DIRTY TRICKS

US, 1992, 88 minutes, Colour.
Diane Keaton, Ed Harris, Ed Begley Jnr, Russ Tamblyn.
Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg?.

Dirty Tricks is an HBO telemovie for theatrical release around the world. It has a good cast led by Diane Keaton and Ed Harris working off each other dramatically, comically and romantically. Ed Begley appears to advantage as Diane Keaton's lovesick and psychologically upset brother. Russ Tamblyn appears as a sleazy remnant of the frank 1960s.

The film focuses on Diane Keaton as the author of children's books who encounters someone she had a crush on at school who is now a state senator. He is running for the Presidency of the United States, approaches her, offers her a job as a speechwriter, enters into a relationship with her and hopes to have her as First Lady. She resists, being afraid of the limelight. When a film that she took part in with her former husband, an experimental film poking fun at the American flag in 1969 surfaces, the scandal threatens to upset the presidential campaign. The candidate wants her to lie. She refuses. Even after hush-money is given to the sleazy blackmailer, the press start asking questions. This leads from the comedy and the romance to a very strong speech, spoken effectively by Ed Harris, arguing that the follies of the past should not be held against people, and that people grow out of their past. It is also an appeal to fair dealing and decency by the media.

Direction is by English Michael Lindsay-Hogg? (Nasty Habits, The Object of Desire).

1. An entertaining comedy-romance? The tradition of American romances of people in middle age, the wisecracks, the dramatic tension, the comedy, love? In the "Tracy-Hepburn" tradition?

2. The setting of the presidential campaign, the home town, on the trail, scenes in New York? A contemporary feel?

3. The title, the reference to the campaign, the strategies and tactics, the dirty tricks used, the role of blackmailers, digging up the past, the role of the media?

4. The plausibility of the plot, the film made in 1991-92 during the first Bush administration? The aftermath of the Nixon and Reagan years? Made before the Clinton years? The relevance of the film after the Clinton years?

5. Aggie, at home, her ex-husband and his art, her feeling bereft because he left her for another woman? Her success as a children's writer, her awards? Her exasperation with Chapman, trying to get him active again, turning off the record "You Are Beautiful"?

6. Going out to the diner, Hugh Hathaway coming in, her not wanting to be seen, her Annie Hall-like awkwardness? Chapman and his exasperating behaviour, wanting the all-white omelette? The overtones of racism? His own preoccupations about his broken marriage? The fact that he was a successful songwriter, having an album? Meeting the politicians?

7. Aggie and the encounter with the advisers, memories of school? The meeting with Hugh? Promising to go to lunch with him? Her hesitation, going to his office, his being busy, the phone calls? Going on ahead, the senate dining room, left alone, the waiter, ordering? His arrival, his talking to another senator? Her performance about sexual favours in his office?

8. His coming to the home, proposing a relationship, cooking? Her succumbing? Offering her a job? Their discussions about her role, her not wanting to be in the limelight, her wanting to tell the truth? His being in love with her?

9. His advisers, the advertising firm, Mel and the meetings, the running of a campaign, the cliches for the speeches, their being supervised? Aggie going to the meetings, asking awkward questions? Mel's exasperation? Exasperated with her on the campaign trail, the interviews she gave, the seemingly snide remarks about Hathaway? His wanting to control her, persuading Hugh to talk to her, his trying to calm her down, tell her she was feverish? Her reaction?

10. The romantic sequences, a genuine love, the preparations for marriage, the announcing of the engagement? The photo opportunity, the journalists wanting her to be photographed, kissing, waving the flag, her walking out? Her not wanting to face this kind of world?

11. On the campaign trail, Hugh making a speech, given the information about the film? Frank Usher as a sleaze, his remembering the film, asking for the money? The discussions with Hugh, getting the money and making promises? Hugh and the entourage seeing the film, 1969, the flag, bare breasts, simulated sex? Satire - in the name of art? How seriously should it have been taken?

12. The clash between Aggie and Hugh over the film? His wanting her to lie? Her not being able to? Coming back from New York, the Iowa nomination? Her listening to the speech? The press asking the question about the film, her going in to answer it, Hugh coming clean, speaking frankly to the press, affirming Aggie, talking about the follies of the past, its relevance to the campaign? The challenge to the media to ask proper questions, the pseudo-moral stance of the journalists? Decency? The effectiveness of the speech, its content and delivery? The applause - and the future success of the nomination?

13. A satisfying brief comedy, adult relationships, politics, integrity and truth?

DANIELLE STEEL'S STAR

US, 1993, 92 minutes, Colour.
Jenny Garth, Craig Bierko, Ted Wass, Terry Farrell.
Directed by Michael Miller.

