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Films screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate, star rating, credits, brief review and venue details. Film Index compiled by Paul Dale
Alice (I5) eeee (Jan Svankmajer. Czechoslovakia/ Switzerland/L’K/West Germany. I988) 84min. Hyper-real puppet and stop frame animation version of the Carroll classic by brilliant Czech filmmaker Svankmajer. in which Alice makes her way through a harsh dreamscape. Cruel. childlike and fantastical. Disney it definitely isn't. Weston Lark. Edinburgh.
Alien Adventure 3D (L’) eeee
(Ben Strassen. Japan. 2001 ) Voice of John Boyle. Bouli Lanners. 37min. An alien race looking for a planet to colonise find earth and unfortunately enter a theme park where they cause much amUsing mayhem. IMAX Theatre. Glasgow.
Angel-A ( IS) ee (Luc Besson. France. 2005) Jamel Debbouze. Rie RasmUssen. Gilbert Melki. Serge Raiboukine. Akim Chir. 87min. A romantic fable of self-acceptance. which takes place on the streets of Paris. Andre is a petty criminal down on his luck. whose life is changed by the eponymous character. After an attempted double suicide the pair eventually fall in love. This is a remarkable change in direction for Lue Besson. which is to be lauded though the message that one should be true to oneself gets lost somewhere in the Seine. Selected release. Angelina Ballerina & Plngu (U) (VarioUs. UK. 2006) 70min. A special feature length version of every tot‘s favourite ballerina. Pingu also makes an appearance in a special adventure. ()deon For! Kimiaird. Edinburgh.
The Ant Bully (U) ee (John A Davis. US. 2006) Julia Roberts. Nicholas Cage. Meryl Streep. 89min. Yet another CGl animation bestowing life lessons on the nation‘s young. Ten year-old Lucas likes to torment ants. until resident ant wizard Zoe (Nicolas Cage) shrinks him to their size and teaches him to live as part of the community rather than an individual. Predictable yarn. General release.
Atomized ( l8) eeee (Oskar Roehlcr. Germany. 2006) Moritz Bleibtreu. Christian Ulmen. Martina Gedeek. Franka Potente. l09min. Filmmaker Roehler takes Houllebecq's macabre and nihilistic story of two half-brothers traumatised by their childhood and flips it into a hurnourous romantic comedy with an ending that gives the middle finger to the narcissist fatalism of the source material. A decadent feat of adaptatation. Glasgow Film Theatre. Glasgow:
Bad Education (La Mala Educacion) ( I5) eeeee (Pedro Almodovar. Spain. 2004) Gael Garcia Bernal. Fele Martinez. Daniel Gimenez Caeho. Lluis Homar. l05min. A successful young movie director Enrique (Martinez) receives an unexpected visitor — someone claiming to be his childhood friend and lover Ignacio (Bemal). who now prefers to be called Angel. But who exactly is Angel and why is he can'ying around lganacio‘s work'.’ An absolute delight. Almodovar is undoubtedly one of the finest filmmakers working in Europe today. C ameo. Edinburgh.
Blood Red Roses (l5) (John McGrath. UK. 1986) Elizabeth Maclennan. James Grant. Gregor Fisher. l50min. A typically strong. moving depiction of Scottish working class history. shot for TV and based on a 7:84 Theatre Company production. Centred on the life of Bessie Gordon. from her school days to her time as an intemationally renowned trade unionist. through family struggles and oppression in the workplace. the film paints a broad canvas. Glasgow Film Theatre. Glasgow. Bob the Builder & Pingu (U) (Various. UK. 2006) 80min. A special feature-length Bob for the summer holidays along with a Pingu adventure. Odeon For! Kinnaind. Edinburgh.
The Break-Up (l2A) OO ' : ~- (Peyton Reed. US. 2006) Jennifer Aniston. Vince Vaughn. Joey Lauren Adams. Cole Hauser.
