FILM INDEX
FILM
Films screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate, credits, brief review and venue details. Film index compiled by Alan Morrison.
I Abandoned Women ( 15) ( lirriilro l'errrartdez. Mexico. I‘M-l) l0} mins. Delores Del Rio plays a woman forced into prostitution dtrr irrg tlte Mexican Revolution in order to allow lter sort to beconre a lawyer. Total tear-jerking indulgence Glasgow: Crl’l'.
I The Adventures or Priscilla. Queen Of The Desert ( lb‘) (Stephan lilliott. Australia. l‘N-l) Terence Stamp. llrrgo Weaving. Guy Pearce. l04 mitts. Two transvestites and a trans sexual team tip for a trip across the Australian outback for a drag show itt Alice Springs. Serious issues pop up ftorrt time to time. but the emphasis is on the camp humour of the iii-bits bitchriress and outrageous musical set-pieces. lidirrbrrrgh: Carrteo.
I Andre (l. ) ((ieotge Miller. l'S. l‘)‘)-l r Tina Majorirro. Keitlr ('arradme. Chelsea field. 0-3 mirrs. This time it's the trrrrr of .r seal to keep the kids ooltirrg and aahrrrg. as the true story of Artdte unfolds, Set during the early ()(l\ in a srrrall fishing tow it in Maine. the film has all the necessary elerrrents- cute kid bonding w rtli cute animal — and w itlr a few adventure sequences in the plot that puts tltis tlrppcrcd lrcio iii the Skippy/('harrrpron/Rin Tin Tin class Central: Carrrton.
I Angels 8. Insects ( rsr (Philip llaas. t‘s‘n't ‘rs'. l‘)‘)5) Mark Rylartce. Kristin Scott Thomas. Patsy Keirsit, ll'.‘ mirrs. An explorer accepts the job of cataloguing the insect collection of an aristocrat. btrt when he talls in loyc itlr his daughter. he faces class rivalry and snobbery An infuriating period piece with only Ry lance and Scott Thomas proving tlreirtselxes in the acting stakes. Arid the rtretaphors are so forced. it's etrtbar'rassiirg. lidinbuigh: Carrreo
I Animation Seminar I20 trims .\ seminar .rnd discussion forum which looks at all lorrirs of animation and examines the aspirations and
FROM FRI 22 MARCH
Trainspotting (18)
12.35, 2.45, 4.55, 7.05, 9.25pm
RENDEZ-VOUS ' IN PARIS (PG)
1.15. 3.50, 6.20 & 8.55pm
ll Pntinr
12.50. 3.30 (both not Sun), 6.40.
9.10pm
FROM FRI 29 MARCH Dead Man Walking (15)
12.45. 3.25, 6.05. 8.45pm
Trainspotting (18)
1.20. 3.30. 5.35. 7.40. 9.45pm ALSO SHOWING AT 1.00. 3.10. 5.15 (all not Sun). 7.20. 9.30pm
SEE LISTINGS FOR LATE NIGHTS AND MATINEES
CAMEO
problems of the animator. Sat 25 only. Strathclyde: liast Kilbride Arts Certtre.
I Antartida ( 18) (Manuel lltrerga. Spain. 1905) l 10 rrtins. llavirtg jtist lost her boyfriend to an overdose. a jrrrtkie rock srrtger rrrakes a road trip across Spain. Things look rip when she rrreets a new guy. btrt when there's a rrrix tip over some stolen heroin. trouble looms again. Spanish Film Festival. Glasgow: (ll-T. lidinbtrrgh: Filmhouse. I Apollo 13 (PG) (Ron Howard. CS. 1005) Tom Hanks. Bill Paxton. Kevin Bacon. l-l0 mirrs. On I} April 1970. an oxygen tank exploded on the service module of the Apollo l3 spacecraft. leaving three astronauts stranded some 200.000 miles from lrotrre. Howard's screen retelling is a big. epic adventure with a proudly patriotic stance. The space photography is just fantastic and the acting as good as it gets. Great entei’tairrrrtent. if a little rich iii the apple pie department. Glasgow: MGM Parklread. liditrbtrr'gli: l'Cl. Strathclyde: l'Cl Clydebarrk. I Asterix Conquers America it) ((‘rcrbartr Hahn. Germany. l‘)‘)5) SS mirrs. While brewing tip a potion. village druid Getafix is captured by the Romans and taken over the sea to America. lrrrrtrediately Asterix and ()belrx set off to save him. coming across a tribe of Indians. stampeding buffalo and other \‘v'ester ir adventures. The arrrrrratiorr style hasn't changed for years. so you know exactly what to expect. Glasgow: MGM Paikhcad.
