Out of the Past ( l5) (Jacques 'l‘ourneur. US. l947) Robert Mitchum. Jane (ireer. Kirk Douglas. Rhonda i-‘leming. Virginia Huston. 96 mins. Gripping. moody and expertly mounted flashback nnir. starring Mitchutn as the condemned man. a private detective whose investigation of Douglas's girlfriend (ireer takes him to Mexico and eventually a confrontation with death. Classic B-rnovie with a hallucinatory. almost existentialist atmosphere. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith.

Paulie (P(i) (John Roberts. US. HMS) Jay Mohr. Tony Shalhoub. (iena Rowlattds. ()l mins. Caged in a research institute. Paulie the parrot relates his life-story: from helping a little girl with a stutter to a series of adventures with various adults. Neither as immediately cute nor as bizarrely inspired as Babe. l’uu/ir' nevertheless marks a step in the right direction for the l)ream\\'orks studio. Jay Mohr‘s vocal talents give the parrot a streetwise sense. wile the mix of live action and animatronics is always realistic. (ilasgow: ABC Muirend. lialkirk: UCl. Greenock: Waterfront. Irvine: Magnum.

Paws (PU) (Karl Zwicky. Australia/UK. 1097) Nathan Cavaleri. l’imilie Francois. voice of Billy Connolly. 83 mins. Clever doggie PC is on a mission to deliver a computer disc. but is being tracked down by the unpleasant baddie who killed his master. Befriending computer w hill. kid Vac. the mutt links up to a voice simulator and starts talking with the broad twang of Billy Connolly. Some genuinely funny moments allow for a whole range of teenage crises to be dealt with in an uncringeworthy fashion. Kilmarnock: ()deon.

Pink Flamingos (18) (John Waters. US. 1972) Divine. David l.ochary. Mary Vivian Pearce. l()(i mins. The Cit/rm Kane of bad taste films is re-released in the UK censored version once again. albeit with a better quality print and with a message from Waters added at the end. Divine plays white

Going underground: Lee Ross and Christian Bale in Metroland

trash matriarch Babs. defending her title of the 'liilthiest Person Alive‘. Waters goes all out to offend every member of the audience. but there is a unescapable humour to his shock tactics. Edinburgh: Cameo.

Point Blank (l8) (John Boorman. US. l967) Lee Marvin. Angie Dickinson. Keenan Wynn. 92 mins. Revenge-ridden Marvin is bent on justifying his dreamlike existence and turning the tables on the mysterious criminal ()rganisation which employed him in this tense. well crafted thriller that boasts an imaginitive and influential treatment of time. Boorman's impressive first American feature is made memorable by Marvin’s brilliant portrayal of an outmoded gunman confusedly taking on a world overrun by technology. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith.

Ponette (l5) (Jacques Doillon. lirance. l997) Victoire Thivisol. Xavier Beauvois. Claire Nebout. 93 mins. Shot from the viewpoint of a cute four-year-old. l’mu'm' is a novel portrayal of grief and its complex emotions. After her mother‘s death in a car accident. the girl is left bewildered by conflicting explanations from adults and fellow children. This bitter-sweet tearjerker tenderly paints a picture of the bizarre rituals created by children to make sense of a cruel world. Falkirk: l-‘l'l-l.

The River ( l 8) (Tsai Ming-hang. Taiwan. l‘)‘)7) Lee Kang-sheng. Miao 'lien. l.u Hsiao-ling. ll5 mins. This long and steadily-paced film sees a Taipei family rent asunder by their total inability to communicate. When Xiao-kang falls ill after working on a film set. their liy es teeter on the brink before caving in in more ways than one. At no time is The River a comfortable experience. but it is one which more than warrants patience and perseverance with its lush cinematography and heavy sense of dread. Edinburgh: T‘TJIHITOUSC.

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