Film INDEX
✽✽ The Elephant Man (PG) ●●●●● (David Lynch, US, 1980) Anthony
Hopkins, John Hurt, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller. 124min. Moving story of real-life Victorian freak John Merrick, brilliantly played by Hurt under a grotesque make-up job, and his appalling mistreatment by society before he finally received the medical attention he deserved. Fascinating period detail and rich monochrome cinematography make this a real treat from a slightly unexpected filmmaker. Part of Into a World: The Films of David Lynch. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Encounters at the End of the World (U) ●●●●● (Werner Herzog, US, 2007) Werner Herzog, Scott Rowland, Stefan Pashov. 99min. Extraordinary, Oscar- nominated documentary about the life and landscape around the Antarctic community of McMurdo Station. A highly idiosyncratic take on an already pretty out-there subject, Herzog deftly interviews scientists, technicians, plumbers and truck drivers about their experiences, profound, sublime and ridiculous. Never less than astonishing, generally illuminating, more often than not hilarious and occasionally sobering. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow.
✽✽ Eraserhead (18) ●●●●● (David Lynch, US, 1976) Jack Nance,
Charlotte Stewart, Jeanne Bates. 90min. You may never eat jelly babies again after the repellent but compelling tale of Henry, his haircut, his girlfriend and a sizeable quantity of pus. Disturbing stuff, mercifully filmed in black and white. Screening with three Lynch shorts: The Alphabet, The Grandmother and The Amputee. Part of Into a World: The Films of David Lynch. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (15) ●●●●● (Michel Gondry, US, 2004) Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, Tom Wilkinson. 108min. A wildly imaginative flight of fantasy based around the gloriously barmy conceit that Carrey’s lovelorn loser, Joel Barish, is having the painful memories of his ex-girlfriend surgically removed. It’s an outrageously demented ride, but underlying this terrific trip are some serious questions about human relationships. Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. Even the Rain (12) (Icíar Bollaín, Spain/France/Mexico, 2010) Luis Tosar, Gael García Bernal, Juan Carlos Aduviri. A filmmaker (Bernal) is caught up in protests against the privatisation of the national water company while working in Bolivia. macrobert, Stirling. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (12A) ●●●●● (Stephen Daldry, USA, 2011) Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock. 129min. See review, page 69. General release from Fri 3 Feb. The Face of Jizo (15) (Kazuo Kuroki, Japan, 2004) Rie Miyazawa, Yoshio Harada, Tadanobu Asano. 99min. Mitsue (Miyazawa), through a stroke of luck survives the atom bomb at Hiroshima. Her father, who was not so lucky, returns from the dead to urge her to get on with her life in this understated, earnest drama. Based on a play by Hisashi Inoue. Preceded by 1980 documentary short The Edo Stage: Kabuki and Bunraku. Part of Japan: Land for Hope. Gilmorehill Centre, Glasgow. Fear Eats the Soul (15) (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Germany, 1973) Brigitte Mira, El Hedi ben Salem, Barbara Valentin, Irm Hermann. 93min. A middle-aged charwoman who used to be a Nazi Party member takes up with a young Arab immigrant worker, much to the consternation of her friends and neighbours. Typically melodramatic Fassbinder study of a disintegrating relationship, which also examines the problems of racism in West German society. Introduced by Dr Pasquale Iannone. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Fly Me to the Moon (U) ●●●●● (Ben Stassen, US, 2008) Nicollette Sheridan, Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, Robert Patrick, Kelly Ripa, Adrienne Barbeau, Ed Begley, Jr, Buzz Aldrin. 84min. A 3D film describing mankind’s first trip to the moon is a lively sounding prospect, and moments in Stassen’s animation provide a genuine wow-factor,
74 THE LIST 2 Feb–1 Mar 2012
Middle Eastern Film Festival
Conducted under the banner of the Middle Eastern Festival of Spirituality and Peace, the Middle Eastern Film Festival seeks to heighten the profile of the region’s prodigious cinematic talent. And while a certain amount of worthy, noble but overtly art housey fare is to be expected (documentary Close Up Kurdistan; Cannes success story Goodbye), there’s some lighter genre-based relief too in the shape of comedies such as Almanya – Welcome to Germany and police dramas like Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. ■ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Mon 6–Mon 20 Feb.
