FILM INDEX
of his present life begins to slip. he has recurring flashbacks to the night his platoon was wiped out during the war. The director of Fatal Attraction and the writer of Ghost combine to pull off one ofthe most terrifying. yet ultimately moving. paranoia thrillers of recent years. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Journey Of Hope (PG) (Xavier Koller. Switzerland. 1990) Necmettin Cobanoglu. Nur Surer. Emin Sivas. Mathias Gnadinger. ll()mins. Winner ofthc 1991 Best Foreign Film Oscar. this is a harrowing tale about a Turkish family who sacrifice everything to seek admission to a new. more prosperous life in Switzerland. Charting the tribulations and humiliations they endure on the journey. it givesa striking account of the difficulties facing all refugees and would-be immigrants. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre. IJungle Fever ( 18) (Spike Lee. US. 1991) Wesley Snipes. Annabella Sciorra.John Turturro. Spike Lee. Anthony Quinn. 132 mins. Black yuppie Ripper Purify (Snipes) launches into an ill-fated affair with his Italian-American secretary (Sciorra) and adds fuel to the fire of inter-racial tensions. Spike Lee‘s latest controversial work also includes a major subplot on drug addiction. which leaves the audience wondering if he has tackled too many ‘big' issues at once. Still, it'sa stylish piece with some good performances. even if the director's message is not exactly positive. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Key ( 15) (Kon lchikawa.Japan. 1959) 107 mins. A bizarre portrait ofthe life of a Japanese family for whom the abnormal is treated as normal and lust comes closer to farce. The wide-screen Scope photography only heightens the feelingofclaustrophobia. Glasgow: GFI‘. I King Lear(U) (Grigori Kosintsev. USSR. 1971) YuriJarvet. 137mins. Brilliant Russian version ofShakespeare filmed in bleak monochrome. which emphasises the theme ofcivilisation in turmoil rather than the private tragedy. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I A Kiss Before Dying ( 18) (James Dearden. US. 1990) Matt Dillon. Sean Young. Max V'on Sydow. Diane Ladd. 92 mins. Writer/director Dearden also wrote the screenplay for Fatal Attraction. which many people found misogynistic. Here. he‘s back on dangerous relationships territory. though the maladjusted partner in this case is male. and a psychopathic killer at that. Gaps in plot and obvious photographed backdrops actually work in favour of this enjoyable. old-fashioned thriller from the Hitchcock school. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Last Metro (PG) (Francois'l‘ruffaut. France. 1981))(‘atherine Deneuve. Gerard Depardieu. Jean Poirct. 131 mins. 1n the occupied Paris of 1942. Deneuve takes over the running ofa Montmartre theatre while her Jewish husband is in hiding. Meanwhile the company includes a number of performers who are also in their own ways under threat from the Nazis. Glossy and well cast wartime drama. with Truffaut working in his most entertaining and commercial vein. Glasgow: GFT.
I Life Is A Long Quiet Biver ( 15 ) (Etienne ('hatiliez. France. 1988) Benoit Maginel. Patrick Gelin. Andre Wilms. 99mins. [imbittered nurse exchanges the offspring of two very different families. Trouble results when she reveals her trick twelve years later. and the richer Le ()uesnovs learn they are nurturing one ofthc sleazy (iroseilles and vice versa. Based on the ‘ Mark Twain novel Pudd'nhead Wilson. its humour relies on characterisation rather than on the slick sight gags a llollvwood film-maker would wring from it. Maginel and Wilms are outstanding. Edinburgh:
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What About Bob? (PG) (Frank 02, US, 1991) Richard Dreyluss, Bill Murray, Julie Hagerty, Charlie Korsmo. 99 mins. With Richard Dreyfuss and Bill Murray on top form, not even the straight-jacket of the familiar Touchstone formula - uptight rich person meets freewheeling poor person and learns about life (c.l. Down and Out in Beverly Hills) - can prevent this lunatic comedy from being funny. Ideally cast and perfectly matched as an anal-retentive shrink and his mulli-phobic patient, Dreyluss and Murray generate laughs aplenty as the farmer’s repressed reasonableness is stretched to breaking point by the latter’s manic madness.
