Films screening this week are listed
below with certificate, credits, brief review and venue details. Film index compiled by Miles Fielder.
Another Day In Paradise (18) (Larry Clark, US, 1999) Vincent Kartheiser, James Woods, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Melanie Griffith. 122 mins. Bobbie is a teenager fending for himself in a cruel world of drugs and desperadoes. When an older more experienced criminal, Mel (James Woods), offers Bobbie the chance of escape there isn’t another option the teenager can turn to. Clark's (Kids) keen eye for psychological detail ensures that this is not run-of-the-mill heist/road movie. Glasgow: GFT.
The Apple (PG) (Samira Makhmalbaf, Iran, 1997) 85 mins. in a small Teheran community, a 65-year-old man and his blind wife were reported to the authorities by concerned neighbours for keeping their twin daughters locked up for the entire twelve years of their lives. Taking up this true story in 1997 after it hit the headlines in lran, director Makhmalbaf's docu-drama observes the changes undergone by this family after their lives were publicly exposed. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (12) (Jay Roach, US, 1999) Mike Myers, Heather Graham, Elizabeth Hurley. 96 mins. The Spy Who Shagged Me doesn’t really make any advances in what is surely, by now, a new film franchise ~ Austin Powers 3: Live And Let Shag, Austin Powers 4: The Man With The Golden Mojo, perhaps? - rather, it consolidates its three types of jokery ~ 605 kitsch, film references and sexual innuendo. General release.
Bean (PG) (Mel Smith, UK, 1997) Rowan Atkinson, Peter MacNicol, Pamela Reed. 97 mins. Bean the movie makes an attempt to broaden the range of Atkinson's tremendously successful TV sight-gag character by sending him off to California to be mistaken for an an expert. Most gags are agreeably daft; several are tiresomer lavatorial; eventually, however, the film upholds family values and true blue American schmaltz. You'll like it if you like the TV show. Real grown-ups should stay away. Glasgow: Showcase. Paisley: Showcase. Besieged (PG) (Bernardo Bertolucci, ltaly, 1998) Thandie Newton, David Thewlis. 92 mins. Besieged is a revelation. it has a youthful vigour that recalls Bertolucci‘s best early work. The only doubt is whether the simple story - about the oddly romantic relationship between music teacher (Thewlis), and his live-in African housekeeper (Newton) - is too slight. Stirling: MacRobcrt.
The Big Lebowski (18) (Joel Coen, US, 1997) Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi. 113 mins. The Coen brothers give their unique twist to a Chandler-csquc LA noir, as 705 hippy throwback Jeff ‘The Dude' Lebowski (Bridges) is drawn into the sordid affairs of his millionaire namesake. Suddenly he has to sleuth his way through disorganised crime. Trademark oddball characters, surreal imagery and excellent performances grace this virtuoso comedy. Edinburgh: Cameo.
Bill Douglas Trilogy (12) (Bill Douglas, UK. 1972). 78 mins. This trio of films about a boy growing up in a harsh mining community represents perhaps the peak of Scottish filmmaking. Bare narrative, stark images, painful memories — the distillation of feeling on screen is as close to poetry as cinema gets. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Black (at White Cat (15) (Emir Kusturica, Gerrnany/France/Yugoslavia/ Austria/Greece, 1998). 129 mins. Crazy film from the Yugoslavian director of Arizona Dream and Underground, set within a community of gypsy people and telling a tale of dodgy deals, family ties, young love and magical occurrences. A sensory overload delight. Falkirk: FTH.
Blood Simple (18) (Joel Coen, US, 1983) John Getz, Francis McDormand, M. Emmet Walsh. 99 mins. Auspicious debut from the Coen brothers' direction/production team. Walsh excels as the seedy Sheriff investigating a simple murder whose devilish Texan chronicle of double-crossing is anything but simple. An enthusiastic attempt at contemporary film noir, which keeps everyone guessing even after the final frame. Edinburgh: Cameo.
The Borrowers (U) (Peter Hewitt, UK, 1997) John Goodman, Jim Broadbent, Celia lmrie. 86 mins. At a height of only four inches, the Borrowers hide in wall cavities and living beneath the floorboards of the Lender household. When a nasty lawyer tries to swindle the humans out of their inheritance, families big and small join forces. The design and effects create a strangely familiar, oddly unplaceable world, and children will have little difficulty suspending enough disbelief to be spellbound by the magic of the film. Glasgow: Showcase. Paisley: Showcase.
Bride 0f Chucky (18) (Ronnie Yu, US, 1999) 89 mins. The dismembered corpse of the pint-sized homicidal maniac is exhumed for this knowing horror sequel to the Child '5 Play series. The new edition offers diversion in the form of Jennifer Tilly as the once-human Chucky‘s vengeful ex- girlfriend Tiffany. Glasgow: Odeon Quay.