I Babe (lit (Chris Noonait. Atrstialia. l‘)‘)5) James Crorrrwell. with the voices of (hi istrrre (‘avanauglL Miriam Margolycs. lltrgo Weaving. ‘)2 turns. Air orphaned pig falls under the eye of a kindly collie and begins to thrrik he's destined for glory at the regional trials Talking animals suggest that this is a kids' movie: to an extent it rs and a great one -btrt there’s enough skewered humour that] the psycho once?) for adults to discover art unexpected ctrlt hit. A triumph for the tmdeiprg. General release.
I Balto it") (Simon Wells. 1S. 1005) With the voices of Kevin Bacon. Bridget l'otrda. Bob lloskms. 78 turns. When the irredical supplies to an isolated Alaskan town are threatened by a
blizzard. half~lrusky/half-wolf Balto ~- an
outsider becatrse of his mongrel natrrre - comes to the rescue. Impressive action sequences ensure that Amblirr's feature-length cartoon gives Disney a run for its rrroney. General release.
I The Basketball Diaries ( Isr (Scott Kalvert. CS. 1995) Leonardo DiCaprio. Bruno Kirby. l.oriaine Braceo, l02 units. This dull arid disappointing screen version of Jrrtt Carroll's ctrlt hook is full of the trstral drug cliches as DiCaprio's good Catholic boy slips doer an increasingly hysterical path to ruin. Arr irradeqtrate script and bad direction are the ball arid chain arotrrrd the ankles of a reasonable performance. Strathclyde: l‘Cl liast Kilbride. I Blood Simple ( Ib‘r (Joel (‘ot-n. t's. rush John Cretz. Francis McDor‘rrrattd. .\I. limrrret Walsh. 0‘) turns. Atrspiciotrs debut from the Coen brothers' direction/prodtrctiorr team. Walsh excels .rs the seedy Sheriff investigating a simple rrrrrrder whose devilish Texan chronicle of double- crossing is anything but simple. Art enthusiastic attempt at contemporary film rtorr'. which keeps everyone guessing even after the final frame. lidirrburgh‘ Cameo.
I A Boy’s life ( lb‘) 80 rrrins. Tltree gay shorts with differertt approaches to the subject of sexuality in childhood and adolescence. The hero iii Todd llaynes's Dottie (Ietr Spanked is drawn towards a bizarre. campy TV show despite his dad's insistence that football is the best thing for a growing boy. Raoul ()‘Connell's A Friend 0/ Dorm/iv (winner of the Audience Award at the 1904 San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival) follows a young gay man who moves to New York itr order to find love. Peggy Rajski's ’I'rer-m' (joint winner of the l‘)‘)5 Oscar for Best Live Action Short) is a poignant comedy about a Diana Ross fan who attempts suicide. Iidinburgh: Filmhotrse.
I Braveheart ( tSr (Mel Gibson. t'S. 1905) Mel Gibsort. Patrick McGoohan. Sophie Marceau. I77 mitts. Mel Gibson's long arid bloody accorrnt of the life of Scottish warrior hero William Wallace boasts some rerrtarkable battle scenes arid great performances. particularly McGoohan’s merciless King lidwar‘d. Aiming to entertain on a wider scale than the rrrore literate Rob Roy. Brave/reart's Scottish passion is tempered by a few Hollywood moments — touches of sentimentality and ‘dramatic' historical irraccrrraey. Nevertheless. it's a fine. full-blooded attempt to tap into the spirit that fires Scotland's history arid heroes. General release.
I the Bridges 0f Madison County ( 13) (Clint liastwotxl. ['S. 1905) Clirtt Eastwood. Meryl Stieep. 04 rttirts. Robert James Waller's book may be literary tripe. btrt one's adnriration for director-star liastwood increases a thousand- fold. as he conjures one of his finest achievements as a filmmaker. It's a classic love story between a passing photographer arid a woman whose husband and children are off at
the state fair. and liastw ood has created a work with real tear-stirring potency despite its utter lack of sentieirrental gtrslriness. lidinburgh: Filnthouse.
