Mutant Aliens .... Cameo. lb Aug. 12.30am. 18 Atrg. 3pm. A preoccupation with absurdity. the politics and design of the 50s and pervy sex once more informs Bill Plympton's animated fantasies. With this independently-produced feature. Plympton riiarries his obsessions in a story about an American astronaut who is abandoned in space by his government. btit who finds safety — and love — on a planet populated by giant noses. fingers and toes. But when the spacenian returns home with some alien buddies. the government and media go nuts. Plympton's constantly morphing loose pencilling style is ajoy to watch. His caricaturing is spot-on and it's impossible to predict which direction the action will take next. Plyrnpton will attend the screenings. which are accompanied by his new short. liar. (Miles Fielder)
The Natural History Of The Chicken .... Filmhouse. leug. 8pm; (il’l'. l9 Aug. 6.30pm. Don't let the title fool yotr. this isn't exactly David Attenborough country. It is. however. a wonderful little film. a quirky. irreverent and primarily humorous look at the life of the chook. The viewer is introduced to both detractors and champions of the chicken. some of whom it is fair to say have quite bizarre relationships with their fowl. We are also treated to the story of the headless chicken who lived for many months after losing what is. let's face it. a vital appendage. Fresh. fun. free range and whether or not you like them deep-fried or oven roasted. this .N’uturul History is guaranteed to leave a smile on your face. (Niall Macpherson)
New Found Land 1 8 2 Filiiihotise. to Aug. 4.30pm and Filmhouse 17 Aug. 5.15pm. First of two programmes of home-grown. digitally-shot Scottish short films.
New Work .... OFF. 17 Atig. (i.3()pm. The best of innovative new pop promo work from the likes of Spike Jonze (Being John iWu/km'it‘ll). championed by Mirrorball. New Work - Animated Filmhouse. I7 Aug. l().3()pm. 25 Aug. l().3()pm. Last year's Mirrorball music animation favourites
Shynola are back with Radiohead‘s ‘l’yramid Song'. pltts the rest of the best animated work from the past year.
Nightshift (Trois/Huit) Filmhouse. 33 Aug. 9.30pm: Lumiere. 2-1 Aug. 9.30pm. French film critic Philippe l.e (iuay ptits down his pen and picks tip the camera to direct this intriguing psychological drama set in a provincial industrial town. Who says critics can't make movies‘.’
The Orphan Of Anyang coo Filmhouse. 17 Aug. 5.30pm. 1‘) Atrg. 3pm. Against the backdrop of impoverished urban (him. an unemployed worker takes on the responsibility of looking after a prostitute's baby in this contemplative drama written and directed by Wang ('hao. Formerly (‘hen Kaigc's ll‘ill't'lt‘(’/1.T1_\‘ ('onr‘uliiire) assistant and here making his feature debut. (‘hao maintains an often frustrating distance from his characters who are given scant dialogue and precious little action. While this could be celebrated as an exercise in minimalism and restraint. pregnant pauses and painstakingly intense shots of people eating noodles dull rather than invigorate the senses. The result is a film. that although invested with fine cinematography and commendable aesthetics. feels a great deal longer than the comparatively brief 8-1 riiiritrtes it rolls in at. ((‘atherine Bromley) Persistence Of Vision 1: Points Of View Filmhouse. lb Aug. 6pm. New Film Festival strand sees art and film collide in this showcase of challenging. experimental work: two artists who have both spent time in war lones.
Persistence Of Vision 3: Topographies Filriihouse. l7 Aug. 3pm. l'rban. ambient. boldly experimental work in the Film Festival's new section. Persistence Of Vision 6: California Dreaming Filmhouse. 20 Aug. 10.30pm. 2] Aug. 9pm. Retrospective of the short films of Kerry l.aitala who mixes film noir. surrealism. psychoanalysis and fairytales in a wildly creative cacophony
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40 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 16-22 Aug 2001
storytelling .... Cameo. I 8 Aug. 9.30pm. 23 Aug. 10.30pm. After Happiness and Welcome To The Dollhouse Todd Solondz delivers another uncompromising work that succeeds in being funny. confrontational and very disturbing. Taking place on a New Jersey college campus in the mid-80s. the first of the two separate stories. ‘Fiction'. depicts the friction between a female student (Selma Blair). hcr insecure boyfriend (Leo Fitzpatrick as an aspiring writer with cerebral palsy) and their brutally honest professor (Robert Wisdom). Selma finds herself drawn to the academic. entering into an obsessive liaison. The second piece. 'Non-ftction'. focuses on an under-achieving New Yorker (Paul Giamatti) who decides his true calling is to become a documentary filmmaker. He chooses disillusioned youth as his first topic. involving his subject's besieged parents (John Goodman and Julie Hagerty).
