ALSO SHOWING

Withnail and I 15, 107 mins ***

BRUCE Robinson's disreputable 1986 Britcom is always welcome incinemas. The semi-autobiographical script, played on the cusp of theSeventies, spotlights two "resting" actors (Paul McGann and RichardE Grant) and the gallery of grotesques who orbit them.

Familiarity may have taken some sparkle off the oftquoted lines,but the exuberance of the acting and pungent sense of place makethis reissue an antique worth treasuring.

Reprise 15, 105 mins ***

THEY do things differently in Norway. In Reprise, we'reintroduced to a gang of lads who want to make a splash in theliterary world. It's like Trainspotting, but instead of smack, theboys hanker after the perfect, glowing review.

Young director Joachim Trier wisely lends his story some weightby concentrating on Philip (Anders Danielsen Lie), the one-time starof the group who suddenly crashes and burns, and his best friend,Erik (Espen Klouman- Hoiner), who writes a book about madness andsees his own career take off.

Both leads are impressive. As Philip, shavenhaired Lie ishaunting convincingly frail but also inflexible and bullish,especially with the ex-girlfriend he idolises to a fault. Klouman-Hoiner, meanwhile, pulls off the neat trick of being smug and vainbut also sweet.

Trier (a distant relation of the better known Lars) has producedan occasionally trite, often too-cool-for-school movie that stillmanages to make a big impression. Is that glowing enough for you,Joachim?

Opera Jawa 15, 120 mins ***

OPERA Jawa is an Indonesian musical that reworks an episode fromthe Sanskrit poem Ramayana. The ancient and the modern world collideas a potter's wife is courted by a bullying, wealthy butcher.

Can she resist his attentions? And can her jealous, impoverishedhusband resist the desire to kill them both? It's not easy to sum upthis offering from Garin Nugroho. In a typically gorgeous tableau,little girls smash clay pots on the ground. Then their mother sings,"The market for earthenware has crashed!"

The one musical high-point is a man with ginormous breasts and atiny mandolin; his voice is beautiful, his tunes catchy. He deservesa whole film to himself.

DEREK MALCOLM IS AWAY