Page MB THEHEHALD Wdnwdy 1991 Entertainment Video Notes Video- viewing replaces moviegoing By DIAIIANN NADEAU Herald Special It one of those weeks when the triple bill at the cinema is just so unappealing that one can face it Mannequin One was mediocre who has ever heard of the Gate let alone a sequel and Toy Soldiers give us a break So here is a review of a couple of recent video releases of films which never made it to our fair town The videos as always are supplied by Country Lane The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her I over This has to be one of the most bizarre films released in A surrealistic depiction of lust violence and vulgarity The Cook etc is not a film for the squeamish or the sen It is not a film for many in fact this is a rather sickening movie Albert Spica Michael Gam is a thoroughly horrid man Vulgar violent excessively cruel and unbearably tious he eats nightly at the posh restaurant he owns Hollan While there he verbally and physically abuses his wife Georgina I elen Mirren humiliates his repulsive cronies and terrifies the other patrons Richard the cook somehow en all this torture from his massive and cathedral like kit Enter the lover Alan Howard a book loving restaurant patron who becomes enamored of Georgina In silence they meet in odd places in the restaurant intent on despite the terrible threat of the psychotic husband The film takes place over a week during which time falls in love with Michael runs away with him only to have Albert discover their hide out and his sad revenge The Cook is a very very strange and disturbing movie full of graphic violence and ghastly images The opening scene shows Albert and his henchman cover a naked man in dog feces then urinating on him This sets thetone it builds from there Peter Greenaway wrote and directed this shocking tale It is interesting from a cinematic viewpoint the sets the direction the exaggerated viciousness of Spica but it is not for everyone Metropolitan Whit Stillman utterly captivative and charming view of Manhattan debutante society is a lovely and soothing antidote to Greenaway s movie bet over the Christmas holidays Metropolitan follows the woes and pleasures of a doomed social set one we rarely see in detail and only read about in the pages of society magazines Tom Edward Clements an impoverished West Sider is sudden y ed by a posh set of debs a group he has castigated in the past Thrust into their midst he becomes involved and charmed Audrey Carolyn Farina is at traded to him but he still has a thing for Sertna Elisabeth Thompson a girl with a dubious reputation although of good stock There isn much of a plot here that isn important This show is about an artificial and in social group which is exotic to most of North America and generally irrelevant These kids sense that their lifestyle is out dated and possibly doomed yet they follow their carefully cultivated rituals Alluring characters literate conversations when was the last time someone discussed Jane Austen and Francois Fourier in a movie and low key charm and romance make Metropolitan a delight to watch The cast of fresh young faces is superb and appeal Festival Theatre now underway In the Festival Theatre Strat ford s season got underway with the first stu dentsenior matinee per of and Ham merstein s lyrical Broadway musical Carousel This whirligig of colors characters and emo tion is in preview and dentsenior performances until May 30 In a small New England town carnival barker Billy Bigelow blusters his way through life and love only to be given a second chance to express his real feel ings thanks to a little divine in tervention Favorite songs in elude If I Loved You June Is Out All Over and You Never Walk Alone Carousel is directed and choreographed by Mac donald with musical direction and additional arrangements by Berthold set design by Neil Peter costume design by Christina Poddubiuk lighting design by Michael J Whitfield associate lighting des by James Milburn and consulting direction and choreography by Anne The production features Mar sha Bagwell as Nettie Fowler Blake as Dr Seldon John Devorski as Bill Bigelow Eric Donkin as Starkeeper Michael as Jigger Craigin Allison Grant as Julie Jordan Kate Henning as Mrs William Needles as Heavenly Friend Claire Rankin as Louise Martin Spencer as Enoch Snow and Karen Wood as Carrie Also appearing in the are Paul Aikins Geoffrey Brumlik Andrea Burns Timothy French Barbara Fulton Peter Gaudreault Ron Hastings Larry Herbert Ellen Horst Ellen Wilkes Janzen Crystal Lund Mackenzie Lush A Martin Kelly McGregor Dale Kin Lyn Muir Daniel T Nelson Ted Pearson Robin Smith Michael Quenn Dave Reath Natalie Sebastian Donna Starnes Jim White and Rob Carousel sponsored by The Mutual Group opens May 31 and runs until November 8 Please remember to recycle this newspaper along with your bottles j steel food ind c tns plastic soft dnnk containers RECYCLING It only works if we all do our part GEORGETOWN CINEMAS 235 GUELPH STREET 8731999 NOW PLAYING Sites been fixsen to break the Evenings at 9 1 5 p m NOW PLAYING A C SUSPMSEFUL THRILLER A TERRIFIC ENTERTAINING MOVIE TOY SOLDIERS VIOLENCE Evenings at 00 91 p NOWPLAYING Evenings at 15 SPRING SPECIAL ADMISSION Adults 14 Over Children Seniors it Special Nights THIS WEEKS PASSWORD THE GATE