Film Reviews

BIOPIC THE RUNAWAYS (15) 106min ●●●●● DRAMA SOULBOY (12A) 82min ●●●●●

Low-budget Irish filmmaker Shimmy Marcus makes a bid for the mainstream with this formulaic but crowd-pleasing teen drama. It’s 1974, and bored teenager Joe’s (Martin Compston) life is transformed when he pursues unattainable ice-queen Jane (Nichola Burley) to a night at Wigan Casino and discovers the exploding Northern Soul dance scene. On the same night he bumps into Mandy (Felicity Jones), a childhood friend who still holds a torch for Joe. Throw in Alan (Craig Parkinson), Jane’s dancefloor king and prize tool boyfriend, and the stage is set for a comfortably predictable story of heartbreak and hip-swivelling.

The script by first-time writer Jeff Williams is workmanlike, but Compston, moving confidently away from his usual Glasgow hard-man persona into likeable leading-man territory, gives SoulBoy a warmth and energy that is irresistible. Jones plays the cute girl-next-door with the same charm and appeal she demonstrated in Cemetery Junction, and Burley, last seen strutting her stuff in Streetdance 3D, works wonders with a thankless one-dimensional role. It all ends with a dance-off that’s as cheesy as it is uplifting, but Soulboy’s heart is in the right place. (Paul Gallagher) Cameo, Edinburgh, Fri 17– Thu 23 Sep (matinees only).

DRAMA ALAMAR (U) 73min ●●●●●

An artful fusion of documentary and fiction in which the non-professional cast play versions of themselves, Mexican filmmaker Pedro González- Rubio’s Alamar begins with a couple separating. Roberta (Roberta Palombini) has returned to her native Italy, while her partner Jorge (Jorge Machado), who is of Mayan ancestry, remains in Mexico. Their five-year- old son Natan (Natan Machado Palombini) will spend the summer with his father before flying back to his mother in Rome. On one level Alamar is a record of the blissful trip undertaken by Jorge

and Natan during this interim period. Travelling to an island off the endangered Banco Chinchorro coral reef in the Caribbean, the duo live in a wooden hut on stilts. Alongside an older fisherman Macara (Nestor Marin), Jorge and Natan spend their days snorkelling in the the turquoise-blue ocean and catching fish, which they will later prepare and eat for dinner. The child is taught the names of the exotic wildlife they encounter, and he also manages to befriend a white egret Blanquita, who ventures into their cabin.

Shot on HD video by the twenty-something Gonzalez-Rubio himself,

Alamar is a work of luminous beauty, which immerses the viewer into its marine paradise. The characters are utterly at ease in this natural environment, and it’s a pleasure to simply observe them carrying out their everyday tasks. Yet what’s particularly moving is watching the tender, loving relationship that clearly exists between Jorge and Natan. Little dialogue is exchanged between them: the emphasis instead is on their physical interactions, such as how Jorge places his hand over his son’s heart during a choppy sea crossing, or how they both relish a mock fight together. Despite its short running time, Alamar is a film which draws on mythical

currents and which achieves considerable emotional resonance. As Natan’s sublime summer of exploration comes to an end and he faces the prospect of living thousands of miles apart from his father, one is made aware of the impermanence of all our lives. (Tom Dawson) Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Fri 17–Thu 23 Sep; GFT, Glasgow, Fri 24–Thu 30 Sep.

For all its rock’n’roll rebellion and punk power, there’s something quite conventional about music promo director Floria Sigismondi’s biopic about The Runaways, the 70s all-girl group that gave the world Joan Jett. Perhaps it’s that the arc it follows is rather standard-issue. From hope to heartache via the usual heady cocktail of drink, drugs and catfights, if the band were groundbreaking in their time, the film could hardly be called the same. Still, at its core is a trio of excellent performances. Kristen Stewart, again proving she’s more than just Bella in Twilight, delivers a forthright turn as the teenage Jett, a leather-clad rebel who has already got the preening rock queen act down pat. Dakota Fanning, as the blonde bombshell and band’s lead singer Cherie Currie, delicately calibrates her evolution from lost innocent to prowling sex kitten. And then there’s the magnificent Michael Shannon, who lets rip as the band’s potty-mouthed manager, Kim Fowley. Based on Currie’s book Neon Angel:

The Cherie Currie Story, the story is guilty of siding with the author, from the moment she’s recruited in a nightclub by Jett and Fowley to be the band’s new singer. Even if the film is meant to be about the central Jett- Currie relationship, the camera always has its eye on the latter. As she mouths the words to ‘Cherrybomb’, the song that breaks the band into the big-time, it’s clear she’s meant to be the film’s explosive element. Problem is, the fuse is never quite lit. (James Mottram) Selected release, Fri 10 Sep.

DRAMA THE KID (15) 100min ●●●●●

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels alumnus Nick Moran has been quietly building himself a respectable second career as a writer, producer and director. His adaptation of the Kevin Lewis misery memoir The Kid is told with great energy and sincerity but is distinctly lacking in subtlety. The tale begins in 1993 with Kevin (Rupert Friend) on the brink of suicide. A

series of flashbacks are structured around three periods in his life, beginning in 1980, when the young Kevin (William Finn Miller) suffers relentless abuse at the hands of his violent mother Gloria (Natascha McElhone). His subsequent life is a seesaw between the temporary sanctuary of surrogate father figures and the inescapable legacy of growing up among the family from hell. The Kid is an overwrought, triumph-against-tragedy tearjerker that rarely feels

more than skin deep. Intriguing elements are left unexplored, including Kevin’s relationship with his numerous brothers and sisters. McElhone’s cartoonish performance as the cigarette-smoking, foul-mouthed Gloria is hard to take seriously and Rupert Friend doesn’t seem an entirely perfect fit for the real Kevin Lewis, who is seen in television footage at the film’s conclusion. You may admire what Lewis has achieved in his life but The Kid doesn’t do him justice. (Allan Hunter) Selected release, Fri 17 Sep.

54 THE LIST 9–23 Sep 2010