FILM index
FILM INDEX continued
Jungle 2 Jungle (PG) (John Pasquin. US. I997) Tim Allen. Sam Huntingdon. Martin Short. I05 mins. This Hollywood remake of French comedy UII Int/fen Dans La Ville tells of a workaholic businessman unexpectedly reunited with his thirteen-year-old son — who has been living amongst tribesmen in the Amazon jungle. Bttt this is no Emeralt.’ Forest; instead the mood is closer to
C mcmli'le Dundee as the eyes of an innocent adjust to the urban jungle. General release. The Killer (l8) (John Woo. Hong Kon. I989) Chow Yun-Fat. Danny Lee. Sally Yeh. I l l mins. Genre-led thriller. with old school buddies turned cop and contract killer as sparring partners. transferred into the sleazy gangland of Hong Kong. The violence puts Rnlmmp to shame. but there's a glorious. oriental fatalism about the whole shebang that lends it a certain sheen of romanticism. Edinburgh: Cameo.
Kolya (l2) (.Ian Sverak. Czech. I996) Zdenek Sverak. Andrej Chalimon. Libuse Safrankova. l05 mins. Womaiiiser and batchelor Louka marries a Rtissiati woman who wants a Czech passport and. when site skips the country. is left to look after her five-year-old son. Separated by language. nationality. age and blood. surrogate father and chich discover how to care and love across such divides. This winner of the Best Foreign Language Filtii ()scar is a resonant mix of gentle humour and weepy emotion. with fine performances attd brilliant crafting. lidinbtirgh: Caitieo.
larger Than Life (I’G) (Howard Frattkliti. US. I996) Bill Murray. Janeane Garafalo, Tai the elephant. 93 tititis. Popular theraptist Jack Corcoran (Murray) inherits his father's circus elephant Vera. and aims to sell her to a heartless Hollywood animal trainer. Btit on theirjourney across America. Jack becomes a better person. This loosely plotted odyssey is drowned iti mindless elephant worship ~ there are only so many times you really want to see a performing pachydertii stand on three legs — and the results are truly desperate. lidinburgh: ()deon.
Liar Liar (I2) (Tom Shadyac. US. I997) Jim Carrey. Jennifer Tilly. Amanda Donohoe. 87 mins. After the bewilderineg ill-focused Cable Guy. Jim Carrey delivers a likeable. effective. bttt decidedly mainstream comedy with a set-up that's blissfully simple - a birthday wish by Carrey‘s son means lawyer dad must stop telling lies for a single day. A very workable springboard for Jim Carrey's usual repertoire of play-doh facial tics and energetic slapstick. General release. Looking For Richard (IS) (Al Pacino. US. I996) Al Pacino. Winona Ryder. Alec Baldwin. ll2 mins. Pacino investigates his passion for Shakespeare by scurrying around New York. interviewing ordinary people and famous thespians about the Bard's appeal. When he gets together his chums to chew over the text and enact some scenes from Ric/turd Ill however. his offbeat film goes sadly off the rails and resembles a Higher English lesson. A noble effort that's too self-indulgent to secure an new audience or further enlighten Shakespeare fans. Irvine: Magnum.
Love And Other Catastrophes ( IS) (Iimttta-Kate Crogan. Australia. I996) Alice Garner. Matt Day. Frances O‘Connor. 77 mins. Croghan's witty. insightfully performed debut feature plays out in a recognisable campus world. for it seems that Australian students go through the satne round of insecurity. humiliation arid suffering at the hands of university adtttinistration as everyone else. Deftly blends structured comedy and wise' observation — enjoy it for now. and feel the promise for the futttre. lidinbtirgh: UCI. Love Is Colder Than Death (l8) (Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Germany. I969) Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Ulli l.ommel. Hanna Schygtilla. 88 itiiiis. Fassbinder's lirst feature is a I-Iuropean nod towards the Hollywood gangster B-movie. The director plays a sctizzy ex-con resisting the pressures of the ‘Syndicate'. btit finding himself betrayed by a jealous prostitute (Schygulla) after a bank robbery. Bleak black-and-wliite photography and bare sets underline the loneliness of the characters iii this loveless
|l lliii ‘oll
The Loveliest Night of the Year
An evening of music. entertainment. fireworks. fashion. style & glamour on the Longest Day of the Year at
Kelvingrove Art Gallery!
ADMISSION £40 per person at tables of IO TICKETS FROM: John Blue Assocrates,0l41 339 7572
SPONSORED BY CRUSE
Proceeds will assist the West End Festival and the Hawthorn House Bereavement 8. Counselling Semce at the Yorkhill Sick Kids Hospital
With support from Glasgow City Council's Arts Project Development Fund
32 THE “ST 30 May—l2 Jun 1997
Pollen power: one of the cast of Microcosmos dines out
genre. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Mars Attacks! (l2) (Tim Burton. US. I996) Jack Nicholson. Glenn Close. Annette Bening. l05 mins. Take some 50s alien invasion films. add the star bodycount of 70s disaster movies. round it off with the weird imagination of Tim Burton. and you have this expensive sci-ft spoof. The IiTs literally are little green men. wrecking havoc on liarth while disparate bunches of humans fight back. Good gags. great design and eye-popping computer animation. btit it doesn‘t really connect as a complete film. Stirling: MacRobert.
