INDEX FILM
FILM _I1EE-
Films screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate, credits, brief review and venue details. Film index compiled by Alan Morrison.
I The Adjuster ( 18) (Atom Egoyan. Canada. 1991) Elias Koteas. Arsinee Khanjian. Maury Chaykin. 102 rrrins. A disparate array of plot elements - an insurance adjuster. film censors. a kinky couple — combines with off-kilter Twin Peaks-ish humour and some bizarre visuals in Atom (Speaking Parts) Egoyan's most approachable movie to date. ‘A film about believable people doing believable things in an unbelievable way' is how he describes it. Weird and. in its own way. wonderful. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I The Adventures 01 Priscilla. Queen Of The Desert ( 18) (Stephan Elliott. Australia. 1994) Terence Stamp. lltrgo Weaving. Guy Pearce. 104 mins. Two transvestites and a trans-sexual team up fora trip across the Australian outback for a drag show in Alice Springs. Serious issues pop up from time to time. but the emphasis is on the camp humour of the in-bus bitchiness and outrageous musical set-pieces. Edinburgh: Cameo. Strathclyde: Kelbume.
I The Age 01 Innocence (tl) (Martin Scorsese. US. 1993) Daniel Day-Lewis. Michelle Pfeiffer. Winona Ryder. 138 mins. Up-and-coming lawyer Newland Archer risks the wrath of 1870s New York society when he falls in love with the scandal-shrouded Countess Olenska. despite being already engaged. Scorsese is magnificently faithful to Edith Wharton's novel. while painting its troubled emotions with an eloquent camera. Opulent and richly detailed. with no release from the intemalised pain of passion. Edinbtrrgh: Cameo.
I Amateur (15) (Hal Hartley. US. l994)1sabelle lluppert. Martin Donovan. Elina Lowensohn. 105 mins. lsabelle. an ex-nun writing porn
the Civil War. a young deserter finds himself under the wing of an elderly libertine. enjoying the pleasures of his four daughters — a lesbian. a widow. a bride-to-be and a virgin. Sparkling. feel-good. period comedy that revels in the joys of life and love. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The DFC (U) (Brian Cosgrove. UK. 1989) 105 mins. Animated version of the Roald Dahl favourite has young Sophie battling against evil. aided and abetted by the Big Friendly Giant. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Boys (in The Side (15) (Herbert Ross. US. 1995) Whoopi Goldberg. Drew Barrymore. Mary Louise Parker. 117 mins. Raucous black lesbian Goldberg and shyly romantic ride-share Parker are off to discover a new life: en route they save abused Barrymore from her drug- dealer boyfriend. When Barrymore discovers she's pregnant. the trio show sisterly solidarity and set up house together. Though the characters may sound like crude archetypes. the sheer strength of the performances invests them with humanity. Strathclyde: WMR.
i I The Brady Bunch Movie ()2) (Betty Thonras.
stories. meets amnesiac Thomas on the streets of
New York: soon they find that his past is somehow linked to Sofia. a porn actress. and two violent corporate assassins. The patented Hartley dialogue and wit is ever present. but this time there are a few filmic jokes thrown in with references to specific genres and other movies. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I An Angel At My Table (PG) (Jane Campion. New Zealand. 1990) Kerry Fox. Alexia Keogh. Karen Fergussson. 158 mins. Campion’s follow- up to her remarkable debut Sweetie is a lengthy treatment of her compatriot Janet Frame‘s autobiographical trilogy of novels. originally made for television. Following Frame's life from awkward childhood and teenage years. through university (where she was diagnosed as schizonphrenic) and bohemian travels in Europe. to her adult achievements as a writer. the film offers a subtle depiction of nrental illness. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Angels (PG) (William Dear. CS. 1994) Danny
US. 1995) Shelley Long. Gary Cole. Michael McKean. 98 rrrins. The makeshift Brady household is caught in a 70s timewarp of flares. groovey chicks and parental homilies. so while trying to pay off their back taxes. their anachronistic attitudes clash with the moral ambiguities of the 90s. Kitsch and absolutely hilarious. this is the one TV-to-big-screen transition that has worked a treat. General release.
