A ma soeur (Fat Girl) eeee Filmhouse. l3 Aug. 9.30pm; Lumiere 2| Aug. 9pm. Catherine Breillat (Romance) has carved a unique and audacious place in French cinema. Controversy follows her inexorably. Her new film is a bold study of adolescent sexuality through the bonds between two sisters. a plump 12- year-old with the mind and desires of an adult. and her pretty elder sister who becomes locked into an affair with a young Italian. Sharing the same bedroom. her younger sibling becomes the spectator to their sexual explorations — and creates fantasies of her own. She knows. however. precisely what is happening. and predicts her sister being used as a mere object of desire. Breillat reveals the complicity between the two siblings which erupts into ferocity. The shocking ending represents a coup de cinema that will divide and stun audiences. From Breillat nothing else would suffice. (Richard Clark)
Bangkok Dangerous UGC. )4 Aug. 8.30pm. 20 Aug. 8.30pm. Explosive Thai gangland thriller attempting to wrestle the action director crown from John Woo.
0 The Believer 0.. Cameo l3 Aug. 8pm; UGC. 14 Aug. 8pm. Hard to imagine a more provocative concept than screenwriter Henry Bean's directing debut: the story of a Jewish Nazi skinhead. Bean‘s script is based on the true story of Danny Balint (played by the remarkable Ryan Gosling) who transforms himself from yeshiva student into anti-Semitic thug. Like Made In Britain. Romper Stomper and American History X. The Believer gains much of its shock value by delivering a disturbing protagonist whose physical prowess is matched by his intelligence. Thus Balint casually hands out brutal beatings. but when he's interviewed by a Rolling Stone joumo his mind is clearly one to be reckoned with. More troubling still is the
Amelie (Lo fabuleux destln d’Amelle Poulaln) 0.... UGC. 12 Aug. 8pm: GFT. 15 Aug. 8.30pm. With the marvellous Delicatessen and The City Of Lost C hildren. writer- director Jean-Pierre Jeunet presented perfectly realised worlds. which established him as one of contemporary cinema's greatest fantasists.
In Amelie Jeunet‘s unique combination of dynamic comic book visual sense and slapstick humour of bygone times once again pays off. But while Delicatessen was set in a post-apocalyptic yet strangely retro future and Lost Children in a timewarp wholly Dickensian. Ame’lie takes place in contemporary Paris. Of course. it’s not Paris as we know it. Jeunet has chosen one of its oldest quarters. Montmartre. which he has populated with eccentrics and grotesques. many drawn from his regular acting troupe.
All this might be just so much (admittedly very entertaining)
cartoon-style schtick if it were not for Jeunet‘s leading lady. Audrey Tautou. who plays the title character. And what a character; having survived an upbringing by two spectacularly unimaginative. dour parents. the wonderfully oddball Amelie embarks on a mission to bring happiness to Parisians in need via elaborate practical jokes. One such jape involves sending a garden gnome on a trip around the world and having it send its owner postcards from far flung exotic provinces. But Amelie‘s is not only a sweet fantasy world: her quest is kick-started by news of the tragic death of Princess Diana. and there‘s a real romance with Mathieu Kassovitz's nerdy porn shop worker.
With Amelie a star is bom; Tautou is as elfin as Audrey Hepburn and as mischievous as Louis Malle‘s Zazie (dans le Me’tm). In short. she's a marvel. See feature. pages [0—] I. (Miles Fielder)
suggestion that the boy's rigorous religious education is the root cause of his anti-Semitism. Very thought-provoking cinema. (Miles Fielder)
The Chimp (Malmll) UGC. I5 Aug. 7.30pm; OFF. 20 Aug. 6.30pm. Profound study of adolescence completes Kyrgyzstani director Mirian Abdykalykov's autobiographical trilogy.
