FILM LIST
Let's Get Lost (PG) (Bruce Weber, US, 1989) Chet Baker and friends. 119 mins. You’ve heard the records, now see the movie. Let’s Get Lost, named after one of his most famous recordings, is photographer-turned- director Bruce Weber’s documentary account of the life of trumpeter Chet Baker, but his often painfully revealing close-ups on Chef's crevassed face tell their own poignant story. Shortly after filming, Baker at 58, was dead, plunging from a hotel window in Amsterdam; the miracle is that he lived as long as he'did.
In the early 1950s, though, Chet was jazz’s answer to James Dean: young, cool, hip to the eyebrows, and a much-touted musician at a time when the young white West Coast players were being subliminally pushed as a more acceptable face of jazz than the black East Coast boppers. A natural musician, Bakerwastechnically limited, but evolved a sweet, evocative trumpet sound which became his trademark, and a vocal style which is an acquired taste.
Like his fellow Cool school habituees Gerry Mulligan and Art Pepper, Chet picked up on the then endemic jazzman’s drug habit early on, and, unlike Mulligan, never kicked it. A lifelong heroin addict, he once told a friend who asked him how he coped with the day to day demands that he
LET’S on LOST
simply never thought about it- life on smack had become second nature.
The film reveals Baker’s full quota of the junkie’s characteristically self-obsessed behaviour. Shot in grainy black and while, it features a series of interviews with Baker himself, members of his family, his third wife, girlfriends, and musicians. Most of them have tales to tell of the trumpeter’s lying, cheating, and unreliability, but if the portrait of Baker which emerges from both his own and their testimonies is an unflattering one, it’s impossible to avoid the conclusion that most of the people he associated with did him no favours.
In the end, Chet Baker’s real legacy is his music, and there is much of that to enjoy, along with the many stills (by Weber, and from the famous sessions shot byjazz photographerWilliam Claxton in the early 1950s, when Chet still had his angelic good looks), archive footage, and clips from the tacky early 1960s Italian movies he appeared in, although footage featuring boxerAndy Minsker, subject of Weber’s earlier film Broken Noses, is a little extraneous. Even ifjazz doesn‘t interest you all that much, Let’s Get Lost is a fascinating, sad, and uncompromising elegy to a life that was all ofthose things, and occasionally something much better. (Kenny Mathieson)
blaxploitation cycle. writer director star Wayans returns home from the arnty only to find the ghetto hooked on gold cftairts arid his own brotfter a recent o.g. (over-golding) victirtt. Reuniting fornter tough guys and blaxploilation icons Brown and Hayes. he decides to go after the vvltite Mr Big who controls the market.en|isting the help of superpirttp Antortio Fargas (aka the one and ortly l luggy Bear) alortg the way. Wayans hits several right notesof absurdity in this send-up of an already ridiculous genre. Glasgow: ('annon The Forge.
I Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade ( l’( i) (Steven Spielberg. US. 1989) l larrisort Ford. Sean Connery. Alisort l)ood\'. Denholrtt lilliot. 127 rttins. the third and supposedly final instalment of Spielberg‘s blockbuster series. irt which the archaeological adventurer is joined by his father (Connery) for a romp through the Middle Fast in search of the Holy(irail. hotly pursued (as ever) by the Nazis. A rather dodgy quasi-Christian morality and a rttore-of-the-same-ish plot are offset by strong performances frortt Ford attd (‘onnery and techrtical bravura. (ilasgow:
(‘annon Saueltiehall Street. Strathclyde: ()deon Ayr.
I Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (PG) (Steven Spielberg. LES. I984) Harrison Ford. Kate (‘apshawg Ke Huy ()uan. Antrish l’uri. ll8 mins. Againthe t’oreignors find it ltard going keeping up with the Jones. as master entertainer Spielberg piles on the actiort sequences. This time. however. the frantic pace has even less credibility than Raiders had. (ilasgow: ('anrton Sauchieltall Street.