I Bride (it The Monster ( 18) (lid Wood. US. 1953) Bela Lugosi. Tor Johnson. Loretta King. 69 mins. Also known as Bride Of The Arom. this Wood stinker has Lugosi in rrrad scientist rrrode. making mutants in his atomic lab. Watch out for that rubber octopus in the climactic moments. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Bullets Over Broadway ( l 5) (Woody Allen. US. 1994) John Cusack. Dianne Wiest. Chazz Palminteri. 105 mins. Self-absorbed playwright David Shayne (Cusack) compromises all the way down the line as he attempts to get his new masterpiece staged — he‘s willing to cast a gangster's girlfriend for the necessary funding and take writing tips from her streetwise bodyguard. Allen's emphasis is on witty dialogue and strong performances. which gives the film a slightly theatrical feeling. Glasgow:
Odeon. Grosvenor.
I Circle Dt Friends ( 15) (Pat O'Connor. L'S/UK. 1994) Chris O'Donnell. Colin Firth. Minnie Driver. 102 mins. A group of friends meet and socialise together as a relief from their college studies in Dublin. with love and disappointment inevitably rearing their heads. A slice of life in 1957 lreland — so parochial it might as well be another planet — O‘Connor"s adaptation of Maeve Binclry's novel is faithfully recreated btrt too lightweight. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. UCl.
I Clerks ( 18) (Kevin Smith. US. 1993) Brian O'Halloran. Jeff Anderson. Marilyn Ghigliotti. 90 mins. Just when you were sick of the very sight of the word ‘slacker'. along comes Clerks and gives the whole commercialisation of the Gen X lifestyle a good hard kick up the
backside. Kevin Smith's hilariously fotrl dialogue peps up the exchanges on life. sex and
Glover. Tony Danza. Brenda 1-‘ricker. Released in
the States as Angels In The ()urfield. this particular baseball movie tells of a foster child named Roger who's the orin person to hear and see the heaven-sent coaches who are helping his team rise from the bottom of the league. "The players and Roger discover the power of believing in dreams and finding the courage to never give up hope.’ says the press release. You've been warned. Strathclyde: UCl East Kilbride.
I Bad Boys ( 15) (Michael Bay. US. 1995) Martin Lawrence. Will Smith. Tea Leoni. 104 mins. When a criminal mastermind completes a huge drug heist. Leoni is the only witness to the accompanying murder. btrt she'll only talk to cop Smith. Smith's out of the office. so partner Lawrence assumes his identity. and the two buddies with badges have to keep the swapped role stunt up until trial date. Plenty of opportunities for comedy and action are made the most of in this new post-Murphy black cop franchise. See review. General release.
I Bandit Queen (18) (Shekhar Kapur. lndia. 1994) Seema Biswas. Nirmal Pandey. Manjoj Bajpai. 119 mins. Using the story of lndian outlaw Phoolan Devi. Kapur savagely attacks the caste system and the way it allows men to continually abuse women. Hugely controversial in its home country (although it was funded by Channel 4). Bandit Queen is a major international film. and as far from nomral lndian fare as Ken Loach is from an MGM musical. Fife: Adam Smith. Strathclyde: East Kilbride Arts Centre.
I Belle Epoque (15) (Fernando Tmeba. Spain. 1992) Jorge Sanz. Fernando Feman Gomez. Ariadne Gil. Penelope Cruz. 109 mins. During
everyday living between bored convenience store check-out assistant Dante and equally bored video store manager Randal. Edinburgh:
Filmhouse.
I Clockwork Mice ( l5) (Vadim Jean. UK. 1995) lalr llart. Rtraidhri Conroy. Catherine Rtrssell. 100 mins. An idealistic young teacher is thrown in at the deep end when he starts work at a special needs school. but he connects with one of the most troubled boys through their shared love of cross-country running. Director Jean allows the leads — two excellent perfomiances from Hart and Conroy - space to build their characters and shows a surprisingly light touch when dealing with strong material. Sympathetic. with its own self-limited appeal. See review. Glasgow: MGM Film Centre. Edinburgh: MGM. Strathclyde: UCl East Kilbride.
