The Birmingham Post from Birmingham, West Midlands, England • 12

12 FRIDAY February 2 1996 The Birmingham Post ARTS ENTERTAINMENT Icons united sit last in Mann's infflste rpiece Mike Davies reviews the latest cinema releases he moment everyone's waiting for comes roughly midway into Heat nn when Al Pacino and Robert De JL Niro two icons of American cinema finally meet face to face for the first time on screen There's no big dra-' matic confrontation Just a quiet cup of boffee But the weight of the scene is as electrifying as the moment itself as two men look into each other's souls and see themselves reflected as in a mirror 'Written and directed by Michael Mann eaf (Cert 15 160 minutes) is a giant of 'a film a god among American crime thrillers Set in a soul-destroying LA it's a world full of emotional voids The ''irony is that the only connection made is between Pacino's wired obsessive cop and De Niro's coldly methodical crook The former Vincent Hanna third marriage and a suicidally depressed stepdaughter crashing against the reef of his 'beyotion to the job The latter Neil fMcCauley governed by the principle of never getting involved with anything you fan't walk out on in 30 seconds -nTheir paths cross when Hanna moves in to investigate an armed -robbery turned sour and the film becomes a slow burning twisting study of the one's determination to bring down the other 'each respectful of the other's expertise 'Dc Niro and Pacino are on thunderous 'form But this is no mere two-hander r't- Li- soar from potential anti-climax to the heights of almost Shakespearian tragedy Masterpiece is an overused term Here it barely comes close The remake of the sequel to the original they remade a couple of years ago Father of the Bride Part 11 (Cert PG 107 mins) finds George Banks (Steve Martin) looking forward to an easy life now his daughter is wed Until she springs news of her pregnancy Worse is to come wife Nina (Diane Keaton) discovers she expecting too Already feeling old at the prospect of being a grandad impending middle-age fatherhood sends George right off the deep end Anyone looking forward to a second dose of the first film's frothy bittersweet fun can forget it This is frighteningly bad A painfully embarrassing Martin pitifully mugs away any remaining credibility as a comic actor even managing to eclipse Martin Short's excruciating reprise of unintelligible camp interior designer Franck And when not dying on its comedic feet it plays like some life insurance commercial full of beaming faces slow motion bonding families and teeth-rotting schmaltz Not so much a movie as a criminal assault on the concept of filmed entertainment The White Balboa (Cert 80 minutes) offers itself up as a glimpse at the other side of Iran a gentle fable where (despite the symbolic offscreen bullying voice of an authoritarian father) everyone's tous and even the "forbidden" aspects of society aren't as dangerous as they're painted It's a gentle if slow work and the performances from the non-professional cast are undeniably beguiling but it's hard not to suspect the two major awards bestowed on debut director Jafir Pahani at last year's Cannes Festival were a political gesture rather than a measure of artistic achievement American indie director James Man- Sild makes an impressive debut with eary (Cert 15 115 mins) a low-key character study of stunted dreams and small town lives set against the backdrop of a run down roadside pizza joint Va ARTS IN BRIEF LPBctoires fovm perspectives on Australia come together in a photographic exhibition in Coventry next week Going West: Photographs from Western Australia was first put on at Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery in Perth Western Australia last year by Victoria Pomeroy who was on an exchange visit from the Mead Gallery at Warwick Arts Centre The exhibition which comes to the Mead next week features images by ten artists some of them challenging perceptions about life in Australia while others reinforce outsiders' views Going West opens on February 10 and runs until March 16 Victoria Pomeroy discusses her impressions of Western Australia and her selection of photographs at a gallery talk on February 27 Slaving away in the kitchen introverted overweight Victor (Pruitt Taylor Vince) is beaten down by his domineering widowed mom (Shelley Winters) Until the arrival of a new waitress directionless drop-out Callie (Liv Tyler) on whom he develops sufficient of an unspoken crush to start dieting With Callie's boyfriend (Evan Dando) and jealous fading beauty fellow waitress Dolly (Deborah Harry) added to the equation a side order of hurt is just waiting to be served up Avoiding sentimentality and defying expectations Mangold evokes a subdued brooding atmosphere weaving a poignant rites of passage tale of wounded fives reaching out for but desperately afraid of change At the Mac until Feb 5 The first full length feature from surrealist animators the Brothers Quey Iasti-twte Beajemeata (Cert 12 104 mins) moves from puppets to real actors However you'd be forgiven for not noticing the difference in the performances of Mark Rylance and Alice Krige in this black and