Danielle Steel's Star is typical Danielle Steel's television material. A sweet young girl living on a ranch in California has ambitions to be a singing star. On the way to achieving her success, she experiences an attraction for a nice liberal New York lawyer, experiences her father's death, rejection by her mother, raped by the manager of the ranch, the accidental death of her brother, getting a break in a San Francisco club as a waitress, singing, getting a recording contract, becoming a recording and a film star, having an affair with the lawyer after he marries his socialite wife in New York, has a son and retires to the farm. It is Mills and Boon material done in affluent soap opera style. Jenny Garth, from Beverly Hills 90210, plays the young girl. The director is Michael Miller, who directed a number of these Danielle Steel telemovies.

1. Audience enjoyment of Danielle Steel's books and telemovies? The characters, their situations? Melodrama, soap opera? Worlds of poverty and affluence? Class distinctions? Success - while the characters mouth highly altruistic motivations?

2. The Californian ranch, San Francisco, New York, affluent settings? The lush musical score?

3. The title and its indications of Crystal's ambitions and her achievement?

4. The character of Crystal, in the bus, the flashbacks, her commentary? Young girl, at the wedding ceremony, attracted towards Spencer? Her telling him of her ambitions? His return for the christening? The death of her father, his singling her out, leaving her the ranch, her mother's rejection? The rape, her mother not believing her, getting the gun, the brother trying to stop the shooting and dying? In San Francisco, Pearl and Larry giving her a job, charming people, singing? Meeting Spencer again, learning about his marriage? Her own career, the agent from Los Angeles, her records, moving in with Ernie, his jealousy and threats, her films, the achievement of her ambition? Spencer's return from China, their time together? The visit of Elizabeth and her threats? Her pregnancy, retiring to the farm, bringing up the boy, her happy life? All fulfilled when Spencer returns? The soap opera heroine and audience enjoyment of vicarious success through her?

5. Spencer, New York, his studies, Bobby Kennedy, the assassination, international relief? Love for Crystal? The pressure to marry Elizabeth, the wedding, the affair with Crystal? Elizabeth and her pressures on Spencer? The visit to China? Five years, his not being able to take it any more, her ambitions? Giving up everything and going to California, meeting his son, Crystal?

6. Elizabeth and her social background, her family? The socials, the ambitions? Discussions about ambitions with Spencer, different points of view? His relationship with Elizabeth, his marrying her? His love for Crystal, the affair? Going to China, returning, five years of agreeing to give the marriage a chance? His disillusionment with Elizabeth's style and greed? Leaving?

7. The family background for Crystal, loving father, jealous mother, Tom, the rape, the dead brother? The contrast with the affluence of Spencer's family, the pressures? The discussions about marriage, divorce, the attitude of the parents and their thinking of money and status?

8. Larry and Pearl as the nice characters, always supportive of Crystal, her career?

9. Ernie, the Hollywood ambitions, his guiding Crystal's career, jealousy of Spencer, the death threats? His own death, Crystal arrested, ringing Spencer, his persuading the judge that she should not be charged?

10. The perennial popular ingredients for this kind of easy television viewing?

DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA YA SISTERHOOD

US, 2002, 116 minutes, Colour.
Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, Maggie Smith, Fionnula Flanagan, Shirley Knight, Ashley Judd, James Garner, Angus McFadyen?, Jacqueline McKenzie?.
Directed by Callie Khouri.

One is tempted to use the favoured phrase of the sisterhood about the film itself. There is a lot of ya ya about it. It
opens, as many films about girlhood do with friends making a pact, four girls in Louisiana in the 30s pledging friendship, like mythical queens, forever. The loyalty is severely put to the test over the years as the leader, Viviane, experiences the pressures of a crazed mother, the death of her fiancee in World War II, her own nervous breakdown and physical and psychological abuse of her own children and some rehabilitation. She clashes with her writer-daughter, Sidda, when she gives a critical interview with Time Magazine.

Enter the Ya Ya sisters who are determined that Sidda will learn the truth about her exasperating mother and reconcile with her. The audience is also invited to share Sidda's understanding, so the film moves about constantly with flashbacks from Sidda's point of view, mostly grim memories, from Viviane's point of view and from the sisterhood. One has to keep one's wits about one to put it all together.

Much of it is overwrought, especially in the performance of Ellen Burstyn as the older Viviane, and Sandra Bullock as Sidda. The sisterhood is quite flamboyant with Maggie Smith, Fionnulla Flanagan and Shirley Knight. The anchor of the drama is Ashley Judd, both moving and disturbing as the younger Viviane. James Garner as Viviane's scarcely speaking husband is also a tower of silent strength even as he seems to give up on any change or improvement in the family situation.

Callie Khouri, writer of Thelma and Louise, has written the screenplay and makes her directing debut. She has made a film that has interesting themes but comes across as a film about its characters rather than a more realistic exploration of these characters.

1. The screen version of popular novels? The women's interest of the characters and issues? American appeal? Universal appeal?

2. The atmosphere of Louisiana and the South in the '30s, '40s, '50s and the '90s? The similarities and the changes? The musical score?

