Film index
Enigma ( IS) oooo 2001 ) Dougray Scott. Kate \\'iiislet. Saffron Burrow s. I 17 mins. Tom Jericho (Scott). a crack WWII codebrcaker. is called back from premature retirement to break the Na/is' new cy pher. ()n his return. he discovers that Claire (Burrow s). the woman who broke his heart. has gone missing and. with the aid of her liotisemate (Winslet ). begins to discover that she was not entirely what she seemed. Apted\ screen adaptation of Robert Harris's best-selling novel is. rarely enough. both relatively faithful and rather good. though scripr riter Tom Stoppard increases the love interest and fiddles the plot a little. but the mixture of cynicism and heroism that characterised llarris‘s characters is undiluted ill the film. Selected release.
Ferry Up The Amazon (PG) (Alex McCall. CK. 2001 ) 90mins. Documentary about the Reverend \Villie McPherson and his scheme to buy a small ex-RN ferry. sad it from Scotland to South America and thence til) the Ania/on to hand it over as a source of income to the street children of Peru. I'GC Renfrew Street. Glasgow; l-‘ilmhouse. Edinburgh.
Fiddler On The Root (1') oooo (Norman Jew ison. LS. 1971 ) Chaim Topol. Norman Crane. Paul Michael Glaser. 181 mins. Based on Sholom AIeichem‘s play. I'itltl/er is the story of 'l‘evye. a Jewish milkman living in pre-Revolutionary Rttssia. l'nlike the majority of musicals. where fixed smiles and colourful dance routines are dc rigour. this is a much more sombre affair. set in poverty but filled with dry humour. 'I'evye's marriage plans for his daughters and their rebellion against the all-pervasive ‘traditions‘ form the core of the film. Jewison's direction is slick and his pacing even. but it is 'l'opol as 'I‘evyc who carries the film with a role he seems to have been born for. Grosvenor. Glasgow.
The 51st State ( IS) 0.. (Ronny Yu. I'S/I‘K/(‘anadm 2001)Samucl 1.. Jackson. Robert Carlyle. limily Mortimer. 92 mins. There's much about this comedy thriller that's just plain daft: Jackson's California drug dealer donning a kill for his visit to rainy Liverpool. Carly Ie's scotise thug more concerned with the I.ivcrpool-Manchester footy match than minding Jackson. Carlyle's cx (Mortimer) going Stateside to become a contract killer. Daft. but fun. Individual elements. from ()'I'I‘ performances to violent gun play. work in isolation. but the tones jar: in one scene you‘re laughing at Ricky 'l‘omlinson playing Robert De Niro via Jim Roy-le. the next your reeling at him being tortured in the most graphic fashion. General fL‘lCusc‘.
Gabriel And Me ( 15) O (I'dayan l’rasad. I‘K. 2001)Sean Landless. lain Glen. Billy Connolly. so mins. After the monumental success of Iii/Iv [fl/fol. writer Lee “all seems to have become complacent as his follow -up is simply a formulaic retread of last year's balletic barnstormer. Gabriel Am! .Ile sees teenage Geordie lad Jimmy Sptid (Landless) struggle to hide his wiin to be an angel from gruff. dying father (Glen) with the hpr of none other than the Archangel Gabriel (Connolly). The dialogue
FTH
Falkirk Town Hall
Sat 75th December Nightmare Before
Christmas (PG) 7 7:00am Mon 2 (st January Moulin Rouge (12) 7.30pm
Please note new screening date.
Wed 23rd January
Together (15) 7.30pm
Tickets and further information from The Steeple Box office
(Tel: 01324 506850)
or on the day from the hall
36 THE LIST “.15 [)(X: 90017-13 .Jan 200?
(Apted Michael. I'K.
" 1 Nth/M“ .. .. ...uw:tm-r
Visual poetry and heart-rending drama underscore Kandahar, the film made horriny timely by America‘s bombing of Afghanistan
is cliched. the script sickeningly sentimental and the mix of gritty reality and high-flown fantasy just doesn‘t work. Vikingar Cinema. Largs; MacRobert Arts Centre. Stirling. Geordie (C) 0.. (Frank Launder. CK. 1955) Bill Travers. Alastair Sim. Norah Gorsen. 99 mins. Launder and Gilliat's comic fable tells of a Scottish weakling who sups his porridge to the extent that. one day. he is able to hurl the hammer at the ()lympics. Full of old—fashioned charm. Lumiere. Edinburgh. George Washington (12) ooooo (David Gordon Green. CS. 2001) Donald Holden. Candace Evanof'ski. Eddie Rouse. 89 mins. In a humid. broken North Carolina backwoods town a group of angsty'. literate and above all verbose teenagers talk and play. Green was a mere 24-years-o1d when he made this haunting film. possibly the first to be justifiany compared to Terence Malick's Davy ()th’tfl’t’It. From its lush. elegiac photography. remarkable performances from a group of non-actors and the deeply sensitive editing. this is an instant classic. Like Lynne Ramsey's Ralealeher it deals with the suffocating guilt yet ultimate powerlessness of childhood. (il’l‘. Glasgow.