Solondz. once again covering similar territory. has moments of sheer inspiration. but the two parts are unevenly matched — and fail to fulfil their promise. Undoubtedly cleverly written and always engaging. Solondz here seems hell-bent on extracting artistic revenge against exploitative teachers. cruel students. popular jocks. the entire school experience. parents and anyone with ‘conventional' attitudes. As bright and imaginative as many of Solondz‘s ploys may be. his targets are beginning to look like sitting ducks. He remains. however. one of the indie scene's most radical talents. (Richard Clark)
Possible Loves (Amores Possiveis) ... Cameo. 16 Aug. 5.30pm. Mixing Federico Fellini with Alain Resnais and Woody Allen. Sandra Werneck's lightly comic film explores the enduring themes of lost loves and missed chances in the banking district of Rio De Janeiro.
Promises .... Filmhouse. lb Aug. (rpm. Palestinian and Israeli children living in Jerusalem talk candidly about their lives in a documentary that‘s more revealing than any new broadcast.
Rain .... Cameo. 2| Aug. 8.30pm; L'GC. 33 Aug. 7pm. First time feature filmmaker Christine Jeffs has done a remarkable job of adapting Edinburgh-based writer Kirsty (iunn's acclaimed short novel about a mother. her daughter and the destruction of a family tiiiit. Set in rural New Zealand. the drama unfolds in the shadow of the summer of love. through the eyes of twelve-year-old Janey. She‘s watching her parents' marriage disintegrate. and though Janey doesn't realise it she's partly to blame - her arrival at puberty compounds her mother Kate's unhappiness with her own ageing. So. while father stands by helplessly.
Kate begins an affair with rugged and slightly
creepy neighbour Cody. Rain is imbued with the same kind of wistful nostalgia as The Virgin .S'uit'irles. Family and era come to art end simultaneously. which accentuates the tragedy. (Miles Fielder)
Raw Deal: A Question Of Consent .. Filmhouse. 20 Aug. 8pm. 33 Aug. (i.3()pni. This documentary. which looks at an alleged rape at a Florida l'riiversity frat house. could have worked brilliantly as both a damning condemnation of male fraternity culture and an examination of consent in rape cases. Unfortunately. the use of first hand footage chronicling the events leading tip to the crime let this film down. dramatically. Scenes shot by the frat brothers are gratuitously over-used. unnecessarily subjecting the viewer to the same scenes caught on camera. lt's uncomfortable viewing and while there are relevant issues raised. there‘s something seedy about this film. The film's content. and the manner in which the central characters are portrayed (exploited?) is far more stiited to trash television than the kind of serious filmmakirig this purports to be. (Niall .‘vlacphersom
Return To Ngu Thuy (Tro Lal Ngu Thuy) . Ten Girls Of Dong Loc (Nga Ba Dong Loc) ... Filmhouse. 22 Aug. 6pm; Lumiere. 25 Aug. 1.30pm. These two very welcome Vietnamese films focus on the role women played in the Vietnam war. a I refreshing refrain to the Hollywood idea that they were all rape victims or prostitutes. The short. A'gu ’l‘liuy. is a follow-up to the award- winning documentary Girls ()ngu TIlll)‘. a girl's artillery company renowned for sinking live American warships. Though occasionally touching. it's deeply marred by bombastic narration that doesn't let up. Better though. is the fiction feature. Dong I.U('. about the female members of the kamikaze Assault Youth linit responsible for discharging American L'XBs. Based on a true story. it juxtaposes moments of harrowing horror with gross sentimentality and rather obvious melodrama. It‘s still. however. an oddly affecting powerful piece. (Paul Dale) Rivers And Tides .... Filmhouse. l7 Atig. 8pm. Thomas Riedelsheimer's beautifully realised documentary is a compelling exploration of the work of land artist. Andy (ioldsworthy. Filmed across four countries and four seasons. we see the artist at work creating his sculptures from nature itself. Leaves are stitched together to forrn a vivid green spiralling line in the water. Pieces of ice fuse to produce a curved crystalline structure. Continually working against time. the ephernerality of his art is brought to light as what has been drawn from nature will sooner or later merge with it again. And with photography by and large the only record of (ioldworthy's art. Rivers And 'Iirles is an intimate and insightful account. increasing the life span of what essentially is transient. (Helen Monaghan)
Roadblocks (Klistl Droml) coco Filmhouse. l7 Atig. 8pm. 18 Aug. 5.30pm. The only filmmakers making intelligent. political films about the European refugee crisis are former docurnentarists like Pawel l’awlinski (his! Resort) and now Stavros loannoti. Rom/blocks deals with the state of grace period many refugees find themselves in when they have reached a place of relative safety. Having successfully made the trip to (ireece and Athens. Ayat. a Kurd. sets about trying to find the whereabouts of his brother Aliriied. who fled their village after it was bombed. Ayat eventually gets to hear Ahmed‘s story from one of his friends. Told in flashback. it is an all-too-common sad story. Thouin a little rough around the edges. this is a vital and powerful tale of the continuing pogroin of the Kurdish people. (Paul Dale)