3. The title and its tone, the prologue of the girls and their pact, the consequences, their activities, the end and their attempt to rescue Sidda and help Viviane?

4. The structure of the film: the prologue with the young girls, the '90s narrative with Sidda, the clash with Viviane, the flashback from Sidda's point of view, from Viviane's point of view? The flashbacks from the point of view of the members of the sisterhood? How objective, how subjective? The audience perceiving the different perspectives and the truth?

5. Themes of mother and daughter relationships: Viviane and her own mother and the tensions, her Catholic background, relationship with her father, the mad mother, modelling maternal behaviour and Viviane absorbing it? The relationship with Sidda? Sidda's interview, Viviane's reaction, the phone calls and her cutting people off, the drinking, the flare-ups, the reactions to Connor's ringing? The nature of the melodramatic clashes? Sidda and the wedding invitations? The flashbacks to Sidda's childhood, her brothers and sisters, love for their mother, the swimming sequences, going out, Viviane and her nerves, her clashes with their father, the drugs, running away, the violence and the beating of the children? The effect on Sidda? The three generations of mothers and daughters?

6. The portrait of Sidda, the journalist, the theatre, her living with Connor and love for him for several years, the interview and the revelations about her mother, the phone calls, her mimicking her mother's behaviour without realising it? The issue of getting married to Connor, the wedding invitations, not telling her mother the place? Going out with the Ya Ya Sisterhood and their arrival, her being abducted, in the restaurant with them, the discussions, the visit to the toilet, the drug in the drink? Her being taken to Louisiana, a kind of initiation experience, listening to their stories, looking at the photo albums, her memories, her adapting to the situation, and learning? The explanation of her mother's breakdown, absence, getting to understand her mother, the recreating of a bond between them?

7. The portrait of Viviane, her leader as a girl, her tantrums as she grew older, the performance of Ashley Judd as the young and middle-aged mother and comparisons with the performance by Ellen Burstyn to see the continuity? Her mother and her collapse, the father giving her the gift of the ring, her mother's scene (her mother seen? Couldn't be sure), Viviane not able to understand? The continued relationship with the Ya Ya friends, Teensy and her brother, Viviane's attraction, the engagement, his going to the war, his death, her grief? Her marrying Shep without really loving him? Her growing into a dominant woman, her nerves, joy with Sidda and the other children yet the violent outbursts, the drugs and the drink, the prescriptions, her running away, staying at the motel, sleeping, ringing and coming home? Her beating the children? Her secrecy about her being institutionalised - and the consequences?

8. Shep, always in the background, his continued love for Viviane, getting used to her, opting out of any of the battles? His closing the door on her? His talking to Connor, talking to Sidda, always loving and supporting her? Viviane going to his room and wanting to talk, the new bond between them?

9. The portrait of the Ya Ya Sisterhood as young girls, their place in the initial ritual, the pact and the blood, the memory of the mythical queens? As young, full of verve, rebels? Their growing up, their friendship, Teensy's brother? Gradually settling down, their own lives, age, the relationships, the idiosyncrasies of their personalities? The particular talent that Maggie Smith, Fionnula Flanagan and Shirley Knight brought to the ageing sisterhood? Their becoming "tough broads"? The nature of their friendship, their putting up with Viviane, bringing her through the crises, especially Teensy? Viviane's effect on them, the decision to abduct Sidda and let her understand her mother? Their hopes? Teensy and the encounter with Viviane in the car, trying to get her not to come, Viviane expecting they were preparing a birthday party? The finale with the revelation to Sidda and their achieving their goal?

10. Sidda and her relationship with Connor, cutting him off as her mother cut her father off? The phone calls, his exasperation, wanting to find out the phone number, his coming, participating in Sidda's understanding of her mother?

11. The nature of friendship and love, conflict, secrecy and the consequences of secrets? Reconciliation?

DANIELLE STEEL'S FULL CIRCLE

US, 1996, 90 minutes, Colour.
Terri Polo, Corbin Bernsen.
Directed by Bethany Rooney.

Danielle Steel's Full Circle is yet another telemovie adaptation of one of her very popular novels, produced by the Douglas Cramer Company. They are glossy, light, entertaining for the popular and undemanding audience, showing a range of important issues of relationships and the meaning of life at a level that won't tax the audience but will enable them to empathise with the characters. In this case, the film focuses on a young woman with her strained relationship with her widowed mother, her serious years of study at college, her legal career, her being raped and her mother preferring to cover it up rather than support her daughter, her best friend being wounded in an accident by a mugger and becoming paralysed. There are also issues on marriage and relationships.

The film is smoothly done, Terri Polo brings a serious conviction to her role. The film raises a great number of issues.

1. The popularity of Danielle Steel's novels, television film adaptations? For a popular audience, serious issues at a glossy above-average soap opera level?

2. The San Francisco and Berkeley settings? The '80s and the '90s? Berkeley campus, the legal offices, homes? A world of comfort and affluence? The musical score and background for this kind of drama?