As the author of the best-selling Baby Steps, which advises setting small, reasonable goals and taking one day at a time, Dr Leo Marvin (Dreyluss) should be able to cope easily with a deeply dependent patient who— carrying his goldfish around his neck in a jar—follows him and his family to their lakeside holiday home. But Bob (Murray) fails to heed Leo’s advice to ‘take a vacation from his problems' and
.; .' (x,- Dreyluss and Murray generate laug
WHAT ABOUT BOB?
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instead wreaks havoc in Leo’s messed up family. Naturally, Bob’s loony tunes behaviour liberates Dreyluss’ death-fixated son, his alienated, father-hating daughter and his emotionally under-nourished wile. Bob even rescues Leo when he dries up during alive breakfast television interview. Leo’s reaction, however, is neither grateful nor rational: he straps dynamite to Bob’s body and assures
. him that ‘death therapy’ is just the jolt
he needs to complete his cure. Occasionaly, something dark and disturbing threatens to rise to the surlace, butthis being a formulaic comedy, the ripples caused by Bob's anarchic behaviour soon give way to the flat calm of normality. It’s like some black comic psychodrama acted out in a brightly-lit padded cell where nobody will get hurt. (Nigel Floyd)
From 15 Nov: Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Odeon, Crosvenor. Edinburgh: Odeon, UCl. Central: Allanpark. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr, UCl Clydebank
Antin's film is supposedly the work ofher alter-ego Yevgeny Antinov. a fictitious Soviet filmmaker ofthc 1920s. It isthe story of a bohemian Yiddish poet who woos a marriage-hungry Jewish girl. and is set against a more serious background of racial and political division within a poor Jewish community. This screening will feature live piano accompaniment. (ilasgow : (if-'1‘.
I Marnie l 18) (Alfred l liteheock. L'S. l9(»1)'l'ippi l lcdren. Sean Connery. Diane Baker. ll()mins. lledren (in a role intended for (irace Kelly) is the glacial blonde heroine in this most floridof Hitchcock‘s psychological melodramas. After her boss (‘onnery catches her robbing his safe. he becomes attracted to her and the two marry. but her frigidity in the bedroom hides a much darker secret. The usual late llitch mixture of carelessness (those backdrops! ) and technical virtuosity. A playground for veteran l-‘reudians. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
1 I Maurice ( 15) (James Ivory. lfK. 1987)
James Wilby. Rupert (irases. l lugh (irant. 140 mins. ()verlongbul impeccably crafted screen version of the li. M. Forster novel. in which a young Edwardian man slow I} but movineg comes to terms with his homosexuality in the face of widespread bigotry. Although over-indulgent. the film uses beautiful locations. a Brides/imd-styIe cast and a
langorous evocation of pre-War Britain to sweeten an angry pilll about the strictures of the class system and the unchanging face of prejudice. Wilby is a revelation in the title role. skilfully capturingthe complexity of the emotional traumas faced by his character. Glasgow: GFT.
