FILM LIST
WEEK.
Come with Trevor Johnston as he enters the wonderlul and frightening world ol the lortnlght's new releases.
I A CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL (PG) Alan Ayckboum's acclaimed am dram comedy comes tothe screen with an all-starcast ol Brit Thesps and direction courtesy at Michael ‘Death Wish’ Winner. Cannons Glasgow and Edinburgh lrom 18 Nov.
I HEATHERS (15) Culthip hit at the year as Christian Slater and Wynona Ryder start a high school suicide craze to muscle in onthe cliquey Heathers running the joint. Tune in, turn on, drop dead. Seeieature. Edinburgh Filmhouse 19 Nov-2 Dec.
I MORTELLE RANDONEE (15) French director Claude Miller‘s introduces the British cinema premiere at his bizarre thrillerwlth Isabelle Adiani asa bisexual murderess. A coup lorthe Edinburgh University Film Society in what is a busy lortnight iorthem. Don’t lorget membership is open to anyone. See Listings lordetails.
I ERNEST SAVES CHRISTMAS (PG) He might be iust a little early but accident-prone cabbie Ernest P. Worrell could be the man to change Santa‘s mind when the old boy decidesto hand overthe batonto a children'sTV presenter. Odeons Ayrand Glasgow, UCI Clydebank lrom 17 Nov. I PATTI ROCKS (18) An independentAmerican sleeperlrom director David Burton Morris turns the male bonding movie on its head. Listen outlorsome lruity dialogue. See review. Edinburgh Filmhouse 15-18 Nov. I PET SEMATARY (18) Disturbing goings on atthe bottom at the garden lora young couple in Maine as Mary Lambert directs the latest Stephen King shocker. adapted lorthe screen by the author himseli. See review. Glasgow Cannon Sauchiehall Street lrom 17 Nov.
14 The List lll~ 23 November 198‘)
:- Sharpert
While they’ve mastered the art at the hall-hourtelevision comedy slot, and continually stalk the hunting ground oi the commercial break, so lar the ubiquitous duo ol Mel Smith and Grill Rhys Jones have conspicuously lailed to lind a big screen niche iorthelr talents. The mirthless disaster ol the aptly titled ‘Morons From Outer Space’ seemed only to underline the desperation to lind a suitable lilmic vehicle. However, a new cinema adaptation oi Tom Sharpe‘s novel ‘Wllt' looks set to announce that their quest is ended.
The secret to the whole enterprise largely lies in the casting. Grill Rhys Jones lits snugly into the role ol Henry Wilt, the mild-mannered tech lecturer who lirstly sullers embarassment between the legs oi a blow-up doll beiore lacing the accusation that he has murdered his wile; and our Mel proves his mastery ol gormlessness as the thick copper on his trail. Produced by Sharpe specialist Brian Eastman, whose previous credits include ‘Blott on The Landscape' and 'Porterhouse Blue’ iortelevislon, the result manages to keep the tackier aspects oi the plotting in check through the kind oi wry
verbal humourthat's the keynote at the
Mel/Grill interplay. Initialy Grill voiced his concern that the illogical quality at Sharpe’s storytelling would prove dillicult to bring to the screen because “huge leaps in the narrative are taken as psychological justilication ior characters doing the most curious things’, but he admits that in the end they iound themselves returning to the novel to pick up on ‘the little ielicltles oi Tom's that hadn't yet iound a home in the script.‘ Wilt (15) plays the Glasgow and Edinburgh Odeons lrom 17 Nov.
ShootingStars
‘Garbo laughs’ ran the tag line lorthe 1939 comedy ‘Ninotchka’. They had to advertise the lact because it contravened the enduring image oi Hollywood's enigmatic Swede. Noted portrait photographer Clarence Sinclair Bull, was the man responsible (at the behest ol the star hersell) lorthe upkeep oi Garbo's glacial screen persona, presiding over the myraid oi photo sessions required to produce the glossy manulactured monochrome images, then a staple ol the glamourstuck movie press, and his work has now been collected in a touring exhibition by the National Portrait Gallery.
Sinclairwas chiei photographer at MGM, where studio chiei Louis B. Mayer boasted ol ‘more stars than there are in heaven’, and the beautiiully preserved prints in this exhibition attest to an alternative astronomy. From the creamy perlection ol Weissmuller’s thighs, to the sheeny glint oi Harlow’s peroxide tresses and the very whiteness oi the cigarette drooping in erotic languour lrom Gary Cooper's parted lips, Bull’s lighting gauzes and emulsions only underlines the populartranslormation at these ileshy mortals into alluring, silvery deities worshipped with the ring oi the box ollice ticket machine.
It’s the images oi Garbo however that remain the most iascinating. Always photographed in role, or in a manner that plays on her iamous proiile, she is pictured in shadow, eyes cast downwards, or as a mere penumbra oi
light inscribed on total darkness. Here
Fred Astaire and Eleanor owell pictured by SinclairBull,1940.
is an otherness so proiound we cannot share it, only chip in some recognition oi the solitude at the centre oi our own experience. (TrevorJohnston)
The Man Who Shot Garbo is at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Queen Street, 10 Nov—8 January. See Art Listings lor iuther details.
10 Nov.
I WILT (15) Mel Smith and
m
I THE RACHEL PAPERS (18) Martin Amis’ pageturner is lilmed with Dexter Fletcher as the young man seeking a quiet spot ol hide-the-salami with American bimbo goddess lone Skye. See review. Glasgow Cannon Sauchiehall Street Item 17 Nov.
I GETTING IT RIGHT(15) Jesse Birdsall stars as a twentysomethlng hairdresser learning about lile, love and the elusive iirst bank in a moviethat would like to be the ‘Allie’ olthe Eighties. But isn’t. Glasgow Cannon Sauchiehall Street and UCI Clydebanklrom 10 Nov.
I A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING (18) Brilliant Pole ‘Krzysztol Kieslowski's masterly moral examination ol murder and capital punishment lought olt Wners and Davies to be voted Best European Film at 1988. Miss ilatyourperil. See review. Edinburgh Filmhouse17—20 Nov.
I ROADHOUSE (18) Patrick Swayze plays atop bouncer hired to calm down a raucous, rural qualling establishment. You can tell he has a degree in philosophy by the way he picks just the right moment to shatter people's kneecaps. See review. Wide Cannons release lrom
Grill Rhys Jones star as murdersuspect and bumbling cop inthis tailor-made screen version olTom Sharpe. Onelor alicionados oi rubber doll humour. Odeons Glasgow and Edinburgh lrom 17 Nov.