FILM LIST
Graves as a parasitical house guest. Beautifully acted and crafted version of the Evelyn Waugh novel which captures the source‘s period detail. but the characterisation‘s genteel fair-mindedness fatally subdues the original's venomous note. Strathclyde: Paisley Arts Centre. I Heart of Midnight ( 18) (Matthew Chapman. US. l988)JenniferJason Leigh. Peter Coyote. Brenda Vaccaro. 105 mins. With her history ofmental illness. the ever put-upon Ms Leigh inherits a neglected nightspot and. despite mum‘s objections. opts to take over running it. Herattempts to renovate the building. however. turn to bedlam as rapists. sado-masochists and telekinetic occurences play their respective parts. A mixture of Lynch. Powell and Polanski. this is a hectic and disquietingoffering. and Kubrickophile Chapman remains sadly under-rated. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Une Hisloire Simple (15) (Claude Sautet. France. 1978) Romy Schneider. Bruno Cremer. Claude Brasseur. 110 mins. Schneider is a divorcee leadinga contented existence with her son. her lover and wide circle of friends. but the prospect of turning 40 leads to self-examination and re-evaluation. Suatet again depicts a handsome. bourgeois lifestyle and its participants in this enjoyany superficial tale which has Schneider in impressive form. Glasgow: GF'I‘.
I Honey I Shrunk The Kids (U) (Joe Johnston. US. 1989) Rick Moranis. Matt Frewer. Thomas Brown. Amy O’Neill. Robert ()liveri. Jared Rushton. 92 mins. Hapless father and would-be inventor (Moranis) does just what the title suggests. The kids find themselves cut down to size (a quarter ofan inch) and swept out with the trash. Their mission: to escape from the garbage bag and somehow attract their father's attention to their height problem. Well. we might think its old hat but Walt Disnae. Showing with the excellent new Roger Rabbit short. Tummy Trouble. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. ()dcon. Edinburgh: Dominion. ()dcon. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank. UCI East Kilbride.
I The Hunt for Red October (PG) (John McTiernan. US. 1990) Sean Connery. Alec Baldwin. Sam Neill. 136 mins. See review. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon The Forge. Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Salon. Edinburgh: Cannon. Central: Allanpark. Cannon. Strathclyde: Cannon. Kelburne. Odeon Ayr. ()dcon Hamilton. UCI Clydebank. L'Cl East Kilbride. WMR Film Centre. I The Krays ( 18) (Peter Medak. 17K. 1990) Billie Whitelaw. Gary Kemp. Martin Kemp. 119 mins. See review. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. ()dcon. G rosvenor. Edinburgh: ()dcon. Strathclyde: ()deon Ayr. ()deon Hamilton. L'Cl Clydebank. L'Cl East Killiride.
I Lambada(12)(JoclSilherg.US.1989)]. Eddie Peck. Melora Hardin. Shabba Doo. 105 mins. Lanibada. where Latin dance styles meet contemporary clubbing gyrations. is the latest in an ignominious line of cash-in dance-craze movies. from the same folks who brought you Brett/(dance: The Movie. The (ahem ) plot has high school teacher Peck convincing his kids to get on down to some academic study by showing them how hip this new dance is. but the powers-that-be are none too impressed when his double life is exposed. Cheapjack fluff for the shallow of mind and deep of pocket. though if you're a parent with hyperactive kids on a wet afternoon. the film-makers' efforts might not have been wasth after all. Central: Regal. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank.L'C1 East Kilbride.
I The Land Before Time (L') (Don Bluth. LS. 1989) 86 mins. Latest animated feature from Disney graduate Bluth follows the fortunes oforphaned Brontosaurus Littlefoot. who loses his mum to the claws of a nasty
CHICAGO JOE AND THE SHOWGIRL
s....>:3;y:*“>:s
Chicago Joe and The Showgirl (18) (Bernard Bose, UK, 1990) Kiefer Sutherland, Emily Lloyd, Patsy Kensit. 103 mins. In a way, what’s most startling about the film is that no one’s tried to do it before. Bernard Rose’s second cinema feature is based on October 1944’s notorious ‘Clett Ciiin Murder Case’(so-called after the appearance of the victim, a London taxi-driver), when 22-year-old American serviceman Karl Hulten and British showgirl Elizabeth Maud Jones (18) met in a Hammersmith cafe and went on a six-day spree involving theft, criminal damage and finally cold-blooded killing. Hulten remains the only American to be executed on these shores, and the material seems just right for a seedy, painstakingly detailed, typically British excavation of the dark deeds of the past.
It’s to Rose’s credit that he refuses to quite go down such an obvious path. Instead, he casts his central couple (played by Kiefer Sutherland and Emily Lloyd) as victims of each other‘s daydreams, their explosion of malevolence a headlong rush against the social and sexual repression of dank wartime London. Infused by the heady images of the silver screen, Hulton sees Jones as a glamorous moll, she views him as a dangerous gangster, while both purposefully keep the truth at bay as they reel towards a tragic conclusion. Just as the deliberate artifice of the studio-bound production design plays off against the shock of the unpleasantly messy
murder setpieces, so the film attempts to sustain an intriguing tension between arc-lit fantasy and sordid reality.