A Matter Of Life And Death (PG) (Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburgcr. UK. I946) David Niven. Kim Hunter. Roger Livesy. l04 mins. Wonderful film that rises above its beginnings as a piece of wartime propaganda about goodwill between Britain and the USA. Niven is an RAF pilot who finds himself before a heavenly tribunal when he bales out of his burning plane. A witty and stylish fantasy with a fair share of on-target satire. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Men, Women: A User's Manual ( l 2) (Claude Lelouch. France. I996) Bernard Tapie. Fabrice Luchini. Alessandra Martines. l23 ntins. Controversial former Marseille football club boss and wheeler- dealer businessman Bernard Tapie plays a philandering tycoon who gets his comeuppance when a vengeful old flame switches his medical report with an ailing undercover copi. The healthy one starts to get sick. the sick one starts feeling fine again. It never even begins to add tip. btit Lelouch's dazzling cattierawork and luscious Parisian cinematography are captivating enough to command the attention. See review. Glasgow: (ii-T. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Microcosmos (U) (Claude Nttridsany/Marie Perennou. France. I995) 75 mins. A bug- eyed look at the world of insects. this French one-off falls somewhere between a narrativeless documentary and an ensemble piece for its array of tiny characters. What unfolds is a kind of life-in-a-day between the blades of grass iii an overgrown meadow. The award-winning macro- pltotography and imaginative sound evoke and surpass the artificial worlds created iii all those science fiction movies. lidinburgh: Filmhouse.
Mon Homme (l8) (Bertrand Blier. France. I996) Anotik Grinberg. (ierard Laitvin. Mathieu Kassovitz. 98 mins. Blier‘s off-the- wall tale follows desperate-for-love prostitute Marie (Grinberg) as she stumbles over battered down-and-out Jeatinot (Lanvin). falls in love and enlists him as her pimp. Fans of the director will know what to expect. btit those less accustomed to his roundabout ways may find his politically incorrect style difficult to take. Glasgow: GFT Edinburgh: Cameo.
My Little Chickadee (PG) (Edward Cline. US. I939) WC. Fields. Mae West. Margaret Hamilton. 83 mins. In the old west a lady of uncertain virtue and an alcoholic card sharp get on the trail of some villians. The star
pairing must have seemed like a great idea at the time. bttt it's a shame that Fields and West's screenplay resoluter refuses to work. Perhaps both worked better when left to their own devices. Glasgow: Gl-‘l‘.
The Near Room ( l 8) (David Haytiian. UK. I995) Adrian Dunbar. David ()‘Hara. Julie Graham. 89 ttiiiis. linter a vision of Glasgow where Mr Happy never smiles better and washed-tip newspaper ltack Charlie (Dunbar) realises that the young girl he is searching for in a sewer of corruption and child pornography is his owti long-lost daughter. Robert Murphy‘s screenplay throws a tigltt net over the characters. creating a world where the past hunts everyone down with a relentless. merciless inevitability. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith.
The People vs Larry Flynt ( I8) (Milos Forman. US. I996) Woody Harrelson. Courtney Love. I-idward Norton. I30 mitts. Following the rise of pornography publisher Larry Flytit front humble beginnings through court cases arid an assassination attempt. The People l',\' Larry Fly/it is about a lot more than politics. That's not to disttiiss the film‘s central argument - that the right of free speech is absolute — btit it is Courtney Love as l-‘lynt's junkie wife Althea that you won't be able to take your eyes off. Iidinbtirgh: Filiiihouse.
The Piano i l5) (Jane Campion. Atistt'alia/Ne'.v Vealand. I993) Holly Hunter. Satti Neill. Harvey Keitel. l20 mins. Jane Campion‘s masterpiece follows mute Scotswoman Ada (Hunter) as she travels to l9tlt century New '/.ealand with her piano and dattgltter to enter into ati arranged marriage. Soon she begins a passionate and erotic affair with her illiterate neighbour as the means of regaining her treasured instrument. ltiipeccable perfortttances lift this highly charged piece to the realms of classic cinema. undoubtedly one of the best films of the 90s. lidinbtit'gli: l-‘ilitiliouse. The Portrait Of A Lady i I 2) (Jane Campion. l'S. I996) Nicole Kidman. John Malkovich. Barbara Hershey. I-l-l mitts. Cattipion's follow-up to The l’itmn is a dark aitd difficult adaptation of Henry James‘s novel which stays true to the oi'iginal's subtle psychological observations. Kidtiian — at once proud. naive. sensitive aiid determined -- is excellent as the young woman almost destroyed by a disastrous marriage. while Malkovich is a little too cold and ambiguous. Beautiful. bttt etitotionally remote. l-Idiiibtirgh: Filitihotise. Rancho Notorious ii’ti) (Frill. Lang. US. I952) Marlene Dietrich. Arthur Kennedy. Mel Ferret. 89 mins. Another of Lang's heroes vs lio's lives are arbitrain transforitied by fate. Vern Haskell is a cow hand who sets ottt to revenge the murder (and likely rape) of his fiancee. His best clue to their whereabouts is a ranch run by former barroom singer Altar Keane. Performances are excellent. particularly Dietrich who copes aditiirably with a more mature role. Glasgow: (ll-'l'.
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