Eleven countries represented in second week of festival

Press, 2 May 1985, Page 18

Eleven countries represented in second week of festival

at the CINEMA

hans petrovic

Eleven films representing the talents of 11 countries in various combinations will be shown during the second week of the Canterbury Film Festival, at the Midcity. Some of these films will probably have longer, commercial screening later this year, but this is still the opportunity to catch Christchurch premieres of Bill Forsyth’s "Comfort and Joy," Woody Allen’s “Broadway Danny Rose,” Philippe de Broca’s “Louisiana,” and Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “Lili Marleen.” The screenings from tomorrow are: “Comfort and Joy” (Scotland), tomorrow, 11 a.m., 5.30 and 8.15 p.m.: A disc jockey has his life fall apart just before Christmas through a hilarious string of events. People familiar with Bill Forsyth’s delightful . comedy-dramas, "Gregory’s Girl” and “Local Hero,” know that anything goes in movies by Scotland’s leading director — and it does again. What “Comfort and Joy” has to say about midlife crises, trendy radio stations, ghastly icecream van jingles and everyday romance make this one of the most painfully funny films of recent years. “Rock and Rule” (Canada), tomorrow and Saturday, 11 p.m.: The second major science-fiction rock fantasy to emerge from Canada, “Rock and Rule” follows a similar path to “Heavy Metal” in its combining visual animation and heavy-duty rock music. Whereas "Heavy Metal” was a collection of short tales linked together by a common theme, “Rock and Rule” has a single, welldeveloped story, and is consistently more polished than its experimental predecessor.

“The Champion” (U.S.), Saturday, 2 p.m.: This latest version of “Champion” treads the true path of Hollywood horsey hokum, with virtually every cliche intact: the stubborn boy, courageous horse, the stern stepfather, the doubting experts, the villainous rivals, and the final triumph. The astonishing thing is that it all works tremendously well.

“Broadway Danny Rose” (U.S.), Saturday, 5.30 p.m.: Woody Allen makes a hilarious comeback in the field of movie comedy. After the delightfully zany fake documentary, “Zelig” (yet to be seen here), comes “Broadway Danny Rose,” a warm, witty and always compassionate spoof on that classic cliche of the cinema: the legendary Broadway agent. “Louisiana” (France/Canada), Saturday, 8 p.m.: Philippe de Broca directs an epic romantic adventure, sprawling across three generations from the turbulent

years leading up to the 1848 Paris uprising, through the death and destruction of the American Civil War, to the Deep South’s fierce struggle to recover socially from its bitter defeat.

“The Lift” (Holland) and “Alone in the Dark” (England/U.S.), Sunday, 2 and 7.30 p.m.: Two off-beat horror movies provide a Dutch tale about Man versus Killer Lift, which may leave a marked preference to use the stairs; while two experts at the creepy, Jack Palanace and Donald Pleasance, appear in a welldeveloped story of the chop-and-shock variety. “Yol” (Turkey/Switzerland), Monday, 5.30 and 8.15 p.m.: The story traces the events that befall a group of inmates of an open prison when they are released for a week’s home leave. Beautifully filmed amid the bleak landscapes of Kurdestan, “Yol” is a strikingly impressive film.

“Amor Estranho Amor” (Brazil), Tuesday, 5.30 and 8.15 p.m.: Hugo, a naive boy aged 13, comes in from the country to his mother, who is living in a brothel that specialises in supplying young girls for the sexual pleasure of prominent politicians. With its unwholesome mixture of incest, child prostitution and political corruption, this film has

met with a rough reception in its international release. “Lili Marleen” (West Germany), Wednesday, 5.30 and 8.15 p.m.: Loosely based on the autobiographical novel, “Heaven Has Many Colours,” which told the story of the late Laie Andersen who sang “Lili Marlene” to the Nazis, while Marlene Dietrich was delivering it to the rest of the world. This is the lavish, Hollywood-style

kitsch epic Rainer Werner Fassbinder had always ’ wanted to make. “Silver City” (Australia), Thursday, 5.30 and 8.15 p.m.: In 1949, a young woman refugee from Poland arrives in Australia to start a new > life, but she finds herself; shunted into a huge migrant camp, nicknamed Silver ' City because its army huts are all painted with bright ' aluminium.