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LISTINGS Film
(Alfred (Ron Scalpello,
William Spicer, UK/US, 2011) Kate Spicer, Tom Spicer, William Spicer. 74min. The brother and sister of a man with learning difficulties try to fulfil his dream of meeting his idol, Lars Ulrich from Metallica. Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. Moonrise Kingdom (12A) ● (Wes Anderson, US, 2012) Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Jason Schwartzman. 94min. A story of pre-teen romance and scouting derring-do, Anderson’s new movie will delight his fans; others may consider it overlong and emotionally lightweight. macrobert, Stirling. My Summer of Love (15) (Pawel Pawlikowski, UK, 2004) Nathalie Press, Emily Blunt, Paddy Considine. 86min. Pawlikovski’s lovely, lusty sun-drenched follow up to The Last Resort is another rare, cogent, powerful, little gem of a film. Lock Up Your Daughters screening, introduced by a special guest. Part of the Summer of Love season. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. Notorious (U) ● Hitchcock, US, 1946) Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains. 101min. World War II. Cynical intelligence agent Grant enlists playgirl Bergman to help him uncover a Nazi atomic plot in Rio de Janeiro in this taut, classic thriller. Part of the Genius of Hitchcock season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Offender (15) ● UK, 2012) Joe Cole, English Frank, Kimberley Nixon. 101min. Contemporary thriller about a teenage labourer’s exaction of revenge on the gangsters who beat up his pregnant girlfriend. Offender has potential but doesn’t feel authentic. Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh; Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow. Oldboy (18) ● South Korea, 2003) Choi Min-sik , Yu Ji-tae. 120min. Part existential thriller, part Oedipal myth, Park’s second revenge movie is the generic equivalent to an electric current through the gonads. Cameo, Edinburgh. Ping Pong (PG) (Hugh Hartford, UK, 2012) 76min. A documentary following a group of eight pensioners with a collective age of 703 as they compete in the World Over-80s Table Tennis Championships in Inner Mongolia. Cameo, Edinburgh. Political Dress (tbc) (Judyta Fibiger, Poland, 2011) 61min. Documentary looking at how fashion was used as a means of expressing subversion in Communist Poland. Summerhall, Edinburgh. Pray the Devil Back to Hell (12) (Gini Reticker, US/Liberia, 2008) 72min. Moving documentary about the thousands of Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country in 2003. Introduced by the co-producer and followed by a Q&A. Part of the Beyond Borders: Small Nations in Cinema season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Restrepo (15) ● Hetherington, Sebastian Junger, US, 2010) 93min. Gripping and unflinching insight into the experiences of a front-line US platoon stationed in Afghanistan’s lethal Korengal Valley. Part of the Beyond Borders: Small Nations in Cinema season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Revenge of the Electric Car (PG) (Park Chan-wook,
(Tim
(Chris Paine, US, 2011) Tim Robbins, Danny DeVito, John Favreau. 90min. Go behind the scenes at General Motors, Nissan and Tesla Motors to explore electric car research and development. A warts-and-all investigation of the green car with a positive story to tell. Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. Sabotage (PG) (Alfred Hitchcock, Uk, 1936) Sylvia Sidney, Oskar Homolka, John Loder. 76min. Banned in several countries where it was viewed as a handbook on terrorism, this remains a superb study in suspense. Part of the Genius of Hitchcock season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Searching for Sugar Man (12A) (Malik Bendjelloul, Sweden/UK, 2012) 86min. Two men investigate the fate of 1970s South African star Rodriguez, long-since disappeared and rumoured to have committed suicide. Heart-warming but not sugar-coated. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow; Filmhouse, Edinburgh; Dundee
The Lost Art of the Film Explainer
N O S M O H T A N O H S
In the days of early cinema, silent films were sometimes accompanied not just by live musicians but also by a film explainer, a narrator/actor who was tasked with adding drama and excitement to the flickering images on screen. In this unique event at the Filmhouse, storyteller Andy Cannon and composer and cellist Wendy Weatherby revive the lost art of the film explainer through traditional stories and music set to films picked from the Scottish Screen Archive, including Scotland’s first ever fiction film from 1912. ■ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Sun 19 Aug.
