law is in a coma. his wife Min Min is on the verge of a nervous breakdown and his children are acting strange.
This peels off the layers of the when in such thin. tantalising slices it becomes a meditation on family. grief and corporate hoodwinking. Strange. unique and life affirming. (Paul Dalel
ARTHOUSE EUROPA (15) 114min COO.
:EflRflPA
45) .' ’ .3; "L " " Before Danish director Lars von Trier (Dancer in the Dar/ti decided to piss off film theorists the world over wrth the Dogma Manifesto. he used to make portentous. pretentious cult movres like this. An American German (Jean-Marc Barri returns to work on the Deutsche railways after WWII only to become entangled in the dark machinations of a railway dynasty.
Made in 1991. this is still an extremely odd rnovre. Part expressionist nightmare. part werewolf rnovre and wholly hypnotic. It is basically a cinematic wrnd-up that f;ll()‘.‘/(:£tf3(353 an incredible variety of vrsual pyrotechnics. As impressive a piece of leftfield filmmaking as Lynch's Fraser/read. iPaul Dalei
it i'N iiAnci HAPPY CAMPERS
comedy from the writer of Heathers. Daniel Water's. Seven hormonal freshmen councillors are left in charge of a bunch of weird kids at Camp Bleeding Heart one summer after Chief Oberon (Peter Storrnarel is struck by lightning.
Packaged as a Frat house comedy. this is actually a wordy. silly fusion of a particularly neurotic episode of Dawson's Creek and Lord of the Flies. For the most part it's pretty watchable With a fairly low gross-out count. Charisma bypass Brad Renfro is. however. woefully miscast as camp beefcake. Wichita. And Waters. in the director’s chair. displays little of the visual verve of Ht~2athers' Michael Lehmann. (Paul Dale)
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The Man who wasn’t There Ourte brilliant exrstential filrii noir. the best Coen brothers filrii to date. (Friter'tainrrie/it VHS rota/l)
The Score Heist caper With Ed Norton acting old boys De Niro and Brando off the screen. ll’athe VHS and DVD retail)
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tv@list.co.uk
Sister Nolan in blunderland
DOCUMtNlARY NA IN
WONDERLAND BBC Choice, Fri 12 Jul, 10.30pm CO
The Beeb have sent Anna Nolan (the lesbian ex-nun from Big Brotheri to get to the ‘heart' of sex commune rock band. Rock Bitch. The guitar-playing wonder follows the Bitches as they tour and share their Views on monogamy. ‘gr'Otind-fucking' and full moon rituals to ‘sacred whores".
While Nolan manages to extract some remnant of an insight from the girls —- Babe's slept with :1000 people. Peggy was born to be a sex slave none of it's nearly interesting or titillating enough. Take the amiable Anna out of the equation. and you've got the Beeb doing C13 at its soft porn best. (Anna Millari
GAME. St lO‘.‘.' ELIMIDATE Scottish, Thu 4 Jul, 10.30pm 0.
After the title. the cringes rust keep on coming. A survrval of the ‘fittest'. where four girls compete for the affections of one guy. or there are four blokes fighting over one girl. last man (or womani standing after three 'i'ounds' wins. earning the somewhat dubious honour of haying their victory snog televrsed for the benefit of the nation. close up and romantically slowed down. Mrnrn . . .
The series is hosted by the profound and deeply intellectual Kerry Katona. ex«Atomic Kitten. who doesn't really manage to fill Cilla's infamous court shoes. The best part of the show is when competitors comment on their rivals. They are
(especially the chaps) and the show does reveal interesting contrasts between the perceptions of the two sexes. Cheesy. at times horrifying, but ultimately guite irvatchable. Holds the fascination of a car crash. (Sarah Betiveti
HISTORICAL DRAMA THE GATHERING STORM
8802, Fri 12 Jul, 9pm .0
BBC2 is setting great store by this reconstrtiction of the wilderness years of Winston Churchill. what with Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave
heading a starry cast and
production being
handled by Ridley Scott's
company. Sad to repon then. that it‘s rather dull.
Hugh Whrtemore's screenplay fOCUSGS on the activities of the would-be prime minister during the 19305 when he was discredited as a warmonger. History proved him right in his estimation of Adolf Hitler and the drama reveals how the information of a home office insider helped strengthen his case. On this factual level it's informative. but Finney seems more concerned with getting the vorce right than creating a sympathetic lead and dramatically. you Just know the big story was still to come. (Mark Fisher)
DOCUMENTARY MY WORST WEEK
BBC1, Tue 16 Jul, 10.35pm O.
This wafer thin and puddle deep new series of documentaries looks at particularly torrid times various shamed celebrities have experienced at the hands of the fickle media. and how those celebrities coped. Presented by former l l O'Clock Show host lain Lee. the series examines such likeable targets as Hugh Grant and Chris Evans.
But if this first show — George Michael's famously public expOSure in a Beverley Hills toilet — is anything to go by. there's going to be precious little in the way of entertainment or
even interest here. Featuring interviews with members of the paparazzi and tabloid editors (is there a more punchable face in the world than Piers Morgan's?). the battle between scurrilous hacks and scurrilous PR people is exposed for the jumped-up bunfight it truly is. Plus. there's not even any new scandal. revelation or titillation to be had. which is the least we could have hoped for. (Doug Johnstonel
SHORT FILMS
OUT OF THE GAME/COMING DOWN
Channel 4, Wed 17 Jul, 12.30am 000
Deuble bill of short films from director and club scene player Matt Winn, all scored by the mellow electronic sounds of D'Note. Both films look at drug culture and the human emotions involved. Out of the Game is a more laid back examination of life after the hedonism has past (to a degree) as two thirtysomethings meet up in Spain.
Coming Down is just what you'd expect from the title: a snapshot of life after the high, as mates gather round a pal's house after a night of serious clubbing. Feeling dated now (originally screened in 1900l. and steeped in ‘love generation“ cliches. this is still at times uncannin accurate.
(15) 94min .0
Nostalgic. but fun. (Henry Northmorel
VHS and DVD rental and rota/l)
as bitchy as you would hope them to be
Above average teen The profound Kerry Katona keeps fit
18 Jul 1100;? THE LIST 1 19