Film

Rip It Up, Issue 73, 1 August 1983, Page 12

Film

William Dart

'lt's over!,'' hr < !(teazles cry but with nixed feelings!' No more Optrex no more junk food but, a- the marathon of 52 films .in a ■' fortnight recedes into the recesses of* their 35mm memory, Auckland's film enthusiasts face another year of cinematic starvation. It’s been a good festival, but why aren't we getting some of these films on general release anyway King of Comedy, Fitzcarraldo, My Dinner with Andre and Melvin and Howard are four more obvious,instances. We might be doing so it venues like-the Lido' and Customhouse hadn't "been ■reduced to rerun houses lor Queen , Street cinemas. How many realise that Fellini’s City of Women. is the hirst Fellini film 'we’ve had since Anno cord and that .was 1978, folks! As tor Bergman, Bertolucci, • Antonioni, they might as well not ’ exist lor all that ,we see-of their recent work. But enough of depressing reality, let’s turn to the 'films we managed to cram into that mad delirious fortnight:

Diva: A shrewd thriller A The Conversation meets Les Diabo lii]iies : - with a finale that has

more twists than a roller coaster ride. '. ' ‘ - .. ■ ’ Lola: Fassbinder in 1950 s Berlin. A tale of social compromise and

a striking example of how sex oils the wheels of.social mobility.' Querelle: Fassbinder's last film and an, eloquent homage to Genet! Eccentrically cast (is Brad Davis anyone's idea of Genet's anti-, hero?) but put together with stunning visual precision. Jeanne Moreau looks more like Bette Davis with every film. Taxi Zum KLO: As fine a film as 1 remember. Our. version was less cut than the one over the Tasman. Fruits of Passion: Artified piece of erotic twaddle, only of interest to (a) fans of Klaus Kinski, (b) devotees of Pauline Story of O Reage or (c) people who have a mad desire to see grand pianos rising out of riverbeds. Maitresse: The divine Bulle’Ogier redefines "chic" as a Parisian kitten with a whip..,, and that’s not all she has in her downstairs parlour, as a couple of surprised burglars find. ] Creep Show- Overseas critics hated George Romero's new horrorflick, but it's a witty and literate exercise in comique-

gothique for . contemporary Amerika. Leslie Nielsen shows the outer limits of video mania and Adrienne Barbeau meets a bloody fate in Stephen King's own version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Mephisto: Istvan Szabo's film tells of the struggle for an actor to remain afloat during the ravages of the Third Reich. Its success lies in its ability to combine character study with a wider historical panorama no mean achievement. Fitzcarraldo: As manic as any Werner Herzog film, but unfortunately the poetic demands, of the subject have taken second place to the gargantuan task of dragging a steamboat over, a hill. New Zealand's problems in sustaining an opera company pale by comparison. Passion: No amount of textual complexity and erudite quotations from music and the visual arts will save this pretentious and strained work by Godard, who made the original Breathless. My Dinner With Andre: Louis Malle films a dinner-table conversation. Static it may be, but it's also droll, urbane . and - totally winning. 'Andrew Gregory is the wittiest thing since John Cage recorded ' his Indeterminancy pieces. Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean: This is not Altman of Nashville and The Wedding, but closer to Three Woman. A piece of sub-Tennessee Williams claustrophobic hysteria. The acting ranges from irritating (Sandy Dennis in her usual.d.t’s style) to brilliant (Karen Black as the gender-changed Jimmy):