INDEX FILM
FILM moz-
Fllms screening this lortnight are listed below, with certificate. credits. hriet review and venue details. Full-length reviews ot selected new releases can he found close to the appropriate entry. Programme details appear in the Listings section which tollows. Film Index compiled by Alan Morrison.
I The Addams Famlly (PG) (Barry Sonnenfeld. US. 1991) Anjelica Huston. RaulJulia. Christopher Lloyd. Dan Hedaya. 100 mins. When long-lost Uncle Fester returns from 25 years in the Bermuda Triangle. it disrupts the idyllic lifestyle ofthe Addams clan. But is this Fester a fortune-grabbing imposter'.’ Big budget movie has all of the macabre sense of fun of the TV series and the original New Yorker cartoons. as well as sets and design that any self-respecting ghoulish household would die for. Literally. Edinburgh: Cameo.
IAllca (12) (Woody Allen. US. 1990) Mia Farrow. Joe Mantegna. William Hurt. Keye Luke. 105 mins. Despite living in a designer paradise. Alice (Farrow) has an eye for a fellow parent at her children‘s school and a backache her therapists are at a loss to ease. Cue Doctor Chang's mystical. medical herbs and hidden aspects of her personality shine through. Another ‘gem from Mr Allen. Glasgow: GFI‘.
lAmorlcan Storlas(15) (Chantal Akerman. France/Belgium. 1989) Eszter Balint. Stefan Balint. Sharon Diskin. 97 mins. Any mish-mash of anecdotes and monologues about Jewish immigrant experience should be an entertaining snapshot of a culture noted for its unique humour. but here it becomes dull. pedantic and maudlin. Individual tales range from the tragic — a teenage survivor of a pogrom - to the amusing — the atheist who becomes hooked on the Tolmud — but
nothing holds together. Glasgow: GF'I'.
I Apocalypse NW1 ( 18) (Francis Coppola. US. 1980) Martin Sheen. Marlon Brando. Robert Duvall. Dennis Hopper. 153 mins. Vietnam as
m
The Ultimate Trip. We follow US Army assassin Sheen downriver and deeper into the Heart of Darkness ruled over by Brando‘s mad Colonel Kurtz. Alternater pretentious and visually overpowering (the Valkyries helicopter attack. for example). its grandiloquent folly somehow pierces right to the bone of the conflict. Glasgow: GFT.
IAt Play In the Fields otthe Lord (15) (Hector Babenco. US. 1991)Tom Berenger.John Lithgow. Daryl Hannah. Kathy Bates. 185 mins. Hector (Kiss of the Spider Woman) Babcnco‘s monumental rainforest epic has American mercenaries and fundamentalist missionaries clashing over the future ofthe primitive Niaruna Indians. Well-meaning. but clumsy adaptation of Peter Matthiesscn's novel falls short of beingthe cinematic geo-political statement it had hoped to be. Glasgow: GFT.
I Basic Inatlnct(18) (Paul Verhoeven. US. 1992) Michael Douglas. Sharon Stone. George Dzundza. Jeanne Tripplehorn. 128 mins. On-the-edge ‘Frisco cop Nick Curran (Douglas) becomes embroiled with a successful novelist and murder suspect (Stone); she. in turn. treats him to a series of psychological fornications while going along a similar path with his body. Easily the best. ice-pick-sharp thriller for several years. with steamy sex scenes that leave the screen dripping with sweat. General release.
I Battnan Betums (12) (Tim Burton. US. 1992) Michael Keaton. Michelle Pfeiffer. Danny De Vito. Christopher Walken. 127 mins. Unpredictable violence and aberrant psychology parading in the form of popular family entertainment — yes. the Caped Crusader is back. brooding over the darkest recesses ofGotham City. De Vito‘s deformed penguin. Pfeiffer‘s whip mistress by night and Walken‘s cadaverous tycoon make it clear director Burton favours the complexity of his villains to his schizo hero. Bigger. better and blacker than the original. General release.
I Beethoven (U) (Brian Levant. US. 1992) Charles Grodin. Bonnie Hunt. Dean Jones. 87 mins. A small St Bernard pup escapes from an evil vet and attaches itselfto the Newton family. Soon it grows to enormous proportions and begins to wreck domestic havoc. Endless visual gags and good timing. particularly from Grodin. enliven what might have been a run-of-the-mill mutt movie. See review. General release.
