Festival clubs see page 69 0 Festival art see page 83
DOC-UltlENTARY Me And Isaac Newton * 007 director’s doc falls flat
Michael Apted's (The World Is Not Enough) ambitious documentary falls flat thanks to its broad scope. The film follows sCientists, from robotics experts to chemists, as they ruminate on their motivation, the moment a career in the sciences became an obsession, and the nature of their work. This attempt to get to grips with sCience makes for tedious VieWing, as each subject, however fascmating, is rushed through, leavrng the Viewer With a wealth of unanswered questions and little in the way of insight. The lightweight treatment is combined with under-par speCial effects and littered With documentary cliches. Virtually unwatchable. (Jack Mottraml I Me And Isaac Newton, Filmhouse 2, 74 Aug, 8pm, 77Aug, 5.30pm, £7 (£4.50).
DRAMA
Miss Julie *‘k‘k‘k
Superb Strindberg adaptation
Mike Figgis' Strindberg adaptation is a Joy, thanks to stunning performances from Saffron Burrows and Peter Mullen. The pair play mistress and servant, both fighting to escape the confines of their rigidly-defined class roles. Miss Julie strikes up a flirtation With her footman, who happens to be engaged to the cook, and so the verbal Jousting begins, With the two taking up a fraught, belligerent c0urtship and attempting to reconCile physical attraction With the impossibility of a relationship. Figgis takes full advantage of the class claustrophobia, confining the action to a single room and using shaky hand-held camerawork for intrusive close-ups. (Jack Mottram)
I Miss Julie, Cameo 7, 76 Aug, 70pm, 26 Aug, 5. 75pm, £7 (£4.50).
CHILDRENS Mr Rice's Secret (aka Exhuming Mr Rice) **** Exciting adventure story A film about a young boy battling against leukaemia could be forgiven for wallowmg in sentimentality. But, surprisingly, this eXCiting adventure does exactly the opposite, gripping its audience rather than smothering it. Struggling to come to terms With his illness whilst liVing a normal life, twelve-year-old Owen also has to contend With the death of his favourite teacher, Mr Rice (DaVid BOWiel. Fortunately for Owen, and us, Mr Rice kindly leaves behind a series of clues Which set Our hero on a quest for the eponymous secret. Ultimately a film about the dos and don'ts of friendship, it tugs at the heart-strings in all the right ways. (Kelly Apter) I Mr Rice ’5 Secret (Exhuming Mr Rice) Lumiere, 74 Aug, 7pm, 27 Aug, 7pm, £4.50 (£2.50). MUSlC SHORTS New Work 1 **** Lo-fi music video innovation This is the fifth year of Mirrorball's music Video showcase at the Film
Festival, and the two New Work screenings display the most innovative and entertaining examples of the genre to appear in the last twelve months. And what New Work 7 (New Work 2 is on 23 Aug) shows predominantly is a continuation of the trend to abandon big budgets for more qUirky, lo-fi pieces of work The shaky-cam comedy of Video veteran Spike ’Being John Ma/kovich' Jonze's effort for rapper Fat Lip is echoed in Similarly inventive low budget works for Badly Drawn Boy and Babybird, showmg that it doesn’t take a million qUid and digital effects to make a Video worth watching.
(Doug Johnstonel
{iii New Work 7, Filmhouse 2, 76 Aug, 70.30pm, GFT 2, 79 Aug, 7 7pm, £4.50 (£3).
DOCUL'EMAR‘I
The New World Order: Somewhere In Africa (Nouvel Ordre Mondial: Quelque Part En Afrique) *‘k‘kt
Critique of the West’s involvement in Sierra Leone
This dOCumentary, covering the plight of Sierra Leone, is not for the faint- hearted. The ClVIl war was noted for its excessive brutality, prOViding newsrooms around the world With c0untless images of limbless bodies through0ut the 90s French filmmaker Phillipe Diaz's dOCumentary captures these images Whilst argumg that the decrees of the UN, and especially those of the British government, were short- Sighted in their interpretation of events. Diaz looks at the motivation behind the poliCies of the UN and Western governments which were looking to protect their economic interests in this diamond-rich region and, unsurprisingly, calls into question the spin put on events by the British government. iKaleem Aftabi
its The New World Order Somewhere In Africa, Fi/mhouse 3, 75 Aug, 9pm, Fi/mhouse 2, 23 Aug, 5.30pm, £7 (£4.50).
CO'JEDY
101 Rekyavik tau
Enjoyable Icelandic slacker comedy The White light, white freeze of Iceland’s almost constant arctic daylight is perfect territory for a twentysomething male to slack in But RekyaVIk waster and Ian Broudie lookalike Hlynur gets a big-time wake- up call when he shags his mum's beautiful Spanish friend Lola (Pedro Almodovar regular Victoria Abrili and subsequently discovers she's actually his mother's lesbian lover. Icelandic actor, theatre director and protege of Fridrik ThOr Fridriksson (Ange/s Of The Universe), Baltasar Kormakur makes a striking directorial debut. Blur's Damon Albarn prOVides the pulsating soundtrack — With a built-in riff on The Kinks’ 'Lola’ — the CD Will no doubt become a required purchase.
