As part ofthe New Beginnings season. two programmes ofanimation from Estonia have been selected. The first centres on Riho Unt and llardi Volmer‘s work with puppets. while the second focuses on the challenging satires of Priit Parn. It is hoped that all three directors will be present to discuss their films. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Eternal Lighl ( 15) (Algimantas Puipa. Lithuania. 1987) V. Kelmelite. D. Sturbraite. V. I’etkavicius. 87 mins. Lithuania. 1956. As the impact of Sovietization hits the small rural communities. Puipa's beautifully shot poetic drama parallels its political dilemma with the romantic tribulations of a farmer torn between two women. Part of the New Beginnings cinema programme. Glasgow: GET. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I The Evil Dead ( 18) (Sam Riami. US. 1982) Bruce Campbell. Ellen Sandweiss. Betsy Baker. 85 mins. Five unsuspecting youngsters head off to a healthy weekend in a mountain cabin only to fall foul of
it. wholesale slaughter. Stylish. cheapo schlocker-shocker made with imagination by an inventive young team. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge.
I The Evil Dead ll: Dead Before Dawn(18) (Sam Riami. US. 1987) Bruce Campbell. Sarah Berry. Dan Hicks. Bruce ‘fastest axe in the West‘ Campbell and another selection of hardy citizens gird their loins and set their Chainsaws running for another ding-dong battle with the evil forces in the woods. Less gruellingly relentless than the original. this wasthe smart trash hip hit of the year. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge.
I Feelings (PG) (Grikevicius and Dausa. Lithuania. 196988) R. Adomaitis.J. Budraitis. B. Babkauskas. 85 mins. Near the end of World War Two. as the Nazis withdraw. a widowed fisherman seeks to go his own way and is ambivalent about Soviet liberation. Recently unshelved milestone in Lithuanian feature film production articulates the region's unease at centralised control. Another New Beginnings offering. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Flaming Star (PG) (Don Siege]. US. 1960) Elvis Presley. Barbara Eden. Steve
Life And Nothing But (PG) (Bertrand
Tavernier, France, 1988) Philipe Noiret, Sabine Azema, Pascale Vignal. 134 mins. Paciiicism and disaffection with matters military have been dealt with before in classic French films like Henoir’s La Grande Illusion and Came’s Guai des Brumes (made just before WWII and accused of defeatism by nationalists oi the period). Tavernier’s new film covers similar territory but with the twist that the conflict, in this case The Great War, is over, and although the men are still in uniform they are engaged in the grisly task of identifying the dead.
Major Dellaplane (Noiret) is in charge of this operation. A no-nonsense pragmatist prone to gallows humour, he is contemptuous of the top brass and exasperated by their attempts to find an ‘Unknown Soldier’ who is certifiany French. To him come the relatives of the missing, all of whom are torn between the need to know and hope against hope including
LIFE AND NOTHING our
Irene (Azema), an elegant bourgeois wife who seeks her husband, and Alice (Vignai), a village girl after her fiance. The paths of these three cross at the site of a railway tunnel which collapsed on a hospital train and a disused factory nearby. Gradually Dellaplane and Irene become emotionally entangled.
The sense of a bruised and exhausted people coming to terms with life’s continuity in the face of grief is quietly evoked with Tavernier's usual deftness, as is the communal spirit common to large scale disasters. The central romance however, all suppressed passion and meaningful glances, is mini-series stuff, and the sense of humour seems to have lost something in translation. Even so, if you like sensitive genteel wooing on a war footing then this could be for you. (Hick James)
From Sun 5 Nov: Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Forrest. 92 mins. Generally reckoned to be The King‘s best film. Here he stars asa half-breed Indian who‘s caught between sides when his mother‘s people go on the warpath. No songs after the first ten minutes though. Glasgow: GET. I The Fly 2 ( 18) (Chris Walas. US. 1989) Eric Stoltz. Daphne Zuniga. Lee Richardson. 105 mins. Despitethc advances in contraception since the original 1958 Fly 2. insect-man Seth Brundle ( 1986 model) managed to sire a son before genetically crossing himself with his duplicating machine. This is the tenuous pretext on which Walas (the man behind the latex mucous and copious gore in Carpenter's remake) builds this poor shadow ofa sequel. Like father. like son. needless to say (is this a crossover of late-Eighties Hollywood genres?) and the blood-letting which results allows Walas more space than ever for his special talents. Subtle as a vindaloo curry. intelligent as a seedless grape — doubtless a box office winner. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Grease (PG) (Randal Kleiser. US. 1978) John Travolta. Stockard Charming. Olivia Newton John. 110 mins. The long-running broadway show arrives on screen dripping with '50s nostalgia. cheery tunes. a high camp value and the winsome charms of the plastic Newton-John and the toothy Travolta. A nice collection ofold timers enhance the cast. I Halloween 4 ( 18) a (Dwight H.Littlc. US. 1989) Donald Pleasance. Ellie Cornell. Danielle Harris. George P.Wilbur. 100 mins. Seasonal return for
slice‘n‘dice enthusiast Michael Myers (Wilbur). whose hospital transfer due to a legal technicality affords an opportunity to escape. Blade at the ready. he hotfootsit to Haddowfield to do away with his neicc (Harris), with his psychiatrist ofold (Pleasance) on his heels.