I Belle De Jour(18) (Luis Bunucl. France/Italy. 1967) Catherine Deneuve. Jean Sorel. Michel
LAUGH TER HOUSE LIVE AND HARVEYKASS PRESENTIii/133004705; i'i’l ASSEMBLV
and the Strap-On:
"giving fill it hurts ”
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
///( Guardian
Piemli. 100 mins. The beautiful but bored wife of a surgeon spends her afternoons working in a brothel where she meets an odd assortment of characters. Bunuel‘s treatment of the bourgeoisie is typically cool but unforgiving. and his blurring of the line between fantasy and reality so succesful that by the end. we are unsure if the whole movie could have been dreamt up by the protagonist. Wonderfully amoral comedy of manners. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I The Bestlntentlons(15)(Bille August. Sweden. 1991)Samuel Froler. Pemilla August. Max Von Sydow. 180 mins. Winner ofthe Palme D'Or at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. The Best Intentions chronicles the fortunes of the parents of Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman. who also wrote the screenplay. Though beautifully photographed and flawlessly performed. it is perhaps a film to admire rather than one viewers will take to their heart. as it retains the chill wind ofmelancholy that swirls through the typically gloomy Nordic character. See preview. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Black Rain ( I8) (Ridley Scott. US. 1989) Michael Douglas. Andy Garcia. Ken’l‘akakura. 125 mins. Not so much the land of the Rising Sun as the land of Shiny Surfaces as adman extraordinaire returns to a set not unlike Blade Runner. However. some promising ideas are shunted to the sidelines by Douglas's sour and rather uninspiring heroics as the New York cop sent to Osaka to counter a counterfeiting ring. The whole perhaps confirms Scott as a master decorator hired to tart up a very obvious formula. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Black Robe ( 15) (Bruce Beresford. US. 1991) Lothaire Bluteau. Aden Young. Sandrine Holt. Stirring version of Brian Moore's tale of a 17th century Jesuit priest travelling across North America to a remote mission takes a realistic view ofthe savagery of the Indian tribes. Nevertheless. their philosophies and way of life are treated with the same respect as those of the Christians. Bluteau's anguished looks are perfect for the conscience-stricken priest who gradually comes to terms with the harsh landscapes and opposing cultures. Glasgow: GI-T. Strathclyde: UCI East Kilbride. I The Brldpe(12) (Syd Macartney. UK. 1991) Saskia Reeves. David O'Hara. Joss Ackland. Anthony Higgins. Geraldine James. 102 mins. A young woman (Reeves) arrives for a holiday at a Suffolk resort. meets an artist (O‘Hara) on his annual trip and. hey presto!. falls in love. But then her husband arrives. Prettily photographed. but
2 SHOWS ONLY!
FRIDAY28 AUGUST at 7.30pm & 10.30pm PLAYH 0 USE THEATRE
BOOK AT ASSEMBLY ROOMS OR THE PLAYHOUSE PLAYHOUSE 0315572590
CREDIT CARD SERVICE
I HRS T CALL \'\'\'\'\'\'\'\ 071-497 997 7
‘ 24 HOURS 7 DAYS (qu Fee)
underneath it seems to be yet another British tale of (Victorian) ladies breaking out ofsocial repression. a la Forster. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Bupsy ( 18) (Barry Levinson. US. 1991)Warren Beatty. Annette Bening. Harvey Keitel. Ben Kingsley. 135 mins. Levinson‘s version of the life of gangster Ben ‘Bugsy‘ Siegel is a glossy package that‘s rather empty when unwrapped. Beatty is adequate in the title role. but is outclassed on screen by the feisty Bening as his actress moll. A violent. if glamourised. twist to the American cinema‘s obsession with ‘men of vision‘. Glasgow: GF'T. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I The Butcher's WIIO ( 12) (Terry Hughes. US. 1991) Demi Moore. Jeff Daniels. Mary Steenburgen. 104 mins. A lonely lass marries a New York butcher and starts doling out clairvoyant advice with the pork chops to local lovelorn women. Aiming for the gentle tone ofa contemporary fairy tale. director Hughes overdoes the whimsicality to a degree that some might enjoy but others find irritating. See review. Edinburgh: UCI. I Cartoons Spool Hollywood (U) 85 mins. From time to time. the top American animatorstook pleasure in biting the hand of the Hollywood studio that fed them. more often than not by caricaturing the top stars of the day or parodying well-known films. Here. Bugs. Daffy. Elmer and the rest of the crew find themselves amongst the likes of Lauren Bacall. Bing Crosby and Groucho Marx. A fascinating example of one popular culture‘s reaction to another. Glasgow: GI-T. I Casablanca (PG) (Michael Curtiz. US. 1942) Humphrey Bogart. Ingrid Bergman. Dooley Wilson. 102 mins. You must remember this. .. Bogart being impossibly noble. Bergman tom between two lovers. Claude Rains playing both ends against the middle. devious Nazis. a fogbound airport. a piano-player tinklingthat tune. . . A wonderful hill of beans. reissuedto celebrate 50 years of being at the top of the cinema heap. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. I City Sllckers ( 12) (Ron Underwood. US. 1991) Billy Crystal. Daniel Stern. Bruno Kirby. Helen Slater. Jack Palance. 114 mins. Funny man Crystal stars as a fortysomething advertising salesman who faces up to the mid-life crisis by joining a two-week cattle drive with his pals. Moderately amusing second feature from the directorof Tremors. Edinburgh: Cameo. I The Comfort OI Strangers ( 18) (Paul Schrader. US. 1990) Rupert Everett. Natasha Richardson. Christopher Walken. Helen Mirren. 105 mins. Ian
brilliant. lISky performance that brings comedy and musrc together"
"Bette Midler...Lennie Bruceshe isastunnyasboth"
NEW YORKTIMES
THETIMES
The List 17— 30July 199215