3. The title, the focus on Tonna's experience, relationship with her mother, her mother's mistakes, her following her mother's pattern - but for different reasons? The possibility of a better life for her than for her mother?

4. 1982, the campus, Tonna, her memories of being brought up by her mother, her father's death in Vietnam, her mother's gentility and wanting her to do ballet, play the piano, Tonna's doing everything her mother asked but unable to talk with her? Going to college, Harry as her best friend, discussions, going fishing? Harry and his romantic attitude and her inability to respond? Her mother arranging for her to go to the party, her being raped by Billy? The effect, Billy's story to his father, her mother's response, preferring it to be covered up? Tonna's voice-over and her commentary on all her relationships, the experience of the rape, the aftermath? Her being involved in radical politics, the demonstrations, issues of South Africa and apartheid, Yale, his invitation and challenge, his being arrested for terrorism?

5. 1990, Tonna and her practice, workaholic, success? Her friendship with Harry and his being in private legal work? Her strained relationship with her mother? In the street, the purse-snatcher, the confrontation, the shooting? Harry's injuries, her being at the hospital and getting him through it?

6. Harry, his friendship with Tonna, their talking, his heart being broken? His alienation from his father and the reasons? The confrontation, his injuries, his bitterness? The hospital visits? His gradually adapting? Averil and her care for him, falling in love with her, the proposal? The wedding?

7. Harrison and his coming to his son, trying to bridge the gap, the attraction towards Tonna, the romance? The discussions, his explanations of his wife's cancer and overdose? Harry's alienation?

8. Arthur and his relationship with Jean, supporting Tonna as child, his refusal to get the divorce? His wife's death? The wedding, Arthur and his care for Tonna? The discussion between mother and daughter? Her confrontation of Billy? Getting Harry to come with her?

9. Drew, his work with Tonna, in the courts? The judge's rebuke of her believing her own press? Her serious-mindedness? Her being nominated to be a judge, Harry's friend coming down to do the swearing-in, her refusing the case with Yale? The terrorism? The judge going out with her, the romance, the family, her future?

10. Harry and Averil, his illness, talking it through with Tonna? His death, funeral, Harrison's arrival, his planning to be married?

11. Popular life ingredients done in a glossy and popular style?

THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE

Poland/France, 1991, 93 minutes, Colour.
Irene Jacob, Philippe Volter.
Directed by Krzystof Kiezlowski.

The Double Life of Veronique was Kiezlowzki's first film after his mammoth undertaking with The Decalogue, his series of one-hour films on the ten commandments in a modern setting and the two feature films which emerged, a short film about love and a short film about killing. Two years after Veronique, he would release Three Colours Blue and then White and Red. Unfortunately, Kiezlowski died of a heart attack after the release of Three Colours Red. Though he had said he would withdraw from film-making, he had begun, with his regular collaborator (as here) Krzystof Piesiewicz. The only film script that he had completed by the time of his death was for Heaven, which was made into a film in 2001 by Tom Tykwer.

The Double Life of Veronique won the Best Actress award at Cannes for its star Irene Jacob. She is as, as so many critics say, luminous in the role of a young Polish woman called Veronica who has a gift for singing and the transcendent joy of music. As she sings in a cantata, it is too much for her and she collapses, dead.

However, she had seen a tourist who had looked exactly like her and had been photographed by the tourist. She felt that she was not alone in the world and after 30 minutes the film transfers to the story of the French Veronique, a violin teacher who is also struggling for some kind of meaning and relationship.

The film is intelligent, beautifully composed, utilising the music of Kiezlowski's regular composer Preisner and employing a whole range of suggestive symbols, especially looking through glass and getting distortions and varied perspectives, of light and reflections, mysterious lights which indicate a transcendent presence, as well as an old woman struggling along the road and, principally, a master of puppets who creates a story which illustrates the lives of the two Veroniques. Clearly, those who want a religious interpretation of the film will see the puppet master and the symbolism of God and God's control over people and the universe. The film won the Ecumenical Prize at Cannes in 1991.

1. The work of Kiezlowski? World admiration for his film as art? His perspectives on character, on society, on religious and transcendent values? The search for meaning? The importance of colour and beauty, music, singing?

2. The Polish setting, Krakow and the city streets, homes, concert halls? The city square and the tourist bus? The contrast with the world of Paris, its streets, railway stations, apartments, the countryside? The importance of the two settings for the two Veronicas?

3. The colour photography, the musical score, the ethereal beauty of the singing, the Dutch composer and his melodies? The recurring musical motifs throughout the film? Music as a character in the film?

4. Kiezlowski's perspective on individuals in the world, their equivalent counterparts? The plausibility of the two women being half-sisters - physically, spiritually? The puppet master and his telling the story of the two Veronicas born on the same day, their links, the one being burnt, the other knowing not to touch a hot stove_? The puppet master speaking of God's perspective on his creation?

