list.co.uk/film
DRAMA BEGINNERS (15) 104min ●●●●●
You cannot accuse Beginners of lacking ambition. Mike Thumbsucker Mills’ wistful, intensely autobiographical drama combines a love story, a reflection on the ties that bind the generations and a history lesson on the changing mores of American society over the past half century. The wonder is that he pulls it off with such fluency. Ewan McGregor is Oliver, a graphic designer whose
father Hal (Christopher Plummer) has recently died from cancer. At the age of 75, the widowed, long-married Hal had come out as gay and enthusiastically embraced the life he had long denied himself. Flashbacks reveal a fondness in his relationship with boyfriend Andy (ER’s Goran Visnjic) and his closeness to Oliver. Plummer steals the show with the zest and light touch he brings to
his portrait of a game septuagenarian savouring every moment. In the present, Oliver’s tentative relationship with French actress Anna (Melanie Laurent) is tenderly infused with the spirit of a father. McGregor is convincing as the wounded, wary Oliver while Laurent bewitches like some nouvelle vague discovery from the 1960s.
Beginners has echoes of Woody Allen in its sardonic humour and hints of Amelie in a visual style that incorporates detailed montage sequences capturing particular moments in time or key events in the American gay rights movement. Oliver’s constant companion is his late father’s Jack Russell dog, whose thoughts intermittently appear as subtitles on screen. Whimsicality runs through every frame of the film, which may make it too self-conscious and meandering for some tastes, but incurable romantics will clutch it to their hearts with gratitude. (Allan Hunter) ■ General release from Fri 22 July.
DRAMA A BETTER LIFE (12A) 97min ●●●●● DRAMA TRUST (15) 106min ●●●●●
There’s no denying American comedian Pat Paulsen’s dictum that the problems the United States faces today can be traced to the Native Americans’ slack immigration policy. A Better Life is the mainstream cinema-going public’s worst nightmare, it’s an issue movie about immigration – you get to feel guilty about the folk who just sold you popcorn. Ironically and unusually, it’s directed by the ‘resting’ king of the multiplex Chris Weitz, one half of the sibling act who gave us American Pie, About A Boy, The Golden Compass and Twilight: New Moon on his lonesome.
Taking its lead from Vittoria De Sica’s Italian realist
touchstone Bicycle Thieves, A Better Life is the simple tale of the attempt by illegal Mexican immigrant Carlos to make a better life for his son Luis (José Julián) in Los Angeles. When Carlos’ pick-up van and tools are stolen, the pair know they must find them to survive. Weitz’s film is immensely predictable, but as an attempt to
bring emotion and thought to a contentious issue, it is commendable and mildly successful. Mexican star Demián Bichir’s low-key but solidly wrought performance pulls the film through its longueurs. (Paul Dale) ■ GFT, Glasgow, Fri 29 Jul–Thu 4 Aug; Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Fri 29 Jul–Thu 11 Aug. See profile, page 52.
David Schwimmer’s powerful movie is very much a labour of love that should resonate with every parent in some way. A hard-hitting look at the dangers posed by internet predators, as witnessed by a family whose lives are torn apart by the grooming and eventual rape of their teenage daughter, the film stems from Schwimmer’s decade-long involvement with Santa Monica’s Rape Foundation. Newcomer Liana Liberato gives a strong performance as
the 14-year-old at the centre of proceedings, while Clive Owen tugs at the heartstrings as the father who subsequently experiences conflicted emotions of guilt, rage and impotence as he struggles to deal with the aftermath.
Schwimmer’s script, co-written with Andy Bellin, isn’t perfect and tries to say too much, especially by allowing Owen’s character to also be an advertising exec whose latest campaign involves the sexual objectification of teen girls. Catherine Keener’s mother also feels under-written. But as a sobering reminder of the dangers posed by the internet and the effect such crimes have on people’s lives, this is thought-provoking cinema that accomplishes most of its objectives, right down to its incredibly poignant penultimate scene. (Rob Carnevale) ■ Selected release from Fri 22 Jul.
Film REVIEWS
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Singham (12A) tbcmin ●●●●● In a small village on the border of Maharashtra and Goa in India, honest police inspector Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn) fights injustice and prejudice in his own low-key way. When coincidence pits him against powerful criminal and politician Jaykant Shikre (Prakash Raj) his morals and beliefs are challenged. Selected release from Fri 22 Jul.
Gilda (PG) 104min ●●●●● New digital print of Charles Vidor’s stunning 1946 film noir starring Rita Hayworth as the sensuous moll and Glenn Ford as her old flame. Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Fri 22–Thu 28 Jul; GFT, Glasgow, Mon 29–Wed 31 Aug.
Captain America: The First Avenger tbcmin Joe Johnston, director of The Wolfman and The Rocketeer, takes us back to the early days of the Marvel with the archetypal superhero. When Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) volunteers to participate in an experimental program, it turns him into super soldier Captain America. As Captain America, Rogers joins forces with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) to wage war on the evil HYDRA organisation, led by the villainous Red Skull (Hugo Weaving). Reviewed at list.co.uk. General release from Fri 29 Jul. Horrid Henry – The Movie (U) tbcmin Big screen offshoot of popular British children’s television show about a naughty boy and some pretty scary adults. This is the first British children’s film to be filmed in 3D. Reviewed at list.co.uk.
The Light Thief (Cbet-Ake) (15) 79min Comedy drama about electricity and minor and major corruption in a small village in Kyrgyzstan. Reviewed at list.co.uk. Selected release from Fri 29 Jul. Film Socialisme (PG) 101min Still mad and provocative after all these years, legendary French filmmaker and polemicist Jean- Luc Godard’s new feature is set on a garish cruise ship that’s travelling around the Mediterranean (with Patti Smith among its guests). There’s no narrative, and the film is part treatise on the state of the European Union, part philosophical debate, part aesthetic experiment and part journal on the decline of European civilisation. It needs to be seen to be believed. Reviewed at list.co.uk. GFT, Glasgow, Mon 25–Wed 27 Jul and selected release.
21 Jul–4 Aug 2011 THE LIST 55