The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 54

EG Friday 24 October 1997 THE AGE ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Tunnel vision girls. Fast, funny and emotionally accurate, With Chasing Amy, writer-director Kevin Smith comes good on the promise he showed in the fast-talking, foul-mouthed Pretty Village, Pretty Flame: Serb soldier Milan (Dragan Bjelogrlic) is trapped in a tunnel with fellow soldiers and an American journalist. conflict film makers don't want to G.I, Jane (124 mins) tfU rJHERE Is a moment late in CI Jane where, after almost two hours of loud, boring, badly shot bull twang, it looks like it is finally going to get down to business. Having survived most of her gruelling special forces training with the US Navy SEAJLs, Lieutenant Jordan O'NeU (Demi Moore with a Bruce Willis haircut) Is about to have a lethal -confrontation with an enemy soldier. Just as the film's pseudo-feminist gushlngs are about to be put to the test, however, the film takes the easy way out and a man comes to the rescue.

Recruited Into the SEALs for political purposes by a cynical senator (Anne Bancroft In a performance that suggests her bank manager was breathing down her neck when she was offered the part), Demi shows us, yet again, that when It comes to picking good film roles, she doesn't. JIM SCHEMBRI Pretty Village Pretty Flame (124 mins) I IHE LEAST of the challenges facing any film maker when making an anti-war film is to show us that War Is Hell. We know that It is in the telling, in the selection of Images and the etching of characters that distinguishes a truly great anti-war 01m, such as Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, from an ordinary one, such as Stanley Kubrick's cosmically overrated Full Metal Jacket. To command attention you have to do more than merely loek at war, you have to look info it, into contradictions and psychoses, not Just explosions and muzzle flashes. In Pretty Village Pretty Flame dlrectorco-writer Srdjan Dragojevic conducts the type of cinematic biopsy of the Bosnian conflict that shows a hatred for war that Is as deep as his obvious hatred for anti-war cliche.

The film jumps across a series of time lines, from the childhood friendship between two Bosnian lads to the beginning of the war to the film's main chapter, which involves a group of Serb soldiers trapped inside a tunnel while the enemy alternately torments and jokes with them between exchanges of automatic gunfire. There are some recognisable character types estranged friends, reluctant soldiers, rock and rollers, a woman caught in the middle but the film's aversion to stereotypes gives each a human edge, even though It is difficult to actually like many of them. Humanity occasionally blossoms amid the bloodshed helped no end by the presence of a video camera In the tunnel as does doses of black humor, which seems to help anaesthetise the soldiers from the brutality they casually Inflict on innocent villagers. The deft, matter-of-fact quality of the cinematography reinforces the cold nature of killing as telling details appear to be captured incidentally. For a second, we see a bloody splat of blood and brain on a wall; accompanying it Is a scrawled note saying that the stain is all that Is left of a mother.

Pretty Village Pretty Flame Is based on events reported by Journalist Vanja Bulic and was filmed on many of the locations where the incidents took place, kilometres from the front. There is a sense while watching this outstanding, darkly humorous, disturbing film that its themes and style has been deeply influenced by the saltiness of the Vietnam War film genre. But, while there were a few brave films about Vietnam made during the war, it was once it was well and truly over that most of the films came. It appears that with the Bosnian Masterpiece Excellent Very good Not bad ran (mm Clear the on release Anna Karenina 7fM mins) Leo Tolstoy's tragic tale of love, lust and loss is gracefully brought to the screen by writer-director Bernard Rose in this gorgeous-looking, snow-sprinkled, superbly wardrobed, wide-screen romance. The only problem is Sophie Marceau, whose performance in the lead sells the film way too short.

The Longford, 59 Toorak Rd, Slh Yarra. 9X67 27(H). Sal. Wed 3.15pm. Sun 6.15pm.

Tha Apartmant (I Id mins) Gilles Mimouni directs a deliciously convoluted plot that makes for an inventive, cheeky and enjoyable comedy. Kino. 45 Collins Si. citv. 9650 2 100.

Todav-Wed 5.10pm. Brassed Off (106 mins) In the late 1980s, in a small Yorkshire mining town a brass band fights for survival while the local pit is threatened with closure. As twee as the premise sounds, the film is a very solid social drama about a desperate community on the verge of being put on the scrap heap. Kino, 45 Collins St. city.

9650 2100. Sun 3.10pm; also at The Longford, 59 Toorak Rd, Slh Yarra. 9X6 7 2700. Today. Sal Ipm.

