The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 44

EG Friday 28 June 1996 THE AGE' ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE iuJ ---3 Heavy: Liv Tyler as Callie and Prultt Taylor Vince as Victor in a film that takes its sweet time and is unafraid to dwell on the everyday. Flipper Greater Union Cinemas, 131 Russell St, city, 9654 8133. Today. Sat 10. 12.20, 2.30, 4.40.

6.45, Sun 1.30, 3.45. 6, Mon-Wed 10, 2.30, 4.40. 6.45; also Dendy Brighton (G). Flirting with Disaster David O. Russell's comedy turns a clinical eye on family life in the '90s.

The story concerns a neurotic husband who can't name his infant son or find any enjoyment in sex with his wife, Nancy (Patricia Arquette) until he finds his birth mother. The cast, which includes Lily Tomlin and Mary Tyler Moore, is hilarious. (BC) Rivoli. Cambeiwell; Brighton Bay; Cinema Nova, Carlton; Trak, Toorak. (M).

Frankie Starlight One of the more annoying trends in recent cinema has been the craze for cloying, cosily nostalgic folktales. Frankie Starlight is recognisably in this vein but, by varying the standard ingredients a little, it manages to become quite touching. Frank (Corban Walker) is a dwarf with a severe self-esteem problem. But his life begins to change when he writes a book combining his love for astronomy with the biography of his "free spirit" mother (Anne Parillaud). There are underdeveloped, creaky and grating aspects, but the film is finally moving and sweet.

(AM) Cinema Nova, Carlton. French Twist French Twist revives the classic French bedroom farce with an original recipe husband, wife and lesbian lover. Loli (Victoria Abril of Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!) is a beautiful but bored housewife, married to Laurent (Alain Chabat), an incurable womaniser. When Loli meets Mariio (Josiane Balasko), a classically butch lesbian, and installs her in the house, everyone's life changes dramatically. (BC) V4 Kino, 45 Collins St, city, 9650 2100.

Daily 1.10, 3.10, 5.10, 7.10, 9.10, plus late screenings; also at Como, Sth Yarra. (M). Home for the Holidays Jodie Foster's romantic comedy with a gay edge successfully explodes a number of myths about family life. Claudia Larsen (Holly Hunter) is home for Thanksgiving. Her life is a mess, but this is nothing compared to what awaits her.

Despite the sentimental ending, weird, witty and worth it. (BC) 14 Lumiere Cinema, 108 Lonsdale St, city. 9639 1055. Dairy 4. (M).

The Day the Sun Turned Cold Heavy A THAT A delicate and remarkable debut this to from young American writer-director lames Mangold. Here to a film that takes Its sweet time and is unafraid to dwell within the unspectacular incidents and feelings of everyday life. There just enough of a touch of Carson McC idlers' Ballad of the Sad Cafe here to add a poignant touch of agonised expressionism. Victor (Prultt Taylor VTnce) to an obese, emotionally withdrawn chef, surrounded by a typical bunch of mundane wrecks Including his mother Dolly (Shelley Winters) and waiter Delores (Deborah Harry). When the adorable teenager Callie (liv Tyler) lands unexpectedly in this diner, Victor becomes intensely Infatuated with There are moments early on when Heavy threatens to become -Gothic and overwrought, like a David Lynch film.

But Mangold never loses his grip on the material, keeping it dose to the ground-tone of ordinary aspirations, misconnectlons and Joys. It to a beautifully stylised piece the Images are still and -restrained, and the soundtrack is a triumph of ambient mood. And the drama's emotional aura I f. Adrian Martin The George, St KiWa. ICosI Mark Joffe's Cost, scripted by Louis Nowra from his own play, is a strenuously "feel good" movie, bursting with heart, optimism and fortune-cookie wisdom.

It is also a sluggish, mechanical effort that takes the safe, "middlebrow" option at almost every turn. (AM) Lumiere Cinema, 108 Lonsdale St, city. 9639 1055. Today, Sat 3.45, 8.30, Sun 4, 8.25, Mon-Wed 3.45, 8.30.(M). The Crossing Guard As a director, Sean Penn is already a big headache for the American film industry.