Run-of-the-mill sequel carnage. with little more than fresh flesh forthe gore-hungry US meat market. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank 10.
I Hannah and Her Sisters ( 15) (Woody Allen, US. 1986) Mia Farrow. Michael Caine, Barbara Hershey. 107 mins. An achingly funny, insightful and well cast celebration of some surprisingly upbeat romantic perambulations within a family circle as only Woody knows how. Glasgow: Grosvenor. I Henry V (PG) 1} (Kenneth Branagh. UK. 1989) Kenneth Branagh. Derek Jacobi. Paul Scoficld, Judi Dench. 137 mins. There are undoubted associations with Olivier in K.B.‘s choice offirst feature. but he emerges with some credit as both director and performer. Branagh‘s is a much muddicr version than its famous predecessor, both in the scrappy turmoil of the rainsodden battle scenes and in the tempering of zesty jingoism with an appreciation of the human cost ofconflict. Portraying the young king as a careworn. rather sullen warrior. the film seems to offer a more complex reading of the text
. than before. even if Branagh‘s budgetary
resources stint somewhat on the grandeur of Olivrer‘s charging horses. Solid stuff. See also Film review feature and Theatre
pages. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. I Highlander (15) (UK. 1986) Christopher Lambert. Beatie Edney. Sean Connery. 111 mins. A handful ofimmortals battle through the centuries to win a mythical prize. A curious mixture of romance in 16th century heather and car chases in present day New York. the film isan inelegant. often ludicrous. but enjoyably daffy fantasy adventure. Lambert seems more at home with the contemporary passages and only the ever wonderful Connery has the requisite style for the kitsch Scottish scenes. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. I How To Get Ahead In Advertising( 15) (Bruce Robinson. UK. 1989) Richard E. Grant. Rachel Ward. Richard Wilson. 94 mins. The Wit/mail team ofwriter/director Robinson and goggle-eyed actor Richard E Grant return with an even blacker exercise in comedic frenzy. Though the early stages of the film provide a vicious parody of the adman's world there soon begins a slide into screaming incredulity as Grant’s boil metamorphosises into a yuppie bastard second head. Nevertheless. the inarticulate anger ofthe thing generates a sense ofinvolvement with the immediate problems oftoday’s society. precisely the sort ofimpulsive commitment that‘s sadly lacking in any number of white~suitcd efforts decorously fretting about our colonial past. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade ( PG) (Steven Spielberg. US. 1989) Harrison Ford. Sean Connery. Alison Doody. Denholm Elliot. 127 mins. The third and supposedly final instalment ofSpielberg's bumper blockbuster series. in which the archaeological adventurer is joined by his father (Connery) for a romp through the Middle East in search ofthe Holy Grail. hotly pursued (as ever) by the Nazis. A rather dodgy would-be Christian morality and a more-of-the-same-ish plot are offset by strong performances from Ford and Connery and technical bravura. Edinburgh: Dominion. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank if). I lnspecfeur Lavardin ( 15) (Claude Chabrol. France. 1986) Jean Poiret. Jean-Claude Brialy. Bernadette Lafont. 100 mins. Follow-up to the earlier (‘opAu Vin has Poiret reprising his role as the unconventional. acerbic small-town cop. here investigating the death of the head of an upper-class household. Eccentric Chabrolian pot-shot at the bourgeoisie. which nevertheless is a more tender film than its predecessor owing to Lavardin‘s romantic interest in the widow. Edinburgh University Film Society. I It‘s Alive ( 18) (Larry Cohen. US. 1974) John Ryan. Sharon Farell. 91 mins. Don't look now but there‘s a killer baby on the loose! Cull fave Cohen's schlocky winner is all the more effective for playing it dead straight. thanks to Ryan's sterling performance and a fine Bernard llerrmann score. Edinburgh University Film Society. I K-9 (PG) (Rod Daniel. US. 1989)Jim Belushi. Jerry Lee The German Shepherd. 102 mins. An ever-so-subtle twist on the cop buddy movie has unconventional San Diego narcotics tec Belushi reluctantly teamed up with a drug-sniffing alsatian from the K-9 department. The same plot as usual is to
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The List 27 October — 9 November 1989 21