index Film
.\leleyyic/. .-\rgentina. 3002) Ricardo l)arin. Angie (‘epeda. ('hristina Banegas. 85min. Romantic comedy lolloyy ing Sammy. a hored T\' scriphyriter dreaming of \yritiiig a great noy el. ('onstant nagging from his hoss. his mother and his girlfriend make his amhition seem all the more unattainahle. life gets a little hit more interesting for Samy yy hen sexy actress .‘ylary turns up and suddenly success is within his grasp. Part of the Jeyyish film fesliyal. (il‘f; (flux-am:
Santa vs the Snowman 30 mm t\'arious. l'S. 3002i 32min. l.\l:\X hig screen presentation. l.lI.rl.\'. (i/uyguu.
Seabiscuit tl’(if ... t(iat‘y Ross. ('5. 2003) Tth .\lac(iuire. .\'ick .\'olte. (‘hris ('oopei'. Jeff Bridges. |5tlmin. Making films ahout horses and horse racing should clearly he made an executahle offence hut here is one that slipped under the \\ ire and is actually pretty good. When a half-hlind ex-pri/e- fighter t.\laguirei teams up \yith a millionaire iBi‘idgesi. a mustang hreaker i('ooperi and an undersi/ed horse. things hegin to happen at the finishing line. The men hring Stu/rm Ill! incredible heights. helping him earn. Based on the true story of the hcast that “on the “0th til the Year in l‘Hh this is one sltit'.‘ from depression-era :\lllt‘f'lc‘;l that does not iiiyolye freight trains. hohos and Woody (iuthrie hallads. (it’llt’l'tl/ ri'li'iiyt‘. Secondhand Lions il’( ii 0. iTim .\lc('anlies. l'S. 3003i Michael (Xiiiie. Rohert l)uya|l. llaley Joel ()smeiit. ls'yra Sedgyyick. Nicky Katt. ltlh’min. Anaciiiic rites of passage drama \yith l)u\all and ('aiiie liaiiiiiiiiig it tip as a couple of eccentric hillhilly uncles from Texas \\ ho take in their shy lonely nepheyy ytith unexpected results. ()sment. you may yyaiit to start looking fora neyy agent. ('('I. ('lu/e/imi/x.
Q The Shape of Things i ISi oooo i.\'eil l.aBute. l'S/l’K/l‘rancc. 20th (iretchen .\lol. Paul Rudd. Rachel \\'eis/. l-‘red Weller. 07min. Art and artifice are l.aBute's t\\ in ohsessions and here he comhincs hoth in a stunning dissection of contemporary hody-
cotisciotisttc‘ss and our obsession with 'the surface of things the shape of things'. When Adam tRuddi discoycrs liyelyn iWeis/i in an art gallery ahout to deface a classical marhle statue because it's ‘false'. the heginnings of a sinister plan are set in motion. Agreeing to date this geeky nohody. liyelyn sloyy ly transforms him from /ero to hero. By cracking the skull and der ing around yyitlt a scalpel in the suhconscious of contemporary culture. l,aButc questions our commitment to a culture yy ithout depth. He also ponders
\\ hether art. in such a place. can ey er hay e any meaning. It's a contemplatiy e drama that engages the mind. not the heart. This is an interim yyork hy a filmmaker \y ho has just heguii to rediscoy er his stride. See rey ieyy. St'lt't‘lt't/ I't’lt'ilyt'.
Shara (Sharasojyu) il’(li i.\‘aomi Kauase. Japan. 2003i Kohei l-uktiiigaga. Yuka llyyoudo. Naomi Kayyasc. Kalsuhisa \amase. ltltlmiii. 'l'yselye-year-old Kei is suddenly spirited ayyay almost hefore the eyes of his tyyin hrother Shun. l‘iy e years later. still haunted hy the disappearance Shun and his childhood friend Yu share a tentatiy e an k'ysard attraction. The director is as the youngest person to xx in the (‘amera d'()r in 1997 for her dehut film Su/aku and here she escheyys com entional narratiy e in fa\our of a rich exploration of li\ es defined hy loss. l'il/ii/iuuw. lat/inhiug/i.
Smiles of a Summer Night tl’(il O... ilngmar Bergman. Syyeden. 1055i (iiiiinar Bioi'nstrand. liya |)ahlheck'. l'na Jacobson. lUStttin. The L‘\-tttislt'css of a
proy iiicial layyyer humps into her old flame after a numher of years and my ites hoth him and his new young \y ife to her iiiother‘s country home for a \yeekend. lilegant comedy of genteel period manners. \yhich although not of the genre one associates yyith Bergman is ney ei‘theless handled yyith a good deal of detached “it and sophistication. lt \y as. of course. the model for Woody Allen‘s .llii/yiminii'r Night'y Set (immli'. lat/iiiliiu'g/i I'i/ni (iiii/il. Iii/iii/iiu‘g/i.