white gothic dreamlike allegory about a journey through life set in a mysterious school for servants Beautiful and unsettling or dreary and dull all depending on your view At the Mac from Tuesday until Flna form: Robert De Niro in action in Heat and left Deborah Harry in Heavy from the likes of Val Kilmer Ashley "Judd Natalie Portman and Jon Voight Mann's film is a rich tapestry of subplots populated by complex characters possessed of their own stories and inner lives with whom it's impossible not to get utterly involved course there's violence and mayhem But unlike other practitioners in 'Mc genre Mann uses action for plot momentum not as fixes for a baying audience And when it arrives it's more spectacular than even Tarantino could conceive just as the final subdued scenes fo irmingham's Ocean Colour Scene continue their comeback with their first single for new label MCA on Monday The Riverboat Song is taken from OCS's forthcoming second album and was written by the band who also co-produced the single with long-time Paul Welter collaborator Brendan Lynch The vinyl and cassette feature another original OCS sons 5b Sad which also features A A A CONCIBTS PROUDLY MIIINTI CfiiBiItw! itaflimt "Kh- flH4n the CD format along with another origi-JibMU Charuc Bnpfo Ihft band wift be1 offering a sneak preview' tf raMngle tomorrow night on Channel 4s Vlpillb hsmim imi! fVttMltfi null tffr The White Room at 1110pm 1 Ik i 3M im iC (Mi 00 1 (MdBD (DM HP let) cook Craig KindaVa Mr Whippy frim? gflSBflBSL ffiRtm POST REVIEW rum jawiriA-i mm Timeless charm iiif- Htr i ittdftitttMIHU Motility II I of old masters 1 7 oi a iai thaw ALSO BOOKING CALAMITY JANE fmrMMt17tlFi9f 100) Mar GREAT EXPECTATIONS SEAN WILSON mi SUSAN McCANN tlfittMllA OpfflNosuvoiT TICKETS £27 JO A £2500 BOX OFFICE 0121 780 4133 Cradtt Card Hotline Symphony Hall Plrmlnfjham Bach ami HaadeL Haydn and Moaaii iwbi pniara respecdrely of the baroque and classical periods were all present in thi i progranune coadacted by ouijHnnsic specialist Nicholas McGegaa llioagh not oa period iastnuac ats a 4 scaled down CBSO played with a acat sense 13ft -18tb Air Htk MnBI 2101 May 2nd JmN Ztt-ZMJaMM 10tb-21s4SMtM znoctff MNfvM 24ft Nov 27ft-3ttrv9l Credit Card Hotline: Way Ahead 0121 633 3964 PtobkgflN AN EVENING OF PAN PIPE MOODS THE SYD LAWRENCE ORCHESTRA THArLLBETHEDAY A TRIBUTE TO PATSY CUNE THERTSAGIRLIIMYSOUP CHESS SHOW TOPPERS FOREVER IN BLUE JEANS FREDDIE STARR UnamlDadlkH ROY CHUBBY BROWN ISSN SfllSlff fJffff Km) tmmff 30 YEARS ON AmcMtriMitaCHItMiniSluton 24th Mar 96 MR MEN IN MUSK LAND 1st April MAGIC -Atrihtt rnMtmmti(km 14 A OUANE EDDY THE SEARCHERS CHRIS M0NTEZ 15lbAirN NODDY 17tt-20ftAif AN ADULT EVENING WITH BILLY PEARCE WAffM CHAS DAVES ROCK ROLL STREET PARTY IINlAprll JIM DAVIDSON'S SINDERELLA 22ml Apr-4tl Ittv JANE EYRE 6th Tlth ktoy Theatre Ticket Theatre Ticket Odeon shoo Unto at Odec Tlcketo alto avaBaHe bk(M) (eCmlWrLWol Office IMv Mike Uovd Arttttei (Stke woivemanwiwiii suiiMni) raecer inace var riice of lYarwicfi vvtnvefTiarrBiKon wiyic nam Milton Keynes Box lox (CaUSMTaPFBBMRI bowings boaaclBf along with the Itehtaesa of OMQIfVilHl-on Ii nun ll ii ft -l I nnrHFSTRF nF parts powcer-pom and a dear poattive bastwiBe Siarilariy Kevin Gowtaad soloist ia Bacfti's Biaor aaite ased hit haUtaal sMdera 4 Ante bat scaled his elegantly-taned perfectly focased accoaat well to both the4 Adl-lMNHe venae and the proportkms of his accoopaaimeBt Tab was a weUharacterised reading with sensible speeds as was that of Moiarrs SEMYON BYCHKDV: Conductor 3 nonary MAXIM VENGEROV: Violin Programme indudes the award winning violinist 75 YEARS GBHnSJID in the MENDELSSOHN Conctrto and KRE IS LEU'S Caprice Vittmou and Tambourin Chinois plus STRAVINSKY'S The Ritt of Spring iMtruneat sosoist Claire Brigcs offered a Sunday WEST END-THE CONCERT 4Rbnaty with KIM CREWELL GRAHAM BICKLEY 730pm KATRINA MURPHY JAMES GRAEME 3 Weimday 14 February 7 Mom London'i Top Musicals In Concert VAJNTTNE'SnfWPLUS riMu i nvn ri asots AlmoK Perfect Productioiii rcMoa roowomci OKSST Thursday THE LONDON CONCERT ORCHESTRA i5 guest singers JACQUI SCOTT from 7J0pn Show Stoppers and SAMUEL KANE from tone whose lower timbres had socnething of a tromboae's aobiUty Intonation was secure and smoothly achieved a pity she decided not to ioia in the orchestra's coadadiag covple of bars Hayda's Symphoay Naniber 67 was given with all the verve and zip we relish in this orchestra's response to this genial master A charmiag work it aboands in pionaat colonristk effects not least the slow movement's final nwlody enchaatiBgly tapped oat with the wood of the bows affectionately conveyed by the enthusiastic McGegaa and his players Finally there was the glitter of Handel's Mask For the Royal Fkewot vrimaiy coafiaently delivered with ntafniffcently extrovert panache drawing hats-in-the-air exnberance from masirians and audience! aroonnae witn immortal muwt im Valentine's lovers Saturday CELEBRITY PIANO RECITAL February JOHN LILL 8-00Pm HAYDN -SCHUBERT -BEETHOVEN CELEBRITY RECITAL Saturday KAl HLiililN JbAl 11E 24 Rbnarv CUFF JACKSON: PIANO DV MAIN LI tL WULT L1M iumuw STRAUSS GRANADOS and more tawifHtaiSllIl.