20 1’"! LIST 3-10 Aug 2006
Jon Fay reau. ll0min. After two years of marriage. city tour gurde Gary (Vaughn) and art gallery assistant Brooke (Aniston) hasc had enough of each other. but can't bring themselves to give up their coveted Chicago condo. The restrained comic style Aniston refined during her tenure on Friends JUst doesn't fit with Vaughn‘s freew heeling. so it's left to the supporting cast to provide the laughs. including Bmoke's bitchy boss. all- singing brother and Gary 's best buddy. Johnny 0. General release.
Brick ( l5) eee (Rian Johnson. LS. 2005) Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Nora Ychetncr. Emilie de Ravin. Matt ()‘Leary. ll0min. Geeky loner Brendan (Gordon-Levitt) is having a bad week. His junkie ex girlfriend is dead and his investigations are leading nowhere. ()n his side. he has the Brain (()'Leary) and rich girl sophisticate mystery woman Laura (Zehetner). but then he crosses high school crime lord the Pin (Lukas Haas) and his mUscle Tug (Noah Fleiss). Cornmendable but deeply fiaw ed and occassionally eringy update of the classic film noir to a modern US high school setting. A for efi‘ort. C for execution. Glasgow Film Theatre. Glasgow.
Call of Dudy: Bohemian Bagpipes Across Borders (PG) (Radim Spacek. Jefe Brown. Keith Jones. Czech Republic. 2006) 52min. A look at the regeneration of the cultural importance of bagpipes (‘dudy') in Central Europe with. of course. a look in from the Scots. Glasgow Film Theatre. Glasgow:
Cars (PG) .0. (John Lasseter. LS. 2006) Voices of Owen Wilson. Paul Newman. Bonnie Hunt. Larry The Cable Guy. I2lmin. Racecar Lightning McQueen loses his way en route to the final race of the season and finds himself marooned in the sleepy town of Radiator Springs. which is populated by an array of misfit cars. Despite the many positives. Cars doesn‘t quite make the highest grade mainly beeinse it‘s the least original Pixar film yet. General release.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (PG) COO. (Tim Burton. US/UK. 2005) Johnny Depp. Freddie Highmore. David Kelly. Helena Bonham Carter. Noah Taylor. I l5min. Excellent and faithful adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic l964 book. Bizarre and beautiful to look at. this is Burton at the top of his game. Grosvenor. Glasgow.
The Cheviot, The Stag and The Black, Black Oil ( l5) (John McGrath. UK. I973) John Bell. Alex Norton. Bill Paterson. Elizabeth MacLennan. David MacLennan. Dolina MacLennan. Alan Ross. l00min. Film record of McGrath's milestone ‘ceilidh play' for 7:84 Scotland. about Scottish history from the Highland Clearances to the North Sea oil boom. It was the first theatre show ever to tour Scotland's Highlands and Islands. and provided a model of radical political theatre which McGrath and others are still employing and developing 20 years later. Glasgow Film Theatre. Glasgow.
The Da Vincl Code (12A) ee
(Ron Howard. US. 2006) Tom Hanks. Audrey Tautou. Ian McKellen. Paul Bettany. l48min. Howard's two and a half hour yawn-fest displays the worst hallmarks of a Hollywood rush-job. remorselessly cashing in on a popular fad. Despite nice locations. what was a decent page-turner emerges as a burn-numbing melodrama of little interest in terms of either cinema or tabloid theology. Vue Edinburgh Ocean. Edinburgh.
Deep Dish TV: Episodes 5-8 (the) (Various. US. 2005) 90min. Episodes 5-8 of the infamous series from video collective Paper Tiger television. the American alternative satellite network committed to analyzing the mass media and advocating for grassroots social activism. For obvioUs reasons this selection of episodes has been subtitled A Grassroots Response to War and Occupation in Iraq. C CA. Glasgow. District 13 ( l5) “0 (Pierre Morel. France. 2004) Cyril Raffaelli. David Belle. 85min. Setting Le Parkour creator David Belle opposite regular fight-choreographer Cyril Raffaelli. the agenda is one of pure action. With both cast as reluctant heroes facing up to the bullying drug culture of a Paris banlieu circa 2010. this is another of
BIC/PIC THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE (18) 91 min eeee
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Director Mary Harron follows her edgy biopic of sixties counterculture female icon Valerie Solanas, I Shot Andy Warhol, with a pleasantly surprising, sweet portrait of the titular 50$ under-the-counter pin-up queen. What could easily have been (in the hairy hands of a male filmmaker perhaps) a lurid expose of the whips-and-leather goddess is in the cradling palms of Harron and her co-writer Guinevere Turner (Go Fish) a largely joyful look at Page’s life. And although their film takes a resolutely upbeat - and quite comic - view of Page’s happy experiences of being photographed and filmed for fetish magazines and nature movies, it doesn’t shy away from the darker aspects of her life: the abuse Page suffered as a child at home and subsequently as a runaway teenager and the painfully public McCarthy-ite Senate investigation that prompted her to quit modelling.