5. The portrait of the Polish Veronique: her ability to sing, the story of her hand being caught in the car door and having to give up her piano career? Her relationship with her father, fondness, the visits to him, the discussions? Her singing at the opening of the film, in the rain, the encounter with the man, going to the room? The importance of sexuality and sexual encounters? On the road to the discovery of love? The separation from the man, not writing to him, his ringing, her seeing him from the bus, getting out, the discussion, on the bike? Her friends? Her visit to her aunt? An ethereal person, going to the audition, listening, joining in the singing? Her winning the competition? Her joy? The Polish Veronique seeing her double in the bus, allowing herself to be photographed? Her comments to her father about not being alone in the universe?

6. The performance, the intensity of her singing, the beauty of her singing, it being too much for her, her collapse and death?

7. The transition to France, the French Veronique and her sexual relationship, her love for the man, her reflections about her situation? Her visits to her father and discussions with him? Her explaining that she was in love, but could not explain fully why? Her having a sense of being in love? At her home, the episode of the person shining the mirror into her room, her response to the light? Her looking out the window, the person withdrawing, yet the light still present in the room with no-one seeming to shine it in? The importance of looking through windows, looking through glass, each of the Veroniques looking through a marble, the different perspective, the village and the street with the church spire?

8. Veronique and her classes, the children, the Dutch composer, the beauty of the music, the children playing out of tune? The visit of the puppeteer, her watching the story of the ballerina, the tragic atmosphere? Her looking out the window at the puppeteer?

9. Her friends, the divorce situation, her willingness to give testimony? The discussion about the puppeteer, her friend remembering the book and reading it to her daughter, finding that the puppeteer was the author?

10. The phone call in the night, the voice asking her to listen, hearing the music? The gift of the cigars? The gift of the tape? The sounds of the railway station, the information about the train? Veronique and her going to the station, waiting, the puppeteer's arrival, his explanation about writing the book? Her horror, running away, watching him pursue her? His finding her, his saying that he loved her, her response? Their going away and being together in the hotel after the chance encounter in the lobby?

11. Her realisation that she was in love, that she was not alone, the discovery of the photo taken in Krakow, her being satisfied with knowing that there was somebody close to her? The puppeteer and his creating the story of the two Veroniques?

12. The finale with Veronique going to see her father, touching the tree? Leaving the interpretation and the meaning open to the audience?

DRAGONFLY

US, 2002, 104 minutes, Colour.
Kevin Costner, Kathy Bates, Joe Morton, Ron Rifkin, Linda Hunt, Susanna Thompson.
Directed by Tom Shadyac.

One keeps hoping that Dragonfly will get better but it doesn't. It capitalises on contemporary interest in near-death experiences and the entry of the supernatural into our world. The plot has some interesting features: Kevin Costner is a workaholic doctor in Chicago who does not accompany his pregnant wife on her mission to help the sick in Venezuela; after her death in a bus accident, he keeps noticing her favourite emblem, the dragonfly; some of his patients seems to be speaking for her and communicating messages; he consults a nun (Linda Hunt) who has studied near death experiences; he returns to Venezuela, ignoring all warnings not to go to the indigenous people, to find out if his wife is still alive.

Perhaps the description is more interesting that the actual film. Costner's character has to be morose for most of the film - and he is morose. It is hard to be as sympathetic as we would like to be so that we are not drawn into his quest as much as the film-makers might have hoped. The issues are well worth examining, but the film is often hard going.

1. The mystical tones of the film? Interest in death, near-death experiences, the supernatural? The title and its reference to Joe's wife? Her symbol? The way that it was used throughout the film? The symbols, appearances? Medical, artistic, religious?

2. The Chicago locations, Latin America, the mountains and valleys of Venezuela? The ordinary compared with the exotic? The cities compared with nature, beauty and destructive? The military and the Venezuelan setting, the indigenous people? The atmospheric score?

3. The prologue and the focus on Joe, his wife? Her work? Their ideals, his compromise and not going to Venezuela? Emily going? The later flashbacks, her work, her pregnancy? The military, the bustle, the slide and the crash?

4. Joe, as a character, affected by his wife's death, going in a daze, working too hard? His not believing his wife's death? The addict and willing to let her die - but later going to see her? Her upset at being allowed to live? His working desperately with the accident victims? The danger of his making a mistake? The supervisor and his warning Joe about overwork? The head of the hospital?

5. The changing experiences, the light, the image of the dragonfly, the voices? The people as mediums for his wife's voice? The young boy in the hospital, Joe working with him, the voice? The coma?

6. The neighbour, her friendliness with Joe, her relationships, her matter-of-factness, down-to-earth comments about death?

7. His being introduced to the nun, their friendliness, her work, near-death experiences, her exploration with him, her writings? The discussions and the effect on Joe?

