That Women Live (Que vivent les femmes!) O. Filmhouse 3. 25 Aug. While Laurent Becue Renard‘s film is worthy in intent. in execution it is rather like watching your toenails grow. The documentary follows a group of Bosnian Muslim women. who lost the men of their family in the ongoing Balkan conflict. through a year of treatment at a retreat run by a psychotherapist. The problem. really. is that the material contained in the film is rather televisual in effect. and its narration through the seasons of the year is less engaging than a TV version. There are a few moving moments. as the women attempt to rid themselves of their grief. but there’s a kind of disengaged. distant feel to the film that. for all the emotive subject matter. leaves one a little cold. (Steve (‘ramer)
La Traversee (The Crossing) Filmhouse. 23 Aug. 9pm. 2-1 Aug. 10.30pm. (‘laire Deni‘s former assistant Sébastien l.ifshitl.'s documentary account of his friend Stephane Bouquet‘s journey from France to America in search of a long lost father.
Trouble Every Day oo (Hunt-o. 24 Aug. 10.30pm. (‘laire Denis follows Beau Travail with a film that plays somewhere between realism and genre. and gets caught in a no-man‘s-land of allegory. It's as if Denis‘ film about an illness that demands its sufferers go blood sucking wants to be both drug metaphor and horror tale as American doctor Vincent (iallo. honeymooning in Paris. has odd links with Beatrice I)alle. his Parisian former lover and the wife of an ex-colleague of (iallo's. The film is keen to talk of love and addiction. but in neither going for the realism of a drug piece. nor the conventions of the vampire or werewolf film. arrives at something so oddly unspecific that only the blood- letting suggests verisimilitude. Nevertheless. Denis. working again with the Tindersticks. who provided the
Wit 0... UGC, 26 Aug. 8.30pm. There‘s some solid talent behind this adaptation of Margaret Edson‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning play: director Mike Nichols (Who '5 Afraid ()fli'irginia lib/f". The Graduate) and Emma Thompson. who gives a career—best performance. Nichols and Thompson have rc-teamed (he previously directed her in the Whitehouse drama Primary (blurs) and collaborated on adapting the play.
It‘s the story of the final days of Vivian Bearing. a victim of terminal cancer. Living in America. Bearing agrees to undergo a series of the most strenuous. embarrassing and painful medical treatments. She suffers. not in silence. but with humour and dignity (despite the best efforts to the contrary of the medical profession. not painted in a flattering light). Who‘s to help Bearing in her last days‘.’ No one that remains in this monal coil. rather John Donne. the dead poet and passion of Bearing‘s life lived as a literature professor. And so as Bearing shuffles off her own mortal coil. she turns to Donne‘s metaphysical musings for mental and emotional sustenance.
'l‘he parallels that Bearing draws between her own condition and Donne's clever conceits make for. yes. witty and surprisingly uplifting drama. lt's bare bones. stripped down cinema ~— largely filmed in interiors with Thompson speaking direct to the camera of cinematographer Seamus .‘vcharvey ‘- that‘s very moving without ever succumbing to sentimentality.
(Miles Fielder)
soundtrack to Nanette e! Bani. evokes a dark and disturbing atmosphere. See preview. (Tony McKibbin)
Unfinished Symphony l-‘ilmhouse. 2-1 Aug. 4pm. 'l'houghtful documentary about the 1971 anti-war march by returning Vietnam veterans which Uses for
Napier University
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30 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 23 Aug-6 Sep 2001
its soundtrack (iorccki's ‘Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs'.
Vacuuming Completely Nude In Paradise + Strumpet ooo Iiilmhousc. 23 Aug. 4.30pm. It must have seemed like a wonderful idea at the time. The combination of director Danny Boy lc. writer Jim ('artwright and Dogme cineitiatographer Anthony Dod Mantle seems nothing short of a dreamtcam. But the results of this intriguing collaboration has the stench of too many creative cooks about it. However. the trio are attending the screening. so ask them about it.
Straian is the dreadfully repetitive. desperately familiar rags-to-riclies story of (‘hrislophet' liccleston‘s dog- loving people's poet and his protege whose immense guitar skills only reach their epiphany when she's starkers. You can predict the whole talc after about ten minutes. though the tedium that accompanies it is less easy to second guess. liii'mmiing ('(mipleIe/v Nut/e In Paradise is of a higher pedigree as the amazing 'l‘imothy Spall perfects yet another repulsive creation. vs ith his feverish travelling salesman seeking the ultimate accolade in his field.
But the clear problem with the films is the clashing of talents from different patches of the (pseudo) avant-gardc. In particular. Danny Boyle‘s reluctance to rein in his flashy tendencies lets both iieces down horribly. (Brian Donaldson) b La Ville est Tranquille (The Town I8 Quiet) O... liilinltousc. 25 Aug. 7pm. The title is ironic: far from being quiet. the town of Marseilles in Robert (iuediguian's two-aud—a-half-hour epit is beset by racial tensions. the rise of the liar Right. social deprivation and civic corruption. After the whimsical comedy .-I l'aIIar/ue. the .‘vlarscillcs-born and based
seekefl The Silent Killer
‘This scarifying film about the hardships faced by refugee Turkish Kurds living in Glasgow has been tragically underscored by the murder of an asylum
filmmaker returns with his most ambitions and tragic work to date. Like Previous liilm l-‘estival lllls.’lnl()l'('.\' Perms and ('mle lmmmu. l.a lie es! 'Iranquille tracks the criss-ct'ossing paths of a range of diverse characters. most of whom are struggling merely to survive. Among the director's regular troupe of actors. Arianc .-\scat‘ide contributes a devastating performance as the mother vainly attempting to care for her heroin-addicted daughter. (’I‘om Dawson)
When I Was Nelve ooo liilmhousc. 25 Aug. 4.30pm. When I was twelve l was at school every day. avoiding the belt. mumbling sacrilegious versions of the Lord's Prayer in morning assembly and pleading with my mum to let me wear long trottscrs instead of sissy shorts. In Dominic Savage‘s version of those glory days. prc-teen ('hloe is bored with Burnley. so she runs away and lands in with some thieving types down the south coast. llolding up garages turns to something more risky and (‘hloe takes the fates into her own tiny hands. Improvised tale of impoverishment. filmed in doctrsoap style has been well tanned by now; Ken l.oach was doing it in the (ins and Leeds lass 'l‘ina was off taking a break this year. It may be well acted by a bunch of amateurs. but When 1 Hits lire/it"s predictability is glaring from scene one. (Brian Donaldson)
Wings Of Hope l’ilmhotIse. 23 Aug, lpm. Another cstraordinary Werner llcr/og documentary about horror in the jungle. in this case Juliane KOCPL ke. sole survivor of the (‘lu‘istmas l‘)7l plane crash which landed her in the Peruvian jungle.
World Animation l-‘ilinliotisc. 25 Aug. l2.3()pm. Showcase of the finest animation from around the world.