Film Index
Ong-Bak: The Beginning (15) ●●●●● (Tony Jaa/Panna Rittikrai, UK, 2008) Tony Jaa. 98min. See Also Released, page 48. Selected release from Fri 16 Oct. Orphée (15) (Jean Cocteau, France, 1950) Jean Marais, Marie Dea, Maria Casares. 95min. Cocteau creates an unrivalled cinema fantasy in this stunning version of the Orpheus legend. Part of Introduction to European Cinema. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Other Side of the Underneath (18) (Jane Arden, UK, 1972) Sheila Allen, Liz Danciger, Elaine Donovan. 107min. Powerful adaptation of her own work with the Holocaust women’s theatre troupe peers into the mind of a woman wrongly labelled as schizophrenic. Part of Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Pandorum (15) ●●●●● (Christian Alvart, US/Germany, 2009) Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet. 90min. Interesting if ultimately disappointing low budget space thriller. General release. Patrick 1,5 (15) (Ella Lemhagen, Sweden, 2008) Gustaf Skarsgard, Torkel Petersson, Thomas Ljungman. 100min. Cleared for adoption, Goran (Skarsgard) and Sven (Petersson) are offered Swedish orphan, aged one and a half. But when Patrick arrives, there has been a mistake – he’s actually a homophobic 15-year-old. Part of Glasgay! Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. ✽✽ Pontypool (15) ●●●●● (Bruce McDonald, Canada, 2008) Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly. 92min. See preview, page 46 and review, page 47. General release from Fri 16 Oct. Pray the Devil Back to Hell (12) (Gini Reticker, UK, 2008) 72min. Moving documentary about the thousands of Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war in their shattered country. Introduced by Liberian musician Jerry Boweh. Part of Black History Month. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (15) ●●●●● (Rebecca Miller, US, 2008) Robin Wright Penn, Blake Lively, Alan Arkin. 98min.
Broken Embraces (15) Mon 12th Oct 7:30pm
The Time
Traveller’s Wife (12A) Wed 14th Oct 11am, 2pm, 7:30pm
Fish Tank (15) Mon 19th Oct 7:30pm Adventureland (15) Wed 21st Oct 7:30pm
52 THE LIST 8–22 Oct 2009
Pippa Lee (Wright Penn) begins to reflect on her eventful, strange and tragic past and slowly heads towards a nervous breakdown. Empire, Clydebank. Ramchand Pakistani (15) (Mehreen Jabbar, Pakistan, 2008) Shaood Alvi, Adarsh Ayaz, Atif Badar. 104min. The story of a young Pakistani Hindu and his father who accidentally cross the border into India at a time of extreme tension between the countries. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. SMHAFF Film Awards 2009 (E) (Various, 2009) 90min. Award ceremony and screening of the winning films from the 2009 film competition, that continues to serve as a platform for those who choose to interpret mental health in its broadest sense. Part of Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Separation (15) (Jack Bond, UK, 1968) Jane Arden, David de Keyser, Ann Lynn. 89min. The breakdown of central character Jane, after the collapse of her marriage, is a personal journey across swinging London. Part of Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The September Issue (12A) ●●●●● (R J Cutler, US, 2009) 89min. In 2007, Documentary where Cutler chronicles the creation of Vogue’s September issue. The result is brilliant and, of course, highly political. Cameo, Edinburgh. Shiro from Amakusa, the Christian Rebel (15) (Nagisa Oshima, Japan, 1962) Hashizo Okawa, Ryutaro Otomo, Satomi. 110min. Oshima tells the historical tale of Shiro, the teenage boy who led the 1637 rebelion of starving Christian peasants against landowners and samurai. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Sholay (PG) (Ramesh Sippy, India, 1975) Sanjeev Kumar, Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan. 228min. Classic Bollywood revenge plot featuring crooks family feuds, and all the usual romance, comedy, music and dance. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. Silent Sound Showcase (PG) (, UK, 2009) Showcase of short silent films with live accompaniment as well as a discussion/ demonstration on how to soundtrack silent movies. Cameo, Edinburgh. Skin (12A) ●●●●● (Anthony Fabian, UK/South Africa, 2008) Sophie Okonedo, Sam Neill, Alice Krige. 107min. Solidly made drama based true story of Sandra Laing (Okonedo), a black child born in 1950s South Africa to white Afrikaners (Neill and Krige). Part of Black History Month. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. The Soloist (12) ●●●●● (Joe Wright, UK/US/France, 2009) Robert Downey Jr, Nathaniel Ayers, Catherine Keener. 117min. Wright makes a splashy stateside debut with a drama about the friendship between world- weary journalist (Downey Jr) and homeless musician (Foxx). General release. Sorority Row (15) ●●●●● (Stewart Hendler, US, 2009) Briana Evigan, Leah Pipes, Rumer Willis. 101min. Predictable but decent remake of 1983 slasher The House on Sorority Row. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow; Empire, Clydebank. The Spell (15) (Owen Carey Jones, UK, 2009) Rebecca Pitkin, Pietro Herrera. 88min. A young girl learns witchcraft from her mother’s new live-in boyfriend. Showcase Cinema, Paisley. Star Trek (12A) ●●●●● (JJ Abrams, US/Germany, 2009) Chris Pine, Jennifer Morrison, Simon Pegg. 126min. A quirk in the space-time continuum allows both a sequel and prequel to the already vast Star Trek oeuvre, in which Lost creator Abrams surpasses his previous film efforts to reinvent the whole dynamic of the USS Enterprise. IMAX Theatre, Glasgow. Straw Dogs (18) ●●●●● (Sam Peckinpah, UK, 1971) Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, David Warner. 118min. A mild-mannered American and his wife move to her Cornish hometown, only to have violence flare up. Long demmed ‘gratuitous’ brush, it still retains its power. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. Sunshine Cleaning (15) ●●●●● (Christine Jeffs, US, 2008) Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin. 91min. Two sisters (Adams and Blunt) set up a business to disinfect crime scenes in this small town tragicomedy. Odeon Braehead, Renfrew. Surrogates (12A) ●●●●● (Jonathan Mostow, US, 2009) Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames,
Rosamund Pike. 88min. FBI agents investigate the murder of a student linked to the man who helped create a high-tech surrogate robot. Interesting but flawed graphic novel adaptation. General release. Synecdoche, New York (15) ●●●●● (Charlie Kaufman, UK, 2008) Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton. 123min. Detailing the later life of a gifted theatre director Caden Cotard (Hoffman) as he attempts to create a work of brutal realism by restaging his own troubled life in a large warehouse in Manhattan. Odeon at the Quay, Glasgow. The Tale of Despereaux (U) ●●●●● (Sam Fell/Robert Stevenhagen, UK/US, 2008) Voices of Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick, Emma Watson. 93min. British animated feature about the medieval adventures of a mouse. Empire, Clydebank. The Thief Lord (PG) ●●●●● (Richard Claus, Germany, 2006) Aaron Johnson, Jasper Harris, Rollo Weeks. 98min. Well executed children’s adventure flick. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow.