but such moments of poetry are fleeting and the majority of this film insanely focuses on the uninteresting plight of three houseflies who stowaway onboard. IMAX Theatre, Glasgow. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (12A) (Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor, US/UAE, 2011) Nicolas Cage, Ciarán Hinds, Idris Elba. 95min. Cage returns as the skull-faced motorbiking spirit of vengeance in this action packed supernatural superhero sequel. General release from Fri 17 Feb. Ghostbusters (PG) ●●●●● (Ivan Reitman, US, 1984) Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis. 105min. Three wacky unemployed parapsychologists pursue a little private enterprise as exterminators in spook-infested New York. Of its time but still an enjoyably dated comedy. Sloans, Glasgow. Girl Model (12) ●●●●● (David Redmon, Ashley Sabin, UK, 2011) Ashley Arbaugh, Rachel Blais. 78min. See review, page 69. Selected release from Fri 10 Feb. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (18) ●●●●● (David Fincher, US/Sweden/UK/Germany, 2011) Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård. 157min. David Fincher’s adaptation of the bestselling Swedish book trilogy follows a journalist and a hacker on the trail of a woman who’s been missing for 40 years. Selected release.
✽✽ Gitmek: My Marlon and Brando (Gitmek: Benim
Marlon ve Brandom) (15) (Huseyin Karabey, Turkey, 2008) Ayca Damgaci, Hama Ali Kahn, Cengiz Bozkurt. 93min. A Turkish actress and an Iraqi actor embark on long-distance relationship. When the US invades Iraq, she embarks on a dangerous journey to find her lover. See caption. Part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Glasgow Film Festival Scotland’s fastest growing film festival
has taken less than ten years to turn itself into a force to be reckoned with in the film festival world. This year’s programme includes strands themed around Gene Kelly, comics, German cinema, fashion in film, remote indigenous cultures, Weimar cabaret and more, as well as the highly popular
Glasgow Youth Film Festival, Short Film Festival and Music & Film Festival. See feature, page 15, and list.co.uk for full listings and further coverage. Various venues, Glasgow, glasgowfilm.org/festival
✽✽ Goodbye (Bé omid é didar) (15) (Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran,
2011) Leyla Zareh, Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy, Shahab Hosseini. 100min. Smuggled out of Iran, this Cannes Film Festival winner follows a young Iranian lawyer fighting the government whilst trying to escape the country. Plus short film Into Thin Air. See caption. Part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Goodbye Mr Christie (18) (Phil Mulloy, UK, 2010) 77min. Animated film about a seemingly respectable family man who brings scandal on himself when he’s caught having sex with a French sailor. It’s been said of director Phil Mulloy that ‘if Disney is animation’s heart, then British animator Phil Mulloy is its bowels.’ Part of Manipulate Visual Theatre Festival. Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. Goon (15) (Michael Dowse, US/Canada, 2011) Seann William Scott, Liev Schreiber, Jay Baruchel, Marc-Andre Grondin, Allison Pill. 92min. A bouncer turns around an underperforming semi-pro hockey team, beating the odds and the opposition. macrobert, Stirling. GRAMNet & BEMIS present The Broadest Shoulders and One Way, a Tuareg Journey (tbc) World Day of Social Justice screening of two short films. The first, The Broadest Shoulders, is by the Camcorder Guerillas and confronts the effects of spending cuts on disabled people. The second narrates the story of two Tuareg brothers and their differing experiences of their family’s migration to Italy. CCA, Glasgow.
