FILM REVIEW
It’s time to choose between being
chased through the 21st century by Mick Jagger or serenaded by Irish tenor Josef Locke — The List reviews all of the new films Opening this fortnight in Central Scotland.
I Bugsyt 18) Vicious gangster Ben ‘Bugsy' Siegal is sent to look after West (‘oast ‘business interests' by Lucky Luciano. but ends up falling for an actress and spending the mobs millions on the first
Grade 1 casino in Las Vegas. Glossy. but ultimately empty star vehicle for Warren Beatty. which effectively re-ereates the period but strays into some dangerous territory in its ambivalent attitude to a psychotic hero. See feature.
I High Heels ( 15) Familiar themes of murder and dubious sexuality flesh out Almodovar‘s latest. concerning a mother and daughter's deadly love triangle. Victoria Abril excels as a TV news presenter who admits to her husband's murder. but the director himselfisn‘t really up to his usual effortless form. This could be the one that finally shows audience preconceptions about
Pedro‘s naughty nudity to be Emperor‘s New (‘lothes syndrome in disguise. See preview.
I Kufls ( 15) Christian Slater stars as a high school drop-out who inherits a privately-owned San Francisco police patrol squad and proceeds to use it to chase his brother's killers. Jokes. action. buddydom and Slater's trademark-style all fail to gel. leaving astar vehicle that deserves to be
wheel-clamped and towed
away for good. See
feature.
I Light Sleeper( 15) Writerrdirector Paul Schrader returns to the angst-ridden mean streets of Taxi Driverand American Gigolo with this mid-lifc-crisis-with-an- urban-twist scenario. Willem Dafoe dominates as a drug dealer who wants out of the business. a typical Schrader protagonist grasping for meaning in a broken world. Terrific contributions from all involved. See preview.
I Testimony (15) Glasgow-based Norman Lockhart and Andy Mackinnon‘s short documentary on the troubled state of Central America is simple. stark and filled with to-the- point truthfulness. By allowing the people to give voice to their repressed views and experiences. it becomes a personalised snapshot of countries where the land and social structure are ruined. but the spirit of
the people survives. As such. it resembles a video newsletter to UK sympathisers. and those without previous knowledge of the political nuances of the area may feel thrown in at the deep end. To be screened with discussion at OFT on 28 March as part ofCentral America Week. lnformationa and copies of the video from West of Scotland Central America Network. PO Box l8. Glasgow. C32 2U].
Get this for a suspense-free thriller idea. The movie stars Goldie Hawn, it‘s 3 called Deceived and she has this hubby I who’s a darling, caring, sweet, passionate, child-loving dreamboat. Ergo, by the logic of the genre, he’s
: going to turn out to be a raving psycho, and thus it proves to be. Hawn is
: Adrienne Saunders, happily married to ’ fellow art dealer Jack (John Heard). Their lives are shattered by the brutal murder of her restorer friend (Jan
; Rubes) and the subsequent discovery
that the priceless Etruscan necklace he was working on was actually a fake.
. Further intrigue piles up when it’s
5 revealed that the piece of question had been purchased by Jack
underan assumed name, the matter can be cleared killed in a carcrash.
jewelleryin
but before up he is
Damian Harris’s film is so badly constructed that it gives away the
Deceived: ‘a suspense-free thriller“
information that the central car crash is a decoy, blatantly signposting the way forJohn Heard to amble back into the action fora perfunctory heroine-in-jeopardyfinale. Narrative suicide really, and a bit of a shame because by scuppering the tension, the film‘s moments of visual panache and the intriguing but underdeveloped notion that the ‘perfect’ husband is really a projection of Goldie’s unfulfilled needs, are left to go for nothing. Passable on a wet afternoon,
but could’ve been much better. (Trevor
Johnston)
, Deceived(15)(Damian Harris, US, ' 1991) Goldie Hawn, John Heard, Amy
Wright, Jan Rubes. 108 mins. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon, UCI. Central: Cannon. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr, Odeon Hamilton, UCl Clydebank, UCI East Kilbride.
i BETTY BLUE: COMPLETE VERSION
Betty Blue: ‘loses none
t" j t y
2%
f Just when you thought you’d seen every i inch of Jean-Hugues Anglade and
l
Beatrice Dalle. along comes the three-hour director’s cut. Even with an
5 extra 60 minutes of unseen material, the story is pretty much the same as the 1986 release— boy meets girl, girl tries
to get boy’s novel published, girl flips
out. About half of this new footage is superfluous, the cinematic equivalent of monstrous carbuncles on the face of a well-loved friend. There’s a security firm heist that seems to have been spliced in from a different film entirely, and a three-line cameo by Dominique
(Delicatessen) Pinon as a
tousled-haired drug-dealer. The latter has Zorg scoring cocaine the night Betty announces she’s pregnant and only destroys the notion that it's the prospect of fatherhood, not chemical
5r}
of its power, but doesn’t gain much either’ insomnia, that makes him start writing again.
Most of the new scenes come after the mid-way point and create a more credible timescale for Betty’s descent into insanity, particularly a post-pregnancy scene at a seaside fair when she as good as kidnaps a young boy. The climax loses none of its power, but doesn't gain much either, and the tone of the whole still revels in its Gallic sexism. It does, however, confirm Dalle’s position as a one-hit wonder: her last appearance was in a Parisian court charged with shop-lifting. (Alan Morrison)
Betty Blue: Complete Version (18) (Jean-Jacques Beineix, France, 1986/91) Jean-Hugues Anglade, Beatrice Dalle. 180 mins. From Sun 29 March: Edinburgh Filmhouse.
Freejack: ‘a godawful morass'
FREEJACK
Racing driver Ales Furlong ( limilio listevezl is on the brink ol'a successful career when his car explodes in a ball of llamc and. to all intents and purposes. it looks like his number is up. lixcept. of course. for the fact that instants before he was due to cop it. the dear boy has been snafl'led into the future by whiz/o ADlellU-Iy'pc technology to prov idc a suitably lithe young body as a receptacle for the very latest in mind transplants. Being a plucky sorta guy. however. he escapes and. as a fugitive orso-callcd l’reejack. seeks refuge with his onetime girlfriend Julie (Rene Russo). now working for the megacorporation headed by the all-powerful .\1c(‘andless ( Anthony Hopkins). But ruthless. leather-clad bourity hunter Vacendak (.‘ylick .lagger) is hot on his tail and there's a hefty price on our hero‘s head. ('onclusive proof that l) .‘vlickJagger. lllllpercent untainted by any degree of thespian ability. has all the brooding screen presence of a cardboard box. 2 ) that virtually any movie starring one ofthe younger Sheen siblings should carry some kind of warning. and 3) that Anthony 1 lopkins should maybe. just maybe. actually read some of the scripts he's sent before signing up for the movie. Free/rick is a nightmarish vision of the future that tosses its admittedly inventive key plot point into a godawful morassof narrative implausibility'. embarrassing performances and tacky effects. ('I‘revorJohnston) lircejackl15)((ieoff Murphy. LS. 1993) Iimilio listevez. Rene Russo. Mick Jagger. Anthonyllopkins. 105 mins. (ilasgow: All Cannons. (irosvenor. Edinburgh: ('annon. l'('l. Central: (‘aledoniarL Cannon. l’ife: ('annon. New l’icture llouse. Strathclyde: Cannon. Kelburnc. L'(‘ls. “MR
14 The List 27 March — 9 April 1992