7pm. Sun 4.15pm. Mon-Wcd 9.15pm; Cinema Nova, 3X0 Lvgon Si. Carlton. 9347 5331..

Today. Wed Ham, 3.20pm. 7.40pm. Sat 1pm. Sun 7.40pm.

Mon 10.55am. 2.55pm, Tues 10.55am. 2.55pm. 8.50pm: Brighton Bay, 294 Bay St. 9596 3590.

Today-Wed 4.30pm. Breakdown (92 mins) While crossing the American Badlands a financially troubled couple in search of a new life (Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan) have car trouble and run into a group of scamming yokels who involve them in kidnapping, murder, guns, car chases and the best extented cliffhanger scene since the one in The Lost World. The many action sequences are tight, well-mounted and exciting and director Jonathan Mostow, who cowrote the screenplay with Sam Montgomery, is smart enough to keep the film moving at the kind of breakneck pace that keeps you from thinking too much about the potholes in the plot. Milage Cinemas, 206 Bourke St. city.

966 7 6565; also at Ullage Crown, Southbank. 927X 6666. Career Girls (X6 mins) While Mike Leigh's latest plunge into human emotions doesn't quite plumb the depth of his brilliant Secrets and Lies, his story of two school chums (Lynda Steadman and Katrin Cartlidge) reminiscing about their days in the university dorm has moments of poignancy and heartbreak that Leigh does better than anybody else. Cinema Nova, 3X0 Lvgon St. Carlton.

9347 5331. Today-Wed 5.10pm. The Castle (76 mins) PG It hurts to say it, but the first feature length film venture from the Frontline crew is a big, sloppy disappointment, light on laughs and often surprisingly clumsy with a made-for-video look. Carlton Moviehouse, 235 Faraday Si, Carlton. Today, Sat 3.20pm, Sun 3.15pm, Mon-Wcd 6.10pm.

Chasing Amy (105 mins) Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl. Girl likes boy. Boy loves girl. Unfortunately, Girl loves verbal deluge of Clerks and has clearly learned from the stumbles he made with his second feature Mallrats.

Exuberant, funny, poignant and moving, this is a fabulous film. Kino, 45 Collins St. cln: 9650 2100. Today, Sal, Mon-Wcd 3.10pm. 7.10pm.

Sun 7.10pm. Con Air (1 12 mins) From the surviving half of the team that brought you such cinematic masterpieces as The Rock. Top Gun and Days of Thunder comes another sensitive arthouse movie to move you to tears and clear your sinuses. In Con Air, a musclebound, long-haired, sweet-natured ruffian (Nicolas Cage) is on a large-belly cargo plane to freedom after making parole when it gets taken over by other cons. Greater Vnion Cinemas, 131 Russell St.

citv. 9654 XI33. Contact J4 (135 mins) While the idea of earthlings meeting those from another world is well-worn, the variation offered by Contact is the thrill of the voyage. The film is an exquisite, prolonged tease about what lies at the end of the search by Ellie, an emotionally wrought astronomer (Jodie Foster in a singularly committed and convincing performance), for Others Out There. The eventual encounter is a disappointment and the final stretch of the film is clumsy, but Contact keeps the fires of curiosity burning for most of its length.

This is based on the novel by the late pop astronomer Carl Sagan and directed with all due awe by Robert Zemeckis. Cinematography and special effects are superb and, whatever you do, don't miss that opening shot, the most beautiful and memorable of any science fiction film made in the past 30 years. Village Cinemas, 206 Bourke St, city. 9667 6565: also at Village Crown, Southbank. 927X 6666; Brighton Bay, 294 Bav St.

9596 3590. Todav-Wcd 12.30pm. 3.30pm. 6.30pm. 9.30pm.

Tha Daytrippers (US mins) Discovering a mysterious note to her husband that suggests he may be cheating on her, Eliza (Hope Davis) loads into the station wagon with her parents, her sister and her sister's husband and head into town to try and find out what is going on. Terrific performances and sparky dialogue feature as the family experience some painful revelations and happen across a wide and engaging cross-section of personality types. Kino, 45 Collins Si. city, 9650 2100. Today-Wed 12.40pm.

4.10pm. 7.40pm; also at Cinema Nova, 3X0 Lvgon St. Carlton. 9347 5331. Today-Wed 1 1.40am, 3.30pm.

7.20pm. late screenings tonight. Sat U.lttpm: Classic Cinema, 9 Gordon Si, Elsternmck 9523 9739. Todav 2.15pm. 9.20pm, Sat 3.05pm.

