l
Blast From the Past (12) 109 mins t
As the Cuban Missile Crisis rnounts in 1962, paranoid but brilliant CaIVIn Webber (Christopher Walken) takes his family below ground to a huge and luxurious fall-out shelter he has bUilt to Withstand the nuclear holocaust to come Unaware that the stand-off is peaceably resolved, Calvm, wife Helen (Sissy Spacek) and new son Adam are sealed in their nicely appomted bunker for the predicted half-life of atomic radiation ~ 35 years. The boy grows up to become a perfect, upstanding and polite American citizen, circa 1962 — and so sticks out like a sore thumb when he ventures out into l990s LA. Adopting a simple scenario, but keeping the logic of it intact
s
d. ’5 -«q. a
Gimme shelter: Alicia Silverstone and Brendan Fraser in Blast From The Past
throughout, director Hugh WIISOn delivers a rarity — a film that is both charming and funny at the same time. Much of this stems from Adam, the naive young gentleman whose old world courtesy and good manners make him seem so out of place in the modern world. For actor Brendan Fraser, there are shades of California Man and even George Of The Jungle about this setup.
Predictable but Winning entertain- ment, Blast From The Past loosely combines elements of romance, comedy and satire. In fact, With its high concept, lack of pretension and characterful supporting performances, it's JUSI like the films they used to make — around I962 (Anwar Brett)
General release from Fri 2 Apr
5;;
Terms of abuse: Robin Wright Penn in Loved
Loved (15) 97 mins
District Attorney K D Deitrickson (William HurtI is convinced that a man in a case ne is trying has physically and psychologically manipulated each of his partners into attempting sLiICIde The defendant's ‘."Jlf(.“ has just been killed when she ran ll‘. front of a car, a former girlfriend is confined to a ‘.’\lll(?(r:(l‘f:ll, while another, Hedda iRobn ‘.'\.lrigi>t Benn), brought her swirrir'iing career to a halt alter a Similar «icci/lent' As the trial progresses, emotional layers are stripped away, bringing K D and Hedda closer together
Ivleiriorise the above, because Witl'iout some sort of prepared Synopsis, Erin Dignarn's film remains deliberately imr.)enetrable For a third of the film, we‘ve no idea who the
characters are or what sort of narrative is supposed to be developing The acting style doesn't help either whispered mumbles pass to 'internalised' pain, while awkward mid-sentence pauses and Hurt's staccato delivery are simply irritating. The director (the leading actress's best friend) claims to be examining the nature of love on different levels and in different relatioiiships' of parents and children, sisters, strangers, abusive partners And, surely, masturbators, given Dignam's indulgent obSCUrity, Sean Penn's pomtless and pretentious cameo, and real-life accusations a few years back about Hurt beating his own Wife. Is this an on-screen process of redemption7 If so, leave them to it. (Alan Morrison) ’e‘ti‘t Edinburgh Fi/mhouse, Tue l3—T/it/ 75 Apr Glasgow Film Theatre, Sun lB-Tue 20 Apr
new releases FILM
N6
(15) 85 mins swank
Quebec0is stage and film director Robert Lepage has never shied away from presenting a complex idea to an audience, but he sugars his pills so sweetly that they rarely have trouble going down.
No probably sounds far less appealing on paper than it is on screen; drawing parallels between QuebeCOis separatism and Japanese Noh theatre and adapted from Lepage’s own seven-hour play, The Seven Branches Of The River Ota. But the plot strands have been sewn together With a skilful hand, so that the themes resonate harmoniously, and often hllaflOUSly,
Set in October 1970, the twm plots concern Sophie (Anne-Marie Cadieux), an actress iii a bad Feydeau farce being staged in the kitschy world's fair in Osaka, Japan, and her boyfriend Michel (Alexis Martin), playing amateur political actiVist at home in Montreal and unaware that she is pregnant While Sophie becomes embrOiled in her own bedroom farce, Via the Canadian cultural attache and his superbly bitchy wife, Michel's noble ideals are undone by his ineptitude in bomb-making, but at least the blind Japanese interpreter finds love. A comedy of miscommunication, if you like, but one which convevs its messages With extraordinary precision (Steve Rose)
U Glasgow Film Theatre from Fri 9 Apr Edinburgh Fi/mhous'e from Fri 76 Apr.
.le' I)- 'I V, - 3);. ;’
Stage to screen: Anne-Marie Cadieux in No
Hi h Art (18 102 mins A refreshingly intelligent tale of doomed lesbian love, writer/director Lisa Cholodenko's debut feature chrOniciles the complex romance between ambitious. picture editor Syd (Radha Mitchell) and once famous photographer Lucy Berliner (Ally Sheedy) Through an accretion of keenly observed social and psychological detail, we see how the passive, demotivated Lucy is seduced as much by Syd's enthusiasm and drive as by her nubile charms - seeing in Syd what she herself so sorely lacks Syd's motives, too, are mixed she responch strongly to Lucy’s confident sexuality, but also sees her comeback shoot for Frame Magazine as a shortcut to career advancement
In order to get close to Lucy, Syd abandons her long-time boyfriend and enters an unfamiliar world dominated by drugs Lucy’s own long-time partner, Greta (Patricia Clarksoni, is an ex-Fassbinder actress who can barely function Without getting high The scenes in Lucy and Greta's gloomy flat have a languid, decadent duality that is reinforced by the dreamy Visuals, those at the Frame office are all hard edges and bright light. Cholodenko's over-written script has a studied, airless feel, but the scenes of sexual tension and trembling desire between Syd and Lucy achieve a palpable erotic charge (Nigel Floyd) 3 Glasgow Film Theatre and Edinburgh Film/rouse from Fri 9 Apr See preview.
Bedrooms And
Hallways (15) 96 mins
Director Rose Troche attributes the success of her previous film, Go Fish, to on-set chemistry between its cast That chemistry is also up there on screen in her new film Like other recent bright and breezy LondOn romantic comedies, these Bedrooms And Hal/ways are populated by pretty, professional, loved-up or cast-down twenty and thirtysOiriethings In this case they also happen to be gay.
Sensitive Leo (KeVin McKich, very charismatic as the romantic lead) falls y for Brendan (Tom Hollander., whom he meets at a heterosc-mial men’s therapy group run by Simon Callow's New Age guru Brendan is on the rebound from Sally (Jennifer Ehle) who, it turns Out, was Leo's pre-coniing-out school sweetheart Meaiiv-iliile, Leo's trampy flatmate Darren (James Pureny) is involved in a series of secret sexual assignations With a closet estate agent (Hugo Weavmg)
The ensemble cast works wonders, c->stablishing credible characters Within the framework of a classic. British farce you half expect a naked body to shout out, 'oh no, here comes the Vicar" In Bedrooms And Hal/ways you get better. Troche mixes that old dinosaur of pre-PC British humour 7 the sex romp — with a liberated attitude towards sexuality (homo and hetero) and comes up trumps. (Miles Fielder)
a Selected release from Fri 9 Apr See preview
Small farcengevin McKidd in Bedrooms And Hallways
i_isApi I999 THE ll8T25
l l l l I g
l