otherwise familiar léiiklll’} animals frr,rr‘ AA Milne"; stories. In the light of argurrrents about the possible homosexuality of SpengeBob

Sguarepants. rt seems hypocritical that the bear-assert creatures in this DiSllC“,

film seem to have been so flfll‘iy modelled on gay stereotypes. And as Fatteddy Nopants. Trgger, Eyore and 900 set out on their fraught JOilfflG‘, rnto the woods in search of the Heffalump. Pooh's agerng-gueen routine proves particularly wearing. At least the overall tonal range of Pooh's

Heffa/unrp Movie takes a few welcome

drversrons into a B/a/r Witch—style uneasiness. which offsets the saccharine qualities of Carly Simon's annoyingly cIOyrng songs. As always. Trgger provides welcome light relief, rescuing thrs anodyne frlrn wrth hrs sangurne presence and his arnusrngly affected pronunciation of the word ‘fraught‘. (Eddie Harrison)

I General release from Fri 78 Mar.

RELlGlOUS EPIC THE PASSION - RECUT (15) 121 min 0.00

Cutting Mel Grbson's The PasSron of the Christ by six minutes and grvrng rt a snazzy new name has resulted in rt now being given a 15 rather than an

18 certificate by those wrse heads at the BBFC. Some repeat vrewers may

not even notice the cuts which actually do not change the vrewing experience

Wthll, in thrs revrewer's opinion, remains a powerful and vrolent depiction of Christ's last 12 hours in the land of the lrvrng.

The biggest changes have taken place in the scourgrng scene where the orrgrnal's repeated beating wrth whips wrth barbed metal tips have

been mostly removed and some of the

repetitions Cut. There are also cuts. mainly of the blink and you rnrss them variety.

The main advantage of the recut is the chance to reassess the merrts of

the film away from the arguments over

whether rt panders to the Chrrstran right or rs anti-Semitic or rndeed whether the critic believes in the values JeSUS reportedly espoused or not. Cinema rs occa8ronally about an

auteur putting aCross hrs message in a

vrsually effective way. and rn this respect Mel Gibson has done a

sterling job. Of particular note is Caleb

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the outcome. which adds poignant:

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EXISTENTIAL THRILLER THE MACHINIST (15) 102min 0.0.

As well as being brilliantly envisioned and executed, this existential thriller also benefits from an astonishing performance by Christian Bale, who shed 63lb in order to play Trevor Reznik, a haunted soul who is slowly vanishing from a world he barely seems to inhabit in the first place. Reznik’s world is a surreal urban American landscape, a kind of post-industrial dreamscape that doesn’t seem particularly real in the first place. Beneath grey and overcast skies and through grimy, shadowy streets, the emaciated Reznik stumbles in a zombiefied state, working the lathe in a machine shop, drinking coffee in a local airport cafe and sleeping with Jennifer Jason Leigh’s hooker as if he’s merely going through the motions of living. Meanwhile, the inexplicable appearance of a threatening stranger, a bizarre bald dude with three toes grafted onto his hand, and a series of mysterious hangman clues post-stuck onto his fridge, pushes the paranoid Reznik closer to the edge of sanity.

Scott Kosar’s script draws heavily on the nightmare narratives of Dostoyevsky and Kafka, where guilt, anxiety and terror plague the protagonist. Director Brad Anderson takes his cue from David Lynch, imaging a world that by being a cliche of the idea of everyday America is, in fact, one subtle step removed from reality. And in Xavi Gimenez’s sleek photography and Rogue Banos‘ eerie Bernard Herrmann-inspired score, there’s also a nod to Hitchcock.

It’s likely that The Machinist will be remembered for Bale’s super-calorific feat, but his extreme measures are no mere gimmick. His hollow form is pivotal to the film’s central metaphor - the man who isn’t there. And while the same effect could no doubt have been achieved with special effects and/or the careful application of make-up and wardrobe, the discomfort Bale must have suffered feeds into his painstaking and frequently painful- to-watch performance. (Miles Fielder)

I Selected release from Fri ’8 See fea.‘...re. . 74.

Film

Mutts

Film news and giveaways fOr beautiful Cineaste types

I Rough Cuts would like to congratulate Mark Cousins (pictured) and the panel of film industry experts for their excellent lecture at Napier University on Tuesday 8 March. They argued that the digital media revolution presented an opportunity that the Scottish film industry should take advantage of. DocSpace, CinemaNet Europe and Mediabase - your time may have just come around.

I Rough Cuts has ten pairs of tickets to give away for the Scottish premiere screening of French crime caper The Adventures of Arsene Lupin, the next CineFile release. It's on Wednesday 30 March at the UGC in Edinburgh and the director. Jean-Paul Salome. will be present. Showing as part of the Renault French Film Festival. the movie will not be properly released until September. Simply send an email marked ‘French Film' to promotions@list.co.uk by Friday 25 March. Usual List rules apply.

I Don‘t miss the special Ed Wood night at the Fleapit Film Club. Weird films, DJs and bands will be going down at the (old) Buff Club on Wednesday 30 March, 8.30pm—3am 525/23 (half price until 10.30pm). See Club news.

WIN GET SHORTY ON DVD! v “:9; n We have five WE 370d?” copies of the

classic Get Shorty to give away. This criminally good Elmore Leonard _ a, adaptation is ‘H‘ finally available to buy in a special edition DVD package that is loaded with cool extras including the making of features and star interviews from 21 March (£19.99 RRP). To be in with the chance of winning a copy, just send us an email to promotions©list.co.uk by no later than 31 March 2005. Usual List rules apply

. THE LIST 49