I Jeanne Dielman, 23 Ouai du Commerce. 1080 Bruxelle3(15)((‘hamalAkerman. Belgium. 1975) Delphine Seyrig. Ztll mins. Just irt case there‘s arty doubt the movie‘s title gives the name and addressof the rttain character. The prosaically Warholian atrttosphere is maintained in this ‘minimalist epic' of three days in the life of a rttiddle class Belgian widow. played by Seyrig (rerttetttber Lust Yeurr'rr .errft’nlmrl'.’ ). Artd epic it certainly is. weighing in at over three hours. 'I'ake sortie sandwiches. lidinburgh: French lrtstitute.
IJe, Tu, ll, Elle ( l5) ((‘hantal Akerman. Belgium. 1974) (‘Iaire Wauthier. Niels Arestup. (‘hantal Akerntan. 85 mins. Akerman‘s second feature involves a taut circular narrative. passing through the singular personal pronouns. Akerman herself He) writes a letter to her female lover ('l‘u ). arid encounters a lorry-driver (ll) travelling to see Lille in person. 'l‘autly structured investigations into sexual iderttity attd urban alienation. Edinburgh: French Institute.
I The Kill-0M 18) if: (Maggie (ireenwald. LS. 1989) Loretta (ir'oss. Jackson Sims. Steve Monroe. 92 mins. Sec feature. lidinburgh: Filnthouse.
I Kiss Me Deadly ( 18) (Robert Aldrich. LS. 1955) Ralph Meeker. Al I)ekkcr. Maxine ('ooper. 105 rttirts. A savage critique of (‘old War paranoia that has becortte one of the key films ofSIls' consciousness. Although the Spillane brutality is well in evidence. Meeker as
Hammer gives his roughness a kind of honesty as he doggedly persists without regard to the consequences. Brilliantly characterised. and directed with baroque ferocity. it remains a superb exarttple of American rror’r. Edinburgh Film (iuild.
I The Land Before Time (t3) (Don Bluth. US. 1989) 80 rttirts. Latest animated feature front Disney graduate Bluth follows the fortunes oforphaned Brontosaurus Littlefoot. who loses his rttuttt to the claws of a nasty Tyrannosaurus Rex before teaming up with a gang of similarly parentless wee dinos to undertake the hazardousjourney across country to the safety of the Great Valley. ('lassieally drawn and cltockful of edifying moral lessons. this is solid entertainrttertt perfectly tailored to the demands of its target audience of very young children. ('entral: MacRobert Arts Centre.
I Last Tango in Paris ( l8) (Bernardo Bertolucci. France Italy. 1973) Marlon Brando. Maria Schneider. 13(l ntins. A young l’arisienne rtteets a middle-aged man with whom she developsan increasingly violent and purely sexual relationship. ()ne of the key films ofits decade. Bertolucci's powerful drama is a meditation on the expression and communication of personal identity through intense sexual contact. (ilasgow: (il’l'.
I Let's Get Lost ( 15) «.2:- (Bruce Weber. US. 1989) (‘het Baker. Jack Sheldon. William ('laxton. l 19mins. See review. lidinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Little Shop Of Horrors ( PG) (Frartk ()2. US. 1986) Rick Moranis. lillen (ireene. Steve Martin. 9-1 tttins. Deep in the florist something is stirring. as meek green-fingered type discovers that his favourite plant. Audrey. is actually a flesh-craving alien from outer space. Daft. enjoyable screen version of the stage musical. with funrty foliage effects. and a beezer eartteo frortt Martin as a biker dentist. (ilasgow: (irosvenor.
"LITTLE SHORT OF MIRACULOUS...
the most striking debut to reach us from Australia during the eighties” titktkswroisi, riit GUARDIAN
A llL'VI BY ANN lURN‘LR
g.
"BRILLIANT...
, 2‘ DON'T MISS IT”
(IH Il\tlls
GLASGOW
FILM THEATRE 18 - 29 MARCH
The List 9 — 22 March 199021