I Cries and Whispers ( 18) lngrnar Bergman. Sweeden. 1972) Harriet Anderson. Ingrid Thulin. Liv Ullmann. 91 mins. At the turn of the century. a middle-aged spinster lies dying of cancer. Her two sisters. one frigid. one suicidal. corrre to watch over her. Mounted in the style of Edvard Munch. Bergman's bleak and harrowing vision of suffering and Sven Nykvist's Oscar winning photography in various tones of red combine seamlessly to form a quite hypnotic
.confrontation with mortality. Glasgow: GF'T.
I Cyrano Be Bergerac (U) (Jean-Paul Rappeneau. France. 1990) Gerard Depardieu. Jacques Weber. Anne Brochet. Vincent Perez. 135 mins. A stirring adaptation of Rostand's classic. romantic tragi-comedy. Full of grandly mounted. bustling crowd scenes. it revolves around typically superb performance from Depardieu as the large-nosed hero. Although performed in rhyming verse throughout (with subtitles by Anthony Burgess). and a touch
overlong. the film's dramatic and cinematic qualities are outstanding. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Death And The Maiden (18) (Roman Polanski. UK/US/France. 1994) Sigoumey Weaver. Ben Kingsley. Stuart Wilson. 104 mins. A former torture victim believes the man who helped her husband when his car had a flat is the doctor who abused her years before. Polanski thinks he's doing a Hitchcockian thriller (which trivialises Ariel Dorfman's source material). while Weaver waves a gun around like there's something creepy. crawly and extraterrestrial under the bed. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Death In Venice (15) (Luchino Visconti. Italy. 1971) Dirk Bogarde. Bjorn Andressen. Silvano Mangano. 128 mins. Ageing celebrated composer Von Auscenbach (the capable. slightly rniscast Bogarde) comes to Venice in the midst of a creative crisis and becomes infatuated with a beautiful Polish boy who embodies the kind of physical and spiritual purity he's been looking for in his work. Highly decorative attempt at the unfilmable. though the use of Mahler's Fifth Symphony is highly affecting. Glasgow: GET. I Demon Knight ( 18) (Ernest Dickerson. US. 1995) Billy Zane. William Sadler. Jada Pinkett. 93 mins. A feature-length horror movie derived from the HBO cable series Tales F mm The Crypt (itself based on the EC. Comics from the 50s). this finds fugitive Sadler and assorted fiophouse inmates under siege from The Collector (Zane). Spike Lee cinematographer Dickerson displays a reasonable flair for the genre. but the action is predictable. the sfx merely adequate and the fright quotient far too low. Edinburgh: UCl. Strathclyde: UCI C lydebank. I Dialogues With Madwomen ( l5) (Allie Light. US. 1993) 90 mins. Light's engrossing and moving documentary tells the story of seven women who have experienced multiple personalities. manic depression. schizophrenia and euphoria. Unlike other films which would just take a straightforward interview approach. this one taps into the dreamlike qualities of unbalanced imagination. recreating the memories and fantasies of its subjects. including the director herself. After the 28 June screening. there will be an audience and panel discussion. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Dumb And Dumber ( 12) (Peter Farrelly. US. 1994) Jim Carrey. Jeff Daniels. Lauren Holly. 102 mins. Brainless limo driver Lloyd (Carrey) drags equally intellectually challenged roommate Hany (Daniels) to Aspen in search of the beautiful Mary. not knowing the suitcase he's carrying contains the ransom for her husband's kidnappers. There's nothing patronising about these guy's sheer stupidity — this is aimless. puerile. shamefacedly hilarious stuff for people who didn‘t understand the jokes in Wayne's World. Glasgow: Odeon. MGM Parkhead. Edinburgh: UCl. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank. WMR. I Eat Drinlt Man Woman (PG) (Ang Lee. Taiwan. 1993) Sihung Lung. Kuei Mei Yang. Chein Lien Wu. 123 mins. Ang Lee's Tire Wedding Banquet was a surprise international hit: Eat Drink Man ll’oman surpasses it on every level. Chu is the greatest chef in Taipai. but for years his affection for his three grown-up daughters has been redirected into the lavish meals he prepares for them. When love unexpectedly enters into the lives of all four. their inability to communicate comes to a head. Wamr. funny. colourful. A joyful experience. Edinburgh: Cameo. Central: MacRobert. I Ed Wood (15) (Tim Burton. US. 1994) Johnny Depp. Martin Landau. Patricia Arquette. 