The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 378

LOS ANGELES TIMES FRIDAY. AUGUST 21, 1992 MOVIE REVIEW The Parisian Springtime of French Master Rohmer By MICHAEL WILMINGTON SPECIAL TO THE TIMES Tale latest of Hillcrest film by Springtime" Cinemas), France's (at the 73- the year -old master Eric Rohmer, and the start of his new four -film seasonal cycle, has a springlike clarity. But it also seethes with SAN DIEGO COUNTY that slightly desperate, boiling uncase that can come after the vernal equinox. There's nothing sluggish or sultry about Rohmer's springlime. Outside, the air of Paris or Fountainebleau is crisp and achingly clear.

Inside, there's a constant thrum of tension, twanging the finely tuned wires of his characters' consciousness. subtly, we follow the often startling progress of Rohmer's central quartet: Jeanne, a philosophy teacher at the Lycee Jacques Brel (Anne Teyssedre); Natacha, a teen -age classical pianist (Florence Darel); Igor, her art bureaucrat father (Hugues Quester), and Eve, his lover (Eloise Bennett). And, gradually, among this foursome-three "family" members and a bemused and increasingly uncomfortable outsider -the tiniest gestures assume momentous significance. Rohmer is dealing here with his favorite subject, the sensual lives of the intelligentsia, and, as in all of his famous '60s-'70s "'Moral with the dilemma of a person suddenly swerved from one romance into another. The plot starts as if by chance.

Jeanne and Natacha, two women who don't know each other, meet at a party at which neither really belongs. Sympatico flares up immediately and Natacha seizes on the fact that Jeanne i is temporarily homelessthat a cousin has borrowed her regular apartment and another one that Jeanne shares with a mathematician-lover depresses her too much when he is away. Both the main actresses, and Darel, are real screen beauties, but atypical ones, Teysseddre with her pixie brown cut, watchful eyes and seemingly unshakable poise, Darel with her charmingly lanky frame, angelic frizz of hair and bewitchingly unguarded smile. (And also, because she plays Schumann's "Songs of Dawn" for us on screen.) But what affects you most is the spark of intelligence leaping between them, even when Natacha is at her most maddening and selfish. The other two, Quester and Bennett as father and mistress, complement them in comic style: Quester as an over- 'THE BEST FILM OF THE YEAR" Bruce Williamson, PLAYBOY (HIGHEST RATING) Kathleen Carroll, NY DAILY NEWS Jami Bernard, NY POST Bob Strauss, LA DAILY NEWS Mike Clark, USA TODAY Ed Guthmann, SF CHRONICLE Jack Garner, GANNETT NEWS William Arnold, SEATTLE PI MERCHANT IVORY PRODUCTIONS Presents HOWARDS END PO 40, H.

LA AN SIX- TRACK 70MM POET SE LAEMMLE'S COLORADO LANDMARK'S LAEMMLE'S ROYAL West Los Angeles (310) 477-5581 Pasadena DAILY: (816) 5:00, 796-9704 PORT 8:00 Corona Del Mar FRI-SUN: 1.00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 MON-THUR: 1:00. 4:00, 7:00, 9:50 SAT SUN MATINEE: 2:00 (714) 673-6260 NO PASSES ACCEPTED FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT 00 THE THRILLER OF THE SUMMER "YOU DON'T NEED AN AIR-CONDITIONED THEATER, THIS MOVIE HAS ENOUGH CHILLS. "RUSSELL AND LIOTTA ARE BOTH GREAT." toad tarsari, "THE MOST EXCITING SUSPENSE THRILLER SINCE 'FATAL ATTRACTION." 11 THE "RIVETING! BRISTLES WITH TENSION AND SUSPENSE." "'UNLAWFUL ENTRY' IS SLICK, SCARY ENTERTAINMENT." SARDIN KURT RAY MADELEINE RUSSELL LOTTA STOWE UNLAWFUL ENTRY ANTRA AS SOME SONGS A SHE LY IN LARGO RE HON DO ASSOC WITH ENTERTARMIENT INC MALAIR.I ON WTRADA OSTROUTED ST CENTURI POL NOW SHOWING CENTURY CITY HOLLYWOOD ORANGE CO. GABL VAL SOUTH BAY AMC Century 14 Hollywood Pacttic BREA PUENTE MILLS HERMOSA BEACH United Artists AMC Puente Mall 10 Bijou Twin Fri- Sun 8:30 Dolly 9:50 PM Marketplace 11:00 PM (Presented la Stereo) Mon- Thors 8:20 LONG BEACH REDONDO BEACH 10:45 PM CERRITOS MALL GABL VAL SF GCC Free MONROVIA Monn 6 BURBANK Galleria So. Bay 4 Hours United Artists Cinema Validated Porking AMC Burbank with Ticket Purchase.

CHECK THEATRE DIRECTORIES OR CALL FOR SHOWTIMES DO COOLEY STEREO SORRY. NO PASSES OR COUPONS WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT. talky seducer and Bennett catching the essence of yuppie intellectual competitiveness. Rohmer's detractors insist that nothing happens in his films. They're wrong, particularly so here.

