and political upheaval in Bangladesh might bring Satyajit Ray's Pather Pancha/i to mind. There’s something of the same feel of time passing and lives slipping needlessly away. But. for better or worse. Tareque Masud more ambitiously wants to show broader problems in the political and religious sphere. True. like the father in Pather Pancha/i, the dad here believes blindly in spiritual faith. but here that blindness is especially accentuated: the father's notion of faith and inevitability seems finally closer to basic denial as his spiritual beliefs and political ignorance leave him oblivious to hard reality. (Tony McKibbin)
I From the Other Side 0.... Filmhouse, 5.30pm. Chantal Akerman once talked about a ‘heirarchy of images' and the need to avoid spectacle by working off the lower end of the scale. In both her features (La Captive) and her documentaries (Sud) she always manages to keep the image reflective rather than active. so that the information she offers seems to be asking as many probing questions as it provides factual answers. in this look at emigration from Mexico to the US Akerman's managed to give her film an air of melancholy. of the subtle misery of blighted lives. over an immediate sense of injustice and thus turns what c0uld have been an efficient, fast- paced dOCumentary into a work of siow-burn art. (Tony McKibbin) Waiting For Happiness Cameo, 5.30pm. Parable about community and alienation from Abderrahmane Sissako. one of Africa's leading filmmakers. Broadway, Black Sea 00.. Filmhouse, 6pm. Think of a pOrtable Blackpool stranded somewhere on the Black Sea coast. This is Broadway. an area where refugees from the Caucasian republics — Armenians. Azerbaidaijs and Russians — meet for a few weeks every summer and create a whole holiday village out of dead space. Filmmaker Vitali Manski simply follows the more eccentric hustlers and oddballs around this makeshift town without need of narrated comment or integral plotlines. It is an awesome experience. beautiful and brutal in equal measures. Federico Fellini has nothing on this bunch of war veterans. cirCUs escapees and alcoholic monkey men. A word of warning though: some viewers may find some of the scenes of animal cruelty upsetting. (Paul Dale) Arista Masterclass with Anne Coates UGC, 6pm, £70 (£4.50). She a 77-year-old former British nurse. She's also the editor of Steven Soderbergh's ultra-cool movie Out of Sight. And Anne Coates has worked with Powell and Pressburger, David Lynch and Richard Attenborough. among so many others. Here she gives a masterclass about her film career. Following the Rabbit Proof Fence UGC, 6pm. New addition to the Film Festival programme. a documentary about Philip Noyce's film of almost the same name. The film will be followed by a discussion with the filmmakers and in addition an exhibition of stills by the film's cinematographer Christopher Doyle — best known for his work with Wong Kar Wai: Chungking Express. In the
Mood for Love — will be on display in the Filmhouse Bar.
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet OOOO Filmhouse, 6.30pm. See Thu 15.
Tadpole OOOOO UGC, 7pm. Fifteen- year-olds who quote Voltaire are a rare breed; those who want to bed their stepmothers are rarer still. Although. when your step-mum's played by Sigourney Weaver it‘s easier to see why an older woman would seem more attractive than your sophomore chums. That's the conundrum facing Oscar (Aaron Stanford) when he returns home for thanksgiving weekend determined to woo the woman of his dreams. no matter the bizarre conseQuences. in this remarkable romantic comedy shot on a shoe-string budget in New York. Already a surprise hit at Sundance. Tadpole is sure to woo audiences on this side of the pond. (Kaleem Aftab) To Be and to Have 0...
Cameo, 7pm. Film Festival regular Nicolas Philibert (Every Little Thing, Oui Sait?) makes the sort of documentary films where the accumulation of detail eventually gives way to a feeling of warm understanding. In his latest film we witness a teacher in a rural school teaching kids ranging from about five to fourteen all in one class. And teacher Monsieur Lopez works mini- pOIymathic wonders as he helps all the kids with maths. French. art and science. Philibert even shows that for all Lopez‘s firmness. there's a very real heart ticking away as he helps the kids out with their emotional problems to boot. (Tony McKibbin)
The Fire Within 00
Filmhouse, 7.45pm. See Thu 16. Made in Japan UGC, 8.30pm, £4.50 (£3). Mirrorball programme showcasing music film work from the land of anime and manga. Confession COO. Filmhouse, 8pm. Telling the truth is easier said than done. but this ctiche's given a full examination by Turkish filmmaker Zeki Demirkubuz as he follows a well-heeled Ankara couple. We may wonder why the wife so bloody-mindedly refuases to tell her hubby whether she‘s having an affair or not. but Demirkubuz illustrates that the notion of truth lies less in confession than in a wider understanding. Demirkubuz's subtle. empathic camera style slowly unravels two characters whose relationship is built on a dubious premise that suggests a confession about adultery in the present is irrelevant next to events in the characters' past. and events to come in the characters' futures. (Tony McKibbin)
Balzac and the Little Chinese
Seamstress COO Cameo, 8pm. See Sat 17. Soft Shell Man COO GFT,
8.30pm. See Thu 15.