123 mins. Burton’s fondly atmospheric homage to the so-called ‘worst director of all time' is his best film to date. 1t's more than a biopic pastiche. however: the emotional heart of the film is found in the genuinely caring relationship between Wood and the dying. drug-addicted Bela Lugosi (a marvellous Martin Landau). Depp plays Wood as a bundle ofenergy and innocent romanticism. capturing the spirit of dogged detenriination that makes the subject such an appealitrg character. Glasgow: GEI'. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Edinburgh College Of Art Showcase Almost two hours of work drawn from the College of Art's degree shows. featuring a range of drama and animation. The screening consists of Tim Clayton's Catherine. Jez Cumow's Fever. Hannah Lewis's Quality Control. Frances Martin's Cages. Stephen Murphy's Mr Morris. Simon Vickey's The Body Below. Mark Geddes's Fog. Helen Liddle's Dust. Calum
MacDonald's Divine Inspiration. Cormac
O'Kane's The Altered State Circus and Emily Thomson's Twit! Night And Morning. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I l’Enler ( 15) (Claude Chabrol. France. 1994) Emmanuelle Bean. Francois Cluzet. Andre Wilms. 100 mins. 1n the 70s. Henri-Georges Clouzot stopped shooting this script after a nervous breakdown. Picked up 20 years later by Chabrol. the sense of impasse is obvious and. while interesting enough. it‘s less than
Catch the best Film this tortn
llt.
FIRST Bill I Ed Wood Tim Burton’s biopic of Hollywood’s worst-ever director is an affectionate tribute to artistic vision. boldly shot in black-and-white and enthusiastically acted by the entire ‘ cast. Glasgow: GET Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Killer A hard-hearted assassin (Anthony LaPaglia) is forced to search in his soul when he falls in love with his latest hit — a woman (Mimi Rogers) with a death wish. Glasgow: OFT Edinburgh:
F ilmhause.
I Rob Roy When he is betrayed and his homestead burned, Rob Roy MacGregor fights to win back the honour of his name. Alan Sharp’s script is a masterpiece. General release.
I Postcards From America The late David Wojinarowicz’s autobiographical writings are perfectly adapted for the big screen. And the rest ofthe touring Lesbian and Gay Film Festival is worth checking out too. Glasgow: GFT Edinburgh: ("flirt/muse.
I Clerks Lewd, crude and very rude, Kevin Smith‘s hilarious take on slacker life and philosophy behind the cash register is a masterpiece of low-budget filmmaking. Edinburgh: F ilnthouse. ‘ BEPEBTOHY
I Directors Fortnight Screen 1 at the Cameo is taken up with a feast of excellent movies, with programmes highlighting a different director each day — from Scorsese to Tarantino to Kieslowski. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Suture On one level. a revenge thriller on assassination gone wrong; on another. a clever examination of assumptions about racial and personal identity. One ofthe year‘s most intriguing releases. Edinburgh: F lint/rouse.
satisfying. (‘luzct suspects that coquettish young wife Beart is unfaithful; she denies it. Credibility is pushed aside as the director concentrates on male paranoia. Fife: Adam Snrith.
I Exotica (18) (Atom Egoyan. Canada. 1994) Bruce Greenwood. Mia Kirschner. Elias Kroteas. 104 mins. A brooding set of troubled souls who collect in a strip cltrb are linked by a dark event in their pasts. In a way. Egoyan's film. despite its setting. isn't about sex at all. it certainly doesn't allow the viewer to escape into fantasy. instead focusing on how these tratrmatiscd individuals cope with their personal sense of loss. The filmmaker's most accessible film to date. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Far From Home (PG) (Phillip lior'sos. US. 1994) Mimi Rogers. Brtrce Davison. Jesse Bradford. Fourteen-year-old Angus is washed up on the shores of the Pacific Northwest and. separated from his family. relies on The Yellow Dog for help. A live action kids' movie in the ‘one boy and his dog' mould. with ingenuity under pressure shown by the young teen hero and canine courage from the four-legged co-star. Borders: Pavilion. Fife: Glenrothes.
The List 16-29 Jun 1995 25