The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 29

29 THE BOSTON GLOBE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1. 1991 'Highlander 2: The Quickening' takes the low road Nancy Kelly's fine debut tells story of a courageous woman By Matthew Gilbert GLOBE STAFF The first "Highlander" did not succeed, so the filmmakers decided to try, try again. Well, they didn't Mnvip very hard md it shows. "High- ReVieW lander 2: The Quickening" is the dullest and shoddiest action-adventure flick of the year, with only a few cute Sean Connery moments to rescue it from total, sheer and utter bo-gosity. If only the filmmakers had gone over the top, made camp fun of their half-baked plotting, inane dialogue, and fickle performances.

Christopher Lambert is back as the Highlander, the immortal who wrapped a sun shield around the earth when the ozone layer 2024 and he's aged a bit, but he quickly rejuvenates after killing assassins sent from his home planet, ZeisL There are two villains 1 ii Sean Connery, Christopher Lambert in "Highlander 2: The HIGHLANDER THE QUiCKENING Directed by: Russell Mulcah Written by: Brian Clemens and William Panzer Starring: Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Virginia Madsen Playing at Copley Place and suburbs Rated: (violence) and old pal Sean Connery. Only Connery escapes with some dignity, having miraculously been spared dialogue like "Time to say goodbye, Highlander" "Why, are you going somewhere?" Lambert's strange accent shifts, which include Peter Loire and Marlon Brando bits, just aren't funny. Since the planet is enclosed in a shield, it's always nighttime, and people are not very cheery. They seem to be dwelling in a nightmare. They have a violent case of SAD, and by the time you leave "Highlander 2" you may know just how they feel.

Not by accident, it's accompanied by the latest surreal short by the Brothers Quay, "The Comb: From the Museums of Sleep," in which blurred black-and-white shots of a sleeping woman alternate with eerie, autum-nally colored sequences of a trashed doll stiffly moving through what looks like an attic of the mind. Like "Lyrical Nitrate," it emanates the mystery of a found object. THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD Directed by: Aluiry Kelly Screenplay by: Anne Makepeace, from the novel by Ruthanne Lum McCunn Starring: Rosalind Chao, Chris Cooper, Dennis Dun At Coolidge Corner Theater Rated: to her throat until Charlie, the local voice of reason, persuades Hong King to let her pay off the cost of her passage some other way. Charlie, played by "Matewan" star Chris Cooper, is smitten with Lalu, and when Hong King tries again to make Lalu a whore, Charlie stakes everything he has to win her in a poker game. Now free, Lalu becomes responsible for herself, earns her own living first as a laundress, then as manager of a boarding house and finds she can learn to love the "white demon" Charlie.

But complications arise when the miners turn against the Chinese community and resolve to drive them out. Director Kelly, who had previously made documentaries, uses the Montana locations to give an epic feel to the story, but keeps it warm and human by never caving in to melodrama. The performances are uniformly good, especially by Rosalind Chao, who carries the movie as its unusual heroine. (This is an expanded version of the review published here when the film had its local premiere at the 1990 Boston Film Festival) By Betsy Sherman SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE Robert Airman's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" was about the building of a brothel in a frontier town.

Mnino "Thousand Pieces Ve of Gold" depicts a R6YI6W similar town, but comes from an en tirely different angle. The johns in McCabe's brothel spoke in hushed tones about its high-priced "Chinese "Thousand Pieces of Gold" is about a courageous woman who wouldn't let herself become a "Chinese princess." Nancy Kelly's fine debut feature is based on a true story. The year is 1880. Lalu, strikingly played by Rosalind Chao, is a peasant girl from northern China. Her father, destitute from years of drought, hands Lalu a wedding scarf, puts her on the cart of a marriage broker and turns his back to her anguished screams.

She is brought by boat to San Francisco and auctioned off. Jim (Dennis Dun), the handsome young Chinese man who buys her, is not the man who is to be her husband. Jim's job is to deliver her to Hong King (Michael Paul Chan), a saloon keeper and pimp in an Idaho mining town. Hong King puts his "pearl of the Orient" in a flashy red dress and offers her to the local miners for $200. Lalu, renamed China Polly, fights the men off and holds a knife 'Lyrical Nitrate': Lustrous, perishable images jAr.iEniCfl'S 1 ACTIOIlPflCUED DLAsfTl rD(D(0)(KlE1T NOW PLAYING Late show LOEWS SHOWCAU CINEMA 57 STUAH ST.

