FESTIVAL FILM
Everyone's Child ****
Come the Millennium, there Will be ten million orphans in Africa as a result of AIDS alone. Everyone's Child is a profoundly affecting film from Zimbabwe that addresses this disturbing statistic through the story of one family. The performances are brave and the tragedy as underplayed as one could expect. The title derives from the ethos that the upbringing of a child is the responsibility of the entire Village. Utopian day-dreaming or collective social responsibility? If the sight of a toy helicopter constructed from coat hangers minus its owner doesn’t provoke a tear, your emotions have upped and left (Rodger Evans)
ll Everyone’s Chi/cl, Cameo 3, Thu 74, 4pm, Cameo 3, Sun 77, 70pm, £6
(£4)
Bumping The Odds
*tkk
Fashioning a feature film from the raw g truths exposed in his documentary about the loan shark industry is a risky : strategy for first-time director Rob Rcihrer, but it pays off handsomely. Lynette (Shirley Henderson) is a young single mum whose budding affair With the kind-hearted Andy (Joseph McFadden) puts a strain on her friendship vxith ruthless SOCIal climber Terry (Sharon Small) The claustrophobic atmosphere, dense plotting and arresting camera work -- angles stylishly askew and scenes blurring into focus ~- make it resemble a Wong Kar—Wai movre filmed in Glasgow, with the club quotient raised and glamour scaled down for the Clydeside setting (Deirdre Molloy)
I Bumping The Odds, Filmhouse 7, Fri 75, 2 30pm, Fil/riliouse 7, Sun 24, 2pm, if 6 ([4)
Wild Angel *
Billed as the Swedish equivalent of The
5 Commitments, l'Vi/(l Angel departs
from Alan Parker's venture into Dublin
youthdom in one specific way — there
3 is not a smile to be had in the whole
: miserable 96 minutes. As a school prepares for its annual stage play amid
PC or not PC?: Aaron Eckhart and Matt Malloy prepare for some misogynous power games in the controversial In The Company Of Men (Cameo 1, Fri 15, 8pm; Cameo 1. Wed 20, 5.30pm).
staff and parental resistance, a new recruit finds difficulty in fitting in, preferring to smash up the khazi than learn his lines. Not that his chums or, somewhat unfortunately, their teacher are any less dysfunctional. Will the play ever see the first curtain before any number of the pupils carry out their threats to top themselves? Grim, in the extreme. (Brian Donaldson)
I Wild Angel, Cameo 3, Mon 78, 5.45pm; Cameo 3, Thu 27, 70pm, £6 (£4).
East Side Story
* ti *
On one side of the Iron Curtain, Gene Kelly splashed in puddles and sang in the rain. On the other, men in fields serenaded their tractors and extolled the joys of life under Comrade Stalin. Actually, there's more to the ’socialist musical’ than this, as Dana Ranga's wonderfully entertaining dowmentary proves. Only 40 or so musicals were ever made in the Soviet Bloc, but not all were sugared ideology set to a tune. East Side Story sketches the period’s political context without becoming dry, while the generous clips (the majority from movies never seen in the West) are Vibrant and fun. (Alan Morrison) I East Side Story, Cameo 7, Thu 74, 5.30pm; GFT 7 Fri 75, 5.45pm, £6 (£4).
The Well * t ‘k i The story of the relationship between a 40-ish spinster and a disturbed teenage girl — whose mind-state ranges from off-kilter to off-the-trolley — may not be everyone’s idea of a fun night at the movies, but hang on in there. When a corpse down a well begins to exercise an other-worldy influence over the girl, the duo's friendship becomes ever more tense. This atmospheric and beautifully-shot Australian chiller is essentially an actors' film, and superbly edgy performances are teased out of Pamela Rabe and Miranda Otto. Watch alone and be forever haunted. (Brian Donaldson)
I The Well, Cameo 7, Tue 79,
7 0.30pm; GFT, Wed 20, 5.45pm; Cameo 2, Sat 23, 7pm, £6 (£4).
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Majestic view: Billy Connolly and Judi Dench mi... 1
Mrs Brown a H:
Already released in the US to some acclaim, this historical drama is a quiet triumph for cooproducers BBC Scotland, and its key performers should probably be clearing their diaries for Oscar night next year. -12,
Rather in the manner of The Madness Of King George. it's an intimate ioolei behind the throne - in this instance Judi Dench's grieving Queen Victoria. egg-i virtual recluse since the loss of her husband Albert. and whose continuing isolation prompts unrest in parliament. Nearing desperation. the palace summon John Brown (Billy Connolly). her husband's trusted Highland ghillle,“1 down from Balmoral with the Queen's pony. " I
It would be going too far to call what follows a love story but in Brown. . Victoria finds a trustworthy shoulder on which to unburden her cares. , Although he's strong on traditional Scots pragmatism. Connolly (and Jeremy, Brock's screenplay) also acknowledges Brown's ruthless ambition. thus saving the character from becoming a mere goody-two-kilts. Dench too excels in the familiar role of gently loosening repressed emotions.
Although its modest scale betrays the piece‘s televisual origins, John Madden's film has the knack of not making more out of the material than is; actually there. For once, restraint and reticence actually work in a British film's favour.,A sterling job within its limitations. (Trevor Johnston)
I Mrs Brown, Dominion, Sat 76, 8pm; GFT 7, Sun 77, 7.30pm; ABC 2, Tue 79, 6.30pm, £6 (£4).
work and not a little eccentric; but at the end of 82 minutes, it feels like you're stuck in the pub with a quartet of enthusiastic bores. However, the photography is beautiful, as each of the men’s working environments provides contrasting footage, but only superficial thematic links. Brilliantly made, but the concept doesn't hold out. (Alan Morrison)
I Fast, Cheap 81 Out Of Control, Filmhouse 7, Sun 77, 9.30pm; Filmhouse 2, Sat 23, 5.30pm, £6 (£4).
The James Gang a: a:
With its stylish cinematography, eye- catching direction and groovy soundtrack, this is one new British feature that desperately wants to be hip. Helen McCrory, who gave her all to Karl Francis's Street/lie, puts in similar commitment as the mum desperately trying to hold her family together by launching on an impromptu crime spree, though ne'er- do-well dad John Hannah and trailing policewoman Toni Collette don't really have the grit required for their roles. Stuart Hepburn's script never begins to carry the weight that would justify the involvement of McCrory‘s children in the various robberies, so the movie's left all dressed up with nowhere to go. (Trevor Johnston)
I The James Gang, ABC Wester Hai/es, Wed 20, 6.30pm, Cameo 7, Fri 22, 3pm, £6 (£4).
Mushrooms ****
Take two eccentric old women, add one criminal and a homeless policeman, blend liberally with murderous twists and turns, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a delicious black comedy. When Flo and Minnie discover an unwelcome thief dead on their premises, they cook up a deadly cuisine to dispose of the evidence under the nose of new tenant, Sergeant lnstep. As their schemes become more inventive and grisly, the humour gets darker and richer. A cinematic cousin to The Ladykillers and Arsenic And Old Lace, it’s a refreshing change to Australian light-hearted froth like Muriel’s Wedding. (Paul Smith)
I Mushrooms, Cameo 7, Fri 75, 5.30pm; Cameo 3, Wed 20, 70pm, £6 (£4).
Fast, Cheap 8: Out Of
Control * it
What do a lion tamer, a topiary gardener, a mole rat expert and a robotics engineer have in common, other than the fact they’re the subjects of a new documentary by Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line)? Well, nothing, really. As they talk to camera, they prove they’re passionate about their
75—21 Aug 1997 rueusres