✽✽ Grandma, a Thousand Times (12A) (Mahmoud Kaabour, United
Arab Emirates/Qatar/Lebanon, 2010) 50min. The 83-year old matriarch of the Kaabour family is a sharp-witted, larger- than-life character struggling to cope with the silence of her formerly noisy household. See caption. Double bill with Transit Cities as part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Grey (15) (Joe Carnahan, US, 2012)
Liam Neeson. An oil drilling team is stranded in Alaska following a plane crash. Then a pack of hungry wolves decide to attack. General release. Hadewijch (tbc) ●●●●● (Bruno Dumont, France, 2009) Julie Sokolowski, Yassine Salime, Karl Sarafidis. 105min. See review, page 68. Selected release from Fri 17 Feb. Happy Feet (U) ●●●●● (George Miller, Warren Coleman, Judy Morris, Australia/US, 2006) Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving. 109min. A clumsily plotted but totally charming animated musical from the makers of Babe about tap dancing and singing penguins deep in Antarctica. Solid songs and some genuinely excellent voiceover performances. St Bride’s Centre, Edinburgh. Haywire (15) ●●●●● (Steven Soderbergh, US, 2011) Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum, Michael Angarano, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas. 92min. When a black ops soldier is double crossed, she must use all her skills to escape an international manhunt and protect her family. General release.
✽✽ Hejar (PG) (Handan Ipekci, Turkey, 2001) Sükran Güngör, Dilan Erçetin, Füsun Demirel. 120min. After witnessing the massacre of her guardians during a police raid on their Istanbul apartment, a Kurdish orphan girl strikes up a relationship with her neighbour, a retried and very cantankerous old judge. See caption. Part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Hisham Zaman: 3 Films (15) (Hisham Zaman) 85min. Three films by the Kurdish-Norwegian director. Bawke follows a father trying to protect his son; Winterland is a love story about two Kurds; and in Other Ones a man flees in panic when his car hits someone. See caption. Part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Homegrown (E) (Robert McFalls, US, 2008) Documentary about a family living off-grid with their own urban quarter-acre producing food for themselves and their friends and all the biodiesel and solar power they need. macrobert, Stirling. Hotel Hibiscus (tbc) (Yuji Nakae, Japan, 2002) Honami Kurashita, Jun Murakami, Nesumisu. 90min. A lightly amusing story about an energetic nine-year-old and her rather unusual family, and the guests they welcome into their one-room hotel. Screening preceded by a 30-minute documentary, The Art of Bashofu Weaving. Part of Japan: Land for Hope. Gilmorehill Centre, Glasgow. How To Marry A Millionaire (PG) ●●●●● (Jean Negulesco, US, 1953) Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, Lauren Bacall, William Powell. 95min. Notable for being the first Cinemascope comedy, which isn’t completely successful. But who cares when you’ve got Bacall, Monroe and Grable playing three foxy ladies who rent a New York apartment in order to trap them some millionaires? Eastwood Park Theatre, Glasgow. Hubble (U) (Toni Myers, Canada, 2010) 44min. Leonardo Di Caprio narrates the latest 3D IMAX space adventure. IMAX Theatre, Glasgow. Hugo (PG) (Martin Scorsese, US, 2011) Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, Jude Law. 127min. Adaptation Brian Selznick’s book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Butterfield stars as the young orphan thief who must solve a mystery involving a stolen key, a cryptic drawing and a mechanical man, courtesy of accomplices Isabelle (Moretz) and shopkeeper Georges (Kingsley). macrobert, Stirling; The Hippodrome, Bo’ness.
✽✽ I Just Didn’t Do It (Soredemo boku wa yattenai) (15)
(Masayuki Suo, 2006) Ryo Kase, Asaka Seto, Kôji Yamamoto. 143min. Earnest drama in which a young man is accused of groping a woman on the train and forced to sign a statement written by someone else. Part of the Contemporary Japanese Auteurs season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.