Ghost World ( 15) .0... (Terry Zwigoff. CS. 2001 ) Thora Birch. Scarlett Johansson. Steve Bliscemi. l 1 1 mins. Daniel Clowes adapts his own cult comic with Zwigoff. opting not to translate parrot-fashion. but to distil the essence of the source material. Thus. characters. setting and tone are spot on. but the episodic nature of the serialised strip is shaped into a low key story revolving around high school graduates Enid and Rebecca (Birch and Johansson) who temper disgust with the bland western world of shopping malls and theme restaurants with cynical bemUsernent. The dialogue. humour. production design and performances are a world apart from lesser American teen fiicks. Selected release.
Gigi (PG) .0. (Vincente Minnelli. US. 1958) Leslie Caron. Louis Jourdan. Maurice Chevalier. I 19 mins. Caron is the coquette allied to Jourdan's rake; they are watched over by an extravagantly French Chevalier and the rest offin z/e .vi'eele Paris. This is a lavish musical from the golden days of MGM. adapted from Colette‘s novel by Lerner and Loewe. As ()scar-winner in its day. now best remembered for songs like Thank Heavens For Little Girls. Lumiere. Edinburgh.
Le Gout Des Autre3(15)ooo
(Agnas Jaoui. France. 2001 ) Jean-Pierre Bacri. Anne Alvaro. (ierard Lanvin. l 12 mins. Britain doesn't have exclusive rights on the provincial class comedy. Le gm}! shows the workings of a small town. which are brought into focus when Jacques Castello (Bacri) falls for actress and English tutor Clara (Alvaro). a bohemian looking for love but hardly expecting it from Bacri's crude factory owner. There are a number of other sub-plots that shows Jaoui borrowing as readily from farce as the provincial comedy. The surprise is that they're combined to make for something more wistfully w inning than either form usually offers. Filmhouse. Edinburgh. Grand Canyon (PG) (. . 2001) mins. Simulation ride bringing you the full-blown wonder of that really. really big hole in
America. IMAX Theatre. Glasgow.
The Grinch (PG) “0 (Ron Iloward. US. 2000) Jim Carrey. Taylor Momsen. Jeffrey Tambor. 105 mins. Surprisingly. The Grinch is the first live action feature to be adapted from the work of the world's best- selling children‘s author. Dr Seuss. And beneath sfx magician Rick Baker‘s green costume Carrey — the world's highest paid comedian —- wrecks glorious havoc on his cloying sweet neighbours. the \N'hovians of Who-ville. Howard lays the book's moral -- Christmas is about family not presents _ and the sickly-sweet sentiment on pretty thick. 'lby Story 2 got the cross generational appeal right; golly gosh Howard's Grinch hasn't. Carrey"s great though. Selected release. Groundhog Day (PG) 0000 (Harold Ramis. ITS. 1993) mins. Bill Murray. Andie MacDoweIl. Chris Elliot. TV weatherman Phil Conners (Murray) finds himself in the back of beyond. trapped in an ever-repeating single day. Partying and babe-chasing leads to serious romancing as he goes after his producer (MacDowell). Murray's cuddly sarcasm stops the movie from becoming the kind of moralising mush that surrounds so many of his contemporaries. A genuine rarity -- a Hollywood comedy that is really funny. Lumiere. Edinburgh.
0 Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone (PG) ooooo (Chris Columbus. L'S/L'K. 2001) Daniel Radcliffe. Robbie Coltrane. Maggie Smith. John Cleese. Richard Harris. Julie Walters. 152 mins. Columbus has remained true not
just to the spirit but. in many cases. the letter
of J.K. Rowling's novel. With only the occa- sional hip and tuck. the film follows closely the tale of orphan boy Harry. who grows up in suburbia little realising that he‘s of wizard stock. Like the novel. the film is unsentimen- tal. with no hint of icky whimsy. Rather. it is sustained by a set of superbly dry perfor- mances by the all-British cast and rewarded by the true. well-earned emotion of an hon- ourable quest successfully fought. General release.
Heist ( 15) C”. (David Mamet. CS. 2001 ) Gene Hackman. Danny De \"ito. Rebecca Pidgeon. 107 mins. Master thief Joe Moore (Hackman) decides it's time to quit and seek retirement down South with his young wife Fran (Pidgeon). However. his fence Bergman (De Vito) blackmails him into carrying out one final score. After the patchy lilinmaking satire State And .llain. Mamet is back on borne-turf. offering up a noirish world of cons and scams. while his trademark charged dialogue is still intact. Yet. Mamet is also attempting to muscle in on action-movie Conventions for which he lacks the requisite visual panache. and he's now writing to at ‘nothing is what it seems‘ formula. L'GC Renfrew Street. Glasgow.