A Bug's Life (U) (John Lasseter, US, 1998) Voices of Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, David Hyde Pierce. 95 mins. The colony of Ant island is being oppressed by a gang of menacing grasshoppers. When inventive but clumsy worker ant Flik incurs the wrath of gang leader Hopper, he heads off to find help heavyweight help in the battle against his oppressors. Glasgow: Showcase. Paisley: Showcase.
Cruel Intentions (15) (Roger Kumble, US, 1999) . Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillipe, Reese Witherspoon. 98 mins. This teen remake of Dangerous Liaisons with horny high school kids taking the place of the sexual schemers is terrific fun. Kathryn (Gellar) and Sebastian (Phillipe) are two spoiled, wealthy step-siblings living in Manhattan who devise a wager: he must seduce the new school principal '5 daughter Annette (Witherspoon). lf Sebastian fails, Kathryn gets his car; if he succeeds, he gets to have sex with his stepsister every which way. Glasgow: Showcase. Paisley: Showcase.
Doug's 1st Movie (U) (Maurice Joyce, US, 1999) 77 mins. The animated adventures of quirky adolescent Doug Funnie graduates from its popular Saturday morning slot on American television to big screen glory, courtesy of Disney. Movie no. 1 sees the twelve-year-old torn between taking action against environmental pollution and taking his beloved Patti Mayonnaise to the high school dance. Glasgow: Showcase, UCl, Virgin. Edinburgh: UCI. East Kilbride: UCl. Paisley: Showcase.
Entrapment ( 15) (Jon Amicl, US, 1999) Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones. 112 mins. Former ace cat burglar Robert ‘Mac’ MacDougal (Connery) attracts the attention of sexy insurance investigator Gin Baker (Zeta-Jones). She is determined to find evidence connecting him with that opening sequence robbery, just as he is determined to not have that crime pinned on him. it's all very To CatchA Thief, but not really in the same league. Glasgow: Odeon Quay, Showcase. Edinburgh: Dominion. Paisley: Showcase. Wishaw: Arrow Multiplex.
Fargo (18) (Joel Coen, US, 1996) Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, William H. Macy. 97 mins. Hoping to make some bucks, a car salesman attempts to have his wife kidnapped by hitmen; but quickly blood is spilt. As the pregnant police detective on the case, McDormand provides a warm-hearted centre for the movie, while the absurdist plot and weird local colour gain momentum. It'll be considered a classic, given time. Edinburgh: Cameo. Flubber (U) (Les Mayfield, US, 1997) Robin Williams, Marcia Gay Harden, Christopher McDonald. 93 mins. This remake of 1961 Disney favourite The Absent Minded Professor casts a subdued Williams as a scientist who invents a gravity defying goo, but may well lose his fiancee in the process. Combining many of the worst, most annoying attributes of films designed to have 'family appeal’, Flubber merely fiops when it should fly. Glasgow: Showcase. Paisley: Showcase. Gallivant (15) (Andrew Kotting, UK, 1996) Gladys Morris, Eden Kotting. 605. mins. Director Kotting takes his grandmother and daughter around the entire coast of mainline Britain, catching various eccentrics en route and charting a growing relationship across the generation gap. Villages and seascapes whizz by at high speed as Kotting concentrates on the mundane and the incidental, but allows a delicious sense of silliness to perk up interest. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Get Carter (18) (Mike Hodges, UK. 1971)) Michael Caine, Britt Ekland, John Osborne. 112 mins. Get Carter stands out as a highlight in the artist formerly known as Micklewhite's career. His superbly controlled performance as the
relentless avenger on a score-settling trip to the North East of England only makes you wish Caine had played more villains. Hodges grimly effective direction proves that you don't need to be as worthy as Keri Loach to make a document of social history. Glasgow: Odeon. Handsworth Songs (15) (John Akomfrah, UK. 1988) 58 mins. Independently made documentary collage ofl'ering different perspectives and testimonies on the riots of 1985 from both the black and the Asian communities' experience inner city decay. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
The iii-Lo Country ( 15) (Stephen Frears, US, 1999) Woody Harrelson, Billy Crudup, Patricia Arquette. 114 mins. Having successfully mastered the American crime movie with Grifters, Stephen Freais tries his hand at the Western. Unfortunately, his latest film fails to transcend the clichés that litter a genre in which there now seems little new to say. The drama, solidly elegiac in tone, is set in the post-World War No New Mexico community of Hi-Lo, where two cattlemen defend the traditional ways of the cowboy in the face of encroaching mass commercialisation. Glasgow: GET.