His movies are unrelentingly tough, dark and extreme. They court charges of absurdity and excess because Penn dares to follow in the footsteps of the American cinema's most demanding master John Cassavetes. Penn's second film Tlie Crossing Guard is a brave and undeniably gruelling effort. Freddy (lack Nicholson), a tormented wreck of a man, counts down the days until the guy who killed his daughter in a car accident, Booth (David Morse), gets out of jail. Every scene offers itself as a confrontation with truth, an excavation of the soul, a long and pained look into the unfinished business of the heart.

It is a far from a perfect film, but I love it. (AM) Village Centre, 206 Bourke St, city, 9667 6565. Daily 4.30, 7, 9.30, also today-Sun 2.10, plus late screenings; also The George, St Kilda. (M). Days of Being Dumb Chinatown Cinemas, 200 Bourke St.

city. 9662 3465. Today, Sat 3.30, 7.30, Sun-Thurs 5.30. 9.30. Dead Man In this "mutant Depp plays an accountant who flees from trouble.

Wounded and stalked by killers, his only companion is a displaced Native American named Nobody (Gary FarmerlAn astonishing and unique movie. (AM) V4 Cinema Nova. Carlton. (R). Dead Man Walking Nun Susan Saradon answers a cry for help from death-row prisoner Sean Penn, who has murdered two teenage lovers.

Although shocked by the condemned man's fascist attitudes, she remains steadfast, but she does not allow for the response of the victim's families their anger and desire for revenge. (BC) Cinema Nova, Carlton. (MA). Dunstan Checks In Watch Dunstan Checks In with an audience of very small children. Only then can a properly socialised adult regress sufficiently to enjoy the giddy comic mayhem of this tale of an orangutan set loose in a five-star hotel.

(AM) Hoyts Cinema Centre, 140 Bourke St, city. Daily 10.20, 12.25. (G). Let Enfants du Par ad is When Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise) was first released in 1945, American distributors described it as a "French Gone With the Wind'. A masterpiece of complexity, its exploration of desire has rarely been equalled.

(BC) Capitol Cinema, 113 Swanston Walk, city. 9654 4422. Today, Mon, Tues 3.15. Sat 12.15, 5.45, Sun 12.30, Wed 7.30. (PG).

ibetoJttve decision Masterpiece Excellent Good Fair Poor FIRST RELEASE NB: For screening times at suburban cinemas check suburban listings. As time changes can occur, please telephone cinemas beforehand. Reviews by Barbara Creed and Adrian Martin. Antonia Line Antonia's Line, is A tale about five generations of women, told through the eyes of 90-year-old Antonia (Willeke Van Ammelrooy) who is enjoying the last day of her very rich life. 'i WC).

lumiere. 108 Lonsdale St. city. 9639 1055. Today.

Sat 3.15. Sun 6.45. Mon-Wed 5.15. (M). Balto Greater Union Cinemas, 131 Russell St.

city, 9654 8133. Today, Sat 10, Sun 12.15. Mon-Wed 10. 12.20. (G).

The Birdcage This Mike Nichols-directed remake of the 1978 French hit Ija Cage Mix Holies is, aside from its blatant stereotyping, wild and witty. (BC) Hoyts Cinema Centre, 140 Bourke St, city. Daily 3.50, 6.30. 9.10. (M).

Blue in the Face This wonderfully free, completely improvised movie about Brooklyn stars big-name stars (Harvey Keitel, Roseanne, Lou Reed, Madonna) and others who gather at a cigar store to gossip and pass the day. The result is charming and quirky. (BC) Lumiere Cinema. 108 Lonsdale St, city. 9639 1055.

Tonight, Sat 5.15. Sun 8.50, Mon-Wed 7.25. (M). The Cable Guy In many respects, The Cable Guy is a blackly comical fable, a nightmare conjured from tabloid-TV babble about everything from "personal space" and contemporary intimacy problems to the pernicious effects of mass media and the "information Steven (Matthew Broderick) makes the fatal mistake of inviting a "cable guy" (Jim Carrey) into his life. From that point, the stranger who respects no borders takes over, putting Steven through every social, familial and personal humiliation imaginable.