NMI MM M. I 482-132? CINEMAS Of HERA CtNEMA I SHOWCASE CINEMAS DEDHAM CHESTNUTHILl REVERE III MIT ISA DLttl HAMMONS ST. IT1. CI 4 SOUIII ID. 326-4933 277-2500 286-1660 wants to keep the oppressive shield around Earth even though the ozone layer has returned.

Battling these baddies along with Lambert are a feisty terrorist-lover, vapidly played by Louise Marcus, coyly hiding behind bushes while gazing at his plump, flower-bedecked Eve. But as they canter through Eden, there's less image and more deterioration of the highly perishable nitrate stock, until the original image fades out and the blotches take over, assuming an abstract patterning and life of their own, speaking of impermanence and of deconstruction and reconstruction. The tension between the resonance of the past and the dynamic of change crystallizing the very plight of the nitrate films archivists all over the world are struggling to save -thus emerges dramatically as the real subject of "Lyrical Nitrate." ill "SPELLBINDING A SCHAPPY AND SHREWDLY HILARIOUS FIRST RUT -tm Trwn. I0UMC (TIMIUUirK "EXHILARATING" mcmiTiMsaEiicEMoiirm "A VERY FUNNY MOVIE FROM THE HEART OF TEXAS -im Mtnw IK VUUE V0 BARGAIN PERFORMANCE FIRST SHOW ONI STARRED FEATURES NO PASSES TIMES SHOWN ARE FOR TOD OMLY YIAHUF THE GUN .130 410 715 950 1215 29TH STREET 150 425 735 1005 1220 BUTCHER'S WIFE 100 305 510 725 940 1150 PG13 HOUSE PARTY 2 110 320 520 745 1005 1205 OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY 145 420 730 955 1210 HOMICIDE 140 415 740 1010 1225 THE FISHER KINO 105 400 710 1000 1230 PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS 130 415 710 930 1140 HIGHLAN0ER 2100 300 500 730 945 1145 BILLY BATHGATE 130 430 730 1005 1225 YEAR OF THE GUN 120 440 710 950 1220 PE0PLE UNDER THE STAIRS 140 420 720 945 1 200 HIGHLANDER 2 100 300 500 715 930 1135 CURLY SUE 1 10 310 520 740 1005 PG 4-H0USE PARTY 2 .110 315 515 745 940 1010 1155 1220 LITTLE MAN TATE .100 310 520 740 1000 1210 PG OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY 145 430 725 955 1215 HOMICIDE .305 745 SHATTERED 105 510 1015 1225 FRANKIE i JOHNNY 135 410 700 935 SUBURBAN COMMANDO .115 315 515 PG PARADISE .150 415 705 PG13 RICOCHET 730 1015 1230 29TH STREET .140 430 720 945 1155 PE0P1E UNDER THE STAIRS .145 440 725 1005 1225 YEAR OF THE GUN 130 420 715 950 1215 -f CURLY SUE .105 315 525 745 1010 1220 PG BUTCHER'S WIFE .100 305 510 735 955 1205 PG13 H0USEPARTY2 .415 930 LITTLE MAN TATE .100 310 515 740 1000 1 210 PG HOMICIDE .300 710 1145 SHATTERED .100 500 935 FRANKIE JOHNNY .135 410 730 1015 1230 DECEIVED .125 700 1140 PG13 THE FISHER KINS .110 405 705 1005 1235 -f YEAR OF THE GUN 130 420 710 945 1210 HIGHLANDER 2 105 310 515 735 1000 1200 29TH STREET .140 435 750 1015 1225 PE0PLE UNDER THE STAIRS 150 410 740 1015 1230 BILLY BATHGATE 135 405 725 1005 1225 CURLY SUE 1230 240 450 705 925 1135 PG BUTCHER'S WIFE .110 315 525 740 1000 1210 PG13 LITTLE MAN TATE 1245 255 500 730 950 1205 PG H0USE PARTY 2 1240 250 500 720 935 1150 HOMICIDE .310 745 1220 OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY .145 430 715 940 1155 SHATTERED .315 750 1230 FRANKIE ft JOHNNY .125 400 730 1020 1235 PARADISE .100 520 1010 PG13 RICOCHET .415 955 DECEIVED .1255 515 1005 PG13 THE FISHER KING .120 700 1 205 YEAR OF THE GUN .125 400 710 950 1210 HIGHLANDER 2 100 300 500 715 930 1130 PI0PLE UNDER THE STAIRS 130 430 745 1010 1220 BILLY BATHGATE .140 415 710 940 1200 CURLY SUE .100 305 510 720 940 1150 PG BUTCHER'S WIFE .100 305 510 725 945 1150 PG13 H0USE PARTY 2 .115 320 525 740 1005 1210 LITTLE MAN TATE .105 310 515 730 950 1155 PG OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY .130 430 730 1000 1 215 DECEIVED 140 415 740 1010 1220 PG13 0 RICOCHET 710 920 FRANKIE JOHNNY 720 950 THE FISHER KING 700 940 MMbT -I 10:311 in "Highlander 2." One is General Katana, the dictator on Zeist who wants the Highlander dead (he can only be killed by decapitation) to prevent any future trouble. The other is Blake, a businessman who LYRICAL NITRATE Documentary by Peter Delpeut Playing at: Brattle Theater Unrated fecting, but it does.

