Films screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate, star rating, credits, brief review and venue details. Film index compiled by Paul Dale
II! The African Queen (PG) .000
(John Huston. I'K. l95 l ) Humphrey Bogart.
Katharine Hepburn. Robert Morley. 105mm. Splendid World War 1 adventure has the marvellous pairing of grizzled Bogey and spinsterish Hepburn as they make their way tip the (‘ongo lighting swamps. the Hun and each other to quite thrilling effect. (ireat character interplay courtesy of film critic James Agee's gritty dialogtte. Part of John Huston season. See feature. page 42. Glasgow Film Theatre. (ilas‘gau'; l-i/mhause. Edinburgh.
AI-Ghazali: The Alchemist of Happiness ( l2A) (Abdul I.atif Salazar. I'K. 2004) Abol Re/a Kermani. Mitra Hajjar. Dariush Arjmand. (ihorban Nadjali. 80min. A timely look at the alternative Islamic philosophy of (lhazali. which is too often portrayed as being the antidote to fanaticism and terror. Part of .Middle Iiast season. film/muse. Edinburgh.
Alien Adventure 3|) (t') 0000 (Ben Strassen. Japan. 200I ) Voice oI'John Boyle. Botili I.anners. 37min. An alien race looking fora planet to colonise find earth and unfortunately enter a theme park where they cause much amusing mayhem. IMAX Theatre. (iluxgmi:
An Anarchist’s Story ( 15) (Mark I.ittlewood. I'K. 2006) Marianne Mclvor. 75min. A historical rendition of anarchist Iithel .\laeI)onald’s participation in the Spanish (‘ivil War. Hailed as the Scots 'Scarlet Pimpernel’. she focused the world's attention on (‘atalonia's anarchist revolution and was eventually imprisoned by the (‘ommunist authorities. (i/asgau- I-‘i/m 'I'heatre. (Ilasgnu’.
Apocalypto ( )8) 0000 (Mel (iibsoit. IS. 2006) Youngblood. Dalia Hernandez. Mayra Scrbulo. l38min. A Rambo-like chase movie played out in Mayan fancy dress with little recourse to historical validity. Young family man Jaguar Paw (Youngblood) becomes a savage on the run. the action hurtling along around violent set pieces to create a boy's own fantasy for the 21st (’entury. .S'eleeled release.
Arthur and the Invisibles (t')
0.. (I.uc Besson. l‘rance. 2007) Voices of lireddie Ilighmore. Mia l‘arrow. Ron Crawford. 93min. See review. page ~13. (ieneral release.
Babel ( IS) 0.. (Alejandro (ion/alez- lnarritu. I'S/Mexico. 2006) (‘ate Blanchett. Brad Pitt. (iael (iarcia Bernal. I43min. Screenwriter (iuillermo Arriaga and director Intirritu (both Amares‘ I’erms‘. 3/ Grants) turn out another fragmented story with a deeply ‘profound’ message. Despite the A- list megastars. the sections about a Japanese girl and Moroccan kids fare the best. The rest is cliched nonsense. .S'eleeted release. Bamako (P(i) 0.. (Abderrahmane Sissako. Mali/I'S/I‘rance. 2005) Aissa Maiga. Maimouna Helene Diarra. Balla Habib l)embele. I 17min. Mele and her htisband (‘haka are on the verge of breaking tip. Meanwhile. the other residents of their shared courtyard have set tip a trial to take the World Batik and International Monetary Fund to task for Africa‘s problems. Interesting social drama. (i/asgun' I'i/m Theatre. (i/usgrm'.
Barnyard (PG) 00 (Steve
()edekerk. IS. 2006) voices of Kevin James.
(‘ourteney (‘ox. Sam lilliott. 89min. (‘omputer-generated animation feature centered on the single unfunny premise that farmyard animals do mad things when no one is watching. Will) the cast and writers involved. this should be half decent. but it’s actually very poor. More manure for minors. lint/tire ('lvdehank. ('lvdelmnk.‘ l’ue Iz'diIt/mreh ()eean. Ifdinlmrgh.
