being screened to the press because its subject matter is deemed too politically sensitive. considering lsrael's renewed aggression against the Palestinians? General release.

The State I'm In (15) (Christian Petzold. Germany. 2000) Julia Hummer. Barbara Auer. Richy Milller. 107 mins. A pair of former German terrorists have spent the past fifteen years hiding from the authorities in Portugal. but the married couple‘s daughter yearns for the everyday friendships other kids enjoy. G171". Glasgow; Filmhouse. Edinburgh.

The Sting (PG) 0... (George Roy Hill. US. 1973) Paul Newman. Robert Redford. Robert Shaw. Charles Durning. 129 mins. Same stars. same director. same box office success as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. and same brand of cheeky con tricks. The setting is Chicago 1936. and the plot centres on the dynamic duo staging an elaborate revenge on a gangster who caused the death of a friend. The Lumiere. Edinburgh.

0 Storytelling (18) eeee (Todd Solondz. US. 2001) Selma Blair. Robert Wisdom. Paul Giamatti. 86 mins. Happiness writer-director Solondz returns with another jet-black comedy chronicling the American Nightmare. Split into two unequal parts. ‘Fiction‘ and ‘Non-Fiction‘. Solondz's comic targets are wide-ranging: the Holocaust. high-school massacres. racial stereotyping. academic labelling and the film American Beauty. But despite its playfulness. Storytelling deals with impor- tant issues: the burden of artistic responsi- bility. creative exploitation. the subjective nature of ‘truth'. the allure of revenge. An uneven. yet always intriguing work. See feature and review. Selected release. Strictly Sinatra (15) 000 (Peter Capaldi. UK. 2001) Ian Hart. Brian Cox. Kelly Macdonald. 97 mins. Actor Capaldi turns the camera on his home city. Glasgow. with this entertaining play on the cult of Frank Sinatra. Strictly Sinatra songs only is the rule of Italian-Scot club crooner Toni Cocozza (Hart). So obsessed with Old Blue Eyes is Toni. he falls in with Glasgow's gangsters. seduced by crime boss Chisholm's (Cox) tales of his Vegas days. Essentially. this is the story of Faust to which Sinatra's Vegas mob connections lend themselves very neatly. Hart gives a great tragi-comic performance. and despite making his name playing John Lennon twice. for the first time sings on film. Ster Century Cinema. Edinburgh.

Sumo Bruno (15) (Lenard Fritz Krawinkel. Germany. 2000) Hakan Orbeyi. Oliver Korittke. Julia Richter. 100 mins. For the first time the Sumo Wrestling Championship is to be held outside Japan. in a small German town in fact. There the locals talk the owner of a sushi restaurant into getting into shape for the contest. GFT. Glasgow; Filmhouse. Edinburgh. Tears Of The Black Tiger (Fa Talal Jone) (15) O... (Wisit Sasanatieng. Taiwan. 2001) Stella Malucchi. Chartchai Ngamsan. 1000 mins. This gorgeous ‘Thai western‘ cleverly parodies John Ford and Sergio Leone. while drawing on Thai melodramas from the 50s anc' 60s. The pacing. however. is as dynamic as a John Woo bullet ballet. Likewise. the story evokes Thai cinema's past. but blends the traditional tale of Rumpoey and Dum's impossible love (her father‘s the local governor; Dum's alter ego is Black Tiger. top gunman of the bandit chief. Fai) w‘th modern cynicism and existential angst. Exuberant. camp and thoroughly. wonderfully bizarre. The resurgence of Thai cinema starts here. Odeon. Glasgow.

The Tigger Movie (L') 0000 (Jun Falkenstein. L'ii. 2000) 77 mins. Identical in many ways to 1977‘s The Many Adventures ()fll’innie The Pooh. this new yarn based on A.A. Milne's characters finds Pooh. Piglet. Tigger et a1 still living a charmed life of tea parties and afternoon naps. Only this time. the wee stripy fella's decided being one of a kind isn‘t quite as cool as he‘d first thought and so a literal quest for the Tigger Family Tree ensues. A

happy ending eventually makes its presence felt. because even Tigger is smart enough to recognise that with friends like Pooh. Piglet. R00 and Eeyore. who needs family? The Waterfront. Greenock.

A Time For Drunken Horses (PG) 0... (Bahman Ghobadi. lran. 2000) 80 mins. 1n Ghobadi‘s remarkable film. as in Samira Makhmalbaf‘s Blacklnmrds. border crossing out of financial necessity (looking for pupils in Blacklnmrds; smuggling goods here) carries risks beyond rough terrain and weather so appalling even the horses in Ghobadi's film have to take a drop of spirits. There are also mines from the lran/lraq war to worry about as twelve-year-old Ayoub tries to earn enough money to pay for his handicapped brother's operation. Ghohadi may have said of his film that ‘the screenplay is completely constructed and structured'. but clearly we're talking a construction closer to document than contrivance. Grosvenor. Glasgow.

Wainspottlng ( 18) .0000 (Danny Boyle. CK. 1995) Ewan McGregor. Ewen Bremner. Robert Carlyle. Jonny Lee Miller. 93 mins. John Hodge's screenplay perfectly captures the desperate humour of Irvine Welsh's novel. keeping the episodic structure ofjunkie scenes for the first half. before concentrating more on Renton in London in the later stages. Fast and stylish direction. creative soundtrack and acting that‘s off-the-rails excellent. A cinematic blast from beginning to end. which also shows a complex and true understanding of the lure and fatal consequences of drug-taking. Odeon. Edinburgh.

Urban Ghost Story ( 15) I... (Genevieve Jolliffe. UK. 2001) Heather Ann Foster. Stephanie Buttle. Jason Connery. 88 mins. A ghost appears in a deprived Glasgow tower block. afflicted by drugs. violence and poverty. lt's terrifying. and the ghost's a bit eerie. too. At the centre of this engaging tale is Lizzie (Foster). a teenager who's had a near death experience after a car accident which killed her boyfriend. Her already much put-upon mum (Stephanie Buttle) has the angst levels seriously upped as a succession of poltergeist manifestations appear around her daughter. At least as much social commentary as ghost story. the film tells a good tale without pretension. New Picture House. St Andrews.

La Vache Et Le President (PG) 0... (Philippe Muyl. France. 2001) Bernard Yerles. Florence Pernel. Christine Bujeau. 90 mins. Eight-year-old Lucas never met his mother; she died in childbirth. leaving his farmer father to raise him with a heavy heart but lots of love. When a cow on the family farm suffers a similar fate. Lucas steps in to take care of new calf and kindred spirit. Maeva. But tragedy strikes in the form of mad cow disease. which threatens the entire herd. including Lucas‘ bovine pal; only a pardon from the French President can save her now. Things get a touch silly when the pair head for Paris. particularly Maeva‘s inadvertent trip on the Metro. But the father and son relationship is touching throughout. as is the underlying message about moving on after the death of a loved one. GFT. Glasgow.

., .i.‘ ,.

. e comedy an ten- SIon has been recycled from the first movie, which was derivative of the Indiana Jones trilogy this IS a recycling JOb that should have Just been binned’

Mark Robertson on The

Mumm Returns, Video, paget 0.

index Film

Amsterd

from

elfas

easyJet.com

29 NOV-13 Dec 2001 THE LIST 41