So do certain other of the fleeting survivors. Time and again the images are charged with a potency and integrity impossible to duplicate in this age of image-bombardment and consequent image-cheapening. A combination of innocence and vitality animates a simple domestic kiss. A scene of coal miners expiring in a cave-in just before rescuers break through must have been corny even in its day, but still retains a force of conviction. Even when Depeut makes a wrong aesthetic decision, such as choosing to accompany a verismo Crucifixion scene tinted light blue and yellow with a recording of Tito Schipa singing Una Jurtiva lagrima, the old film fascinates, partly because its fragmentary nature underlines the poig-nance of its irretrievability.

Rightly, Depeut closes with a Garden of Eden scene, which would in itself be laughable, with Adam it D.il! 10:10. 12:10. 1:00 5 20 7 40 UWid Dalit 1:00. 3:10. 7:10.

1:45 General Cinema 5100 All SHOWS STARTING BEFORE 6 PM DAILY BTI 9 ol HAMMOND ST 277-2500 CURLY SUE 12:30 2:45 5:00 7:15 9:30 PG UTTLE MAN TATE FRANKIE ft JOHNNY 1:10 4:10 7:10 9:45 II stnto PARADISE 1:40 4:20 7:20 9:40 PG13 RICOCHET 1:203:305:407:4510:0011 UltV-HOffEK WORIQ 617-235-8020 508-872-4400 PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS 1:103:15 5:25 7:45 10:00 Rm.io 29th STREET 1:00 3:10 5:20 7:40 9:50 II nun THE BUTCHER'S WIFE 1:354:00 OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY FRANKIE JOHNNY ERNEST SCARED STUPID 1:00 2:50 PG DECEIVED 4:45 7:20 9:45 PG13 I RTE. 128 EXIT 32B 272-4410 BILLY BATHGATE 12:30 2:45 5:00 7:20 9:50 R-muo HIGHLANDER 2- 12:45 2:55 5:10 7:40 10:00 II OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY 1:00 3:05 5:15 7:30 9:45 ERNEST SCARED STUPID 1:15 3:15 5:15 PG NECESSARY ROUGHNESS TODAY 7:10 9:30 SAT 9:45 PG13 NommHORi shop, an. 617-599-1310 508-532-1400 BILLY BATHGATE 12:50 3:00 5:10 7:25 9:35 1 snuo HIGHLANDER 2- 1:00 3:105:157:309:4011 CURLY SUE 1:10 3:20 5:20 7:20 9:20 PG BOUTtS 128 4V 37 848-1070 28th STREET 1:00 3:15 5:30 7:45 10:00 THE BUTCHER'S WIFE 1:20 3:40 7:15 9:40 PG13 si THE FISHER KING 1:104:00 7:009:451 DECEIVED 1:30 3:50 7:10 9:30 PG13 I ROUTES 24 27 617-963-8833 508-588-5050 I PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS 1:103:205:307:45 10:00 II simo HIGHLANDER 2- 1:00 3:10 5:20 7:30 9:55 nure CURLY SUE 1:20 3:30 5:30 7:30 9:40 PG THE BUTCHER'S WIFE 1:10 3:20 5:30 7:45 10:00 PG13 OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY 1:00 3:10 5:20 7:40 9:55 ERNEST SCARED STUPID 1:15 3:15 5:15 PG FRANKIE A JOHNNY TODAY 1:304:00 7:00 9:40 SAT 1:30 4:00 9:40 PARADISE 7:15 9:45 PG13 RTE 3-iXIT TI 53 826-6301 PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS 12:40 3 5:20 7:40 9:55 BILLY BATHGATE 12:30 2:50 5:10 7:30 9:45 OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY 12:50 3:10 5:30 7:50 10:00 FRANKIE It JOHNNY 1:00 4:00 7:00 9:30 Atroti (rem PHEASANT LAM MALL 15081 649-3980 PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS 1:103:155:207:309:501 CURLY SUE 1:00 3:00 5:00 7:10 9:20 PGhiko ERNEST SCARED STUPID 1:10 3:10 5:10 PG FRANKIE ft JOHNNY 1:30 4:10 7:10 9:40 stimo THE FISHER KINQ DECEIVED 1:00 3:00 5:10 7:20 9:30 PG13 stub RICOCHET 7:00 9:15 lUaTHdlJUIoj.Itl.'ll.T.m.'M'.'ie-l FROM THF. BOSTON GLOBE. OCTOBER 10.