The Circle (Dayenh) eeee Filmhouse. [4 Aug. 7pm; Lumiere. 15 Aug. 9pm. Without question. one of the
best films in the Festival. A film so humane. wise and beautiful that one is humbled by its quiet strength and deceptively simple artistry. Through a series of everyday incidents. Iranian director Jafar Panahi (The White Balloon) presents a devastating portrait of the stunted lives of Moslem women in Iran. Its sharp critical insights. however. are underpinned by a profound empathy. A young woman trying to buy a ticket to travel alone on a bus generates a stomach-
knotting tension that brilliantly eyokes the humiliation and fear that she is experiencing. livery performance is imbued with honesty and truth. and each of the individual women displays a remarkable courage and resilience. Their fates. however. are depressingly similar. (Nigel I’loyd) Cool And Crazy 0.. I‘ilmliouse. I3 Aug. 7pm; l'(i('. lb’ Aug. 7pm. It might sound like a laugh-a-minute teen drama. but this Norwegian documentary is in fact an intimate. slow-moving portrait of the fishing village of Berlevag. At times it‘s almost too
Henry Bean Reel Life UGC. 14 Aug. 6pm. An old and unfortunately much-ignored Hollywood maxim is: all good films start with the screenplay. Henry Bean knows this more than most. Bean is one of the few screenwriters who has had success working without and within the Hollywood system. Bean‘s studio films rank among the smartest produced during the 908: Internal Afl‘airs. Deep Cover. Mulholland Falls and Desperate Measures. Despite their appeal to mainstream audiences. these films are the work of a politically-charged screenwriter. never more and entertainineg so than with the hit government conspiracy theory thriller. Enemy of the State. Having moved out to Hollywood at the end of the 705. Bean‘s
O
Jewish rabbi by night.
Hollywood system. (Miles Fielder)
screenplays were quickly picked up by the independent sector in the first half of the 805: Showboat 1988. Heartaches. Running Brave and The Golden Eighties, directed by Chantal Ackerman. His big time break came with his complex corrupt cops screenplay. Internal Affairs. which Mike Figgis directed. Now Bean has returned to his indie roots with his directing debut. The Believer (pictured and see index review). the disturbing story of a young man who is a neo-Nazi by day.
Bean‘s personal appearance at this masterclass event promises to lift the lid on the workings within and without the
slow. inching forward when it might roar into life. But Knut Iirik Jensen's camera concerns itself with detail rather than grandiose drama —- those able to sit back and enjoy the atmosphere are in for a treat. Berlevag is a remote settlement that stares down the icy winds of the Barents Sea. Its choir are Jensen's subjects. and they make at) engagineg mixed bunch. from the dogmatic communist to the teens ering amphetamine addict. 'l‘heir songs about (iod. women. trolls and fiin sound uninspiring. but these cracked. isolated voices combine to produce music that's both dignified and stirring. (James Smart)
0 CO Cameo. l5 Aug. 10.30pm; (iI’I‘. l7 Aug. 8.30pm. An American filmmaker living in late (ilis Paris makes a Barbarella— style B—Movie. Roman. son of Francis Ford. Coppola's feature debut. See panel. Cunnamulla eeee t-‘ilmhouse. IS Aug. 5.30pm. 1‘) Aug. (rpm. Soaps like Neighbours are full of contentedly self- contained communities. not wanting or needing much truck with the outside world. ('unnumullu presents a far bleaker picture of isolation. of a place far beyond suburbia where the claustrophobia of wide open spaces is powerfully evident. (‘unnaiiiulla is a small bUsh town 80(ka west of Brisbane. Employment is scarce. and any sense of community seems entirely absent. Instead. Paul lives a life of petty crime. Jack complains about the Aborigines. Herb ll\Cs alone by his scrap heap and bitches about the government. Neredah bitches about all and sundry. while (‘ara and Kellie-Anne dream of escape. This is stark. evocative portrait of a town starved of opportunity. and a trenchant look at the flipside of the AUstralian dream. (James Smart)
40 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 9-15 Aug 2001