Film

Reviews

BIOPIC INFAMOUS (15) 117min no

So how does this new film about Truman Capote writing In Cold Blood compare With Bennett lvliller's Oscar- winning Capote? It's not as good. but this sentiment comes With a massive caveat as writer director Douglas McGrath has created an entirer different beast. one which is more in keeping with Hollywood's favoured three-act structure.

Whereas Philip Seymour Hoffman played Capote WIN) a dark resonance. Toby Jones' interpretation sees Capote starts off as a much more flamboyant and happy p(-3rsonality. in the second act Will) Capote questioning the murder suspects in their cells his Capote becomes less sure of himself until. in the final denouement. he is mentally crushed by the executions of Perry Smith Daniel Craig) and Dick Hicklock iLee Peacei.

The (llllllllllllVO Jones was born to play Capote and his inimitable interpretation of the writer is every bit as good as Hoffman's. Unfortunately the film contains an all-star cast of rare anaemia. Playing Harper Lee Sandra Bullock is no Catherine Keener: Daniel Craig falls woefully short as Perry Smith and Gwyneth Paltrow and Sigourney Weaver are on cruise control. The cracks are made all the more clear with last year's Capote still fresh in the memory. (Kaleem Aftabl I Cameo. Edinburgh and selected cinemas from Fri if) Jan.

WAR T l lHll LLH BLACK BOOK (15) 145mm 000.

With his creatiVity curtailed by Hollywood's dream factory since 2000's underwlielming l-lo/low Mari. Paul Verhoeven has gone home to Holland. where he's also made a return to form With this pacy. provocative wartime thriller. lt's a companion piece to his 1977 World War II adventure Soldier of Orange. the film With which he achieved international recognition, though Black Book focuses less on the heroics of the Netherlands' resistance fighters than the thornier issue of the country's Na'xi collaborators who shopped .Jews to the Germans. Hie Diary of/lnne Frank this ain't.

At the centre of the action and it barely lets up over the film's lengthy running time is a young Jewish girl named Rachel Steinn (played with real gusto by Carice van Hoiiteni, who Joins the resistance movement. goes undercover as the lover of a senior

38 THE LIST 1". Jill} ‘, l'eli 200/

BOLLYWOOD ROUND UP

Director Priyardashan’s Bhagam Bhag (PG) 157min (00

) has all the

boisterous energy of his previous work (Hera Pheri, Hulchul). It’s based on the innocuous premise of an Indian theatre group embarking on a London tour minus Anjali (Tanushree Dutta), their female lead, who has left the group due to the sleazy and somewhat threatening advances of her male co-stars, Babla (Govinda) and Bunty (Akshay Kumar). In London the search begins, and the troupe becomes involved with an Hindi speaking local police chief (Jackie Shroff), local drug barons and the sultry but suicidal amnesiac Minni (Lara Dutta). Bhagam Bhag is staid, unadventurous and painfully sexist. The lazy script, boring structure and farcical chaos are just tedious. The incessant chase sequences through London’s tourist hotspots (and, inexplicably, Oxford) may have seemed amusing on paper, but grate on screen. This will no doubt be a hit with

middle-aged ‘unclejis’ everywhere. ) is the debut of director Vivek Agrawal.

[See You (PG) 122min (COO

Raj (Arjun Rampal) is the flirtatious playboy presenter of British Raj, a British-based Indian TV show, who embraces life, London and lots of girls. The story centres on his relationship with Shivani (Vipasha Agrawal), a lost soul/spirit, who is invisible to everyone but him. This blatant remake of Hollywood romancer Just Like Heaven mixes typical sweeping shots of the capital’s top tourist attractions with fresher sequences in which locals/extras bop with and lip-synch alongside the extremely likeable Rampal, while Gordon MacDonald’s cockney police inspector amusingly spouts infamous Bollywood dialogue. Some wooden acting and dodgy dubbing aside, the film’s light hearted, self-effacing tone works. This is a smart and promising debut for a media sawy

diaspora audience.