✽✽ Thirst (18) ●●●●● (Park Chan-wook, South Korea, 2009) Kang ho Song, Ok Vin Kim, Hae Sook Kim. 133min. See review, page 48. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Three Miles North of Molkom (15) ●●●●● (Robert Cannan/Corinna Villari- McFarlane, UK, 2007) 107min. Seriocomic documentary about the Angsbacka No Mind festival in Sweden, an adult playground of shared consciousness. Recommended. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. Three Resurrected Drunkards (15) (Nagisa Oshima, Japan, 1968) Kazuhiko Kato, Norihiko Hashida, Osamu Kitayama. 80min. Multiple reality-versus-fantasy dialectics punctuate this film which follows three students as they play war games on an empty beach. Part of Nagisa Oshima season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (U) (Klay Hall, US, 2009) Voices of Mae Whitman, Lucy Liu, Anjelica Huston. 81 mins. Animated Peter Pan sequel. Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. Toy Story in 3D (PG) ●●●●● (John Lasseter, US, 2009) Voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles. 80min. Lasseter’s original animated feature beefed up for 3D presentation. Selected release. Triangle (15) ●●●●● (Christopher Smith, Australia, 2009) Melissa George, Liam Hemsworth, Rachel Carpani. 98min. See review, page 48. General release from Fri 16 Oct. Under the Sea 3D (U) (Howard Hall, UK, 2009) Jim Carrey. 65min. An underwater 3D look at the impact of global warming. IMAX Theatre, Glasgow. ✽✽ Up (U) ●●●●● (Pete Docter/Bob Peterson, US, 2009) Voices of Christopher Plummer, Edward Asner, Paul Eiding. 96min. See review, page 47. General release.
Vampyr (PG) (Carl Dreyer, Germany, 1932) Julian West, Henriette Gerard, Jan Hieronimko. 82min. One of the most poetic pieces of vampire cinema ever. Beautifully photographed, it uses the camera often from a subjective viewpoint, thereby becoming one of the first psychological horror films. Part of Introduction to European Cinema. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Vanishing of the Bees (U) (George Langworthy/Maryam Henein, UK, 2009) 97min. Documentary narrated by Emilia Fox on the worrying decline in honey bee numbers. Cameo, Edinburgh. Vengeance is Mine (18) ●●●●● (Shohei Imamura, Japan, 1979) Ken Ogata, Mayumi Ogawa, Renataro Mikuni, Mitsuko Baisho. 140min. Imamura’s 1979 serial killer thriller based on the real life murder spree of Iwao Enokizu in the 1960s. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. Violence at Noon (18) (Nagisa Oshima, Japan, 1966) Saeda Kawaguchi, Akiko Koyama, Kei Sato. 103min. Based on real events, Oshima’s crime thriller draws a portrait of a murderous rapist through the perspective of two women who are both his victims and his protectors. Part of Nagisa Oshima season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Wake Up Sid (PG) (Ayan Mukherjee, India, 2009) Ranbir Kapoor, Rahul Khanna, Anupam Kher. 139min. Mumbai-based Bollywood film about a dandy who falls for an older woman. Selected release. Where the Water Meets the Sky (E) (David Eberts, UK, 2008) 60min. Documentary on a group of Zambian women’s attempts to make a film about HIV/AIDS awareness. Cameo, Edinburgh. A Woman Under the Influence (15) ●●●●● (John Cassavetes, US, 1975) Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, Matthew Cassel. 146min. Domestic drama about a married couple very much in love but unable to communicate. When confusions intensify, emotions escalate to the level of madness. Part of Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Working Like Crazy (PG) (Gwynne Basen/Laura Sky, Canada, 1999) 53min. Documentary about former mental health service users as they try to earn an income. Screening with Hope, a short drama. Part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival. Cameo, Edinburgh. The Young Girls of Rochefort (Les Demoiselles de Rochefort) (PG) ●●●●● (Jacques Demy, France, 1967) Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Dorléac, Gene Kelly, Jacques Perrin. 125min. Sisters Delphine and Solange have dreams far beyond their small hometown of Rochefort, primarily the dream of finding true love. Little do they know that their perfect matches are wandering the streets of their own town. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. ✽✽ Zombieland (15) ●●●●● (Ruben Fleischer, US, 2009) Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone. 80min. See Also Released, page 48. General release.
Document 7 The International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival returns to Glasgow with a mixed bill of
documentaries, shorts, workshops and discussions. The festival opens with a screening of Umoja, the Village Where Men Are Forbidden, which focuses on an all-female community in Kenya. ■ CCA, Glasgow, Wed 21–Sun 25 Oct.