lit-maul. filM
ROMANCE . The Luzhin Defence ** Disappointing Nabakov adaptation
Holland's Marleen Gorris seems to have settled into an easy-going middlebrow groove in the wake of her Antonia ’5 Line Oscar win. After Mrs Dalloway comes this Nabokov adaptation, set around a 19205 world chess championship on the idyllic shores of Italy’s Lake Como. John Turturro is a leading contender, until he’s struck by a passion for fellow hotel guest Emily Watson, herself looking for something different out of life, much to the dismay of her conventional parents. Amid much gamesmanship skulduggery, this push and pull between the rational mind and romantic ardour unfolds, but, despite dedicated work from both leads, the film’s simply too passionless to arouse much interest.
(Trevor Johnston)
I The Luzhin Defence, Dominion, 22 Aug, 6pm, £7 (£4.50).
DRAMA
Segimal (A Century's End) *‘kink
Allegorical tales of modern Korea The spread of free market economics throughout the Far East has led to the type of societal splits seen wherever a non-capitalist state has been transformed. This gem of a portmanteau by Song Neung-Han explores the tensions created by this cultural shift as well as the anxiety felt everywhere as the new millennium approached.
A frustrated screenwriter, an amoral millionaire and a weak-Willed lecturer all have their lives turned upside down by the effects of money and a man with a yo-yo. Segimal is fun, filthy and very affecting in the way the indiwdual stories progress and the strands nudge each other before entwming fully. (Brian Donaldson)
I Segimal (A Century’s End) Fi/mhouse 2, 22 Aug, 8pm; Filmhouse 3, 24 Aug, 9pm, £7 (£4.50).
COMEDY The Nine Lives Of Tomas Katz ***
Idiosyncratic apocalyptic comedy If comedian Chris Morris was to make a
in...
feature film it would look like this. Tomas Katz, a wan and pale stranger, arrives in London on the last day of creation and proceeds to move from human form to human form in order to further the apocalypse. Wilfully odd yet strangely generic, director Ben Harper puts his film through the blender, from Dr Caligari to Dr Strangelove, and for the most part it is highly enjoyable. The blackest of black comedy, this is
undoubtedly the most idiosyncratic
movie you will see at the Film Festival. (Paul Dale)
I The Nine Lives Of Tomas Katz,
Cameo 7, 7 9 Aug, 5.45pm; Cameo 2, 25 Aug, 7. 75pm, £7 (£4.50).
ROMANCE
One More Day (Yek Rouz Bishtar) think
A brief encounter in Iran
An Iranian take on the classic Brief Encounter, One More Day is a brave and controversial film that confronts repression in contemporary Iranian society. A man and a woman meet every day at the same bus stop. Initiating contact through mutual acts of kindness, the couple gradually establish the beginnings of a relationship despite the strict rules governing contact between unmarried members of the opposite sex. A stifling atmosphere is created through the film's slow-moving pace while the dull grey and sepia tints of the cinematography work to heighten the impression of repressed vitality. (Catherine Bromley)
I One More Day, Fi/mhouse 3, 27 Aug, 6pm, 25 Aug, 3pm, £7 (£4.50).
CHILDRENS
Princes & Princesses **** Delightful back-to-basics animation In an age of animatronic wizardry and computer generated images, there’s something quite refreshing about this back-to-basics film of Silhouette animation. Aided by a costume machine which transforms them into a roll call of characters, a boy and girl act out six enchanting fables. Tales derived from Ancient Egypt and Japan, the Middle Ages and even the year 3000 come together to form a delightful package that will hold the attention of adults as much as children. (Kelly Apter) I Princes & Princesses, Lumiere, 78
Forget Chicken Run and the Toy Stories, the Film Festival continues Its historic McLaren
Animation strand with more programmes of innovative new work. Programme 1. Filmhouse 2, 21 Aug. 5.30pm; programme 2. Flimhouse 2. 22 Aug. 1pm. £7 (£4.50).