The lionest Courtesan (15) (Marshall Herskovitz, US, 1998) Catherine McCormack, Rufus Sewell, Jacqueline Bisset. 112 mins. Desire, compromise and betrayal come together in this 17th century Venetian ‘true story’ of an emancipated woman ahead of her time. Pretty, but undemanding entertainment. Motherwell: Moviehouse.
Hunger Artist (15) (Bernard Rudden, Scotland, 1995) 45 mins. Based on a Kafka story, Hunger Artist concems a young man who treats his fasting as an artforrn and the female journalist who searches for him when he is kidnapped. Rudden's approach is more stream of consciousness than linear narrative, and as a result, the film is raw, gritty, metaphysical poetry on screen. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Indian Cinema A mini-retrospective of lndian cinema, looking back over the 52 years since the country attained independence. Films on offer range from Satyajit Ray’s classic, Devi to Deepa Mehta’s latest film, Earth. See preview. Edinburgh: Lumiere.
Indian Film Festival Celebrating all things Bollywood, the Cameo hosts a mini-lndian Film Festival until 15 Aug. Phone The Cameo on 0131 228 4141 for further information. See preview. Edinburgh: Cameo.
It All Starts Today (12) (Bertrand Tavemier, France, 1999) Philippe Torreton. 118 mins. The story of a nursery school teacher trying to cope in a northern French town of high unemployment and despairing poverty is told here by Bertrand Tavemier with his usual eye for detail. There's a feeling, however, that Tavemier believes he's telling us something new. in fact, filmmakers have recently been tripping over themselves to tell us how prostrate the region has become. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Jean De Florette (PG) (Claude Berri, France, 1986) Gerard Depardieu, Yves Montand, Daniel Auteuil. 121 mins. Provence, during the 19203. Depardieu’s indomitable hunchback struggles against impossible odds to make a success of his inherited farmland, unaware that his neighbours are plotting to drive him from his land. Beautifully photographed, with flawless performances, this is a towering tribute to the highest aspirations of French storytelling. A BAFTA winner for the film of the year. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Kids (18) (Larry Clark, US, 1995) Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Chloe Sevigny. 93 mins. Photographer Clark brings a gritty yet hip approach to his portrait of urban youth overdosed on sex and drugs. Verbally, but not visually, explicit, the film is as bleak as it gets, as HIV positive Jennie spends a day tracking down arrogant ‘virgin surgeon’ Telly. Serious issues are touched on in an unadomed fashion, but it’s up to us to discuss a way to find the solutions. Glasgow: GET.
The King And I (U) (Richard Rich, US, 1999) Ian Richardson, Miranda Richardson, Martin thnovic. 87 mins. Animated version of the true story of Anna Leonowens and her experiences as a teacher for the royal family in 19th Century Siam. Cracking songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein and, being animated, the facility for more active roles to be taken by talking elephants, sentimental chimps and proud panthers. It‘s a cracking ride. Glasgow: Odeon Quay. Greenock: Waterfront. Motherwell: Moviehouse. Wishaw: Arrow Multiplex, Sports Centre. Continued over page
listing FILM
Nicky Agate
The column that previews the summer's movies from the streets of New York.
I guess that's it. My time in advance screening heaven is nearing its close, and my New York attitude needs to be confined. In a few days I'll be back in Glasgow, where drinks come in sensibly sized cups and I won’t need the bathroom halfway through every film. Where Eyes Wide Shut is yet to confound. Where people sound erudite because they say cinema and film and queue, instead of blethering nonsense about movies and theaters and continually complaining about 'standing in line'. Where The Blair Witch Project is yet to see Flat Eric- style hype.
They haven’t heard of Flat Eric over here, but he's not been unleashed in New York. New Yorkers haven't heard of much outside of their city; they believe it all happens right here. Sometimes, I think they're right. Falling in love with a movie star is a lot more fun if he lives down the block.
The Manhattan Cinema Experience is soft-seated and surround-sound. It's big and it’s bright and it costs ten bucks, but like a new house or a car with polyester-covered seats, it feels a bit too squeaky clean and formal, a bit too government-controlled. The environment is ideal for a big-budget bastard, but even independent theatres can be tacky and brash — try crying over Au Revoir Les Enfants on a giant sized screen, surrounded by pretzels and cellular phones. The alternative alternatives, like the East Village's illicitly smoking Cinema Classics, consist of 30 wooden dining chairs and a crackling 16mm reel. The idea is gloriously romantic in theory, but in practice results in an aching butt.
So before I go, I’ll get my final big flick fix. Hugh Grant in Mickey Blue Eyes, bumbling and stammering his way into a marriage with the mob. Bruce Willis retrying psychological horror in The Sixth Sense. These movies should appease my big screen desires before I can safely return to the GFT. Blockbusters and Hollywood crushes, me? I'm purely arthouse, darling . . .
Roll credits, draw curtains - that folks, is all.
1249 Aug 1999 THE usr 123