Salaam-E-Ishq: A Tribute to Love (PG) 150min (0000 ) relies heavily on an A-list ensemble cast including Salman Khan, John Abraham, Juhi Chawla and Anil Kapoor. Director Nikhil Advani’s follow-up to the model modern Bollywood blockbuster Kal Ho Naa Ho promises to go one step beyond. Expect all your Bollywood preconceptions to be tested as various love stories weave and interconnect. Collective and personal narratives, numerous plotlines, all intertwine with a ‘big romance’ theme.

ln Zamaanat (PG) 127mm (.00

) Kajol (Karisma Kapoor) desperately

pleads for assistance from blind lawyer Shiv Shanker (Amitabh Bachchan) in a bid to save innocent Suraj (Arshad Warsi) from the death penalty. The film positively bursts with the melodrama and grandiose dialogue (this is a Bollywood courtroom spectacle, after all). Currently riding a crescendo of success, the much-revered ‘Big B’ (Bachchan’s nickname) can do no wrong. A guaranteed hit.

(Ghazala Butt)

I All films on selected release from Fri 79 Jan. See listings for details.

German officer and discovers the eXistence of the titulai tome. a volume of murderous intent.

Black Book is an ol.l fashioned boy's own romp and an intelligent investigation of a largely unaddressed

period of the Netherlands history. But despite dovetailing thematically \.'.’|l."i his pre l’lollywood films. Black Book is infused with the racy style Verhoeyen perfected during his ’20 years working in Ariiei‘ica. From the scene in which the film's heroine dies her pubic hair blonde to conceal her Jets/.sh origins from her German lover to the climax in which she's stripped naked and

bathed in human excrement you know

you're watching a Veihoeyen film. And that can oiin be a good thing.

ilvliles Fielder:

I Selected re/e.'i:;e from [it M) Jan.

See iriteii/ieizr'. page -1().

REM lit. {MM/A GHOSTS (15) 98min 0000

Documentary --'ii;tk<>r Nick Broomfie'd's first dramatic feature since his illv‘fated toff murder tale Diamond Skiil/s sr me t7 years ago. Gl‘iosfs t'aces the events leading u: to the droyming of 23 Chinese cockie-pic ers in Feumary 20011 off Moreca'nbe Bay. L kc- other recent Brit pseudo -:ioca'nentaries Paul Greengrass' B’()i)()",' Sum/aid Michael \"ilinteri>otio'n's Ir: .‘liis lib/id and Perry Ogden's Pavee Lackeen this digitally shot x'xo'k bzurs the traditional (lstinctions befits/cc". reality and fiction. Indeed. it‘() hand-hefzi canierawork. the "attiral lighting. the (ltlllTOl‘llC locataoi‘s and the "on- professionai cast "elp (2()l)7.l"l)‘.li(1- to tie film's verisimiliturie.

Ghosts focsses on the plight of A' On", iA, Din. Lini_ a young ntether from China who borrows $255,000 tron: a Snakehead gang to be smuggeo Me the UK. Having surxwed a grueliing six« month jcur'iey exer'and. she takes up a series of \.'./oe*'ully paid T’actory and rscattural jobs. The expio'tatio'i of this ' mac '5; relentless: (B"‘:l)l()‘y"‘i(§".l agencies creai". of‘ extra l“(,‘l“3';. "er ‘.""iii“'f; a"<i l‘er ’(El‘iCCl

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l’Di lT'lCAl b‘lOir’lC BOBBY (15) 116mm 000

Writerdirector l—mil-o t1steve/ fias created a hagxxy‘aehy of Bobbi. Kennedy and posits t'tat his deaf": marked an end o" a iro itical (t'tfiilY‘ l" the United States. l"e acto". takes place a‘. the scene e" the 1:" the tee Ambassador llofe' '1 lot; Ange-let; er‘ ' .June 7968. l stexex cats I".(} ghost o“ his di'e directorial effo"ts 'x'vi'en a.‘ Work. the '.'./a/ a.’ Home ttii'l‘l"(l him " creat 'ig L)? ‘i::'. (:“al <"‘.:i"a::‘.e's he

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