. PLAYLIST
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SHOR Ts r,oriiPiL/.iiort CINEMA 1 6: WORLD SHORT FILMS
(E) 303mm
(Warp DVD retaili ”O.
A collection of it; short films from filmmakers around the world. this DVD includes work by Sylvain ()hornet. Alexander Sokurov. Guillermo Del loro, Jane ()ampron, Alfonso Cuaron and ()usiiiane Sembene But one of the very best is Andrea Arnold's l'l/asp. a work of realism that may bring to mind Alan ()larke as it ruthlessly scrutinises the beliaVIour of a young mum towards her brood. As wrth her your; feature debut Red Hoar]. Arnold's qualities here reside in the fact that she manages to capture location wrthout
losing focus of «harar ter
lhe same is true of Senilienes egually invoking Hororn Stirret. as a cart man taxis people arouand the (,IT‘, and allo.‘is. through its leading character. Semliene to offer the sort of observation so present Ill his features. most noticeably 8/{ICA (iii/ and Xa/a.
A word also for Sokurov's Sonata for Hit/er. a dissonant Work
"gift“; a strarge. wrgia' feeling thwarfts The dictator Soiiietines .‘.'e fieeil t', be rei'i'vle/t rtt'v: mots (it a dictatmrs appeal, not onl, his atrocities. if want to understand histcr, 's mistakes tvlinirnal extras "lon, McKibbir:
[it )(LUIJTI N ling"? ZERO: AN INVESTIGATION INTO 9/1 1
(12) 105min (.loiningthetlots t‘. DVD nflmh...’
However ,ou might feel about (,()fl?)[)lfttt,‘, theories l raiirto l racassi and francesco lies documentary does leave one With food for thought. In it. such notable figures as Dario l o and (Bore Vidal. along With various aircrash Investigators.
Night of the Demon
There's nothing quite like a good spine chiller for passing the long. dark winter nights; MR James was a master of the genre. and although his work has irregularly been translated into the mediums of film and television. the results have been uncommonly good. So settle down by a roaring fire with snifter of brandy as you get in the mood for some atmospheric storytelling with Whistle and I’ll Come To You (tinyurl.com/bl39cc). a BBC production from 1968 featuring Michael Horden as a sceptic whose beliefs come into question after a chance encounter on a beach. Also within easy reach are televised versions of MR James’s Number 13 (tinyurlcom/auxStq). or A Warning to the Curious (tinyurl.com/dcf76f). or you can even enjoy Charles Dickens writing in a very James~ian mode in The Signalman (tinyurl.com/cqv9tp). immaculately performed by the late great Denholm Elliott. But for your main feature. lock the doors, draw the curtains and brace yourself under the bedclothes for Jacques Tourneur's 1957 classic Night of the Demon (tinyurlcom/cjvntz). Based on MR James's short story Casting the Runes, it‘s a taut. sober and chilling story of a psychologist (Dana Andrews) chasing around London to evade the curse put on him by occult master and part-time children's clown Karswell (Niall MacGinnis). Even though Tourneur tried unsuccessfully to have added detailed shots of the fearsome fire-demon removed from the ending, the eerie effects and overall serious tone easily knock today's 3D horror extravaganzas into a cocked hat. The very essence of cult horror, Night of the Demon turns up in the small hours of TV schedules to terrify the unwary, but despite a strong critical reputation, hasn't been issued on DVD in the UK. 80 if you want a look at the movie which inspired everything from The Rocky Horror Picture Show to Kate Bush's The Hounds of Love (http://tinyurl.com/60koad). And if Night of the Demon's handling of occult seems oddly plausible. that may well be because director Tourneur claimed to know what he was talking about; he announced to audiences at the 1975 Edinburgh Film Festival that he had consulted a number of white witches while making the film. and claimed to possess a few of their powers himself. (Eddie Harrison)
58 THE LIST 5—19 Feb 2009
("usiti'sts arm: ex-CIA :9 )(k present a 501.08 J :.ises atxvut narrous aspects of that terrible .la. .-.her‘ the US d:>‘.e’iil¥ierit declared war on anyone who
didn't agree with it
So exhaustive is the filiiimaker's coverage of the event. you can pick or choose which aspects of the conspiracy with which you concur. While there seems to be some need for further investigation of such things as the missing plane wreck at the Pentagon and the ‘terrorist' passport that miraculously escaped a head on collision With the South lower. other aspects of the event might well be covered up to obfuscate nothing more sinister than the incompetence of a Pentagon that had grown fat on a bloated defence budget. something that hasn't entirely occurred to the makers. The documentary is presented in a nicely paced form. With plenty of first—hand testimony. making for a compelling, if at times not completely credible watch. Minimal extras. (Steve Cramer)
WESTERN SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO
(15) 94min (Contender DVD retail) 0..
Japanese auteur Takashi Miike puts the wanton bloodletting and cruelty of Audition and his Dead and Alive
series aside ‘or this it"‘igtic- ("CTTt‘t‘K spaghett western Throw in a" acting turn f'om Ouei‘t n Tararitino. returning the ‘axour tor Mikes cameo appearance in the Tarantino-produced horror Hostel . an English speaking Japanese cast. and a \ellow orange .‘inemattigraphic pallet and this is undeniably a hyperireal unixerse
The story takes place in a village where two ll\.{tt clans (the red and the whiter stand off against each other, in search of a tabled treasure when a hotshot gunman rides into town There's also a revenge story in here somewhere as well. which at least allows for the best moment in the film: an impressively yet simply choreographed “grief dance'. Special features include deleted scenes and a 08A With Tarantino. (Tony McKibbin)
l IlMl D THEATRE BLACK WATCH (18) 154mm
(John Williams Productions DVD retail) 0..
There can be little doubt about the power of the National Theatre of Scotland's Black Watch. an international hit for Scottish theatre unparalleled for a decade. its story of a group of soldiers from the titular regiment on tour in Iraq. and the death of three of their number outsde Camp Dogwood is an immensely moving and often humourous story. which. if it stops short of asking masswe Questions. demonstrates a human dimenSion Within a mighty international event
This filmed performance of the play loses of necessin some of John Tiffany‘s
productions theatrical \ersatiiit\ ~ the ("‘xsical theatre skills and use of (YttiSlC mitt 80'th Ct‘tl‘ oiil‘» t‘e tull\ appreciated (l‘ the room with the (”OCR Nt‘\t"Tt‘t‘lt‘SS. Oregon Burke's \‘.|TT\ and authentic dialogue still works well. and the sense of there being a major exent unfolding here makes it a good t)tl\ for the collector 80 too does the BBC documentary. incorporating the stones of several real members of the regiment and of Hose Gentle. who lost her son in a pointless war. (Stexe Dranien
ll'lHll l f H
THE LADY IN WHITE
(15) 108min (Optimum DVD retail) .0.
Even though writer and director l rank
Lat oggia mixes supernatural and thriller elements. in this 1988 film, to cheat the audience (especially Ill the climax). this 1988 film is genuinely entertaining. Lukas Haas is the young boy With the vrvrd imagination liVing in a small American town. However. wrth a serial murderer afoot the town is full of suspicion as the film also adds sooal enquiry to the mix. With the black Janitor arrested as the suspected killer, LaLoggia's early 60s— set film cuts to images on TV of the first black student gorng to univerSIty in MiSSiSSippi: the times are Changing. but is the clearly innocent Janitor gorng to be the vrctim of old style raCism? There's an impresswely handled moment of horrible Violence that wrll probably shock an audience accustomed to the generally benign mood. This Director's Cut DVD of the film has minimal extras.
(Tony McKibbin)