Frailty COCO Filmhouse, 9pm. in his directorial debut. Hollywood supporting player Bill Paxton stars as a loving father living with two yOung sons. Fenton and Adam, in small town Texas. However. the idyllic family set- up is shattered after Paxton has an apocalyptic vision telling him his job is to destroy ‘demons'. who look just like ordinary people. before the end
comes. A serial killer film marked by its restraint. Frai/ty has incredible psychological power as it explores issues of religion, faith. and family ties in a highly original way. While Matthew McConaughey impresses as the grown-up Fenton. it is Paxton's startling assured turn which harnesses the unsettling power of this highly interesting little film. (Nick Dawson) Mekas Through the Eyes of Others Filmhouse, 9.45pm, £4.50 (£3). The influence of Jonas Mekas. the godfather of American avant-garde cinema is illustrated in four films by other filmmakers: Pip Chodorov (Jonas Tourne Toujours and The Anthology Film Archive). Julius Ziz (A Butterfly Flies) and Pola Chapelle (Baobab). Intacto COO UGC, I 0pm. Stylish. genre-blending debut from Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. in which gamblers test their powers of luck in unorthod0x games of chance. where the stakes can be as high as a human life. Max von Sydow plays the seemingly unbeatable concentration camp veteran. facing a fresh challenge from a former protege (Eusebio Poncela) and a man who survived a plane crash (Leonardo Sbaraglia). Switching between darkened interiors and other-worldly landscapes. and with some compelling set-pieces (especially the blindfolded run through a forest). Intacto suggests that so- called ‘good luck' is in fact a lonely Curse. (Tom Dawson)
Strass COO Filmhouse, 70.30pm. See Fri 16
A Red Bear 0.. Cameo, 10.30pm. Just released from prison. Oso (Julio Chavez) has the weary posture of a man who's never been given a lucky break. His wife's taken up with another guy. and his daughter's a stranger to him. Director Adrian Israel Caetano does a pretty good job of creating a thriller atmosphere from within the tired perspective of his central character. a man who can still look after himself but who realises that when he's hired as a getaway driver for a big heist. he's going to have to do more than that if he‘s to help his ex- wife and child after the robbery's taken place. (Tony McKibbin)
Tuesday 20
Conflagration (Enjo) Filmhouse, noon, £4.50 (£3). Kon lchikawa's masterpiece. the story of a young acolyte sickened by the seCLilar world and driven to commit a desperate act. Explosive Fragments 6 Filmhouse, 7pm. Programme of shon films from all over the world.
The Orange FiImFour Prize for Short Film UGC, 2pm. See Fri 16. McLaren Animation 2 Filmhouse, 2.30pm. See Mon 19.
Who Saw l-lim Die? Filmhouse, 3pm, £4.50 (£3). Neglected 60s classic from Sweden. Jan Troell's film about an idealistic teacher working in a southern Swedish town. The Backyard OO
3. 75pm. See Sun 18. Fate .0... Filmhouse, 4.30pm. See Sun 18.
Go COO Cameo, 5.30pm. Thoroughly enjoyable if hardly original
Filmhouse,
alienated youth comedy drama. Sugihara (Yosuke Kubozuke). a Nonh Korean teenager living in Tokyo. is an outsider — he doesn't know whether he is Korean or Japanese. Faced with prejudice. he uses his fists. with which he is highly skilled thanks to his grumpy father. a former Olympic boxer. But when he meets a nice kooky Japanese girl he doesn't know whether to tell her about his true origins. Director lsao Yukisada is determined not to turn this into a grim rights-of—passage tale. so he pulls out all the stops: tremendous pacing, hyper kinetic filming and fantasy sequences. The smart. funny script ultimately gives way to a corny denouement. but the ride. while it lasts. is a delight. (Paul Dale)
Bashkim COO Filmhouse, 5.30pm. Focusing on the life of Bashkim Berisha. a young man whose family fled to Switzerland as Kosovan refugees during the Serbian-Bosnian war. this gritty documentary explores the family hist0ry through his volatile kick-boxing career. Bashkim's struggle to keep his aggression inside the ring gets him into trouble. finally and fatally with police. The portrait of Bashkim and his family is an intimate one. allowing them to discuss the pain and violence suffered during and since the Serbian-Bosnian war. In a final moment of confrontation. they visit their old. destroyed home. Reflective and also immediate. director Vadim Jendreyko has traced the Berisha family with intelligence and humanity. fitting to their lives. (Ruth Hedges)
How To Draw A Bunny .0... Filmhouse, 6pm. See Thu 16l.
This is Not a Love Song COO GFT, 6.30pm. See Fri 16.
The Eye of the Day 0..
Cameo, 7pm. See Sun 18.
A Private Affair OOOO Filmhouse, 7.30pm. Thierry Lhermitte's a private dick investigating a missing young woman who liked to get her kicks where she could find them. Lhermitte hauls his fatigued. middle-aged body from one sleazy Parisian joint to another as he follows the trail of the missing girl. Director Gilluame Nicloux‘s getting at something very interesting here — to do with a woman exploring the outer limits of her own sexuality before hoping, perhaps. for a detective to search out her inner motives. But is there finally a contrived if very slick emptiness at work, no matter the French cast is super: Aurore Clement. Samuel le Bihan. Jean-Pierre Darrousin and Philippe Nahon. (Tony McKibbin) Cry Woman 0000 Filmhouse, 7.30pm. This caustic. cynical tale of a life lived on the margins of society in modern day China is about as far away from the gentle nobility of the films of Zhang Yimou (To Live) as you can get. Wang (Liao Oin) ekes out a living selling DVDs on the streets of Peking. When her husband is arrested and she is left with an abandoned child. she returns to her home town and becomes a professional mourner at village weddings through her lover's funeral parlour. A character piece solely driven by Qin's superb performance — she is equally adept at playing the fool and the hard-nosed bitch. and a beautiful revelation. (Paul Dale)
15—22 Aug 2002 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 43