Film

Rip It Up, Issue 75, 1 October 1983, Page 4

Film

MERRY CHRISTMAS MR LAWRENCE Director: Nagisa Oshima A novel by Sir Laurens van derPost was.the, unlikely source of Oshima's latest film a study of' deprivation and power struggles, within a Japanese POW camp. At' first, David Bowie might seem just, as eccentric a choice as its star, but i Bowie's intelligence and animal magnetism serves him well in it. His cocky rebelliousness contrasts: sharply with the more reasoned approach of Tom Conti's' Lawrence and Jack Thompson's ; blustering Head of Command, showing as they do, three aspects, of the English attitude to Japanese domination.

The Japanese contingent are sharply drawn too. On the one hand there's the unpredictable machismo of the Captain, introducing himself with a Shakespearian quotation and treating the proceedings as if it were a Kabuki performance, on the other there's the more simple-minded sadism of the Sergeant, his life and attitudes controlled by his fatalistic superstitions. The film is not without those bizarre touches one associates with Japanese cinema seeing Auckland's Railway Station used as a stand-in for Batavia is quite a jolt, too! It's . dazzlingly shot, and nowhere more so than in the dream-like flashbacks to Bowie's boyhood in which the Japanese violence and persecution score is stunning Japanese in essence but yet having much of the atmosphere of Bowie's music.. , Merry Christmas is a major film by a major international director. Thanks to Bowie's '. association with it, we won't see the movie relegated to a few festival performances.

PATU Director: Merata Mita

One can well imagine what a daunting task it must have been to collate all the film footage on this project, and Merata Mita's account of the 1981 tour debacle is a powerful vision of one of the darkest moments in our country's

history. The director's skill in choosing her images is what gives Patu its undoubted eloquence, the most memorable shots being those of an old woman watching timidly from her window as police and protesters tussle in the street. The aftermath of the fighting sees traces of blood in the puddles on the road. Diatribe's score is effective, with its recurring use of 'God Defend New Zealand' sometimes in an ironic fashion. Interviews with South Africans place New Zealand's strife within a wider context and, throughout the film, Mita makes it clear that Patu's reverberations go far beyond those few months in 1981.

I've only two reservations: The flour-bombing of Eden Park to the accompaniment of Sibeliu's 'Karelia' is such a brilliant touch that I'm surprised humour wasn't used more in the film. And am I the only one who would have been grateful to have interviewees identified on the screen?

MEPHISTO Director: Istvan Szabo

The various stages of the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich have spawned a number of fine movies over the last few decades, from Visconti's The Damned to Schlondorff's The Tin Drum. Szabo's Mephisto is the latest in the genre derived from a Klaus Mann novel, it's the tale of an actor struggling to keep his head and career above water in the rising tide of Nazism. At 140 minutes, Mephisto is hardly a short film but Szabo's

theatrical flair maintains the intensity throughout. All the characters are seen as actors in a kind of real-life theatre at the mercy of politics and history

none more so than Klaus Maria Brandauer's Hofgen, using Geothe's Mephistopheles character as an image of political expediency.

Brandauer's fine performance gives us an almost Brechtian Everyman, struggling for survival.

HEAT AND DUST Director: James Ivory Heat and Dust is an eloquent and nostalgic study of cultural interplay in Ivory's favourite setting Jhabvala's script shows us two young English women, Olivia in the 1920 s and her niece Anne in the 1980 s, trying to come to terms with the pressures and problems of a new environment and its effects on their personalities and outlooks.

There's much to praise in this film of different chronological strands of the plot, Walter Lassally's evocative camera work and, above all, that wry and often quaint humour that is so much part of the British Raj. There are splendid performances throughout, but three are outstanding. Greta Scacchi, achieving a fine balance of the vulnerable and resolute as Olivia, Julie Christie, playing with her usual clear intelligence as Anne and Madhur Jaffrey as the Begum who, without speaking a word of English, almost steals the movie

with her flashing eyes, staccato Hindustani outbursts and flamboyant cigarette holder. William Dart

FORTHCOMING FILMS Return of the Jedi ... the third in the Star Wars series from George Lucas. Grossed over s7om in its first two weeks of release in the USA. Dollars aside, it should be a helluva lotta fun. Starts Nov 25. The Man Who Saw Tomorrow ...

a dramatised documentary on the prophecies of Nostradamus. Narrated deeply by Orson Welles. Starts Nov 11.

Hanky Panky...a romantic thriller starring Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner centred around the theft of top-secret computer tapes. Directed by Sidney Poitier and scored by Tom Scott. Starts Oct. The Tempest...a free adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy of the same name. A modern story of a man who flees a stormy Manhattan marriage to wander and dream. Starts Nov.