1991 "The most remarkable thing about Cynthia Scott's wise, funny and exhilaratingly tolerant "STRANGERS IN GOOD COMPANY" is that Scott saw there was a film to be made from the lakeside ruminations of eight women with long lives to reflect upon. In ways that unobtrusively steal up on you, Scott makes us cherish the treasure trove of experience being carried on this trip. In a warmly endearing way, the genteel peeling back of inhibitions grows, the lives intertwine and you realize the tremendous stores of energy contained in the solid souls and incandescent spirits of these senior citizens. That Scott would recognize and value it makes you want 'to give her a medal for awareness that she would find ways to convincingly present us with believable arcs of outreach among them ranging from discreet lesbian to thoroughly domestic mum is further cause for rejoicing. You know the film is working when you feel yourself welcoming the melting reserve as the women realize they're among understanding friends and can trust one another.

(They) strike you as so unpretentious that it would never occur to them to think of themselves as steadily engrossing characters. But they are, and Scott's ability to gently coax them into revealing the full richness of their generously textured lives and thus enrich each other turns STRANGERS IN GOOD COMPANY into a gentle zephyr of fresh cinematic air." Jay Can-, THE BOSTON GLOBE ByJayCarr GLOBE STAFF Film doesn't get much more vintage than the snippets rescued from the attic of pioneer Dutch film dis-Mnvip tributor Jean met and stitched ReYieW together with un- abashed subjective poetry by his compatriot Peter De-peiiC whose attitude is aptly and eloquently summed up in the title "Lyrical Nitrate." We've seen just enough nitrate to realize how lus-troiis its images are as well as how perishable, and this 50-minute documentary uses its fragments to deepen' our appreciation of nitrate's aesthetic possibilities. Much of the revelatory nature of the experience lies' in its reacquainting us with the expressive use of color tinting -blues," ambers and roseate reds accompanying the better-known sepia alternative to black-and-white. Tjiere's an enhancement of mood as wll as a softening of it But something-unforeseen enters the arena as I ifij themselves, the bits of film dptmglrom 1905-1915 are depicting, as they do, travelogue tootage or such destina tions as Stockholm, the Pyrenees and the Alps, or exaggerated melo dramatic stock gestures carried over ftomithe stage. But the fragments tike on an unanticipated life of their own, becoming a string of little mini-documentaries, each frame packed with information (often not the infor mation the filmmaker intended) about its era and vibrant with the freshness of imagery newly hatched.

