RENTAL/RETAIL All About My Mother (15) 97 mins
Pedro Almodovar loves, loves, loves melodrama - that's plain enough in the camp cartoonery of Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown et al. His new film embodies the splendid emotionally overwrought dramas of love and death in the grand tradition 19405 Hollywood, though it never descends into pastiche.
Madrid. Single mother Manuela (Cecilia Roth) takes her beloved son to see his favourite actress, Huma Roja (Marisa Paredes) perform in A Streetcar Named Desire. But after the show, tragedy strikes and the teenager is killed in a car accident. Grief-stricken, Manuela takes a trip to Barcelona to see the boy’s father, a
Melodrama: All About My Mother
transvestite named Lola. Thereafter, she attempts to come to terms with her loss in the company of Lola’s transsexual best friend, Agrado (Antonia San Juan) and a nun named Sister Rosa (Penelope Cruz). If you don't cry (and laugh — the tragedy is perfectly balanced with humour) your way through all this, consider yourself heartless.
Almodovar’s last two films - The Flower Of My Secret and Live Flesh -— saw the enfant terrible of Spanish cinema being labelled a mature filmmaker by critics. Although that's a bit patronising, it's true in the sense that Almodovar's been refining - but certainly not taming - his cinematic vision. All About My Mother takes that vision another step further with what is surely the main contender for film of 1999. (Miles Fielder)
Avar/ab/e to rent or buy from Fox Pat/re at [15 99 on Mon 28 Feb.
RENTAL
The Thomas Crown Affair
(15) 108 mins 7
Sparks f.y re the word 0‘ high art when rnsur'a"ce int-est'gator Rene Russo sets out to catch a time? When a {100 rnrllron Monet goes nussrng from a New York gallery, Russo dec rdes Prerc e Brosr‘a" is her man. The chase rs on as they try to outmanoeuvre each other, but mutual attractor gets lr‘. the way lhrs remake o‘ the 1968 original has plenty o‘ twsts and some taut action seuuer‘ces Bros"an rs‘ shaken but lTOl stirred, while Russo posrtrvely smoulders Aiso avara'nle to buy or‘. DVD at £19 99 rlox Pathe= -LP'\
Gregory's Two Girls (15)111mins ‘ M
It had to happen Ball Forsth has reunited with John Gordon Sinclair, star of hrs 1980 hit, Gregory’s Grr/ A sequel 'egurres S()l‘.‘.(‘illl‘.(] different to be done wrth the exrstrng nraterral Here Forsyth rntroduces plot Gregory now teaches at hrs old Cambernauld school, he has a crush or‘ a Dunri, another teacher has a crush on hrnr, an oid pal rs Involved in unethrcal business dealings But plot rs no substitute 1'or‘ engagrng characters and (turrky humour Still, Sinclair (harms ‘FrirnFour' _l\rlF‘
RETAIL
Henry Fool
(18) 138 mins :1 at -‘~ 1' l\lystehous, charsnrahc stranger Henry Fooi {Torn Warts look and sOundalrke Thomas Jay Ryan‘ arr ves rn a small
American town With a case full of rrrernOIr‘s hrs rnagnurn opus and plenty of sociopathrc attitude Towards hrs new landlord, introverted garage mechanic Simon Grrrn rlames Urbanrakl, Henry is more philanthropic, and encouraged by hrs new-found rnentor to write, Srrnon becomes a publrshrng phenomenon Quirky, funny, profound as always, but Wrilt a darker tone than usual, Henry Fool rs Hal Hartley's own rnagnurn opus rColumbra Trzstar
{10 99l aMFr
The Thin Red Line
(15) 170 mins r h. r *- t
Though at times rt swaps its army helmet for a black beret and starts stroking its chin ponderously, Terrence lvlalrck's take on the World War II battle for Guadalcanal uses its vrsual poetry and symbOIISm to create as much emotronal errrpact as any super-realistic fight scenes Malrck's concern isn't gory external wounds, but internal parn and rntense fear The brutality of man-made war as contrasted with the natural paradise that is its battleground, wrth John Toll’s magnificent photography sustaining a unique, unforgettable vnood rFox Pathe £14.99 \vrdescreen, £15 99 full screenr (Ah/ll
REVIEWERS THIS ISSUE: Kelly Apter, Miles Fielder, Alan Morrison, Loursa Pearson, Mark Robertson
STAR RATINGS
v t t ' Unmrssable
t r * Very good
. . i Worth a shot
' 'v Below average
r You’ve been warned
distributed by Pinnacle
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