REVIEW FILM
ROUGH CUTS
STAR GOSSIP, R01 NEWS, who’s making what with whom - it’s not just the lilms showing at your local cinema that The list is interested in. As the lights go down and the projector cranks up, we bring you ‘Rough Cuts’, a regular column oi trivia and titbits about the iilm world’s biggest international stars and local success stories.
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Ewan McGregor gets Brassed (lit at Sundance
THE SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL. the world's most influential showcase for independent cinema. got underway this year with a touch of Scotland. ()r. at least. a touch of Scotland taned up as a Yorkshire miner. The ubiquitous Ewan McGregor and acclaimed British movie Bmssed (lifopened the festival in Salt Lake City. where the actor is no stranger. after shacking up there at the tail end of I996 with the Trainspotting crew on their follow-up. A Life [.ess Ordinary.
Kelly h’lacdonald. cover star of the last issue of The Lisl. also appears at Sundance in the yet-to-be-seen-over- hcr'e Ste/la Does Tricks. while fans of the American cult arena have plenty to slaver over in the shape of new films by Tom (Living In ()hlivion) DiCillo. Kevin (Clerks) Smith. Richard (Slacker) Linklater and David ('l‘rrin l’eaks) Lynch.
Heroine addiction: Sigourney Weaver (lett) is joined by Winona Ryder ior
WHEN RANDALL WALLACE visited Scotland on a tourist trip a few years ago. the American-born screenwriter came into contact with a statue of national hero and undoubted direct ancestor William Wallace. The rest is Bravehearl and Oscar history.
Wallace (of the pen is mightier than the sword variety) maybe also has Gallic blood in his literary heritage — or perhaps one of his line owned a French poodle rather than a Highland terrier — because his next period romp is a remake of the Alexandre Dumas novel The Man In The Iron Mask. No start date has been set for production. but John Malkovitch. Gerard Depardieu. Jeremy irons and Leonardo DiCaprio are all rumoured to star. And. in the absence of a short Australian to lend historical authenticity to the project. Wallace is scheduled to make his debut as director.
LAST lSSUE'S PREVIEW of the big movies of l997 mentioned a couple of mega-sequels — narnel y Jurassic Park: The Lost World and Batman And Robin — but skirnped on a couple more. So prepare for late summer/autumn thrills as Sigourney Weaver undergoes a (credibility stretching) cloning experiment to return in Alien Resin-reerion. to be directed by Jean- Pierre Jeunet (one halfofthe Delicatessen team) and featuring Winona Ryder in her first action role. Also proving herself in the feisty heroine stakes is Sandra Bullock. who finds herself Keanu-less in Speed 2: Cruise Control. The not-so- thespianally-challenged Jason Patric. currently wowing audiences in Sleepers, is the new male lead. SOME WOULD SAY that director James Cameron has more chance of raising the 'Iiianie than breaking even with his forthcoming film ofthe same name. With a budget that’s risen to around the S l 80 million mark — due to construction of huge scale models of the disaster-prone ship and expensive l2.()()0ft below sea level footage of the wreck — Tilanic must rival Indrpendenee Day and Jurassic Park in its immediate opening period to stay afloat. Can a period romance-cum- disaster movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet really keep up with the effects-are-everything school of filmmaking? Expect several people to drown in the Hollywood storm if this one sinks without trace. (Alan Morrison)
the iourth Allen movie
TEEN ROAD MOVIE
A BOY CALLED HATE
Scott (son oi James) Dean plays a sullen juvenile delinquent who comes to the rescue oi troubled teenager Cindy (Missy Crider) when it looks like she’s about to be raped. Moments later, the attacker - her neputy DA uncle - is !ying on the ground with a couple oi bullets in his chest. So begins their illght irom the law across the American desert and inner landscapes oi guilt, love and despair. Debut director Mitch Marcus has a great eye ior detail in the writing and photography, and encourages terrliic perionnances irom his young, appealing cast. Caan comes over like a James Dean ior the gun-obsessed 90s, while the story and developing romance avoids Natural Born Killers comparisons by rooting the usual ‘restless youth’ cliches inside the disturbed hearts oi real characters. James Caan puts in a shitt as the boy’s lather, and these domestic scenes simmer with an on-the-suriace violence that only comes from unstated love. Throw in a strong grungey soundtrack irom Pray For
VlOEjli
Rebels with a cause: Missy Critter iii Scott Carr in A Roy Called llate Rain (which also comments on the action), and the result is American independent movie-making at its most coniident. Director, actor and actress: stars are born. (Alan Morrison) A Boy Ballad llate (15) is available for rental and mail on the Imagine llonre Entertainment label.
RENTAL
I Alligator Eyes ( 15) A mysterious blind woman hitches a ride with three friends on a reunion road trip and proceeds to sexually and psychologically manipulate them in order to realise her revenge on the man who killed her mother and caused her disability. A low-budget American independent. this character-driven drama — with its hint of mystery and some refreshingly non- mainstream moves — is the kind of thing that‘s great to stumble on at a film festival. Now you can do so at your local video shop. (imagine: also retail)
I A Month By The Lake (PG) Given the absolute deluge of British costume dramas that have drenched big and small screens in the past year. it's a surprise that this pleasant piece of period whimsy didn't get much of an airing outside of London before dropping to video format. Vanessa Redgrave. Edward Fox and Uma Thurman form an unrequited love triangle in pre-World War II Italy and. despite the prettiness of the scenery and apparent lack of plot. the film manages to bring a little bite to its nostalgia. (Buena Vista)
I Wild Justice ( 18) When the killer of a , teenage girl returns to his village after being let out of prison early. the victim’s brother decides to carry out a more brutal justice of his own.
Director Paul Turner's follow-up to the Oscar- norninated Welsh- language filtn Her/d an is badly acted and abysrnally plotted. Not enough character or story background is offered to let us weigh up the merits of these vigilante acts. and the moral points are poorly argued. (First independent)
I Oibil ( l5) It‘s an intriguing concept — the Texas Militia sabotage NASA‘s computers. trapping the crew ofa secret shuttle mission in outer space. But any ‘A/m/lo l3 meets the Oklahoma Bombing' tension is lost as continual cuts to a static and talky court investigation interrupt the flow of action. The music is terrible and omnipresent. the bottom division cast carry no authority. the handheld photography rivals a three~year-old with a camcorder. the ending is an insult to that
same three-year-old's intelligence. This is the worst film in recent memory. (Fox Guild) Also out: ignore the critics and make up your own mind about the dark journeys into sexuality and the psyche that fill Stephen Frears's Jekyll And Hyde tale Mary Reilly (l5. Columbia Tristar); take sides with Bruce Willis against two lots of bad guys in Last Man Standing (18. Entertainment). a Depression-era remake of A F isifld OfDollurs; avoid at all costs another unnecessary remake in the shape of the Sharon Stone/lsabelle Adjani rhrillcrlliabolique (Warner). and simmer in the presence of underground freedom fighter Antonio Banderas as he falls in love with journalist Jennifer Connelly during Chile's political struggles in Oi love And Shadows ( I 8. Entertainment).
John Malkovlcb and Julia Roberts play master and servant ln Mary Reilly (Columbia l’rlstar, rental)
The List 24 Jan-6 Feb I997 27