Reviews
P’Al'V/fiL D‘w3L33 LAND AND FREEDOM
(15) 109mins
{Artrfrelal Ex: [J /l) “Jam 0...
lnoLrgb we rrar, rlarrr rr‘any frlrhs as rrolztrral. the rrr‘passro'rer’f pelrtreat rrzovre rsr‘t “r; flfjlill'VJl and :s trsuall, of luropear‘ or Latin American descent. ln frlrns lrke (he Battle of Ar’grer‘s. Burn. Z. . fate of Siege and The Last Supper. filmmakers want to enlrven past polrtreal events wrth some of the drarnatrz: rntensrt', of Hollywood edrtrng. but never to the detr'rn‘ent of the polrtr(:s Involved. Loach's 199:") Spanrsh CIUI War frlm jorned these august ranks. Set around Scouse rdealrstrc antr- Francorst Davrd Carr‘s rlan Hart) adventure; rn Sparn between 19:36 and 1939. rt moves between taut actron seguences lrke the srege on the vrllage rn the earlrer stages of the frlm~ to lengthy drsCussrons on the rssues at stake further rn where the characters drscuss land rrghts. Here Loach showed that he COuId work well Wrth the verbal and the vrolent on a broader polrtrcal canvas. Extras include feature commentary by Loach_ and a behrnd the scenes dtxtumentan. (Tony McKrbbrnr
CLASSIC
A LETTER TO THREE WIVES (U) 103min 0000 (Fox Home Entertainment DVD retail)
Talk about desperate hOLrsewrves. thrs knrttrng needle-sharp satrre On suburban lrfe remains as rnSrghtful. humorous and pergnant as anythrng
ALL DVDS WERE WERE REVIEWED ON A SYSTEM SUPPLIED AND INSTALLED BY LOUD 8: CLEAR
If '.|I,(,‘r"l) T'i'{7(,‘ .‘.//"\‘,." foe-“'1‘,rif‘erer‘t rrxrr‘fl'r‘rr: strata of rety. who. one ur'rri, ‘3a‘..wlzr. rlfi‘ff'l’rljll. 'i:’,‘:l.‘¢ (1 note frot" a Math friend. resrdent siren Addie Ross. saying goodbye. she's left town
and taken one of fherr husbands with her. The rrwsswe prornpts rn the sotri-f’marehrng and re enaluatron of therr llT(:t‘.. one of who rs Krrk Douglas rn an earl», screen role.
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So rrch rs the wutrng that not only are the seven major roles fully fleshed out. but so too are a number of supportrng parts — most notably Thelma thter’s sassy housemard. And rrght up to the marvellous denouement. MankrewrC/ keeps thrngs taut. pacy and gorgeously crnematrc. erles Frelderl
SEMINAL FRENCH NEW WAVE
WEEKEND
(18) 90min
rAr'trfrcral Eye DVD Retarll 0....
Jean-Luc Godards 1987 film would make an excellent double-brll Wrth Dawd Cronenber‘g's Crash at an ecologrcal conference. Wrth the former farcrcally capturing the car assurnptrons of the 60s. where every body takes off for the weekend. and the latter suggestrng the way the car COuld become central to a pathological but yen common future
END ‘WEEKEND ! WEEKEND
WEEKEND WEEKEND
Jean-Luc Godard
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self r‘wnsz v on .: ‘lrr-u". ' to rriake an, 1’ 'T' staten‘ent the". there a perforn‘atrn: (:or‘rt'adrrtron tr: lre extra<:ted. Sr] rl‘. this rnost ant: ear anrl arit' «:ajntalrst of frlrris he nevertheless utrlrsr-s The rnost rnobrletf r‘an‘eraw>rk. None more so than for a famous tracking stint. where Godard}; <:arr‘o-'a used PM) n‘eters of lexpensrver track to have the camera show the woes of car use Wrth the camera p; ssrng over car wreck after car wreck. After Weekend. Godard. retreated frorn brgger budget frlrnrnakrng. as though the (:ontradrctrons were no longer frurtful. If people regard hrs perrod between Br‘eath/ess and l‘r/eekenti as hrs most srgnrfrcant. central tort rs the way he works with hrs contradrctrons aesthetrcally. Extras rnclude frne rnten/rews wrth crnernatograr)her Raoul Coutard and also Mrke Frggrs.
(Tony MCKrbl‘rrnr
ROMANCE,
LE PARFUM D’YVONNE (18) 86min rSecond Srght DVD Retarlr I.
An army desertm and WOuId-be wrrter. Vr(:tor Chmara rHrppolyte Grrardot‘r remrnrsces about the surhrrzer be spent an Geneva .vrth pasSronate beauty Yxonne rSandra Maranr and her mysterious friend Dr Mernthe rJean Prerre Marielle. Brit what r8 the relatetshr; bee-seen Yx cene arrl Dr Mernthe’? And who
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A SIMPLE MAN
(E) 88 min
Hill) 0; ‘rrr; Arte ll‘v’ll re'ftri 0..
Commissioned by the BBC in 1987 to celebrate the centenary of English painter LS Lowry's birth, this is one of the artier pieces of work by ballet- trained dancer turned stage choreographer Gillian Lynne (Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). It's a collaboration with composer Carl Davis, who brings his silent film/musical theatre/movie score sensibility to the project. Davis‘ symphonic-light music suits Lynne’s self-consciously dreamlike dance-drama. Expressionist touches pervade this BAFTA-winning ballet, along with a series of ensemble routines that echo those of Mary Poppins or Oliver! (only minus their high spirits).
Lowry himself was hardly a master of mirth. The principal subjects of his bleak canvases were the isolated (even when marching about in close proximity) figures of the industrial north. Lowry‘s mother- dominated life and the inspirations behind his art are clearly Lynne‘s principal subjects. She and her designers conjure up the pale-faced sad sacks in Lowry’s paintings - individual characters and huddled masses, all danced by members of Northern Ballet Theatre (NBT). A Royal Ballet/Royal Shakespeare darling in his youth, and titular lead of Ken Russell’s 1971 The Boy Friend, Christopher Gable plays against his ageing male ingénue looks as the poignantly bumbling, un-beautiful artist.
Gable in fact took over NBT’s reins the same year as this shoot, saving the company’s fortunes by steering it into story-ballet territory (he stayed in the job up until his untimely death at the age of 58 from cancer in 1998). Moira Shearer‘s (The Red Shoes, Peeping Tom) portrayal of Lowry's buttoned-up mum hints at chilly complexities, but she shares with Gable a tendency to be a little overwrought when she emotes.
Yet on its own MGM-on-a-BBC-budget terms, this production works. Albert Finney, who, like Lowry, is one of Salford’s famous sons, introduces the film. Extras include photo galleries and a mutually admiring, not particularly insightful reminiscence by Davis and Lynne. (Donald Hutera)
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