The film focuses on Page’s posing, from her early beginnings at the New York studio of Irving and Paula Klaw (played by the marvellous Chris Bauer and Lili Taylor) through her bondage work with cheeky British chap John Willie (hilarious Jared Harris) to her famous colour jungle girl spreads shot by former glamour puss Bunny Yeager. But beyond this self-conscious frivolity, The Notorious Bettie Page finds time to indict the conservative era it takes place in. From gangbanging college kids to sensation-seeking senators (led by David Strathairn, giving yet another sterling performance), the patriarchal 503 are found guilty of being stultifying square, man.
In keeping with the glorious style and design of the period setting, however, the film boasts beautiful black and white and Technicolor cinematography, fashion accessories to die for and a smooth jazz, Latin and easy listening soundtrack. The final word, however. must go to Gretchen Moi, who is simply astonishing as the sweet Southern belle. Not only does she have Page’s modelling mannerisms down to a tee and display, the (now unfashionable) curvaceous physique of a woman of the post-war era, she also brings to the surface the curious mix of na’iveté and rebellion that defined Bettie Page. (Miles Fielder)
I FIl/liliOt/SQ, Edinburgh and selected Cinemas from Fr) 4 Aug. See mien/rows, page 77 and 22.
Fateless (Sorstalansag) ( 12A) OOOO fl.&tJ()s Koltai. Hungary/Germany /l'K.2005).\1arcell Nagy. Bela Dora. l40min. 14-year-old Gyurka. a Budapest Jew. is fated to endure stints in three concentration camps '.’ AUschw it/-Birkeiiau. Buclienwald. and Zeitz, Through a series of \igriettcs. Kollai follows his stoical attempts to survive barbaric conditions and experience moments of fleeting happiness to create a daring. affecting and superlative Holocaust drama. ('ameo. Izilinburgli. Garfield: A Tale of No Kitties (t?) .0 (Tim Hill. LS. 2006) Breckin Meyer. Jennifer Love Hewitt. Billy Connolly. Bill Murray. lan Abercrombie. Roger Recs. 80min. In his return to the big screen. the clever ginger feline (voiced by Murray). takes a trip to Blight). and through a case of mistaken identity ends up ruling oser a rather flashy country pile. The nefarioUs Lord Dargis (Connolly) has other ideas though. General release.
vs ritcr Luc Besson's patented kick-ass futuristic adventures. and perhaps a taster of the future of the modern action film. ('ineworld lidinburg/i. Ink/arbia'gh.
The Double Life of Veronique ( )5) O... (Krlyslof Kieslms ski. Poland/France. UNI ) Irene Jacob. llalina Gryglaszew ska. Kalina chrusik. Aleksander Bardini. ll0niin. Two girls one l’olish. the other French are born at the same time on the same day and come to discos er that their fates are bound up together. An eerily fascinating and disturbing erotic dance of love and death from the director of Dekalog2 (The Ten Commandments). w ith an extraordinary twin perforriiance by Cannes aw ard-winner Jacob. (ilasgrm l-‘rlni Theatre. Glasgow.
ET - The Extra-Terrestrial (l') O... (Steven Spielberg. l'S. 1982/2002) Dee Wallace-Stone. Henry Thomas. Peter Coyote. I20min. lindearing modem classic. Gmsvenor. Glasgow.