It's difficult to say why a fleeting glimpse of a woman wistfully fondling a tiger cub should remain af- GENUINE TRIUMPH! Hl5 IS CLASSIC WESTERN FILMMAKING." -Mkial Wilmington, LOS ANGELES TIMES Rosalind tHAO's stunning PERFORMANCE IS TERRIFIC FROM JTHE FIRST MOMENT." Jucfy Stone, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE 1 1991 Filmcat Incorporated float! Hie A tireycat mms Heiease Macon Praia took OPENS FRI, NOV. 1 COOLIDGE CORNER EXCLUSIVE AREA ENGAGEMENT. H.ifr'AROST. BROOKLINE 734 7500 iV "STUNNING!" 44 I -Jay Carr, 5 BOSTON GLOBE 'y'j (HIGHEST RATING) ml James Verniere, I B0ST0N HERALD NOW PLAYING! I C00LIDGE ws I CORNER Sun 1:40. MO Harvard st.

brookline M-TH 5-40 734-2500 I 1- I vf its Mil mm i bargain ma mk wo msi show omrti STiRKlD ftATUnS. mirtmimi Al limirni lltUUN SMPM IMAM. NOFAIUSACCimO ESSCOPLEY PLACEESZS 100 HUNTINGTON AVE. 2bb-ViW HIGHLANDER II IO.l!tt.J.tt.ilIHM.I2 BILLY BATHGATE I.I5.I!:J:4S.5.T:H.MI.I2 CURLY SUE 5 PS IH U1B.RH OF IHTfl I IGFKT LIFE IHl.l!:M.3.bJll:l.S0.i; I RAMBLING ROSE 1M0.li:2Ul.SAIJ(t.l2 DOGFIGHT I 3I.MS.IMI DEAD AGAIN IMS.IMS PARADISE IH.IH!i2t l'M)l! ERNEST SCARED STUPID IS.I)? 4 DECEIVED IHI.IJnj 0.51I.IX.) tll PG13 PG P613 PG TERMINATOR SUBURBAN COMMANDO It2l I) THE SUPER MS.tn.U ttM SHATTERED IM.I)j NICKELODEON 606 COMM. A VE NR.

KENMORE SO. 424-1500 ANT0NIA AND JANE URANUS HOMICIDE MV OWN PRIVATE IDAHO IflO 3. 5 U.J 10.9 M.n BARTON FINK lW.l:IS.S:3.J:.Hm:l CHERIX DAL TON ST. OPR. SHERA TON BOS.

536-2870 THE BUTCHER'S WIFE P613 LITTLE MAN TATE PG FRANKIE AND JOHNNY FISHER KING l.4aJ 30.IHIIMS CHARLES CAMB. ST. NEAR GOV TCTR 227-1330 YEAR OF THE GUN lSH.5:IS.lSt 2STM STREET l3 l6.S:lS.m.l!tt THE COMMITMENTS CINEMA 571 200 STUARTST NEAR PARK SQ. 482-1222 PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS lM.3:IM:IUtt.ltt RICOCHET PARIS I 841 BOYLSTONST. OPP.

THE PRU 267-8181 OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY BEACON HILL 1 BEACON AT TREMONT 723-81 10 WHORE NC1T HOUSE PARTY 2 1:00.3 M.Sffl.lH HOUSE PARTY 2 1000 HARVARD SO. 10CHURCHST. CAMBRIDGE 864-4580 HOMICIDE I SO 3110 IS 45 ID1M.121H MV OWN PRIVATE IDAHO 108.3 15.5 K.7 35.9:50.1 1 SO IH SHRPHnf INTtLLIlitBI Lire ID0.3 10.5 70.130,! mu FISHER KING ll.II.MS.Ii:IS THE COMMITMENTS 12:30 5:15.1:40.10 ROCKY HORROR BlSM. IMS NO. JANUS 57 JFK ST.

