Film

Rip It Up, Issue 101, 1 December 1985, Page 38

Film

WILLIAM DART

STOP MAKING SENSE Director: Jonathan Demme Demme’s track record to date has been a sketchy one, and restraint might have seemed the last quality to expect of this director. However, it is precisely Demme's directorial restraint and selfcontrol that make this filming of a handful of Talking Heads concerts one of the best rock movies of recent years. David Byrne’s laconic and quirky little songs are given their perfect cinematic setting and Talking Heads of course give a rivetting performance. VIGIL Director: Vincent Ward Vigil takes considerable risks for a New Zealand film and the director who gave us the exquisite

State ofSeige and the poignant In Spring One Plants Alone has made a startling feature debut. Ar guably one of the most sophisticated films to be made on its scale in this country, Ward's stance in Vigil is an uncompromising one, as he paints in sound and vision the secret world of a child’s fantasy. PARIS, TEXAS

Director: Wim Wenders German director Wenders, in his first American film, creates a timeless allegory that spans from the harsh and unrelenting deserts of rural Texas to the eerie glass prisons of downtown Houston. Taking much of its power from the extraordinary performances of Nastassia Kinski and Harry Dean Stanton, Wenders' Texas becomes a striking metaphor for noncommunication in modern America. THE COTTON CLUB Director: Francis Ford Coppola The cynics and Cassandras have been predicting a spectacular flop for Coppola for some years and his recreation of the legendary Harlem club of the '2os could

well have been just that. Coppola has come up with a brilliant and complex film, weaving together the music, the social fabric of the time and the struggles of his characters. A PRIVATE FUNCTION

Director: Malcolm Mowbray Not a great film to be sure, but there must still be a place for screenplays as witty as Alan Bennett’s and performances as flamboyantly theatrical as Maggie Smith's. Not for vegetarians. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HARVEY MILK Director: Robert Epstein We're miserably starved for bigscreen documentaries in this part of the world. Harvey Milk, like the other rare specimens, made its bow in the July Festival and then was taken into general release. This re-telling of the life and eventual assassination of one of America’s heroes of the new Gay Consciousness was clearly a labour of love. Whether through the intensely human documentation of the various interviews or through the impressive visuals of the cand-

lelight parade commemorating Milk’s murder, Harvey Milk delves beyond its immediate subject and offers commentary on some of the deeper issues of our times. CAME A HOT FRIDAY Director: lan Mune

Irrespressible in its energy and, in the final count, just tremendously jolly fun, Mune’s film of Ronald Hugh Morrieson's novel leads a large cast including Billy T. James, Peter Bland and Don Selwyn through a picaresque romp that suggests we could attain to becoming the Ealing Studios of the 'Bos. MR WRONG Director: Gaylene Preston Preston’s first feature film also offers a lot of giggly fun, but there's a serious edge to it, a superbly crafted thriller which shows that a feminist angle can be all the more effective for being presented more obliquely. Heather Bolton's marvellous performance in the lead role sets the tone for an auspicious debut for Preston. AND THE SHIP SAILS ON Director: Frederico Fellini The huge cast are stranded in their 1914 luxury liner which is similarly stranded in the cavernous Cinecitta all the Fellini hallmarks are here in an idiosyncratic melange of the extravagant and sentimental, fantasy and reality. Perhaps the director is doling us out a series of wry footnotes for survival ... in any case, And the Ship Sails On shows a welcome return to form for Fellini after such recent efforts as City of Women. BROADWAY DANNY ROSE

Director: Woody Allen In Allen’s latest film ( Purple Rose of Cairo opens in February), his self-effacing hero is a smalltime Broadway talent agent who finds himself up against the New York mafioso. Immaculately shaped with all the gags perfectly integrated within the film’s narrative structure, Broadway Danny Rose blends visuals which seem to be seen through the eye of Diane Arbus with a wit and perception that is pure Woody Allen. There’s a special bonus, too, in Mia Farrow’s performance as (would you believe it?) a blowsy blonde ...