FILM LIST
Yahoo Serious. .»\ustralia‘s latest import. spills the beans to Don Watson below. while oy'erleat‘oiir extended t‘ilm preyiew seetion ineludes an arty talk with Peter Greenaw'ay.
ILM
PREVIEW
INDEX14 LISTINGS: WEEK ONE 24 WEEKTW025
Seriousl Absurd
y
‘\\'e reeeiy'ed a statement lrom ()uantas reeently I say s \‘y'arwiek Ross. pi'odueer
midwile oi the Yahoo Serious eomie olt'spring
Young limwm. ‘w'liieh said we had now
Zilllllllll miles. etjiiiyalent to going around the
world about six times.‘ I'm not tip to elieeking his ealeulations
way or the other. Young Ixi'iisiei'ii has taken Yahoo. its writer. direetoi‘ and star. some way trom his rural ;\iistralian origins. But the
trayelled
hutone
question remains. just how seriously does he
expeet us to take liim‘.’
llis red mop. army eomhat jerkin and lurid. over—tight strides mark him as indistinguishahle
trom the hoardes ol‘ hapha/ardly styled
Antipodeans who l'loek aeross to l.ondon to play long helated ti'iluite to the hirthplaee ol' l’unk Roek. l lis tilm. meanwhile. posits the theory that .»\lliert liinstein w as horn in lasinania. oil the Australian mainland. and eredits the great seientist with the diseoy ery oi the 'l'heory ot Relatiyity in l‘ll l5 and the inyention ot' Roek and Roll in l‘lllti. l'his. you might argue. n‘ akes him responsihle tor two great ideas w hieh got into the wrong hands and w ere disasteroiisly aluised.
Yet on the \tll‘jeel oi the man w ho. how ey er loosely. is the stll‘jeet ol ltis tilm. lle heeomes earnest to the point oi worthiness. ‘\\'hatl wanted to do‘. he explains. ‘is w rite a lilm w hieh
analysed the individual. so I ended up using the ultimate indiyidual w hieh is the genius. 'l‘he tilm hegins by asking you to look with the eyes ola ehild. whieh is what I heliey'e the genius does. ’l‘he genius asks ehild—like duetions aliout the world. like “Why is the sky blue?" and eomes up with
adult solutions.‘
'l'asmania.‘
lamons l’.
lle eontinues to justity the transplant ot liinstein‘s hirthplaee as metaphor
‘I wanted to indieate the intelleetual isolation that he had eome out ol by showing him in the ultimate geographie isolation. w hieh is
.-\ll oi w hieh strikes me as lieing a teensy-liit pompous aliout a tilm ot sueh ey ident daltness. liinstein in Yahoo‘s yet'stoii. sti ikes on the \lel tormiila while trying toereate litilitiles in lils old man‘s home-lirew . ( )n his way
is a t'ey‘e r
j to patent the inyention. he meets and talls in loy e with the physieist Marie ( ‘urie. llie laet that (‘urie was her married name and that she w as in t‘aet Polish and not l‘reneh as depieted here seems tomattei‘little.
Deelaring himselt a tan ot Monty Python. Yahoo seems to haye missed the point that lieneath all the slapstiek the l’y thons w ere stringently aeeurate historians. l7ilms like I‘ylonty Python and the l loly (irail‘ and filtililierwoeky‘ i reveal some otthe realities oi medieyal lite eosmetieised hy t'airy stories
Yahoo's insistenee that he has a seriotis point only draws attention to his ow n y aeiiity. Yet there
enee to the film that prey ents it lrom working on the ley'els ot‘spii‘alling alisurdity as explored by his other idol. Stey e .‘ylartin. l’rool onee again that it's not good enough to like good things. y‘ou‘y'e got to know" H /i_\‘ they 'i‘e good.
'()ne otthe things about the lilm.‘ he says. holding torth again. ‘is that it tries to lii‘eak down Hollywood stereotypes. l lere lor otiee is a Hollywood hero who doesn't piineli any liody out and a heroine who isn‘t a sex liomli.‘
()l'eourse the same eoiild he said oi ( 'ai'y ( irant and Katherine l lephurn in ‘Bringing l ’p l’ialiy‘ and that was made in 103s. It also had the ady'antage ot~ heing t'unny.
lt transpires that ‘Young lxiiisteiii was eoneeiy'ed during a drinking session on the Amazon. on the sight ot a lira/ilian wearing an liinstein 'li-shirt 'l‘he loeation may lie in w el lint the eireumstanees explain a eertain amt tillll. \Vho. alter a lew eaiis ol speeial. has not played the game ot‘What it w e made .i liioy ie in w hieh .i - the dilt'erenee is that Yahoo got his tiiade.
:lllldlllllmiles
You/1i: lairis’li'iri t/’( {I [i/iii \ l/lt'( till/it H: i M. iii!
i from H Um.
it‘s a long way to lly on a turkey.
:1— Girlstalk
Atthe EdinburghFilmhouse on Sat21 0ct.1am—6pm and Sun 22 Oct. 10.303m—4pmthe Scottish Festivaloi Lesbian Films. organised by the capital'sDeckchairs Collectivetakes place.Thetirston suchascaleto be heldinScotland.thisisaweekend oi luntorlesbians otallages. Alewottheiilmichighlightson otter include‘TwolnTwenty'(Five episodes 10.15am.Sat).whichtinds usdeepin SoapCityterritory—love deceit. custody. jealousy. coming out. surreptitious attairs. AIDS. it’s all here and it's all gay. Watch out lor great cameos from Hollywood dyke stars like HollyNearandAlixDobkin.'Treading onMyTail‘(2.15pmSat)sees|esbian, l
junkie and inmate oi various prisons and mental hospitals. Gilli Mebarak. relating her own story with impressive humour and warmth. Gilli will also be
leading a discussion with Kim Andrews (3.15pm Sat) on issues raised by the film. “Tiny and Ruby' (12.10pm Sun) mixes fabulous archive clips and
present day interviews with infamous jazztrumpeterTinyanddrummerRuby from the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. ‘A Comedy in Six Unnatural Acts‘ (12.25pm Sat) is six veryiunny vignettes ollesbianromance which brilliantly parodies movie genres using characterstereotypes.
Along with overtwentyiilm and video screenings there will also be a cafe. bookstall. discussions. games and a disco. Two points to note however: booking is very strongly advised. detailsirom The Deckchairs Collective. 1 Gladstone Terrace. 031 668 2212: and entry is by the back of the Filmhouse on Morrison Street Lane (though it‘s now been curiously renamed Chuckie's Pend). Tickets cost £7 (Student/U840) and {12—224 for waged. These give access to everything during the weekend. Enjoy! (Susan C. Black)
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