8. His decision to go to Venezuela, impetuous? His feeling the need to go, the voice, the vision? His arrival, doing the deal with the pilot? The plane, the dangers, the pilot's warning, not to go near the tribe, Joe's American pigheadedness, his going, meeting the members of the tribe, their wariness? The reconstruction of the situation?

9. His trying to understand what happened to his wife, his going into the water, his own almost drowning, the light, the vision, the knowledge? Thinking his wife was saved, going to the village, discovering his child and taking it home?

10. The mystical experience for the survival of the child, its mother helping from beyond this earth, a presence for her husband, his new life in being a father?

DARKMAN 3: DIE, DARK MAN, DIE.

US, 1995, 88 minutes, Colour.
Jeff Fahey, Arnold Voosloo, Darlanne Flugel.
Directed by Brandon May.

Darkman is based on a popular comic strip and was made into a film by Sam Remy in 1990. An effective transition from comic strip to the big screen, it starred Liam Neeson as the scientist whose face was destroyed in an experiment and who then dons a cloak and mask and combats evil. The film also starred Frances McDormand? with Colin Friels as the villain. Remy, of course, had been very successful with his films of The Evil Dead. He had also made such films as The Quick and the Dead, For Love of the Game, The Gift. But he was eminently successful with Spiderman in 2002.

This is the second of the sequels to Dark Man. Jeff Fahey, usually a tough action hero, overacts gleefully as the villain (but with a chance to act as his normal self when Dark Man dons a mask and pretends to be him). Arnold Voosloo is not persuasive as Dark Man. He was more effective as the villain in the two Mummy films. Darlanne Flugel starts off as a sympathetic doctor - but soon turns into an evil doctor and the villainess of the piece. Direction is by Brandon May, director of several of this kind of action adventure films. He also acts as his own director of photography.

1. The popularity of the Dark Man films? The character of Dark Man? The comic strip hero who confronts evil?

2. This film compared with the original and the sequel? Arnold Voosloo as Dark Man - persuasive as Peyton Westlake? As Dark Man? His screen presence, his acting abilities, delivery of his lines, accent?

3. The film as an action adventure based on a comic strip? The importance of the prologue and the explanation of what happened to Peyton Westlake and his becoming Dark Man? The quality of this prologue - not fulfilled by the rest of the film? Dark Man and his secret hideaway, his laboratory, experiments, his trying to find tissue for his face and limbs. His not being able to sustain the skin for a length of time? His hideaway, his vehicle to get him into the hideaway? His superhuman abilities, confrontation with the villains? His also being vulnerable? As a character, as a comic strip character?

4. The tone of the film, colour photography, the dark colours, action at night? The hideaways? The special effects for the explosions, the confrontation with the villains?

5. Peter Rooker as the ruthless drug baron, his ambitions, his henchmen, confrontation with the Asians? Lack of scruple? His disregard of his wife and child? His henchmen and loyalty? His using Bridget, his sexual relationship with her? Her getting the formulae for him? His using his henchmen, the final confrontation with Dark Man? His abandoning his wife and child?

6. Angela, her relationship with Peter Rooker, their child? Dark Man impersonating her husband, her being mystified at is behaviour? The danger for their daughter in the finale? The rescue by Dark Man and her love for him? His inability to stay with her?

7. Bridget, the sympathetic doctor treating Peyton Westlake, her pursuit of him? Persuasiveness, the operation? Her betrayal, relationship with Rooker? Her chaining Westlake up, the control? Her being abandoned by Rooker and her death?

8. The political background, the District Attorney, the elections, Mitchell, the threats to Rooker? The elections - the celebration and Dark Man rescuing Mitchell?

9. Popular ingredients for a brief action adventure based on a comic strip?

DEATH BENEFIT

US, 1996, 85 minutes, Colour.
Peter Horton, Carrie Snodgress, Wendy Makkenna, Kenny Johnson.
Directed by Mark Piznarski.

Death Benefit is an interesting crime drama, based on a true story. It focuses on a corporate lawyer, Peter Horton, who is approached in church by a teacher whose daughter has died in a cliff accident. What opens up is a story of madness and violence. Carrie Snodgress is the mad woman who has murdered her daughter, is a serial arsonist, gets insurance and then murders people. It is a tour de force performance by Carrie Snodgress to persuade us that this character is real - is a consummate liar and stands unmovable when sentence is passed.

The film shows the zeal of the lawyer, even at the risk of alienation from his girlfriend as well as from his son. His perseverance wins the case.

