leSTlVAL FILM
Colours Straight Up *ir ii
This documentary centres on a group of young African-American and Latino youths living in Watts, Los Angeles, and takes its narrative drive from a production-in-progress by Colors United, a performing arts group for inner city kids. Set against a background of violent crime in the community and contrasting fictional interpretations of racial tensions, it paints an optimistic portrait of people who have discovered the direction and the courage to fight back and rise above their surroundings, leaving the viewer with a sense of admiration and hope. (Niall Macpherson)
I Colours Straight Up, Filmhouse 7, Wed 20, 9.30pm; Fi/mhouse 7, Fri 22, 2.30pm, £6 (£4).
Love And Death On Long Island ‘k ‘k i *
Pedantic old fogey Giles De'Ath (John Hurt) has never let the 20th century impinge on his world of writing, until an accident sends him into a cinema, exposing him to the talents of actor Ronnie Bostock (Jason Priestley). De’Ath is immediately besotted and sets out for Bostock’s Long Island home. This impressive, if slightly overlong mowe flaunts the humour of the ensuing culture clash, but never ceases to be pOignant and Sympathetic towards its characters and their emotions. Hurt is on top form and Fiona LoeWi plays Bostock’s Wife with understated style and grace.
(Thom Dibdin)
I Love And Death On Long ls/and, Filmhouse 7, Sat 76, 4.30pm,- Filmhouse 7, Sat 23, 2.30pm, £6 (£4).
How I Learned To Overcome My Fear And Love Arik Sharon
*
During the c0urse of making this docwnentary, director AVi Mograbi supposedly abandoned his left-wing values in favour of right-Wing politiCian Arik Sharon, causmg his Wife to leave him. Immediately
something strikes us as false: Mograbi's confession-to-camera is rehearsed, actorly, manufactured, while key changes in attitude come in suspiciously vague 'dream sequences’. With no hint of irony, the only interpretation is that Mograbi advocates setting aside political thought for surface charisma. If so, that’s fascist propaganda. At least Triumph Of The Will did it with style. (Alan Morrison)
I Arik Sharon, Filmhouse 2, Thu 2 7, 8pm, £6 (£4).
Junk Mail
it at ik * *
Director Pal Sletaune delights in the sordid, astuter observed details that embellish his hilarious, ultra-sleazy tale about an Oslo postie who stalks a deaf woman on his mail route, but later comes to her aid when his voyeurism uncovers her seeming complicity in a crime. Sletaune paints his urban wasteland with sickly greens and greys, while characterisations are equally well observed; a series of bizarre caricatures revolve around Robert Skjaestad's marvellously understated, creepy, yet touching central role. Not since Delicatessen have humour, plot and visuals been combined to sustain such a perfect cinematic vision. (Miles Fielder)
I Junk Mail, Cameo 7, Thu 74, 8pm,“ GFT 2, Sat 76, 5.45pm, £6 (£4).
Kitchen
ir tr *
The gorgeous, super-trendy young people who hang out in a Hong Kong that's shot Wong Kar-Wai-style and accompanied by a cool pop soundtrack, make Kitchen an audio- visual treat. The hip, playful feel suits the offbeat storyline, adapted from Banana Yoshimoto's cult novel, which focuses on the unrequited love of an adopted orphan for her new brother. Ultimately, the kitsch glamour and cute performances fail to hide a lack of depth, and the film‘s arthouse aesthetic seems pretentious. Yet, for all that, Kitchen's superficial sheen is fun. (Miles Fielder)
I Kitchen, Cameo 7, Sun 77, 3pm; GFT 7, Mon 78, 5.45pm, £6 (£4).
The Full Monty *ttt
Cocks of the north: Robert Carlyle and Mark Addy in The Full Monty
The tacky 70s promo newsreel that opens The Full Monty, eulogising '
Sheffield as the heart of the industrial north, shines with an optimism that's as dated as big-collared shirts. As the steel industry died, the heart went out of the city, but not - according to this spirited, very British comedy — out of
its people.
Robert Carlyle plays Gary, a terminally unemployed ex-steelworker who, along with an odd mix of former colleagues, decides to go one better than the Chippendale troupes that fill the local halls. They’ve not got the pecs of the professional male strippers, but they can deliver something more by
going ’the full monty'.
Peter Cattaneo's laugh-out-loud film comes from the same tradition as Brassed Off, although it's not as sentimental or overtly political. It does have a strong social conscience however, and that’s where the casting of Carler is so sharp: Gary's driven to this desperate situation by frustration at not being able to properly support his young son and live up to his image as a ‘real' dad. It's the ordinariness of these blokes that gives the film both its humour and its depth - when they get arms caught in sleeves during strip- show rehearsals, .le T'Aime loses whatever erotic charge it had. (Alan
Morrison)
I The Full Monty UCI, Sun 77, 7. 75pm; GFT 7, Tue 79, 8. 75pm, £6 (£4).
Sept 8,9 Sept 10, l I
PILTON VIDEO
AVID Media Composer Non Linear Computer Editing (2 Day Courses)
Avid MCAOO 0” Line Editing Avid MCAOO Off-line Editing (Media Log, Digitising, Rough Cut, Project Management)
Sept 15, 16 Avid MClOOO On Line Editing (Fine Cut, Real Time effects, Broadcast Quality output)
Course Fees £150/ £75 Concessions Pilton Video 30 Ferry Rd Ave Edinburgh EH4 48A 0131 343 "5] Fax 343 2820
Pilton Video Supported by City of Edinburgh Council Arts Unit All Bookings from Monday 18th August 9.300rn
4 Little Girls
* *i *
Spike Lee’s feature films are driven by social argument, so it’s no surprise that his first documentary is a powerful and affecting experience. In 1963, four young girls were killed in a church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, an act that woke up America to the true face of racial hatred in the South. Lee interviews family and friends, and defines the historical context by including key politicians and commentators — including the 'my best friend is black’ mumblings of former Governor of Alabama and pro-separatist George Wallace. The archive footage of beatings, police setting dogs on Negro marchers and firemen turning hoses on black children is hard- hitting stuff, particularly when we realise these events occurred in the Land of the Free only 34 years ago. However, it's the personal reminiscences and photos of smiling
STAR RATINGS
*irht * Unmissable
t t it: * Very 00d
* * it Wort seeing
* * Below average
iir You've been warned
as TtlELIST lS--2l Aug i997
children that really carry weight, especially when the party snapshots give way to horrific images of ruined bodies on a mortuary slab. It’s always the girls and their families, rather than the issues, that stand centre- stage — four bright young lives taken while their murderers still enjoy freedom. (Alan Morrison)
I 4 Little Girls, Fi/mhouse 7, Fri 75, 9.30pm, GFT 2, Sat 76, 3pm,
£6 (£4).
at: S§§§§a kit
Write on: John Hodge discusses his scripts for Trainspotting, Shallow Grave and the forthcoming A Life Less Ordinary at the Oscar Moore Guardian Interview (Filmhouse 1, Wed 20, noon).