Phar Lap ... an Australian film about the Kiwi racehorse who raced his way into the. record books before he met a death shrouded in mystery. See Best Bets for the full story. Start Dec 16. The Man Who Wasn't There...another 3D movie, but this time a comedy. Steve Guttenberg (Diner) stars as a minor US state department official who becomes the subject of a national chase because he possesses a chemical which can make him invisible. Starts Nov 11. :.'—.

ACB NOW PR From the still-warm ashes of A Certain Bar has risen a new, slightly different sound system venue. PR (taken from the initials of organisers, Patrick Waller and Ralph E. Boy) will be open at the DB Tavern on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Its musical sweep will be wider than that of ACB, encompassing punk, funk, reggae n' rock. The bar has been bringing in guest DJs and live bands (first up will be the Gordons) will play periodically. Whatever, you'll still be able to dance. RB

DEMO HELP UP TO $750 The two-year old demo recording subsidy scheme run by the QEII Arts Council has been financially 1 beefed up to make it a lot more useful. The council can now offer up to $750 (as opposed to S2OO previously) for the recording of tracks for a single or EP, thus giving performers a start to work from in the recording world. It "won't quite be a lolly scramble, as the total annual budget is SIO,OOO. The scheme will generally only be open to acts that have not released any records. An exception may be made if you can show your previous release cannot serve as a good demonstration of your work. If interested, write to Brendan Smyth, PO Box 6040, Te Aro, Wellington, for application instructions, or ph 851-176. RB

NEW EXPONENT Dance Exponents, soon to begin a national tour, have a new guitarist in 18-year-old Chris Sheehen. Sheehen's addition brings the band back to its original two guitar lineup. Brian Jones had been the sole guitarist since Martin Morris (who in turn replaced founder member Steve "Fingers" Cowan) departed the band late last year. The Exponents were forced to return from Australia when singer Jordan Luck ran into work permit problems and now they'll be staying here to promote their debut album, Prayers Be Answered and will go back across the Tasman when the paperwork is straightened out. The first single, 'Know Your Own Heart' is out soon and the album follows in November.

The tour begins in Blenheim on October 24 and moves across Cook Strait in early November. Lots of new material has been promised. And look out for the Exponents on tour investigation in next month's RIU. RB

BOWIE SPECIAL NOV'RIP IT UP'

AWARDS FINALISTS Nominations for the New Zealand Music Awards have been released. They include: Single of the Year: DD Smash 'Outlook for Thursday', Monte Video 'Shoop Shoop', Coconut Rough 'Sierra Leone'. Album: Herbs Light of the Pacific, Dance Exponents/Legionnaires Live At Mainstreet, DD Smash Live. Male Vocalist: Dave Dobbyn, Malcolm McNeill, Monte Video. Female Vocalist: Trudi Green, Suzanne Prentice, Patsy Riggir. Top Group: DD Smash, Herbs, Narcs. Most Promising Group: Hip Singles, Coconut Rough, Body Electric. Promising Male Vocalist: Dick Driver, Andrew Snoid, Gary Smith (Body Electric). Promising Female Vocalist: Rhondda Jones, Bronwyn Jones (Precious), Sonya Waters. Producer: Dave Dobbyn ('Outlook for Thursday'), Dave Marrett ('Sierra Leone'), Monte Video/Bruce Lynch ('Shoop Shoop'). Engineer: Dave Marrett ('Sierra Leone'), Graeme Mhyre (DD Smash Live), Paul Streekstra (Outlook for Thursday'). Video of the Year: 'Outlook for Thursday' (Andrew Shaw), 'Sierra Leone' (Greg Rood), 'Shoop Shoop' (Mark Ackerman, Craig Howard).

CHANCE TO VOTE The list of contenders for the Record Industry Awards "best single" section— the one decided by public vote has been released and you should be hearing a selection on your local radio station. Of the 22 songs on the list, each station will select 10 for a montage to be played regularly, the intention being that the respective selections will reflect regional taste. Voting forms will be printed in the Listener, weeklies and RIU (page 36). On the night, there will be live TV links to each region to pick up results around the country. The full list is: The Body Electric 'Pulsing', Neighbours 'Only One You Need', Precious 'Sympathy', Eddie O'Strange Video Dodo', Dennis O'Brien 'Julia', Mockers

Cleopatra', Alastair Riddell Do You Read Me', Monte Video 'Shoop Shoop', Willie Hona 'She Needs You', DD Smash Outlook for Thursday', Dance Exponents 'Airway Spies', Coconut Rough 'Sierra Leone', Screaming Meemees 'Stars in My Eyes', Sarah Davidson What's Done is Done', Malcolm McNeill The Closer We Are', Patsy Riggir 'Beautiful Lady', Dave and the Dynamos 'Life Begins At 40', Prince Tui Teka 'I Need Your Love', Hip Singles 'After the Party', Diehards 'Rhythm of the World', Sonya Waters 'No Pain'. RB