I Brief Encounter (PG) (David Lean. t'K. PMS) Celia Jolrrrsoti. Trevor Howard. Stanley Holloway. so irtirrs. Stiff upper lips and emotionally charged brtrslres of the hands are all that Johnson and Howard will allow themselves as their extra-rrrarital ‘affair' doesn‘t dex elop rrttrclr beyond unspoken longiitgs at a railway station. For some. the tears will still flow; for others. the ungiving morality is exasper'atittg. Given the rigidity of this linglish roirrance. the Rachtrraninov soundtrack is trrtfittirtgly sweet. With a selection of old-style cinema advertisements. Central: MacRobeit.
I Cabeza de Vaca ( l5) (Nicholas lichevarr'ia. Mexico. l‘)‘)0) Juan Diego. Daniel Caclro. Roberto Sosa. Jose Flores. I I2 mirrs. Based on the riremoir‘s of Alvar Nunez. Cabe/a de Vaca. this historical epic tells of a Spaniard who w as captured by Indian tribes in the loth cerrttrry of the Corrqtrisladoi'es. After a failed attempt at escape. he learns his captors' lartgtrage and soon discovers that their moral code is superior to his own. Mysterious and exotic. this is one of the best films to corrte otrt of Mexico in recent years. Fdinburgh: l-ilrnhorrse.
I Casino ( 18) (Martin Scorsese. l'S. NOS) Robert De Niro. Sharon Stone. Joe l‘esei. I78 mirrs. Lifetime gambler Ace Rotltsterrr is chosen as the mobs man in Vegas. and runs the casinos srrrootlrly until things fall apart during the 70s. Scorsese's latest gangster epic has a touch of Greek tragedy about its dow rrfall of a self-made man. htrt it's too rrtrrclt in (inm/l‘el/ar territory to be special. The cirrerrtatograplty atrd editing are as textbook as ex er. arid Storre delivers the tx‘rforrrrairce of her career. Glasgow: MGM Film Centre. lidrnhrrrgh: MGM. l'Cl. Strathclyde: ()deorr Ayi. l'Cls.
I Casper (PG) (Brad Silherlrng. l'S. I‘NS) Clrristirta Ricci. Bill Pullman. Cathy Moriarty. l()() mitts. liveryorre‘s favourite friendly ghost has been living with his three had-terrrpeted uncles in art abandoned rrransiori. When it's bequeathed to a money-grabbing heiress who thinks it‘s filled with hidden treasure guarded by trrtqrriet spirits, Casper comes into contact with ghost psychologist Pullman's tomboy daughter (Ricci). A very messy amalgam of (i/mrt/mrter'v effects. Ar/rlanrr Faun/v gotlric humour and the sort of overblown feelgood Spielbergratra that revels in ftrrrrry gadgetry arid farrrily valrres. Glasgow: Carrrrorr.
I la Ceremonie .-i .lta/ge/rie/t! In Sin/re ( I St (Clarrde Cltabrol. Fiance. l‘)‘)5r Sarrdrrne Borrrrarre. Isabelle lltrppeit. Jacqueline Bisset,
I ll mins. An illiterate rrraid begins work at a posh but isolated home in rtrtal France and begins a strange relationship w itlr the obsessive local postal clerk. Chabrol's master ly adaptation of Ruth Rendell's noxel is like a reworked Heaven/v ('rearnn-r meeting a thinkirrg-rrrau's ill/re l/rt/ttl Tltul lt’rtt'ketl 'Iilre (‘I'tltlllfl (ilttsgowf Crl-‘l'. lidiirhuigh: Filrrthotrse.
I Charlotte’s Web (l7) (Cltarles A. Nichols. l'S. l‘)72) Voices of Debbie Reynolds. Henry Gibson. 85 rrtirrs. Animated version of the ILB. White classic in which a farmyard spider befriends a shy piglet. Not badly dorte by the llanrra-Barbera sttrdio. With the short film Little Wolf. Puppet and Animation Festival. Central: MacRobeit.
I Children's Animation Programme 105 mins. The btilk of the prograrrtrrre is taken up with a screening of the Australian feature-length cartoon Blinkv Bill. the tale of a cheeky koala bear and his friends. Also on the prograrrtnte are two shorts made dtrring the Festival's animation workshops and Arrinragr‘e from Ireland. Sat 23 only. Strathclyde: [East Kilbride Arts Centre.
I Conversation Pieces As part of the Centenary of Cinerrra. Janet McBain. curator of the Scottish Film Archive. presents a programme illustrating the nature of Scottish filmmaking between 1900 and 1060. with particular emphasis on Glasgow. Glasgow: Concert Hall.