1. The credibility of the film based on a true story? Characters, police work, investigation?

2. The title and its reference to the insurance policy, the signatories?

3. The Kentucky locations, the Californian, San Diego and Monterey locations? Authentic atmosphere? Musical score?

4. The prologue and the girl falling from the cliff? Audience attention, puzzle?

5. Steve Keeny and his son, church, with Wynn? Mrs Wilkins approaching, his listening? Inviting her to come to the office, his forgoing his lunch invitation to listen to her? The phone calls, the puzzle, the police? His beginning the investigations, the autopsy information, the photos and the information about the victim's hands? Finding out about the policies, the signatories? His further investigations, going to California, meeting Virginia McGinnis?, her taking him to be a real estate man? His growing sense of frustration, the refusal of the Monterey police to act? His relationship with his son, talking on the phone rather than playing ball with him? His relationship with his girlfriend, love, preoccupation, the restaurant and his not paying attention? Her moving away? The secretary and her assistance, finding Virginia McGinnis's husband, going to interview him, the story of his marriage to her, the fires, her daughter, the two sons? His agreeing to testify and then killing himself? The build-up to the truth about Virginia McGinnis? Going to San Diego, the Police Chief, the arrest of one of the sons, his boasting about the money? The District Attorney, her work and investigation, opening the mental information about Virginia McGinnis's husband (with the information about his fears that she was threatening to kill him)? The judge, the further information? Going to the scene of the crime, especially after the sequence of events with the photos? The hearing, the reconstruction of the crime, the guilty verdict? His being together with his son? Achieving his ambition, alienated from corporate legal firms, his own business?

6. Virginia McGinnis?, her madness, killing her daughter, the fires, her sons? Their being in jail? Her marriage? Killing her husband? Taking in Melissa, the tour, the insurance policy, killing her the next day? Taking the photos? Careful with money, continual liar? The confrontation with Steve, her greediness about the house? Her taunting others, the phone call with Mrs Wilkins and her coldness? The care of her husband? The arrest, the hearing, her hard stance with the verdict?

7. Mrs Wilkins, teacher, needing help, the approach to Steve, the phone call to Virginia, persevering with the case, vindicated?

8. Wynn, in love with Steve, the relationship, her feeling ousted, the tension in the restaurant scene? The son, playing ball, his father on the phone, the antagonism between the two, his father explaining the sense of justice, Wynn worried about the boy's callous attitude to crime, the reconciliation?

9. Virginia's husband, leaving her, alienated, in fear, telling the truth, killing himself?

10. The police, the hesitancy of the Monterey police? Insurance investigators? The contrast with San Diego? The DA and her giving herself to the court case - and winning?

DIVINE INTERVENTION

Palestine/Israel, 2002, 92 minutes, Colour.
Elia Suleiman, Manal Khadir.
Directed by Elia Suleiman.

A film that defies easy and neat description. It is Palestinian (the director, Elia Sulieman lives in Jerusalem, his mother in Nazareth). It is critical of Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians even though Israeli actors have roles in it (as Israeli police). It is mainly droll but often very funny. And it is absurd - in the sense that Sulieman (who also acts the central role) starts with a Santa Claus being pursued up a Nazareth hill by a gang of youths and goes on from there with a succession of comic episodes that symbolise Palestinian life. Nothing much happens in Nazareth to speak of but a lot to laugh at. At the border near Ramallah, Palestinian lovers meet and keep vigil in the car park while the guards check vehicles and sometimes throw their weight around. A balloon with Yasser Arafat's face on it floats over Jerusalem. There is a thread of serious plot where our hero visits his dying father in hospital. Then, suddenly, there is what the credits call the 'Palestinian Ninja sequence' where the heroine shows she is capable of defeating all Israeli forces single-handed. The film ends with the hero and his mother watching an increasingly hot pressure cooker. Yes!

1. The impact of the film made during the Palestinian uprising and released with the tension strong between Israel and the Palestinians in 2002? Its contribution to understanding, to possible peace?

2. The title - its application, Muslim faith in Allah? The religious traditions of the Middle East?

3. The structure of the film: Santa Claus being pursued by the gang up the hill in Nazareth? Life in Nazareth, the small incidents, people being passive, nothing happening, observing? Petty neighbour difficulties? The collaborator and the drive-by attacks on his house? The transition to the checkpoint? People observing, the guards, the woman walking through? The Israeli police humiliating the drivers? The story of E.S. and his father collapsing, hospital, the visits, E.S. and his trysts with the woman in the car? The transition to the Palestinian Ninja sequence? The lone woman defeating the Israeli sharpshooters? The finale with E.S. and his mother watching the pressure-cooker boil?

4. The use of locations: the city of Nazareth and its streets and houses, the particular corner where most of the action took place? The vistas of Nazareth? The checkpoint, the road to Jerusalem? Jerusalem itself? The interiors, especially the hospital? The musical score, songs, the music of the Middle East?

5. The humour of the film: droll, understated, deliberate, slightly black, the funny sequences? The characters in their context? The balloon of Arafat over Jerusalem? The Ninja sequence? The Palestinian sense of humour? Offering it to Israel, to the world?

6. The sequences in Nazareth: the man driving down the street swearing at his neighbours waving at him? The man reading his mail and then collapsing, the neighbour throwing his rubbish and the woman throwing it back, the man at the bus stop when there is no bus, the man on the roof with his bottles and hurling them at the police, the boy with its soccer ball and its going on the roof and being punctured _

7. The father, hospital, Santa Claus? Everybody in the ward, the patients and the staff all smoking in the corridor? The old man, the visits of his son, their being together, his death?