* Belle de Jour( l8) ooooottms Buntiel. France/Italy. 1967) (‘atherine l)eneuve. Jean Sorel. Michel Piccoli. 99min. See review. page 45. Film/muse. Ifdinhmgh. Bits 3, CKD ( IZA) (I’isI-tt-Bt'okc Productions. IS. 2006) 40min. A passionate documentary about daring mountain bike
riding in some of the world‘s most spectacular natural scenery. (‘heck out some pros and new faces as they catch big air and big ambitions. l-‘i/mhouse. lidinlmrjeh. Black Book (Zwartboek) ( IS) 0... (Paul Verhoeven. Netherlands/ Belgium/[TK/(iermany. 2006) (‘arice van Ilouten. Sebastian Koch. Thom Hoffman. l45min. Verhoeven returns to form with this pacy. provocative wartime thriller - his first Dutch language film in 20 years. Focussing on a young Jewish girl named (van Houten). it is an old fashioned boy's own romp about the resistance movement and Nazi collaborators. Matching the themes of his pre-Hollywood films to an arthouse. racy style. Verhoeven gets the best from both. Se/eeled release. Blood and Chocolate ( IZA) CO (Katja von (iarnier. LS. 2007) Agnes Bruckner. Hugh Dancy. ()livier Martinez. ()‘hnin. See Also Released. page 45. (ieneral release. Blood Diamond ( 15) .0 (Edward vaick. IS. 2006) Leonardo DiCaprio. Djimon Hounsou. Jennifer ('onnelly. l-lein. Against the backdrop of civil war in l‘)‘)()s‘ Sierra Leone. an ex-mercenary from Zimbabwe (DiCaprio) and a Mende fisherman (Hounsou) cross fates and their lives are changed forever. (‘ontrived. pseudo-liberal tosh with an embarrassing script that‘s only" alleviated by decent performances. (ieneral release. Bobby ( 15) .00 (Iimilio listevez. t' 2007) Harry Belafonte. Joy Bryant. Nick ('annon. l 16min. Writer-director Iistevez turns his attentions to the assassination of another Kennedy. JI-‘K's little brother. The action takes place at the scene of the crime the Ambassador Hotel in LA on 5 June 1968 and follows the impact on 22 fictional characters. It’s hit and miss. bttt does ably mix archive footage with fictional action in what is ultimately a hagiography. (ienera/ I'('/('(l.\i('. Breaking and Entering (15) 0.. (Anthony Minghella. I'K/I'S. 2006) Jude Law. Juliette Binoche. Robin Wright Penn. 1 lSmin. A young Bosnian-tinglish thief. Miro ((iavron). takes part in the robbery of an architects’ office in King's (‘ross. unwittingly bringing together architect Will (Law) and the boy's mother. Amira (Binoche). An uneasy romance provides the emotional sustenance that Will craves. (imsvettm: (i/as‘gau: Breathless (A Bout de Souffle) ( IS) 0.... (Jean-l.uc (iodard. lirance. l‘)5‘)) Jean-Paul Belmondo. Jean Seberg. ‘)()min. A chic Parisian petty criminal (Belmondo) and his American girlfriend (Seberg) drift through a world of stolen cars and aimless romance towards an inexorable downbeat finale. (iodard‘s debut feature provoked quite a stir in its day for its carefree arrogance with the conventions of lilmic grammar. but today it stands as a casual love letter to the American B-movie crime picture. Introduced by Dr Jonny Murray. (i/asgmi‘ I'l/m Theatre. Glasgow: Brief Encounter (P( i) 000 (David Lean. L'K. 19—15) ('elia Johnson. 'I'revor Howard. Stanley Holloway. 86min. Stiff upper lips and emotionally charged brushes of the hands are all that Johnson and Iloward will allow themselves as their extra- marital ‘affair‘ doesn't develop much beyond unspoken longings at a railway station. For some. the tears will still (low: for others. the ungiving morality is exasperating. (iiven the rigidity of this Iinglish romance. the Rachmaninov soundtrack is unlittingly sweet. Seats/nan .S'ereening Roam. Edinburgh. Calamity Jane .00 (t') (David Butler. VS. 1953) Doris Day. Howard Keel. Allyn Ann Mcl.erie. Philip (‘areyx I0lmin. Indian scout (‘alantity Jane (Day) is hard— riding. boastful and handy with a gun. She has to be. living as she does in Deadwood. Dakota. a place where men are men and women are loothsome. When Jane falls in love with a young army lieutenant she realises she may have to change. because he really does not appreciate her more butch qtlalities. (‘lassic camp western musical. Shown as part oI'(ilasgay? as a sing along. the night includes awards for the best dressed cow girl/boy. Filth/muse. Iz‘dinlmrgh.