NEAR HARVARD SQ. 661-3737 LITTLE MAN TATE l.3:15.S:3(.!:4S.lll PG 3 FRESH POND FRESH POND PLAZA 661-2900 YEAR OF THE GUN 1 00,3:15.5:30.) 45.1010 29TH STREET BILLY BATHGATE M.3:IO.S:2t.l:41.IO:l PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS 12 45,3,5: 11,1:30.5:50 HOUSE PARTY 2 1:15.3:15.5:15.1:20.9:30 CURLY SUE PG THE BUTCHER'S WIFE 1:00.3:15.5:30. 50.10:10 PG13 RAMBLING ROSE 110.3 10.5:20.) 30.HS OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY 1:00,3:15,5:30,1:45,1010 FRANKIE AND JOHNNY 45.3:05 25.1 55 10 IS SOMERVILLE RTE 93 AT ASSEMBLY SQ. 628-7000 PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS 17 403:005 WOTS IMS HIGHLANDER II 1:70,3 25.5401(0 10 20,1205 29TH STREET l3 1S.5 30.I.SOI0051JOO YEAR OF THE 6UN I2 35.21SSHS 170.S45.HH BILLY BATHGATE l2S0.3S.S:1S.l.iS0.MSa THE BUTCHER'S WIFE I235.3W.S 15.1 35.1:55.1 1:50 PG13 HOMICIDE 4:0055.11:50 CURLY SUE PG HOUSE PARTY 2 1750,3 10.5:25.1 40,10 10.12:15 OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY 1255.3:115:70.1 3O.W0.I2M LITTLE MAN TATE 1230245 40 PG FRANKIE AND JOHNNY FISHER KING 110,110 NATICK RTE. 9653-5005237-5840 BILLY BATHGATE 1:15.410,1:20.9:50.12:15 HOMICIDE I.30.4I.140.).1201 CURLY SUE ITS.3:I5.S 15.1:70.1:30.11 45 PG HOUSE PARTY I 1 30 130 530.110 IS LITTLE MAN TATE l3 5:15.1 30.140 12 -PG FISHER KING Ea DANVERS LTM LIBERTY TREE MALL 777-1818599-3122 29TH STREET FISHER KIN6 100,4 00,110 150 DANVERSl RTE 128 EXIT 24 777-2555593-2100 THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS llS.37OS2S145tS0.l20l THE BUTCHER'S WIFE I 3S.41MS115 HOUSE PARTY 2 I 703 I05H I3013OII 75 LITTLE MAN TATE 1 10,3:15.5 15.1 15.170,11:71 OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY 1:30.1 45.1:15.9:35.n:4S FRANKIE AND JOHNNY 140.4 10 1 20 9 40 1700 PG13 PG SALEMl EAST INDIA MAIL 741-1900595-4700 YEAR OF THE GUN 1:10.1 SOW DECEIVED 1:75.9:40 HOMICIDE 7:15.9:25 PG13 I BROCKTON RTE.

27 588-4850963-1010 YEAR OF THE GUN S7S 140 1000 LITTLE MAN TATE 70 1 30 9 40 BILLY BATHGATE S1S.13S.9SI HOUSE PARTY 2 3S.14S.9 4S PG "MAGICAL LOVELY!" -LA TIMES "ENDEARINGLY FUNNY!" NY DAILY NEWS "LIFTS THE SPIRITS SKY HIGH!" LONDON TIMES "A GENUINE TONIC!" NY TIMES "A KNOCKOUT!" -CHICAGO TRIBUNE I tonight at Dedham Revere "UTTERLY CHARMING!" TORONTO SUN "EXHILARATING ELEGANT!" NYNEWSDAY "EXTRAORDINARILY MOVING!" SEATTLE POST-INT. "GO SEE THIS MOVIE!" DENVER POST t. ii'l HLKIII BRATTLE THEATREe HHAITLE STREET I CAMB. 876-6837 NOV.MOMWtekOnlyl SHOWS DAILY AT it Strangers Good company WEST NEWTON 126 WASHINGTON ST. otm.

it 964-4060 daily at:.