8. E.S. and his meeting with the girl, their simply sitting at the border? Each going their own way? The woman walking through the border and the guards not shooting her? The tower collapsing? The man eating the apricot, throwing the seed and it exploding a tank?

9. The woman and the Ninja sequence, avoiding all the bullets, defeating the marksman, the trainer simply watching? Their techniques and the visual presentation of this sequence?

10. The finale with the man and his mother watching the pressure-cooker - symbolic?

11. The film as symbolic of the history of Israel and the Palestinians? Its observations on the Palestinians - and their passivity, yet their daring? The Palestinians living in Israel itself compared with those in the West Bank and Gaza Strip? A contribution to world understanding of the Palestinian situation?

DEMON LOVER

France, 2002, 130 minutes, Colour.
Connie Neilson, Charles Berling, Chloe Sevigny, Gina Gershon, Dominique Reymond, Jean-Baptiste? Malartre.
Directed by Olivier Assayas.

In recent years, Olivier Assayas has shown great versatility in subjects of his films (contemporary relationships, comic strip characters - Irma Vep - and 19th century relationships) as well as differing cinematic styles and flair. The first part of this delving into the seedy and greedy world of big business, especially for violent and pornographic websites, is post-Wall Street gloss as Connie Nielson lies and bullies in her attempts at business espionage. Then she and the film descent into a post-David Lynch alternate world as coherent and meaningless as one of the sadistic computer games. Sorting all this out into a coherent comment on today's amoral world should absorb many hours of those willing to give it a go.

1. The impact of the film? Coherence in narrative plot? Coherence in style? Demanding attention from its audience? The 21st century world and style? 21st century in content, values, lack of values?

2. Assayas's other films: autobiographical and contemporary, historical with Les Destines Sentimental? The director commenting that this film belonged to his rock and roll side? The music and the tone of the credits?

3. The structure of the film: the Wall Street and corporate espionage? The insertion of the video games, pornography leading to action leading to another world and style and the leading lady caught up in the computer games? The seeming homage to David Lynch, especially in Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive with the latter part of the film, and echoes of Suburban Blue Velvet at the end?

4. The musical score, the songs, the sound engineering for the action, for the computer games, for the pornography?

5. Volf as a businessman, on the plane, dictating letters to Diane, preparing the deals, the takeovers? Reliance on Karen and Herve, Elise as the secretary and sitting in economy? Diane and the drink, the attack on Karen at the airport, her collapse, the abduction, snatching the briefcase? Her going to hospital? Diane being promoted? The personality clashes within the office, especially Diane and Elise? The irony of the issues of who was spying for whom? Diane and the rival company? The scene of her jogging, swimming, going on the metro, the contact, her bank account and the other meetings? The demands made by the rival company on her? Their hold over her?

6. Action going back and forth from France to Japan? Tokyo scenes, the computer industry, information technology, two-dimension and third-dimensional developments, pornography and violent developments? The discussions about what was possible on Japanese media compared with European? Legal issues? The age of models? The group playing hard ball with the Japanese to get the best possible deals? The Japanese and their hosting, the sexual favours? The faxes coming from Europe?

7. The character of Diane, as a secretary, her undermining Karen, the drink? Promotion, the comments on her as an ice queen? The clashes with Herve? With Elise? In Japan and the sexual encounter with Herve? Ignoring Karen? Her role in the deals, studying the documents, betraying the company?

8. Herve and his place in the company, personal style, working with Diane and Elise, the deals with the Japanese, the sexual encounters?

9. Elise and her place as a secretary, the dogsbody, doing all the jobs, on Karen's side and supporting her? The clashes with Diane? Support from Herve? The irony of where her loyalties really lay?

10. The visiting Americans and their websites, their deals, covering of distribution, statistics on pornography, the Hellfire Club? Elise helping Elaine with her clothes? Elaine's character, her associate, the lawyer? Playing hard ball with the French? Diane going to her room, the struggle and her death? Elise and the others cleaning up the room and the evidence?

11. Elise and her beginning to dominate Diane, coming with the gun and Karen's message? Karen's visit to Diane?

12. The watching of pornography, the discussion of the sites, seeing pornography as a business? The effect on Herve, the effect on Diane?

13. Diane surrendering to the world of the computer games? The change of film style with her going into the game, her being abducted, tortured, the role of Elise, the men guarding her, her escape, the car chase and crashes? The violence? Her dress and her manner like Assayas's film Irma Vep?

14. The irony of the American whiz-kid at home, the programming, looking at the sites and going into the Hellfire Club while his mother wanted him to have his meals?

15. The sense of the narrative? The credibility of the characters? The world of business and back-stabbing, the cutthroat world of corporate espionage?

16. Issues of information technology and their effect? Pornography, sex and violence and contemporary society?