“AN AUDACIOUS IMAGINATIVIE EVENT"
Bear fish fighting in Brother Bear
Super .\lalt. And then he sees her. his illansdottiri. the neu girl in the petrol station. first time director Kari's respectiye nods and yyinks to the cinema of Jarmusch i(iliu.si Duet and Kaurismaki (Leningrad ('nii'lmy'i (in xlfilt’l'ft‘tll can get tiresome. but there is just enough unsettling originality here to keep you \yatching. (ii-“l. (ilmgoii: I‘Tlllllltlll.\('. Iftliii/iiu'gli.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico I 15l O. iRohert Rodrigtiei. l'S. 3003i .-\ntottio Baiideras. Johnny Depp. Salma
llay ek. ltllmiii. llaying re-made the original no-hudget 15/ .lluriui‘lii as ])(’\[7(’I'tI(/U. Rodriguez's logical next step u as to continue in the footsteps of his idol. Spaghetti \Vestern maestro Sergio Leone. hy creating an epic ‘ehilli \yestern‘. Banderas has a lot of fun reprising his role as the guitar-play ing. gun- totiiig man in hlack. yy ho yyanders into a layy'less Mexican toyyn and cley erly plays everyone off against one another. The other actors seem to he enjoy iiig themselyes too. from Depp as the scheming ex-('l.v\ agent Sands to llay ek. in some fiashhacks \shich flesh out the relationship hetyseen the haunted. Vengeful lil Mariachi and his murdered \\ ife. The prohlem is that Rodriguel. for all his skill and energy. has a B-moyie mind. So. instead of a magnificent Western \sith scope and Vision. \ye haye a cheap Tex/Mex action movie. (ii-"IL (iluiemi: Out of Control ithci O... il)ominic Sayage. l'ls'. 200] i Tam/in ()uthyy'aite. Nick Jones. Danny Young. Man in Benoit. l.eo
Knightley. Jack l)a\eiiport. 133mm. Rattling good pirate yarn from the director of .lluiixeliimt. Jack Spai‘roys il)eppi and Will Turner i Bloomi hraye the (‘arihhean Sea to stop a ship of pirates led hy ('aptain Barhossa thtslil. St’lt't‘lt’tl I't’lt'uw'.
Playing in the Company of Men (En Jouant dans la compagnie des Hommes) t lSi (Arnaud l)esp|echin. l‘rance. 2003i Saiiii Bouajila. Jean-l’aul Roiissillon. \Vladimir Yordaiioff. [as/lo S/aho. l lSmin. :\ hlack highly political fahle of poyy er and corruption. Vengeance and renunciation set against the \‘ioletit ysorld of husiness. this is the story of two young men n ho are hoth adopted sons of a wealthy arms dealer. It is adapted from lidysard Bond‘s play and
drayt ing on hoth :\| l’acino‘s [rm/(fth for Ric/turd and the classical [.5 lltt‘tllct‘s of lliL‘ 1970s the film is an experimental tragedy rich in violent poetry: a sayage. fractured portrait of a yyorld diyided into torturers and y ictims. Part of the l‘rench l‘ilm l‘estiyal. (ii-"II (i/(Iygmt'.
Pot Luck t l5i O. t('edric Klapisch. France. 2002i Romain l)uris. (‘ecile de France. Judith (iodreche. Audrey Tautou. IZZmiii. The latest from Klapisch. the man responsihle for that appalling piece of cutesy yyhimsy When the (‘ui’s .vlmn'. tells the soporific tale of Xay ier tl)urisi. a straight- laced l‘rench student yy ho goes on the liR.-\S.\ll'S foreign exchange program to Barcelona. where he finds himself and loses some of his ‘frogginess‘. There are a feyy
THREE FILMS
T R '.|-°00va Lucas
Bemusinq Enchanting Amusing
(it’cgory. ()(lmin. lixcellent naturalistic drama set in the schemes and young people‘s prohation centres of lingland. The spirit of Alan ('lark‘s Si um haunts this made for TV drama. I'('I. lat/iiilmrg/i.
Parallel Worlds (Paralelni Svety) ithci il’etr Vaclay. ('Iech Repuhlic. 200] i Karel Roden. Lenka Vlasakoya. 98min. Krystof is an architect is ho hates his client‘s lack of taste. plus his \s ife is hored of him. Reminiscent of Antonioni‘s 'I'lii' l’uiwiici'r. this sloyt introspectiye film exhihits a hypnotic insular quality. Part of the Nat Bohemians season. (il'"l. (i/uxgmi;
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl i l2.-\i C... More Verhinsk’i. IS. 2003) Johnny l)epp. (ieoffrey Rtish. Orlando Bloom. Keira
good performances i'l‘autou pops up briefly as Xayier‘s particularly annoying Hench girlfriendi and some nice insights into pair liuropean fla: sharing. hut Kalapisch's flashy juyenile direction suffocates eyery nuance. .\ hummer in Barcelona. (iIV'II (iliiyeoii. Rabbit Proof Fence tl’( it 0000 tl’hillip .\'oy ce. .-\ustralia. 2002i liyerlyn Saiiipi. Kenneth Braiiagh. l)a\id (iulpilil. ‘l-lmin. It's the humanity of .\'oy ce's storytelling Much is the most salient feature of this film ahout Australia's Stolen (ieneration. The didacticism of this true story of the ahduction of three ahoriginal children from their trihe. and their resettlement at a prison-like camp for the training of mixed race children into “line culture is hidden heneath its story of human struggle and endurance. .\'oy ce forgiyes all. liy en Branagh's .\lr .\'e\ ille. yy ho he first encounter explaining the hi/arre semi-fascist eugenics that motiyate him. is seen as not so much ey i| as profoundly yyroiig-headed. The children are the natural stars. ytith performances perfectly iiieasui'ed to their ages and situations. Ifiliii/mruh l'i/m (iui/il. l-fi/i'Ii/mruli.
Sammy and Yo i l3:\l iliduardo
“A COMEDY TIMED AND PLAYED
TO PERFECTION”... W?
flaws
a}, Officml Selection ‘ilj, if. EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL i: 1: fllM FESTIVAL (.411
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L".' Ntt‘. " Dix: RYE-(Xi THE LIST 43