carbuncles on the face of a well-loved friend. Edinburgh: Cameo.
Big Night (15) (Stanley Tucci/Campbell Scott. US. 1995) Stanley Tucci. Tony Shalhoub. Ian HoIm. 110 mins. Brothers Primoand Secondo Pilaggi run a New Jersey Italian restaurant that‘s all but bankrupt because of Primo's punctilious attitude to his cuisine. so Secondo is persuaded to set up a ‘big night‘ for the famous singer Louis Prima. The 50s setting is nicely but simply detailed. the characterisations strongly observed. and the dialogue gently humorous. A warm and inviting independent movie that doesn't slip into easy resolutions. Glasgow: Odeon Quay. Edinburgh: Cameo. The Boy From Mercury (PG) (Martin Duffy. UK/France. I996) James Hickey. Rita Tushingham. Tom Courtney. 87 mins. liight-year-old Harry (Hickey) believes he has special powers granted him through his birthplace being Mercury rather than Dublin — a belief boosted by visits to the Saturday morning film club and his lack ofa father figure. Au irrisistible tale of memory. loss and the search for a better future. If you manage to sit through this without wilting intojelly at Hickey's painfully innocent perfomiance. then you have the heart of a tyrant. See review. Glasgow: (ii-T. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Brassed Off (15) (Mark Hemian. UK. 1996) Ewan McGregor. 'I‘ara Fitzgerald. Pete Postlethwaite. 105 mins. When the local pit is due to be closed down. it's the end of the day for the colliery brass band as well. even though they’ve got a chance at winning the national competition. Politics are the heart of the story. but writer-director Harmen has created a film that balances nicer between pithy humour and heartbreaking poignance. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith.
Bringing Up Baby (PG) (Howard Hawks. US. 1938) Cary Grant. Katharine Hepburn. Charles Ruggles. 102 mins. Yany gal Hepburn causes timid zoology professor Grant to lose a valuable dinosaur bone and mislay a pet leopard within the course of one screwball evening. Archetypal Thirties crazy comedy with one outlandishly hilarious scene following another within the progression of an unerringly logical narrative. Both stars at their charismatic best. Stirling: MacRobert.
Cape Fear (18) (Martin Scorsese. US.
1991 ) Robert De Niro. Nick Nolte. Jessica Lange. Juliette Lewis. 127 mins. Scorsese's stunning remake of the 1962 original leaves Silence oft/1c [um/ts pallid by comparison. De Niro is terrifying as white trash psycho Max Cady. out of prison and stalking the family of the lawyer who suppressed evidence to put him away. Disturbing sexual undertones. centring on 15-year-old Danny (Lewis). make this an even more uncomfortable. but unmissable. top-notch scare-fest. Glasgow: Grosvenor. . Ceddo (PG) (Ousmane Sembene. Senegal. I977) 117 mins. A community resists the efforts of an Imam to convert them to Islam. but violence breaks out. Controversial in its home country. the film picks up the director‘s recurring themes of the place of women in African society and the survival
Films screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate. credits, brief review and venue details. Film index compiled by Alan Morrison.
Amateur (15) (Hal Hartley. US. I994) Isabelle Huppert. Martin Donovan. Elina Lowensohn. 105 mins. Isabelle. an ex-nun writing porn 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. Iidinburgh: Filmhouse.
The Associate ( l 5) (Donald Petrie. US. 1997) Whoopi Goldberg. Dianne Wiest. Bebe Neuwirth. l 13 mins. When Wall Street financial analyst Laurel Ayres (Goldberg) is passed over for a pron'iotion. she sets tip her own company. But only when she invents a business partner who is male and white do doors start opening for her. The script makes broad. unsatisfying attacks on chauvinism in the workplace. so any scraps of pleasure are purely down to the star. Iidinburgh: UCI. Bad Lieutenant (18) (Abel Ferrara. US. 1992) Harvey Keitel. Frankie 'I‘horne. Zoe Lund. 96 mins. A return to urban sleaze by master of the genre Abel I’errara. A NYPD cop (Keitel). in debt due to drugs. alcohol and gambling addiction. is intrigued by a big money reward in the case of a raped nun. Harsh. powerful. but filled with a religious orthodoxy. this is a reminder of the director at his best (King ()chw York. Driller Killer). Glasgow: (ii-'1‘.
Batman 8: Robin (PG) (Joel Schumacher. US. 1997) George Clooney. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Chris O'Donnell. 130 mins. Moving even further way from the Gothic melancholy of 'Iim Burton‘s Iirst two films. the fourth But/nun movie brings in Poison Ivy (Uma 'l‘hurman) and disaffected scientist l)r Free/e (Schwarzenegger). 'I'hurman‘s scene-stealing performance saves the film from total failure. while Clooney does exactly what's required. but no more. A showcase for fetishistic shots of tight buns in rubber. this ts noisy. empty and without a hint of wit or intelligence. See review. General release.
Beavis And Butt-head 00 America (12) (Mike Judge. US. 1997) Mike Judge. 81 mins. Atticrica's slackest slackers go frotn the small to the big screen taking their toilet humour with them and causing mayhem across the US in search of a stolen TV and an unlikely opportunity to score. Needless to say things don't go as planned and the usual pant-obsessed gags follow. For devotees mainly. General release.
Betty Blue: The Complete Version (18) (Jean-Jacques Beineix. I’rance. 1986) Jean- Hugues Anglade. Beatrice Dalle. Gerard Darmon. 180 mins. The story remains the same -« boy meets girl. girl flips out — but the extra 60 mins of unseen footage is a mixed bag. Some new scenes help give a creditable timescale to Betty's descent into insanity. while others are distracting. the cinematic equivalent of monstrous
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Corporate identity: Whoopi Goldberg in The Associate
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27 Jun—10 Jul 1997 THE LIST 27