www.list.co.uk/film for a corporation that’s found a new source of energy for the clapped-out planet Earth, but as he nears the end of his three-year contract, cabin fever begins to take hold. Selected release. Mr Klein (15) (Joseph Losey, France, 1976) Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau, Francine Berge. 123min. Paris 1942. A well known antiques dealer is mistaken for a mysterious Jew who appears to have the same name, and in his efforts to solve the mystery, he gradually assumes the stranger’s identity. Intriguing Kafkaesque character study. Bit on the depressing side. Part of Joseph Losey season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. My Sister’s Keeper (12A) (Nick Cassavetes, US, 2009) Cameron Diaz, Alec Baldwin, Abigail Breslin. 109min. When the daughter of seemingly perfect parents Sara (Diaz) and Brian (Patric) requests not to carry on with the medical donations that keep her leukaemia stricken sister alive they are forced to deal with some deep moral and ethical questions. Tear jerking adaptation of Jodi Picoult’s popular novel. General release. Night at the Museum 2 (PG) ●●●●● (Shawn Levy, US, 2009) Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson. 104min. Silly but enjoyable sequel to 2006 comedy. Ben Stiller’s night watchman joins characters from the first film in a battle to save the Smithsonian museum. Selected release. Omerta (15) (Pavel Giroud, Cuba, 2008) Manuel Porto, Kike Quiñones, Teresa Calo. 82min. 1950s Cuba-set drama about bodyguard to one of the best known gangsters in Havana, Rolo (Porto). The strange new environment following the triumph of the Revolution proving alienating to the accomplice, Rolo embarks on one final gold-hunting mission. Part of Cine Cuba. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Once (15) ●●●●● (John Carney, Ireland, 2006) Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova, Hugh Walsh. 88min. A busker strikes up a friendship with a sparky young Czech immigrant on the streets of Dublin. As their relationship evolves, Hansard’s own songs are woven into the narrative, transforming it into an understated musical as they play their songs for one another. Part of the Irish Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (PG) ●●●●● (Steve Carr, US, 2009) Kevin James, Keir O’Donnell, Jayma Mays. 90min. Adam Sandler’s regular cohort James plays a big- hearted, small-time lawman who takes on a gang of acrobatic skateboarding thieves after a lengthy set up introducing him as an over-zealous store detective. Despite the vanilla blandness of the conceit, James provides a likable enough hero and scattered moments of self-referential wit will be appreciated by older audiences. Empire Clydebank, Clydebank. Pedro (15) (Nick Oceano, US, 2008) Alex Loynaz, Justina Machado, Hale Appleman. 93min. Biopic celebrating Pedro Zamora, the HIV positive star of MTV’s 1994 Real World show. Diagnosed at just 17, Zamora was an influential peer educator and a remarkable individual. Part of London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival On Tour. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Personal Belongings (15) (Alejandro Brugués, Cuba, 2006) Caleb Casas, Gilda Bello, Heidi Garcia. 95min. Estranged from his family following the passing of his Mother, medical school dropout Ernesto (Casas) is desperate to skip Cuba in search of another life. As hopes of receiving a visa begin to materialise, Ernesto is forced to rethink his move. Part of Cine Cuba. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Pierrot Le Fou (15) ●●●●● (Jean-Luc Godard, France/Italy, 1965) Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina, Dirk Sanders, Raymond Devos, Samuel Fuller. 110min. Jean Luc Godard’s delightful 1965 lovers on the run pastiche reissued on a new digital print. This politically astute homage to American genre cinema marked Godard’s departure from the new wave to more political forms of filmmaking. Part of La Nouvelle Vague season. Glasgow Film Theatre.
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (15) ●●●●● (Rebecca Miller, US, 2008) Robin Wright Penn, Blake Lively, Alan Arkin. 98min. When Pippa Lee (Wright Penn) moves to a suburban retirement community with her much older husband (Arkin), she begins to reflect on her eventful, strange and tragic past and slowly heads towards a nervous breakdown. Miller’s adaptation of her own novel is a soapy, contrived adaptation, awash with excellent performances but hampered by hammy dialogue. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow; Cameo, Edinburgh. The Proposal (12A) ●●●●● (Anne Fletcher, US, 2009) Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Mary Steenburgen. 107min. Odd- couple comedy follow-up to 27 Dresses with a plot that blatantly reworks Peter Weir’s considerably superior Green Card. Bullock plays a bullish publisher who faces deportation to Canada. Her only route to remaining in her swanky job involves bullying her put-upon assistant Andrew (Reynolds) into a fake marriage. Soulless, manipulative fare. General release. Public Enemies (15) ●●●●● (Michael Mann, US, 2009) Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard. 143min. Depp is typically mesmerising as depression-era bank robber John Dillinger, a folk hero to a disenchanted public, and number one target of J Edgar Hoover’s fledgling FBI. Mann’s gripping hand-held style and real locations heighten the authenticity and immediacy and overcome minor niggles, such as the occasional distortion of history, for a powerful result as Mann does what he does best. General release. Pulp Fiction (18) ●●●●● (Quentin Tarantino, US, 1994) John Travolta, Samuel Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis. 150min. Much more ambitious than Reservoir Dogs, the most awaited second feature of the 90s has many scenes that crackle with Tarantino wit, and a few others that fall flat as the writer-director bravely experiments. Interlocking stories in the pulp crime manner concern hitmen, ailing boxers, gang bosses and their molls, drug fiends, and assorted riff-raff. A surprise Cannes Palme d’Or winner is a trip, all the way. Odeon, Edinburgh. Race to Witch Mountain (PG) ●●●●● (Andy Fickman, US, 2009) Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Ciaran Hinds. 