SATURDAY 21 FEBRUARY SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY
MONDAY 23 FEBRUARY
GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL
MOOMINS ON THE RIVIERA A brand new Finnish-French animation featuring the beloved Moomin characters as created by Tove Jansson. This strikingly old-fashioned 2D cartoon i nds the perky little critters in upwardly mobile mode as they set sail for the South of France and decide to join the jetset by passing themselves off as aristocracy, an unwise deception that leads to considerable strain on the family unit. The Moomins have enjoyed a wide UK following due to their previous television exposure, and Russell Tovey is among the voice-talent in this English-language version that wisely refuses to update too much about Jansson’s original stories. ■ Odeon at the Quay, Sat 21 Feb; Cineworld, Sun 22 Feb ROSEWATER Daily Show host Jon Stewart became aware of Maziar Bahari when the Canadian journalist was arrested in Iran: part of the evidence which led authorities to imagine he was a spy was a copy of Stewart’s show. Admirably, Stewart chose to get involved himself, and directs Gael Garcia Bernal in this sometimes harrowing drama about Bahari’s enforced period of captivity. Registering his own brand of political protest by having a Leonard Cohen disco in his head while he dances alone in his cell, Bahari’s struggle to prove his innocence and keep his sanity makes for small-scale and absorbing cinema. It all proves that nothing a satirist can imagine is as surreal as the machinations of modern politics. ■ GFT, Sun 22 Feb; Grosvenor, Mon 23 Feb
CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA French director Olivier Assayas has variable form, but the likes of Irma Vep and Clean have shown him to have a commanding skill-set when required. His latest is a backstage drama featuring the eternally luminous Juliette Binoche as Maria, a stage actress getting older and fearing for her looks. New talent threatens her, a rivalry with i lm actress Jo-Ann (Chloë Grace Moretz) providing a catalyst for Maria’s breakdown. With a plotline which sounds surprisingly similar to the Julianne Moore section of David Cronenberg’s Maps to the Stars, hopes are high for a return to form for Assayas, and potentially his most widely seen i lm yet by dint of the red-hot cast. ■ Grosvenor, Mon 23 Feb; GFT, Sun 22 Feb
ALSO ON: Still Alice, It Follows (reviews, page 61)
ALSO ON: Altman, The Town That Dreaded Sundown ALSO ON: White God, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch...
FRIDAY 27 FEBRUARY
SATURDAY 28 FEBRUARY SUNDAY 1 MARCH
ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: THE WILD, UNTOLD STORY OF CANNON FILMS Following on from Not Quite Hollywood, his i lm about 1970s Australian exploitation i lms, Mark Hartley does a similarly amusing job on the late Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus production duo. The Lemon Popsicle movies launched their careers, leading them to produce striking fare such as 1985’s Runaway Train. Unfortunately, that was only one of thousands of awful i lms they churned out. While no one would argue for the cultural importance of Invasion USA, Lifeforce or even Ninja III: The Domination, much fun is to be derived in studying the chaotic creative process behind them. ■ GFT, Fri 27 Feb; CCA, Sat 28 Feb
BLOOD AND BLACK LACE Genre specialists FrightFest have got their bloodied hands on a restoration of Italian horror maestro Mario Bava’s seminal thriller. While modern gore is absent from this 1964 classic, there’s plenty of menacing intent as a masked serial killer starts murdering the models in an upmarket fashion house. Bava’s extraordinary gift for colour and framing were not always matched by the writing and conception of his i lms, but Blood and Black Lace is an assured thriller with several bravura sequences in true Hitchcockian vein. The perennially popular FrightFest has plenty more up its sleeve, including the Eli Roth- produced Clown, but Bava on the big screen is a must for anyone who loves horror. ■ GFT , Sat 28 Feb SMALL FACES Little celebrated at the time of its release, Gillies MacKinnon’s 1995 Scottish drama gets the same revival treatment which the GFF has previously dished out to Local Hero, Death Watch, Living Apart Together and other fondly remembered Scottish product. A gritty tale of 1960s gang life, Small Faces was i lmed in such exotic locales as Glasgow’s Maryhill, Partick, Mount Florida and Bishopbriggs. Adding to the interest level is the roster of talent assembled here, including Kevin McKidd, Colin McCredie and Laura Fraser. MacKinnon co-wrote the drama with his brother Billy, and this 20th anniversary screening will see some of the cast and crew reunited onstage. ■ GFT, Sun 1 Mar
ALSO ON: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Burroughs: The Movie ALSO ON: The Woods, Eden
ALSO ON: Force Majeure Closing Gala (see preview, page 19).
5 Feb–2 Apr 2015 THE LIST 23