"is Gift Friday (L') 0....(lloward Hawks. CS. 1940) Cary Grant. Rosalind Russell. Rafph Bellamy. 92 mins. Hawks‘s dynamic comedy is one of the best Hollywood ever made. Grant and RUssell are simply fantastic as the sparring newspaper editor and top reporter drawing battle line sin their professional and personal lives. Ilecht and MacArthur's script from their original play The Fran! Page. spits out a series of
rapid-fire quips and cross-cuting gags. but allows the supporting characters to have thier scene-stealing moments too. Don't miss it. GI’I'. Glasgow.
Human Body (PG) (2001 ) Simulation ride bringing you the full-blown wonder of all those really. really small places inside tis. IMAX Theatre. Glasgow.
Italian For Beginners ( (5) (Lone Scherfig. Italy. 2001 ) I 12 mins. Preview screening of the first outright comedy from the Dogme school of filmmaking. Six Copenhagen-hes fall in love with one another and cross the barriers of class. temperament. even language. Think Mike Leigh crossed with Lars von Trier. if that's possible. Lumiere. Edinburgh.
It’s A Wonderful Life (PG) 0.... (Frank Capra. ITS. 19-16) James Stewart. Donna Reed. Henry Travers. Thomas Mitchell. 129 mins. Small-town boy Stewart runs into financial difficulties and is on the brink of suicide when an elderly angel descends to earth to show him all the good his life has done for those around him. Archetypal Capra sentimentality with a superbly detailed fantasy framework and one of Stewart's most lovable performances. ()ne to warm even the most glacial heart. Selected release.
Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back ( 18) mo (Kevin Smith. [S 2001 ) Jason Mew-es. Kevin Smith. Jason Lee. 95 mins. In this final instalment of Smith's ‘New Jersey" trilogy. slackers Jay (Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) discover a movie is being made about the comic book characters they inspired (Bluntman and Chronic). They figure if the film is crap they'll get slagged on the internet and this will ruin their chances of getting laid. So off to Hollywood the boys go. (‘ue high jinx involving a robbery. a bunch of Charlie's Angels types and cameos from Smith regulars. The comic dialogue is as sharp and foul-mouthed as ever. Can this really be the last outing for Jay and Silent Bob‘.’ General release.
John Carpenter’s Ghosts Of Mars (15) 0.. (John Carpenter. CS. 2001) Natashsa Henstridge. Ice Cube. Pam Grier. 97 mins. Carpenter transplants the western plot of Rio Bravo. plonking the ‘cowboys' on the red planet where Henstridge‘s police lieutenant is part of a team charged with collecting Cube's criminal from a mining settlement. However. once there. they discover the inhabitants have become murderous zombies. Rarely straying beyond its genre boundaries. (i/tm'ls (IfMars is entertaining enough. but Carpenter re-treads familiar ground. making this another of the ailing auteur's lesser work. Showcase Cinema. Glasgow; Showcase. Paisley. Jump Tomorrow (PU) ooo (Joel Hopkins. CK. 2001 ) Tundi Adebimpc. Hyppolite Girardot. Natalia Verbeke. 97 mins. En route to an arranged marriage at Niagara Falls. young Nigerian-American George (Adebimpe) hooks up with love-lorn Frenchman Girard (Girardot) and kooky Spanish woman Alicia (Verbeke). Eventually. George and Alicia end up in a phone booth sheltering from the rain where they smile shyly. now in love with each other. "Jump Tomorrow has the hallmarks of a Hal Hartley film: bare bones script. minimal performances. abandoned locations. There‘s even a crazy dance sequence. Not that this makes llopkins' film unlikeable. just unoriginal. See review. Cameo. Edinburgh. Kabhi Khuahi Kabhie Gham (PG) (India. 2001 ) Asian film presentation. C(‘I. Edinburgh.
0 Kandahar (PU) oooo (Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Iran/France. 2001 ) Nelofer Pazira. llassan Tantaoe. Sadou 'l'eymouri. 84 mins. Kandahar (based on the life story of Pa/ira) is the story of an Afghan exile. Nafas. who returns to Afghanistan to find her suicidal sister. The sister has sunk into depression under the Taliban's oppression of women. Don't expect good production val- ues (though there is some extraordinary visu- al poetry). nor professional performances Makhmalbaf and Pa/ira filmed on the hoof with a starving crew. Expect a film that‘s deeply moving and disturbing and uplifting. Expect a film about Taliban-ruled Afghanistan that's barely fictionaliscd at all.