film festival
****
Marilyn Waring and director ferre Nash wonder Who’s Counting
DOCUMENTARY
WHO’S COUNTING In 1975, 22-year-old Marilyn Waring was elected to the New lealand parliament and immediately began to challenge the mythical status of economics, its elitist jargon and its dangerous political dimension. This documentary avoids falling into Open University mode by dividing refreshingly radical views and biographical portraits into fifteen witty and accessible ‘chapters’. Waring argues that ‘economic growth’ is such a narrow-minded term that environmental disasters and war are regarded as good - even ozone depletion will create an increased market for skin care creams and dermatologists. It’s the role of women
that concerns her most keenly: global economists treat women as invisible or unimportant, as raising a family, preparing meals and caring for the home don’t contribute to traditional definitions of economic value. According to Waring, it this blind obsession with generating capital continues, the poverty gap will widen, the environment will be ravaged and mankind will be in serious danger.
It takes a mere 90 minutes for Waring and director Terre Nash to make the audience reassess its entire world outlook. A triumph of sense over greed, this isn’t just the kind of film that makes you think, it makes you want to go out and shout questions from the rooftops. (Alan Morrison) Who’s Counting, Filmhouse, 13 Aug, 5.30pm; Filmhouse, 15 Aug, 1pm; OF T, 17 Aug, 8.30pm; Filmhouse, 19 Aug, 7.30pm, £61“).
Oliver Milbu
DRAMA ****
IN voun DREAMS
In last year’s Loved Up, writer OI Parker dealt with the use of ecstasy among young clubbers in an honest and sensitive manner. Now he tackles date rape, not for the sake of controversy, but to dissect the issue in all its emotional complexity.
Thandie Newton and Oliver Milburn play two students who arrange, through Milburn’s sister, to go on a date. It’s soon clear that she’s not that interested, but he plays it as it comes, side-stepping each of the barriers she sets until he’s in bed with her as the light goes out.
The stylised structure of the film is,
in and Thandie Newton make a date in In Your Dreams
in a way, also its subject matter. We see the evening unfold, but are jolted by flash-forwards that colour our perception of the events as they’re in progress. Later, when accused and accuser are in court, the action plays back as seen through their eyes. lie remembers her in a provocative dress; in her mind, it’s a long-sleeved pullover. in the final stages, the two views are formalised visually as a split screen: subtle nuances and voice inflections are enough to make any statement or act dangerously ambiguous. A superior BBC production, with a perceptive script, bold direction, and performances that will echo in your head for days. (Alan Morrison)
In Your Dreams, Filmhouse, 15 Aug, 10.30pm; Filmhouse, 18 Aug, 1.30pm; Filmhouse, 23 Aug, 1.30pm, £6 (£4).
tit
COMEDY THRILLER
WAITING FOR SUNSET
A melanchon Scandinavian drama. sentimental comedy and armchair mystery thriller. Illa/rug l’nr Smth successfully crosses genres. Its poignant plot involves the quest fora long lost lover. the last wish of a dying old man. carried ottt by his bumbling friends as part of a hermetic pact. The locations are charming — Heidelberg. Cologne. ()slo — and mystery takes
a satisfy ingly serious turn.
engaging with Nazi war crimes. but it's the marvellous veteran cast led by Robert Mitchum that is the real joy. Three grumpy. crude stooges haiitming it up with some priceless wisecracks such as. 'We'rc on the edge of the smell of success’. (Miles l-‘ielderi
I Waiting For Sunset I-‘ilmhouse. l2 Aug. l.3()pm; l‘tlmhouse. IJ Aug. l()pm. to (£4).
WAR DRAMA
***
HOLY WEEK \Vlili St /II'IIt//t’r' iv /.i\l. Spielberg took (is inside
lllc‘ .lc‘wisli glic‘llns ;t\ (ltics
Andr/ej Waida Ill this. his .illth film. ()ver the liaster \vc‘t‘k. lliL‘ Warsaw Clic‘llt)
forms the backdrop for the
betrayals. passivity and resistance of the Poles. lincapsulated in a leafy city suburb. the desperate survival tactics — heroic and cowardly — of the community surface with the arrival of embittered. doomed .Iew lrena. given shelter by a former l’olish lover. The massacre continues and lliroshiman black ash rains down. shattering nerves. Religious. moral and political hypocrisies are teased ottt and the utter
Tefror of the community is powerfully realised on film. (Miles Fielder)
I llon Week Filmhouse. l4 Aug. 8.I5pm; Filmhouse. 24 Aug. 8pm. £6 (£4).
***
SHORT FILMS ABOUT PAINTING
Images within frames — it's perhaps natural that
'fine art and film should
fall together in this programme of four shorts which bring paintings to life. In Suir Blue. director Norman Jewison takes a picture of a sad-faced clown and retells the I Pug/tutti story of the circus performer who kills for love. The narrative drives on in wonderfully melodramatic style. while Alan Arkin's performance is tilled with pathos. John Boorman's 'I'ivn Nut/es Bur/ring combines a soft eroticism with a playful stab at upper-class pretentions of vanity before art; Atom Egoyan's l’nrlr'u/t ()fArs/rile links personal details to the history of a self portrait by Gorky; and the documentary Natural ('mtseri'ulive Rebels.“ Gilbert rllit/ George In ('ltimt finds a surprisingly apt and receptive atmosphere for the eccentric artists' work. (Alan Morrison)
I Short Films About Painting Filmhouse. l2 Aug. Ipm; Filmhouse. l5 Aug. 8. lSpm. £6 (£4).
DRAMA * *
LETTERS FROM THE EAST
Andrew Grieve's film is bearable thanks to a thinly compulsive mystery plot. What exactly are the secrets buried in Anna's past'.’ What has her adored
llon Week
letters From the East father been hiding from her‘.’ But beyond these unknown factors — and they provide a weak spine for a feature to depend upon — this drab and detached film fails to engage. In the opening shot. a camera pans along a line of Estonian anti- Russian protesters. yet it is positioned at an angle _ that avoids the faces and expressions of the people. It‘s a definineg pointless moment in a film that is torn between the personal and the political. and ends up rendering humanity irrelevant and protest unintelligible. (Hannah Fries) I Letters From The East OFT. [2 Aug. 8.30pm; Cameo. I7 Aug. l2.3()pm: Cameo. 22 Aug. 7.30pm. £6 (£4).
COMEDY-DRAMA
MR RELIABLE Based on a real life incident from I968. Nadia Tass' latest follows the fortunes of none-too- bright petty crook Wally Mellish as he unwittineg gets hitnself into Australia's very first siege crisis. Complications unfold as the police. convinced he's holding girlfriend and baby hostage. swither between softly-softly and strong- artn tactics. Colin Friels‘ Gump-ish protagonist becomes an unlikely folk hero as this battle for the Aussie soul grinds into action. but the film's failure to properly establish its characters scuppers involvement early on. while the use of sundry familiar 60s pop tunes proves exasperatingly approximate. Might have been better as a straight documentary. (Trevor Johnston)
I Mt Reliable Filmhouse. l3 Aug. 8pm; GFT. l5 Aug. 8.30pm; UCI. 2l Aug. 8pm. £6 (£4).
Review star ratins
e t a w i Unmtssable t w e a Very good
a w it Worth seeing w t Below average it You‘ve been warned
The List 9-l5 Atig I996 77