Watching these gently agonizing scenes, in which Jeanne the outsider is constantly thrust into intimacies she hasn't asked for, becomes both invigorating and tense. The beauty of Rohmer's filmsand they are among the most beautiful and enlightening in world cinema right now -lies precisely in their mix of ordinary events and the acute consciousness with which they're observed, and also in his character's poignant, and usually unrealizable, quest for perfection. As we watch, they elevate and enlarge our own consciousness. They're delightful films, and "Tale of Springtime" at its best is as entrancing as any of them, radiantly alive, blissfully aware. "Tale of Springtime" (MPAArated PG, though it is surely for adults), is a -see, a picture to take heart from.

Unpretentiously brilliant, it's an essential work from a director who somehow, magically, keeps his vision fresh as a sudden rain, brighter than noon, and younger than, well, springtime. MOVIE REVIEW 'Adventures' Trivializes a Masterpiece By CHARLES SOLOMON SPECIAL TO THE TIMES Then production began on the "Little animated Nemo: Adven- feature tures in Slumberland" more than a decade ago, the film was promoted as a triumphant fusion of the sophisticated direction in Japanese cartoons with the American tradition of polished character animation. Arriving more than two years after playing in Japan, "Adventures" (throughout San Diego County) showcases the weaknesses of both nations' styles. A its dentures" source, fails Winsor to live McCay's up to "Little Nemo in Slumberland" (1905-1927), one of the greatest strips in the history of newspaper comics. Each week in his dreams, Nemo became the chosen playmate of the Princess of Slumberland.

They rode on dragons, played with realistically drawn animals and flew past great vistas of opulent architecture in a series of fantastic adventures that ended when Nemo awoke in the last panel. McCay's consummate draftsmanship imbued these extravagant visions with an aura of reality. Decades later, this masterpiece of graphic imagination has been reduced to a long, drawn -out cartoon-adventure that suggests an overblown episode of a Saturday morning TV show. In a series of dreams, a whiny version of Nemo (voice by Gabriel Damon) and Icarus, his obnoxious flying squirrel sidekick, visit Slumberland and meet the Princess (Laura Mooney). Her father, King Morpheus (Bernard Erhard), entrusts Nemo with the magic Royal Scepter and the key to the prison of the Nightmare King (William E.

Martin). When Nemo gets tricked into releasing the nasty Nightmare SAN DIEGO COUNTY King, some very uninteresting havoc ensues. Nemo eventually redeems himself, but he doesn't really risk anything in the process, so he never seems heroic. The international crew of animators simply wasn't up to the challenges the film offered. None; of the characters moves in a way that suggests his personality, the clumsily drawn animals seem to slide along the backgrounds.

McCay drew more interesting movements for these characters 81 years ago, in a short film he used in his vaudeville act. The only sequence that captures the urgency, of the original fantasy world is at chase involving a runaway motive. Numerous Japanese sci-fi" films have featured similar situa-' tions, but the rapid cutting and shifting point of view suggest Nemo's helpless terror. "Adventures in Slumberland" might divert small children, but serious fans of animation will miss it as a bad dream. 'Little Nemo: Adventures In Slum-: vi berland' 111 A Tokyo Movie Shinsha Co.

Ltd. production, re-, leased by Hemdale Pictures Corp. Directors Masami Hata William Hurtz. Producer Yukata Fujioka, co-producers Barry Glasser, Shunzo Kata Eiji Katayama: Screenplay by Chris Colombus Ricahrd Outten, story by Jean Mobius Giraud Yukata Fujloka, concept for the screen by Ray Bradbury. Music by Thomas Chase Steve Rucker.

Songs by Richard M. Sherman Robert B. Sherman. Running time: 1 hour, 24 minutes. MPAA-rated G.

OPEN GAMY (ON CALL PA NO SOS UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD AN MICA COMPANY) THERE ARE 7 DEADLY SINS: -Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE. INVENTIVE FUN!" VANITY "MADLY "ORIGINAL!" "DIABOLICALLY INVENTIVE!" Dave Joanne Kaufman, PEOPLE MAGAZINE "MURDEROUSLY FUNNY BLACK Susan "A Granger, AMERICAN COMEDY!" COMEDY MOVIE CLASSICS GREED WITH TEETH AND HIGH STYLE!" Darld Ansen, NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE. ENVY LUST A ANGER Joel Siegel, GOOD MORNING AMERICA INCREDIBLE!" SLOTH "BIG LAUGHS, "EXCEPTIONALLY BIZARRE!" -Jim Emerson, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER -James Verniere, BOSTON HERALD ONLY ONE MOVIE'S GOT 'EM ALL! MERYL STREEP BRUCE WILLIS GOLDIE HAWN Death Becomes Her UNIVERSAL PICTURES PRESENTS GOLDIE HANN BRUCE WILLIS MERIT. STREEP "DEATH BECOMES HER" ISABELLA ROSSELLINI M' ALAN DESIGNED COSTUMES JOANNA JOHNSTON SOUNDTRACK SARABANDE CD: AVAILABLE AND ON CASSETTES EH JOAN BRADSHAN EDITED HARTHUR SCHMIDT PRODUCTION DESIGNER! RICK CARTER DIRECTOR PHOTOGRAPHY OF DEAN C. WRITTEN IT MARTIN DONOVAN DAVID KOEPP PG-13 PARENTS STRONGLY CAUTIONED MODISH ROBERT ZEMICKIS STEVE STARKEY ISDUSTRIAL Special Visual LIGHT By MAGIC DIRECTED ROBERT A UNIVERSAL PICTURE, UNIVERSAL may be has tor Under 13.

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