I oronos ( IS) (Guillermo del Toro, Mexico, l‘)‘)3) 92 mins. Possibly the strongest feature to emerge from Mexico irt recent years. alongside Like Water For Chocolate. lrr ltrslt vistrals. del Toro spans centuries in his tale of the hrirrran desire for an intricate rrrecharrieal device that prolongs life. A unique vampire movie that brings art to the world of horror. Edinburgh: Film Gtiild.
I outthroat Island (15) (Retrrty Harlin. l‘S. I‘JOS) Geena Davis. Matthew Modine. Frartk Larrgella. l23 mitts. The daughter (Davis) of an infamous pirate inherits his ship. crew and mean reputation as she searches for an island and hidden treasure. Die Hard 2 director Harlin's preference for blowing things tip when the actiort sags shows lack of imagination and he lets it all go on too long. Fora while. though. it's a rtratinee-style romp through all the peg-leg
. cliches of the genre. See preview and review.
General release. I Cyclo ( 18) (Tran Anh Hung. France/Vietnam.
Catch the best Film this fortnight.
FIRST RUN
I Toy Story Proof that toys have feelings too. as Woody the cowboy and space ranger Bit/.1. Lightyear' embark on a thrilling buddy adventure in Disney‘s first computer'- generated anirrratiorr feature. See feature artd review. General release. I Dead Man Walking Susan Sar'andori becomes spiritual advisor to brutal rrrrir'derer Sean Penn as he awaits execution irt Tim Robbins‘ powerful study of compassion. See feature and review. General release. I Get Shorty Back on form irt another cool movie. John Travolta stars as a loan shark swimming in the waters of Holly woodfienera/ release.
I Trainspotting A t'oller'eoaster ride through the cherrtical highs and devastating lows of life with heroin on the streets of Edinburgh. Fast and furious. hilarious and serious. it really couldn‘t be better. (ieneral release. SPECIAL EVENTS
I Academy Awards Party Movies. at irreirrorabilia auction and live coverage of the ()scar ceremony. with proceeds going to Crusaid. The fun starts at 9pm on Mon 25. lit/inbnrg/r: I’llnt/rons’e.
I Scottish Short Films Three cheers for the Cameo’s support of young Scottish filmmakers. This issue catch Ali 'l‘ur‘nbull‘s 'li'ut/i (Fri 22). Aldo Palurrrbo‘s ’l‘lte Saran/(Sun 2-D. Dene l-lappell‘s ()ltjet'ls‘ (Thurs 2S) and Wendy Griffin‘s 55 llatldrngtmt l’laee (Sun 31 ). lir/inlnug/r: Cameo.
MOS) l.e \'arr l.oc. Trait Nu Yen Klre. Torry l.eurrg (‘hrrr Wai. l2‘) units. A teenage pedal cab driver ltas his vehicle stolen by a rival gang and. in order to pay back the owner. falls in with a grotrp of criminals. l'nlrke the director's sensitive debut The Seen! (it (Ireen I’a/rava. this rs art tmcorrtprorrtrsirrg look into a rrroral abyss that builds to a ferocious plane of violence. See review. lidrrtbtrrgh: l‘lllltllttthc.
I Damage ( lb‘) (l.orris Mallc. l'K/Frarrce. l‘)‘)2) Jeremy Irons. Juliette Birtoclre. Mitarrda Richardson. Rupert Graves. lll mins. A Tory MP. lteaded for high office. drops his par'liarrtentar'y briefs in favour of his son's new girlfriend. David llare's script is restrained and dispassiorrate. leaving the audience detached from the potential irrelodrarrra. A very linglish sexual repression pulled apart by French master Malle. lidinbtri‘glr: Cameo.
I Bays And Nights In The Forest (Pm (Saly'ajit Ray. lrrdia. l‘)(r‘)) Sotimitra Chatter'jee. Sharririll.r 'l'agor'e. Slttrbhendit ('hattci'jee. llS ltlllts‘, Forir batchelor friends front Calcutta drive to a bungalow in the countryside for a holiday. where they interact with local women. A delicate study of relationships that's almost like a ~Chekhov play. Edinburgh: Film Griild.
I Dead Man Walking t 15) (Tim Robbins. tis. l‘)95) Susan Sarandon. Sean Pertrr. Robert Pr‘osky. l22 rtrirrs. A nrrn (Sai'arrdorr) begins her
28 The List 22 Mar-4 Apr l096