SUNDANCE DIARY
Scottish short film writer/director Johnny Barrington (pictured) is at the Sundance Film Festival to see his film Trout in competition. Here are
€§Eérfi§fl2§lhi§i?§£IY§.'_S‘_i?I¥:-_____ _ _ The power of trees, American trees. The power of snow, American
snow. The power of a frontier. The power of wolves, American wolves. The power of supermarket sweaters with a wolf drawing on them or the words Alaska or Wyoming in curly writing.
And then a wolf howled. It wasn’t my imagination. That was a real wolf howl. What have I got to protect myself? Hmm, my hard toed boots, my voice and yes, the flash on my digital camera. The flash would confuse and startle it and send it back to where it came from. I held my breath and listened for rustling. I strained my eyes for a dark movement amongst the trunks. The flash would give me time to escape back to reality. Back to Sundance and all the friendly people in friendly cocktail parties who don’t want to bite your face off. I turned and ran back, building up a heavy sweat, thinking how you can scare wolves with a camera flash because Robert Redford does it all the time from the back of his V8 skidoo, but you definitely can’t sue them.
Off the mountain, Main Street was choked with glamorous millionaires in fur coats and students with anti-fur placards. I saw a party with smart security guards on the door and thought I’d go in and see what all the fuss was about, what mobile phone they were giving away. They had great big meatballs on a big hotplate surrounded by carved radishes and yes - scallops wrapped in bacon - as many as I could fit inside my mouth. I rubbed my fat paws and grabbed a pIateful.
I was thinking about why bacon so often wraps other meat types and how good it would be to wrap something very big in bacon when I looked up and saw Kevin Bacon. He looked dapper, with a grin bolted onto his face. Wow. I could have asked him. I could have said it was for some whacky music video or something, but I didn’t.
I To watch Trout visit http://festival.sundanceorg/ZOOWwatch/
film.aspx?which=823&category=SF.
Cars (PG) .0 (John Lasseter. IS. 2006) Voices of ()wen Wilson. Paul Newman. Bonnie Hunt. Larry The ('able (iuy. 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. ('ars doesn‘t quite make the highest grade mainly because it‘s the least original Pixar film yet. (‘ineu-arld ReIl/reii' Street. (i/usgutt'.’ ('tlleti'nrld Ifdin/uujeh. Ifdin/mrgh.
Casablanca (l’( l) 00... (Michael (‘urti/. I'S. l‘)-I2) Humphrey Bogart. Ingrid Bergman. Dooley Wilson. I02min. You must remember this . . . Bogart being impossibly noble. Bergman torn between two lovers. (‘laude Rains playing both ends against the middle. devious Nazis. a I'ogbound airport. a piano-player tinkling that ttine. A wonderful hill of beans and a wonderful new digitised print. too. See ftill review next issue. Film/muse. Ifdiu/nu‘gh.
Cashback ( 15) (Sean tiltis. t'K. 2006) Sean Biggerstaff. Iimilia l-‘ox. Shaun Iivans. l02min. 'l‘he (Elasgow Film Festival ()pening (iala. An expanded version of Iillis' ()scal'-nontinated short. (’ashhaek follow s the romantic tribulations of art student Belt (an impressive Biggerstaff). Depressed and insomniac after being dumped by his girlfriend. Bert gradually begins to make sense of the world w hen he takes on the graveyard shift at his local supermarket and meets checkout assistant Sharon (l‘ox ). ()pening tilm of (ilasgow Film Festival. See feature. page 20. (ilasgmv I’ll/n Theatre. Glasgow.
Fancy yourself asa
see page 54
1—15 Feb 2007 THE LIST 49