I Meet the Applegates (15) (Michael Lehman. US. 1990) Ed Begleer. Stockard Channing. Cami Cooper. Dabney Coleman. 82 mins. Lehman‘s follow-up to the wonderfully black comedy Heathers is an off-beat satirical comedy about the green movement‘s struggle against consumerism. Posing as an ornery. mid-Western family led by blue-eyed patriarch Begley. the Applegates are in fact a gang ofgiant Brazilian insects charged with the subversive duty of extinguishingthe environmentally unsound human race. But of course. the temptations of American decadence can be seductive . . . Gentle satire with a slimy underbelly. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I Meeting Venus ( 12) (lstvan Szabo. UK’USA. 1991 ) Glenn Close.Nie|s Arestrup. Erland Josephson. 119 mins. Zoltan Szanto. an unknown Hungarian conductor. is given the chance to conduct Wagner's Tannhauser in Paris; if it isa success. a worldwide satellite transmission will bring him fame and fortune. lstvan Szabo. a well-known Hungarian director. directed the same Wagner masterpiece in
the same European capital a few years ago. From its autobiographical roots, Meeting Venus builds into a metaphor for the squabbling of a unified Europe. but despite the great music, it‘s let down by a tacky and distracting love subplot. Edinburgh: Dominion. I Miller’s Crossing (18) (Joel Cocn, US. 1990) Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, Marcia Gay Harden. John Turturro, Jon Polito, J.E. Freeman. 115 mins. The Cocn Brothers‘ latest opus is a predictably quirky-butt-stylish reworking of genre material - in this case the gangster flick. Set in an unnamed East-coast city in the 19305. it centres on the falling-out between mob-leader Finney and his right-hand man Byrne when both take a shine to the same broad (Harden). It's all carried out with the Coen‘s customary aplomb, and even features a fleeting appearance by Evil Dead and Darkman director Sam Raimi. Strathclyde: UCl East Kilbride. IMlsery(18) (Rob Reiner, US, 1991) Kathy Bates. James Caan, Frances Sternhagen, Richard Farnsworth. Lauren Bacall. 107 mins. Adapted from Stephen King‘s novel. this psychological chiller centres on a popular author with literary aspirations (Caan) who finds himself trapped, following a nasty car accident, with his ‘number one fan‘ (Bates, who won the Best Actress Oscar for the role). Gradually, he becomes aware of her psychosis, and is forced to bide his time until he can contrive an escape. The talents of all concerned are employed to superb effect, to produce a movie of great originality, subtlety and entertainment value. Glasgow: GFT. I Monsieur Hire (15) (Patrice Leconte. France, 1989) Michel Blanc. Sandrine Bonnaire. 82 mins. An elusive neighbourhood recluse (Blane), whiles away his evenings spying on his alluring neighbour Alice (Bonnaire). Gradually, he becomes entangled in an unsolved murder and a passionate romance. Based on a Simenon novel this sensitive and enthralling film, which was almost overlooked in Britain. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Mortal Thoughts (18) (Alan Rudolph, US. 1991 ) Demi Moore. Glenne Headly. Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel. 102 mins. When pill-popping slob Bruce Willis is bumped off. family friend Demi Moore voluntarily gives evidence to the police. But is her involvement really so straightforward? Co-producer Moore is obviously looking for the next bigthing after Ghost, and the risk seems to have paid off with this intriguing tableau of blue-collar buddydom and duplicity. Edinburgh: UCl. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank. I MrAnd Mrs Bridge (PG) (James lvory. UK. 1990) Paul Newman. Joanne Woodward, Blythe Danner, Simon Callow, Kyra Sedgwick. 124 mins. Based on two novels by Evan S. Connell. the latest Ivory/Merchant drama centres on middle-class American family life in the 1930s and 40s. Beautifully acted by real-life couple Newman and Woodward. it details happy days at the heyday oftheir marriage, when their three children are beginning to grow up. and the decline of their relationship in later life. A glossy but subtle period saga. mounted with the production team‘s customary panache. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Notebooks 0n Cities And Clothes(U) (Wim Wenders, Germany. 1989) Yohji Yamamoto. Wim Wenders. 81 mins. Wender‘s fashion documentary follows renowned designer Yamamoto from his Tokyo studio to the roof of Paris‘s Pompidou Centre. Less interesting and convincing are his tenuous links between the world of fashion design and film-making. It all seems like an item picked up for a fiver at a jumble sale. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I L08 Olvldados (18) (Luis Bunuel, Mexico. 1950) Alfonso Mejia, Robertb