Sun 1.10pm. 9.15pm. Mon-Wed 1. 10pm. 9.10pm.

Doing Time for Patsy Cline (96 mins) Deeply enjoyable, off-beat comedy in which two parallel narratives tell the tale of a singing farm boy (Matt Day) on his way to Nashville who hooks up with two well-dressed yuppie types (Richard Roxburgh and Miranda Otto). Way too much has been made of this film being some sort of quirky, zany romp. It ain't. Indeed, one of Pafsy Cline's key charms is its leisurely pace and the modest tone of its direction. It simmers rather than boils, and is full of left field surprises, including some subtle similarities to one of the best American thrillers of last year (to name it would be to give way too much away).

Kino, 45 Collins St. citv. 9650 2100. Todav-Wcd 1.20pm. 5.20pm, 9.20pm; also at Carlton Moviehouse, 235 Faradav St.

Carlton. 9347X909. Today. Sat I. '30pm.

6.45pm. 10. 15pm. Sun 6.45pm, Mon. Tues 12.45pm.

4.15pm. 9.30pm. Wed 12.45pm. 9.30pm; The George, 133-137 Fitzrov St. St Kilda.

9534 6922. Today-Wed The Longford, 59 Toorak Rd. Sth Yarra. 9X67 2700. Todav.

Sal. Mon-Wcd 5.15pm. Sun XI 5pm. wait that long. The Immediacy of the message is clearly as Important as the message itself.

LA. Confidential (130 mins) V4 rJHE CITY of Angels In the 1950s, recreated with great love and grit by director Curtis Hanson, Is like an uncut diamond, beautiful but rough. The Los Angeles of LA. Confidential is not only about dreams movies, movie stars, hookers who look like movie stars it looks like a dream, a pulp-fiction collage of tough-talking cops, battles of conscience, sleazy reporters and the mesmerising attractions of Instant celebrity through tabloids and television. At the core of a centrifuge of rich characters, two cops struggle with a murder Investigation and with each other's codes of ethics.

Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) Is the straitlaced Idealist whose principles will stand the test of unpopularity in the department, Bud White (Russell Crowe) Is hard-nosed, street smart, a younger version of the cop we saw Gene Hackman play in Mississippi Bunting Inevitably, they clash, then develop the mandatory grudging respect for each other. There is much that is predictable in LA. Confidential and Hanson's command of action sequences, such as the prolonged shootout, is as wanting as in his Meryl Streep clunker The River Wild. However, he certainly has a handle on how to corral a large, devoted ensemble Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito, Kim Baslnger, the underused David Strathairn and James Cromwell to create a dramatic tapestry that, odd missteps aside, is thoroughly While perhaps too much hype has preceded the film's release, the buzz about the quality of the performances by local lads Crowe and Pearce is Justified, with Pearce the film's standout. Last week Box office this week 1,882,141 Total takings todirH) 3,023,894 1L G.I.

Jane: Demi Moore, close cropped in a long, flat bore. Impressive as her muscle tone and one-arm push-ups are, Demi does little during her time among a group of gruff, muscle-bound Tom-of-Finland types to suggest that the film Is going to get down and dirty and tackle all the stuff about sexual politics and affirmative action and political correctness it alludes to. Fair enough. If Gljane Just wants to be an action film, then fine. But, even on that score, the film Is a long, flat bore.

Shooting training scenes as If they are real battles is pointless, because there Is no threat. And when the real shooting starts, director Ridley Scott, for some unfathomable reason, takes to zooming in and out repeatedly. Along with The Scarlet Letter, The Juror and the appalling Striptease, which deserved the critical bashing unfairly dished out to Showgirls, GI Jane Is a no-contest candidate for the Demi Moore Bad Film Festival schedule. Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce go to Hollywood big-time In L4 Confidential? Email us your thoughts to Aisle Chatter, part of The Age The Movies Net site (www.theage.com.au). Other new releases reviewed in listings: Dream with the Fishes.

FHm 1. The Full Monty 2. Contact (-) 1,674,549 1.674,549 3. My Best Friend's Wedding (1) 1,226,676 11,962,763 4. George of the Jungle (2) 536,525 6.716,902 B.

Event Horizon (4) 476,904 1,755,247 6. Breakdown (5) 469,528 1,617,605 7. Mew In Black (3) 448,565 21,654,132 The flame (7) 347,949 2,393,986 Speed 2: Ci Control (8) 147,070 3,185,111 10. FaceOff (10) 114,530 9,670,826.