Carrey's character is closely modelled on the psycho-villains of recent thrillers: he is an invasive, low-class, media-saturated nut of indeterminate identity and sexuality. This is a repetitive, unresolved film, but it has a fascinating quality of high-pitched hysteria. (AM) Hoyts Cinema Centre, 140 Bourke St, city. Dairy Sat 10.30. 12.40, 2.50, 5.

7.10, 9.30, plus late screenings. (M). Catwalk Robert Leacock's documentary on supermodel Christy Turlington shows the mundane, workaday aspects of the fashion industry. There is scarcely a peek of Melrose Place-style bitchiness or competitiveness among designers and models; candidness and intimacy D' THE icy landscape of the award-winning Chinese Bun, The Day The Sun Turned Cold, doesn't chill your hearts, the story-line should cause a drop in body temperature. In the opening sequence, a young man guides his bike through busy traffic to the local police station where he formally accuses his mother of murdering her husband more than 10 years before.

What unfolds to a tale of bruised lives, oedipal passions and adulterous desires. The central Issue turns, not on the question of guilt, but on the -reasons why Guan llan after 10 years decides to denounce his own mother for a crime that could lead to her death. Although no one character to 1 Intended to appear more worthy, the mother uneducated and married to a cruel husband does elicit our sympathies. Director YIm Ho subtly paints a picture of an archaic way of life, In which male power to helped up by the all-pervasive but Invisible laws of a patriarchal culture. As a detailed study of character and motivation, The Day the Sua and moving work.

4. Barbara Creed OnemaCornSoMftVaw. Last Bos office Total taking shocking as it is unfolded by the writing-producing-directing team of Joel and Ethan Coen (Millers Crossing). There is a deliberately grotesque edge of caricature and black comedy, but Fargo ultimately espouses a tough, poignant humanism that seems almost like a riposte to the thundering nihilism of last year's Seven. (AM) Hoyts Cinema Centre, 140 Bourke St, city.

Daily 2.30, 4.40. 6.50. 9. plus Ms screenings; also at Cinema Now, earn eeam, Ulda; Cmerr C) ft 1 JTJ) ansa Film WMk this 1. Cable Guy () 1.803,216 1,803.215 2.

Twister (1) 1,614,278 16,437,295 3. Up Close Personal (3) 682,018 3,730,003 4. Spy Hard (2) 516,226 1389,658 5. Trainspotting (5) 258,353 3,228,808 6. The Quest (4) 241,663 996,166 7.

Fargo (6) 172,201 813,638 8. Muppets Treasure Island (15). 9. The Crossing Guard (-) 102,731 102.731 10. an American Quilt (9) 100,860 3,603,985 Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco Forget all those brilliantly executed effects In Babe that made us believe for moment that animals could actually talk.

In this sequel to the popular kids' film Homeward Bound, we are back to the old trick of having shots of animals stanng, panting or wiggling, while actors in voice-over convey their "thought The -method does not detract: this is an enjoyable, diverting confection, which takes tne typical story ot an "incredible journey back home" for three animals and spices it up with scraps of love and politics. There's no sex in this wild animal kingdom, but at least we get a tew good, umnniDited jokes about pissing. (AM) Village Cinemas. 206 Bourke St. crtv.

9667 6565. Daily 10.30. 12.20, also Mon-Wed 2.10; also Dendy Brighton; Kivon, gamoerweil. (u). How to Make an American Quirt How to Make an American Quilt tells the story of Finn (Winona Ryder), who decides to spend the summer at the house of her grandmother (Ellen Burstyn), whose friends are making a special quilt tor unns wedding.

The problem is that Finn is not sure if she wishes to settle down just yet. As die women weave, they tell their personal stones oi love and relationships. Although the film is too bland, performances are excellent and direction by locelyn Moo rehouse is sensitive and assured. (BC) 1 1 UUifciu I li .11, i I to be so boring, but director Stuart Baird is saddled with a broken-backed plot structure that really only comes to life in the final 20 minutes. (AM) 14 Village Centre, 206 Bourke St.

city, 9667 6565. Daily 4, 8.45. (M). Fargo From Its first snow-clogged image to its disquieting coda, this is a superbly shapeq anrj controlled movie. Fargo is a basetluftT a miMetlem? fhst 8erifelrfcrfabnc WffnsCTOUh.abnt (AM) i i Ms rWfbf a brg'-rWdgefMtion'mfjvie'f.