The Independent from London, Greater London, England • 121

GOING OUT outstanding very good good average poor NEW FILMS GET CARTER (IB) then it sounds. Wendy Makkena's New York bank-teller chases John Benjamin Hkkey's suicidal beefcake to Texas, setting in motion a carousel of quirky characters, kooky misunderstandings and cute philosophising. Fbrster is the doctor on the road in the American Midwest, falling in with Amanda Hummer's jumpy traveller, then her sassier sibling (Fairuza Balk). Con-artists and killers lurk in the wings. But writerdirector Paul Chart has trouble steering his plot into harbour, swinging this way and that with an air of desperation.

Oo Cartar (18) Mike Hndgrs gangland picture retains a ttirittngh seedy allure, thanks to bleak locations, spare dialogue, andapfiBsimnre of neai'Jieroicunpleaaaptiieaifroni Michael Came. SeeAtoJVms, right A Sfanpta Plan (15) Colt honor director Sam Rauni makes a dramatic coby ffTff tbc aOUBstiwo with this chiUfBgtt snowbound thriller about a f4m windfall that brines nothing but ill BUI Button and MBy Bob Thornton co star Happiness (18) Todd Sokmdx's second film is a comedy of kmrtinpsa and sexual deviancy that reaffirms this yountT writer-director's suviIartalenLlmaiu remade by David Lynch, and you're getting there. Orphans; Peter Mullen's darldy comic tale cf four sUinci and a hmeral movingly capUim the emotioual stresses of bereavement over the course of a storm-tmsrd filarwcgfsn niitil Bast Laid Plans (15) Brit director kuke Barker's first American movie neany roOs a warped love story and a btadanafl HiriHfT into one, and pci fin ihihi't i ftt" trim Mhwh anil Kmmmm WUhmtuutim Director. Mike Hodges Starring: Michael Calne, John Osborne Mike Hodges' 1971 gangster thriller has dated in the most delicious way, turning a bleary eye on a criminal Newcastle trod through by Michael Caine's angel of vengeance. John Osborne impresses in a legendary cameo as the city's silky-smooth overlord.

THE.IMUIVTRIXjiS) Director MsKhowsfd Brothers Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishbume If you can accept that Keanu Reeves is the Messiah sent to save our souls from outer-space robots, then there's much to relish in this virtuoso slice of sci-fi nonsense (below). Forget trying to follow the garbled plot; it's just a peg on which to drape all manner of visuals. The Matrix opens up dark and apocalyptic, then turns comicbook gaudy at the midway mark. Seemingly oblivious to this, Keanu Reeves bobs through both halves with an air of bemusement. Laurence Fishbume's brooding disciple runs rings around him.

AMERICAN PERFECT a Director Paul Chart Starring: Falruza Balk, Amanda PI winner Starting out as an addictive cat-and-mouse notr, American Ptrfekt ends up chasing its tail through ever-decreasing circles. Robert (Jackie Brown) (QnonMayfaH i Claude Berri's sequel to Jen Florette bat Jean's daughter Manon OSmmamieue' Beart) exacting I revenge on the fanner wfadtsnsed her fsifaert death. HEART (J Director Jimmy McGovem Starring: Christopher Eccleston, Kate HardJe Coronary case Christopher Eccleston gets himself a new heart. His wife (Kate Hardie) responds by having an affair with a boorish writer (Rhys Ifans); his donor's widowed mum (Saskia Reeves) by embroiling him in an Oedipal affair Played as absurdist black-comedy, or a Cronenberg-type horror flick. Heart (below) might have worked.

Instead Jimmy McGovem turns it into a lumpy melodrama whose screenplay bears all the hallmarks of a botched operation. OTHER VOICES, Director David Rocksavage Starring: David Speck, Lothaire Bhiteau Writer-director David Rock-savage conjures Truman Capote's debut novel into a Deep South Great Expectations, coated in milky cinematography and ambled through by cheery black maids, crumbling belles and dungaree'd chill' un. There's even an old man in the attic to pluck out when events turn sluggish. And they do. Xdn Brooks BeanbxoUooUng, for aUitspbitcoDtrhaaces.

Director Sam Miller Starring: Rachel Griffiths, Pete Postlethwalte The giants in this coarsegrained human drama are a row of electrical pylons stretching across the Yorkshire moors; towering monoliths that dwarf the gang of workers (headed by Pete Postlethwaite) hired to paint them. Simon The Full Monty) Beaufoy's script mixes kitchen-sink grit with sentiment; Sam Miller's direction goes big on crane shots. Earthy, likeable stuff. AUGUST 32ND ON EARTH (NC) Director: Denis VllkMeuve Starring: Pascal Bussteres, Alexis Martin Denis Villeneuve's enigmatic odyssey casts two lost souls (Pascal Bussieres, Alex Martin) adrift in the fiat-lands beyond Salt Lake City. Wide open spaces on screen hint at wide open spaces inside without ever quite opening them up for scrutiny The startling imagery and elegant atmosphere make up for the drama's lack of rigour.

Director Duiya Waxier Starring: Wendy Makkena, John Benjamin Htckey A gay-themed, on-the-road, odd-couple comedy, Finding North winds up less engaging and ntwsinnan rnmanrr (KrVerrtfej tWtfdtiTtTfrrn trrrial taftiT exammanon of i pre-IVokitiooary France. IW Nitktw (Imperial Vidf Muttn) rtlhrrl flnncy ii ir rrifir ai tin IhiIHiji mm lung I diss hero in Kard Re por of tlnvaxled hopes 1950s Nottingham. Introduced by Alan SBn who adapted it from his own novel. Wd 7pm lmD6kVkm(NFT) ReStaTs portrait of Roman decadenoBfixanlMO can Marceuo Mastroiamd and Anouk Aimee toaseapon, it's perhaps imgrsrious to rnmpiain. Sun 2.Cpnt "One ttfmmft3MVmJ9.

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