Uilmann marshals the sort of fearless contributions from her cast which
DRAMA Faithless (Trolésa) ****
distinguished her own acting career
Compelling Bergman-esque chamber piece
Although a whole generation of filmgoers has grown up more or less
without the challenge and the excitement of 'the latest Bergman', this compelling chamber drama, directed by Liv Uilmann (who's giving a Reel Life masterclass in Edinburgh) and written by Ingmar Bergman, certainly recaptures the intensity of the work they did together as actress and
director in the 605 and 705.
Bearded Bergman regular Erland Josephson this time stands in as a filmmaker who's an obvious ringer for the master himself, alone on some Scandinavian island. crafting his latest script and being visited each day by actress Lena Endre, unburdening to him an apparently true story of infidelity and an inexorably crumbling marriage. The psychological acuity of the writing is laser-sharp, Uilmann marshals the sort of fearless contributions from her cast which distinguished her own acting career, and the whole thing has a beguiling layer of ambiguity which makes it much more than gloomy Swedish soap opera. Where does personal suffering end and art begin? What pain is caused to those who tread that fine line? Endre's stunningly controlled performance will have you rooted to your seat and pondering the outright scandal which saw her passed over for the Cannes Best Actress in favour of the artless Bjork.
(Trevor Johnston)
I Faithless, Filmhouse 7, 27 Aug, 7pm, £7 (£4.50). Liv Ul/mann Reel Life,
Filmhouse 7, 22 Aug, 8pm, £70 (£4.50).
Aug, 70am; GFT 7, 79 Aug, 7pm; Lumiere, 23 Aug, 70am, £7 (£4.50).
CHILDRENS
Sherdil ***
Equine adventure
Feisty young schoolgirl Sarina uncovers a government plot to hide a group of horses which have slipped through the quarantine net. When their impending death comes to light, she hops onto
one of them and disappears into the
forest. Seemingly oblivious of the hoo- ha she is creating back home, Sarina stays shacked up in a derelict cottage while her family, friends and some
nasty army types try to track her down.
Gita Mallik's depiction of teenage girls is spot on, but unless you’ve ever been an adolescent female or a horse lover
(or both as is usually the case) you'll
find little to hold you. (Kelly Apter) I Sherdil, Lumiere, 78 Aug, 7.30pm, 79Aug, 70am, £7 (£4.50).
THRILLER
Shiri H Sub-007 Cold War thriller
The Cold War's alive and kicking, in
downtown Korea anyway. Evil and ruthless renegade agents from the communist North plot to blow-up all the good citizens of the South. They're aided by a mysterious agent who manages to worm her way into the heart of the South’s secret serVice. The
race is on to put a stop to their fiendish plans and to save the country’s president from the assassm's bullet. The film has been hugely successful in South Korea, but this is pathetic James Bond stuff Without the necessary irony and with even less charisma than Roger Moore. (DaVie Archibald)
I Shirl, Fi/mhouse 2, 27 Aug, 70.30pm, £7 (£4.50).
COMEDY
Hotel Splendide **
Tasteless absurdist comedy Writer/director Terence Gross’s first feature is an absurdist comedy set in a decaying island health spa where stewed eels and enemas are de rigueur, and the heating system is fuelled by human excrement. A tasteless, tepid stew of unappetising ingredients, its sludgy Visuals and congealed narrative have the conSistency of a putrefying Jellied eel, but are even more lifeless. After some years away, Toni Collette returns to foment a QUiet culinary revolution, by invading her ex-lover, Daniel Craig's kitchen and introducmg spicy food to the disgusting dietary regime created by the spa‘s dead but still dominant matriarch. An inept and disgusting waste of exceptional acting talent. (Nigel Floyd)
I Hotel Splendide, Cameo 7, 20 Aug, 5.30pm; Cameo 2, 23 Aug, 7pm, £7 (£4.50).
70 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 17—24 Aug 2000