Contemporary Arts, Dundee. Secret Agent (U) (Alfred Hitchcock, UK, 1936) John Gielgud, Madeleine Carroll, Robert Young. 86min. Loosely based on Somerset Maugham’s ‘Ashenden’ stories, tensions rise between three agents sent to kill an enemy in the Swiss Alps. Part of the Genius of Hitchcock season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. A Simple Life (Tao jie) (PG) (Ann Hui, Hong Kong, 2011) Andy Lau, Deannie Yip, Lawrence Ah Mon. 118min. Jackie Chan’s former collaborator Sammo Hung appears in this Hong Kong family drama. Filmhouse, Edinburgh; Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. Stage Fright (PG) (Alfred Hitchcock, UK, 1950) Marlene Dietrich, Jane Wyman, Richard Todd. 110min. Hitchcock examines the relationship between real life and performance in this London-set thriller featuring a great British cast. Part of the Genius of Hitchcock season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. A Star is Born (U) ● Cukor, US, 1954) Judy Garland, James Mason. 152min. Cukor’s musical tale of the rise of a starlet (Garland) and fall of a fading star (Mason) has been much repeated but never bettered. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. Step Up 4: Miami Heat (PG) (George
(Scott Speer, US, 2012) Kathryn McCormick, Ryan Guzman, Stephen Boss. 99min. In the fourth Step Up film, bad boy falls for Daddy’s girl over a shared love of dance. If as much attention was paid to story and character as it was to choreography, this might be worth shouting about. General release.
✽ Swandown (12A) (Andrew Kotting, UK, 2012) 98min. Quirky documentary
maker Kotting pedals a swan-shaped pedalo
(Sarah Polley,
(Seth MacFarlane, US, from Hastings to Hackney, accompanied by guests including Stewart Lee and Alan Moore. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. Tahrir 2011: The Good, the Bad and the Politician (tbc) (Ayten Amin, Tamer Ezzat, Amr Salama, Egypt, 2011) 90min. The story of Egypt’s 2011 revolution, told by three individuals caught up in the upheaval. Part of the Karama Human Rights Film Festival. Summerhall, Edinburgh. Take This Waltz (15) ● Canada/Spain/Japan, 2011) Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Sarah Silverman. 116min. See review page 105. General release from Fri 17 Aug. Ted (15) ● 2012) Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Seth MacFarlane. 106min. Resolutely filthy but loveable bromance about a man living with a potty-mouthed teddy bear, from Family Guy creator MacFarlane. General release. 360 (15) ● (Fernando Meirelles, UK/Austria/France/Brazil, 2011) Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins. 110min. Romantic thriller inspired by Arthur Schnitzler’s La Ronde. Despite an impressive cast the multiple characters and plots mean there is little depth. Selected release. The Three Stooges (tbc) (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, US, 2012) Sean Hayes, Chris Diamantopoulos, Will Sasso. Comedy following three friends raised in an orphanage as they try to save their childhood home from closure, but end up stumbling into a murder plot and star in a reality TV show along the way. General release from Wed 22 Aug. Tippi Hedren in Conversation (tbc) (UK, 2012) Tippi Hedren. 90min. Live via satellite, Tippie Hedren, star of Hitchcock’s The Birds and Marnie, discusses her time
spent with the great director. Cameo, Edinburgh. Total Recall (tbc) (Len Wiseman, US, 2012) Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston. Based on a short story by Philip K Dick, this remake of Arnie’s 1990 sci-fi adventure stars Farrell as the factory worker Doug Quaid. General release from Wed 22 Aug.
✽ Whatever Gets You Through the Night (tbc) (Various, UK, 2012)
Premiere of a film documenting the making of the multimedia project of the same name, created by Cora Bissett with Swimmer One and David Greig. The screening is accompanied by live music from some of the Scottish musicians involved. Summerhall, Edinburgh. Where the Wild Things Are (PG) (Spike Jonze, US, 2009) Max
Records, Pepita Emmerichs, Mark Ruffalo. 100min. Adaptation of the Maurice Sendak book: brilliant ethereal production design, but the creatures are emotional stereotypes lacking in dimension. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. Young and Innocent (U) (Alfred Hitchcock, B&W, 1937) Nova Pilbeam, Derrick De Marney, Percy Marmont. 80min. Somewhat neglected upon release, Hitchcock’s English-set mystery follows a fugitive in search of justice. Part of the Genius of Hitchcock season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Your Sister’s Sister (15+) ● (Lynn Shelton, USA, 2011) Emily Blunt, Mark Duplass, Rosemarie DeWitt, Tom Birbiglia. 90min. Love triangle drama. There’s joy to be found in the naturalistic performances, funny and believable (and largely improvised) dialogue, and smart observations about modern relationships. macrobert, Stirling.
16–23 Aug 2012 THE LIST 107