It's a shame then that the final result really doesn’t come off. Trying to maintain fidelity to the known facts and getting across Bose's underlying parable about the dangers of taking American movie glamour too much to heart makes the film fall in on itself. Already reminiscent of both Terence Mallck’s Badlands and the Joseph H. Lewis cult film noir Gun Crazy, one longs for Chicago Joe to be true to its fictive models and turn into a fully-fledged road movie, but adhering strictly to the factual time-span restricts such a flourish. The performances too are a problem, with Sutherland falling to evoke much threat or mystery, and Emily Lloyd flailing helplessly at a role that requires both sexual allure and more than a hint of sadism.
Bernard Hose's first impressive offering, Paperhouse, was part rites-of-passage movie, part horror flick, and you can see that with Chicago Joe he was again reaching for an arresting cross-genre hybrid. It's an experiment that may have failed, but just consider it research for a forthcoming breakthrough. (Trevor Johnston)
From Fri 20. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank, UCl East Kilbride.
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. Classically drawn and chockful of edifying moral lessons. this is solid entertainment perfectly tailored to the demands of its target audience ofvery young children. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Last ExitTo Brooklyn ( 18) (Ulrich Edel.
W.Germany. 1989) Stephen Lang. JenniferJason Leigh. Burt Young. 104 mins. Brutal. graphic and dynamic study of the steamy. seamy side of life in the dockland area of Brooklyn during the Fifties. Hubert Selby's once banned novel has made it to the screen more or less intact in a narrative strung together from his series of vignettes. A painful dissection. not for the faint-hearted.
Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Law Of Desire ( 18) (Pedro Almodovar. Spain. 101 mins) Eusebio Poncela. Carmen Maura. Antonio Baderas. 101 mins. Notorious film-maker Pablo moves through a decadent lifestyle ofsensual pleasure. his only real concern for his transsexual brother-turned-sister. However. when he falls for government minister’s son Antonio. a nightmare of manipulation and deceit is to follow. Flamboyant Spanish iconoclast Almodovar‘s exaggerated sexual farrago is interesting as a sort ofoverhcated melodrama. though the lack of narrative control near the end does let the film down. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Leningrad Cowboys Go America ( 12) ( Aki Kaurismaki. Finland. 1989) Matti Pellonpa. Nicky Tcsco. Kari Vaananen. 79 mins. Sec Preview. Glasgow: GFI‘.
I Look Who's Talking ( 12) (Amy
, lleckerling. L'S. 1989)John Travolta.
Kirstie Alley. Olympia Dukakis. 97 mins. 1n Travolta‘s much-hyped comeback he plays stand-in papa to Alley's first baby. but is quicker to meet approval from the little brat. via the voiced-over musings of one Bruce Willis. than he is from its confused and binkered mama. Crass. lowbrow and thus extremely popular comedy whose sole redeeming feature is the natural charm of the trusty Travolta. But any movie whose idea of a comic setpiecc means filmimg a foetus inside the womb with the dreary Willis intoningon the soundtrack just doesn't come near the ball park. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. ()dcon. Grosvenor. Edinburgh: ()dcon. Central: Allanpark. Caledonian. Strathclyde: Kelburne. ()deon Ayr. ()deon Hamilton. UCI Clydebank, UCI East Kilbridc.
I L001 ( l8) (Silvio Narizzano. UK. 1970) Richard Attenborough. Lee Remick. Hywel Bennett. 101 mins. Charmingand pacey but inevitably flawed adaption of Joe Orton's domestic farce. After a bank robbery. Bennett‘s crook hides his loot in the coffin of his recently deceased mother. Problems arise when the local inspector. played by dear old Dickie himself. probes into every corner of the criminals life and home. As much concerned with class difference as with hiding money. [.001 is an enjoyable and frantic adventure in Britishncss and bad taste. marred only by the watering down ofthe original play. Glasgow: GF'T.
I Max at Les Ferrailleurs ( 15) (Claude Sautet. France. 1971 ) Michel Piccoli. Romy Schneider. Francois Perier. 110 mins. Sautet regular Piccoli plays a police inspector troubled by the bureaucracy that permits known criminals to walk free for lack of evidence. In an unusual twist tothe Cop thriller. the detective forces gangsters into committing more heinous crimes in order to trap them. Dirty Harry. eat your heart out. (ilasgow: (ii-'1‘.
I McCabe and Mrs Miller( 15) (Robert Altman. US. 1971 ) Julie Christie. Warren Beatty. Keith (‘arradine 121 mins. See Preview. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Monsieur Hire ( 15) (Patrice Lcconte. France. 1989) Michel Blanc. Sandrine Bonnaire. 82 mins. See Preview. (ilasgow: (ii-'1'. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I My Left F001 ( 15) (Jim Sheridan.
Eire L'K. 1989) Daniel Day Lewis. Ray McAnally. Brenda Fricker. 90mins. The life story of paralysed painter and writer Christ Brown. lovingly adapted from his autobiography ofthe same name. Sheridan and screenplay writer Shane (‘onnaughton have portrayed Brown warts and all to create a funny. touching and thoroughly absorbing movie with four quite excellent central performances. and a celebration of a remarkable person. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: ()dcon. Filmhouse.
I Mystery Train ( 15) (Jim Jarmuscli. LS. 1989) Masatoshi Nagasc. Nicoletta Braschi. Screaniiii' Jay Hawkins. Joe Strummer. 113 mins. Jarinusch's first
The List 20 April — 3 May 199021