(Miles Fielder)
Kl 707 Rekyavik, Film/iouse .7, 75 Aug, 9.30pm, Cameo 2, 27 Aug, 9.30pm, £7 (£4.50).
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Charming kids film with a magical twist
There's Only One Jimmy Grimble an”
Cute urban fairy tale (with footy)
Life could not be worse for fifteen-year-old Jimmy Grimble (Lewis McKenzie). The poor lad dreams of becoming a professional footballer, but the moment he hits the pitch his skill deserts him. He is not much happier off the field, either; his mum (Gina McKee) has just dumped Harry (Ray Winstone), the man who inspired his love of Manchester City; he is bullied at school; and lacks the courage to speak to a girl he fancies.
Everything changes when a tramp (Jane Lapotaire) gives Jimmy an old pair of football boots. Not only do they turn him into the demon on the pitch he always dreamed of being, they also affect everyone around him for the better, including his cowed PE teacher (Robert Carlyle). Are they really special, or is the magic inside Jimmy himself?
Despite a title which proclaims the uniqueness of its hero, there's nothing surprising or particularly individual about this cute urban fairy tale. Every plot development is unerringly predictable, every character a cliché. Yet somehow the cast, through their conviction and charm, make this movie hard to dislike. Nonetheless, stranded in limbo between adult and child fare, it’s hard to see who the movie was made for.
(Steve Applebaum)
There’s Only One Jimmy Grimble, Cameo 7, 76 Aug, 7 30pm, £7 I£4 507
count Purely Belter ****
Crowd-pleasing working class comedy
Mark Herman follows (it) “is hit fiini, Brassed Off, With another crowd- pleasing northern England working ciass comedy, here adapted from Jonathan Tiilloch’s novel, The Season Ticket. Gerry and Sewell are a couple of teens from deprived Newcastle backgrounds But these b0ys have greater ambitions than sniffing glue and shOpiiftir , these Magpies are out to ‘.".’ln themselves a pair of season tickets to the footy The ludiCrOus lengths they go to provide the film With much humour and warmth The yOung leads, Chris Beattie and Greg McLane, are superb, there's an amusing, if wooden, cameo from Aian Shearer, and Ian Broudie provides the infect'Ous sOundtrack. Purely belter, man.
(MiieS Fielder)
--..: Pure/y Belter, UGC, 74 Aug, 6pm, Gl—‘T l, l7AL/g, 8. 75pm, [7054501.
CO‘.’F[)‘v Sun Alley (Sonnenallee) ***
Nostalgic Berlin Wall comedy Charming and nostalgic comedy about a group of hormonal teenagers growmg up in East Berlin’s Sun Alley, right next to the Wall. Already a huge hit in Germany, this is a warm-hearted look at those good old Stasi days Like a cross between Woody Allen 's sentimental Radio Days and John Militis' sentimental Big V‘i/ed/ies'day, it's
by turns funny, sad and ‘aetastical With great perforvnaiites iron a group of Llllkli()\‘.ll$ and suitably seedy 70s rock score, Sun Alley does ottasionally lapse into (l’i/‘I‘j,’ On ()1) The Wall territory, but is \‘.()l".l‘ (atthinq, if only for the best street u‘aix inq sequehre Sin(e Austin Powers Paiii Daie
Sun Alley, Filniriouse 7, IS Aug, 4.30pm, GFT 2, 7'8 Aug, 6 300m, [.7 (£4 50». 39.13]; Water Drops On Burning Rocks (Gouttes d'Eau Sur Pierres Brulantes) **** Sex games in unproduced Fassbinder play Fassoi‘ue" meets Franco O/o" the latte'”s auaotat 0" of the ‘om‘e's unner‘oriweu r) ay Ar‘u' 1’s 0" ‘tty "‘at" the ineeti"(; o‘ f‘.‘.() n""ius, Fassoi'mer’s :r‘ter-relat o'rsl‘ o pox-.e' games o" mg ..n t'i O/o" s sex..a 'natter-(if-‘a(t"ess Beware (3 "aaueaa s the mirtu e-aqeu, "‘a". 0.. at we saty" \‘.l‘() seumes t'ie yo..t"'fl. l\.la‘ K Z.d, am also f'lt“ (it"e" (as: "‘-("“l)("’S who COP‘t' v‘to " s a ' Aer: t“e (il' .tse ‘ is pure Fassnwxwr "nutty l)"()\.\'l8, murky greets, ri'oreu \.'\.a"u"ol)es a"(i ‘1." "uqs i\"(:' yet, ‘.\."e" t'ie performers digress No a i'“.;.‘8l(<‘ii "i.ilV‘l)("', the Sitcom (wet :or' ".lri'\(‘$ the work 't s O‘.‘.’i .Toiiy lr.l(Kit)l)i"
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3 ~ TC .Ti..:; 2323;? THE lIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 73