Daon Broni (pictured) gets caught up in supernatural London along with Emma Pierson and Sam McLintock
: The martyr of Manor House
Glaswegian photographer — and now filmmaker — Rankin gets medieval on Phil Hoad’s ass.
ven for someone as associated with alternative culture as the photographer Rankin. his feature film debut. The Lives" ()f The Saints. makes distinctly unexpected moves from the off. Set at first glance in grimy naturalistic sprawl the Turkish and (ireek (‘ypriot communities scattered along (ireen Lanes. northeast London things take a turn for the supernatural when local errand boy Roadrunner tl)aon Broni) stumbles across a moon-eyed young boy (Sam Mc(‘lintock) in the park. whose clairvoyant abilities begin to signal the end of a dynasty in the area.
"l‘he film is suggesting that London is a magical place.‘ confirms Rankin. ‘cos I think London is a magical place and I think you can dip in and out of communities in London. There are so many churches. I always think of London as quite a spiritual place. I decided to live here for more reasons than just work.’
But the real reason for the film‘s otherworldly power is its amazing language. as penned by writer (and frequent 'l‘erry (iilliam collaborator) Tony (irisoni. Far from everyday diction or even laboured Guy Ritchie ‘gangstois‘. all the characters speak a beautiful poetic dialect. stanzas of heightened rhetoric that hark back to the medieval aura evoked in the title and hint at the capital as a source of fathornless mystery.
liven the director was antsy about the
46 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 10—1 7 Aug 2006
language to start with: ’(Butl the fact that we were familiar with the setting made as less nervous about the script. which really was ey en more complicated (originally) than it appears in the film. It‘s like when yotr watch Shakespeare. you understand it. 'cos the actors‘ intonation and the way it’s performed allows you to understand it.‘
Rankin 40 this year and. haying shot everyone from Kate Moss to the Queen. one of lllc‘ country‘s mosl lttltlotts and eclectic photographers r was born in (ilasgow and was
‘I ALWAYS THINK OF LONDON AS OUITE A SPIRITUAL PLACE'
first drawn into the London orbit aged 15. when his family moved to St Albans. (‘o~ director (‘hris ('ottam is from Newcastle. So. like most Londoners. they‘re both ar'riyistes and the film is very much shot from the immigrants' perspective. The fusion of real and surreal is inspirational; simply filmed and supplely expressive. ’l'lrr' l.lt‘('.\ (It'l'lrr' Sum/s is the most intriguing London film since Mike Leigh‘s thl/fl’ll.
Cineworld, 623 8030, 16 Aug, 7pm 8. 18 Aug, 5pm, £7.95 (£5.20).
HEAVY TRAFFIC
James Mottram checks in on the ever industrious filmmaker Steven Soderbergh.
Snaggrng Steven Sorte't‘ergh for one of the ElFF's Reel ere on-staoe interviews rs a remarkable coup Not least because this 'frlmmaker's frlmmaker', as the catalogue dubs ltrltl. is always so busy Whrle rt's rust been announced that Section light. the Warner Bros housed production company he formed With his; actor pal George Clooney is about to shut rtt; doors. Soderbergh shows no srgns of slowwrg down. Richard l rnklater's A Scanner Darkly. whrch he produced. arrives rn August while next month Eros — three short films including hrs Equrlrbrrum With Robert Downey Jr - hrts the screens.
Yet. as rmpresswe as his work rate rs. it's hrs level of daring that Is truly awe inspiring. Competent in the studro fold —- he rs currently frlrnrng Ocean's Thirteen — he rs rust as comfortable disrupting rt. Hrs no-budget drama Bubble. was an attempt to offer a vrable alternative to the current drstrrbutron system V.’llll the film set to be unverled SlllltlllétlltXXlSly on (NI). in crnemas and on cable.
The back-tobasics Bubble rs typrcal of Soderbergh. who likes nothrng better than taking on small scale ptOJCClS (Sclrr/opo/rs or lull l rental; to ‘cleanse hrs palette' as he puts rt. "there can be times where you want to make a cave painting.‘ he says. ‘You need to strrp everything down and do something that's simple.‘
Prior to the arrival of Ocean Thirteen next summer. Soderbergh's next major studro prorect rs The Good German. an adaptation of Joseph Kanon's novel set in Berlin six weeks after the end of World War If. The film again reunites Soderbergh with Clooney. who plays an American iOurnalrst Sucked rnto a murder mystery. 'We're recreating an aesthetic of a 1945 Hollywood studro film.‘ says Soderbergh. 'For Casablanca. they didn't go to Casablanca, And we're derrrq rt exactly that way: matte shots. rear [)fOJCCIIOH. black-andwhrte. It's gorng to be like a Mrchael Curtiz film.‘
ihen comes the long-delayed Guerrilla, starrrng BeniCro Del Toro as the revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che' Guevara. ‘lt's a drftrcult subrect.' admits Soderbergh. who took over from Terrence Malrck as director. He's also putting the finishing touches to Life Interrupted. a documentary about late actor Spalding Gray. with whom he worked on his 1993 film King of the Hill and 1996 monologue Gray's Anatomy. There's even talk of a muSrcal version. ‘All I'll say as it's gomg to be crazy.’ says Soderbergh. ‘It's gorng to be like a Ken Russell movie — hallucinaIOryI
No wonder the man's so darn DUSy.
I James Mottram '3 book The Sundance Kids: How the Mavericks took over Hollywood (Faber E 76.99) IS out now.
I Reel Life: Steven Soderbergh. Cineworld, 623 8030. 19 Aug, 8.30pm. £15 (£9.70).