98min. Sympathetic revival of 1975’s Escape to Witch Mountain as a vehicle for The Rock. Jack Bruno, a Las Vegas taxi-driver picks up two alien children (Anna Sophia Robb) and (Alexander Ludwig) and attracts the attentions of FBI-man Henry Burke (Hinds) in this solid time-passer that makes up in speed and slick production values what it lacks in character. Selected release. Rachel Getting Married (15) ●●●●● (Jonathan Demme, US, 2009) Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mather Zickel. 112min. Black-sheep Kym (Hathaway) is withdrawn from rehab to attend the wedding of her goody-two-shoes sister Rachel (De Witt). Tensions run high, with Kym’s family giving her the cold shoulder over past misdeeds and an explosive secret is brought to the surface. A strong character study of a difficult but sympathetic heroine. Odeon At The Quay, Glasgow. Ratatouille (U) ●●●●● (Brad Bird, US, 2007) Voices of Patton Oswalt, Brian Dennehy, Brad Garrett. 110min. The latest Pixar masterpiece follows Remy the rat (voiced by Oswalt) as he chases his dream of becoming a gourmet chef. This is Pixar at its best, offering audiences both three dimensional images and storytelling with its thoughtful consideration of the relationship between the creative process and friendship. Yet Bird’s colourful production never stints on fast, furious fun, with plenty of sight gags and chases through the streets, waterways, sewers and dinner tables of Paris. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow; Cineworld Edinburgh, Edinburgh. Red Cliff (15) ●●●●● (John Woo, UK, 2009) Chen Chang, Yong Ho, Jun Hu. 150min. Woo’s first Chinese film in almost 20 years is a triumphant return to his roots. Drawing on both the martial arts adventures with which he began his career and the Hong Kong bullet ballets he achieved international recognition with. Red Cliff is an epic war film with an all star cast set in China’s ancient past that really delivers the breathtaking spectacle and high stylisation with which Woo made his name. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Right Stuff (15) ●●●●● (Philip Kaufman, US, 1983) Sam Shepard, Scott
In The Shadow of The Moon on the surface of the Moon. Celebrate one of mankind’s greatest endeavours with this timely showing of this documentary that gathers together interviews with almost every surviving member of the historic Apollo missions. ■ GFT, Glasgow, Sat 25 & Sun 26 Jul. It’s 40 years since Neil Armstrong took his first steps
Index Film Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid. 193min. Tom Wolfe’s book about the early days of space flight treats the first test pilots-cum- astronauts as modern day cowboys crossing a new frontier. The myriad plot-lines are well dove-tailed and the flying scenes are memorably impressive, but for all the film’s expansiveness its abrupt swings of mood let it down. Part of One Small Step season. Glasgow Film Theatre. The Rising of the Moon (U) (John Ford, Ireland/USA, 1957) Tyrone Power, Maureen Connell, May Craig. 80min. One of Ford’s least known works, portmanteau film The Rising of the Moon is based on works by Frank O’Connor, Lady Gregory and Michael McHugh. A paean to the dying days of the folk insurgence, Ford presents three vignettes of Irish country life. Part of the Irish Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Robinson in Space (PG) (Patrick Keiller, UK, 1997) Paul Scofield. 82min. A witty study of England’s economic and cultural geography in which unseen researcher Robinson has been commissioned by an international advertising company to undertake research into the ‘problem’ of England. CCA, Glasgow. Room at the Top (12A) (Jack Clayton, UK, 1959) Laurence Harvey, Simone Signoret, Heather Sears. 115min. An ambitious young accountant in a bleak Yorkshire industrial town schemes to wed the naïve daughter of a millionaire industrialist. Harvey stars as ruthless anti- hero Joe Lampton, desperate to better his working-class origins and secure social status. Part of The British New Wave season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Rumba (PG) ●●●●● (Dominique Abel/Fiona Gordon/Bruno Romy, France/Belgium, 2008) Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, Philippe Martz. 77min. Centering on happily married Latin dance- loving teachers Fiona (Gordon) and Dom (Abel), Rumba is a deadpan tragi-comedy in which the clowning of the characters goes hand-in-hand with a series of disastrous setbacks in their lives. Dialogue and music are kept to a minimum and whilst at times individual sequences feel over-stretched, the physically expressive performances are appealing throughout. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Secret Ceremony (15) (Joseph Losey, UK, 1968) Elizabeth Taylor, Mia Farrow, Robert Mitchum. 110min. Convoluted and melodramatic thriller chronicling an unusual relationship between a disturbed young woman (Farrow) and a prostitute (Taylor) whom she believes to be her missing mother. Meddling aunts and an incestuous stepfather take advantage of the unlikely situation. Part of Joseph Losey season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Secret of Moonacre (U) ●●●●● (Gabor Csupo, Hungary/UK/France, 2009) Ioan Gruffudd, Dakota Blue Richards, Natascha McElhone. 103min. When 13-year-old orphan Maria (Richards) uses an inherited book to enter a magical kingdom she becomes involved in an eco-mythical plot to destroy Moonacre Valley. Decent if slightly over egged adaptation of The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. Grosvenor, Glasgow. The Servant (18) ●●●●● (Joseph Losey, UK, 1963) Dirk Bogarde, James Fox, Wendy Craig. 115min. Bogarde found one of his best screen roles in this remarkable class drama as a manservant who forces a role-reversal in the home of his decadent master (Fox). Absurdity and tension is heightened by Harold Pinter’s inimitable dialogue. A real British classic from the best immigrant filmmaker the UK ever had the pleasure to host. Part of Joseph Losey season. Glasgow Film Theatre.
Check out the GreatOffers on page 6 23 Jul–6 Aug 2009 THE LIST 55