Family affair
It's all far from domestic bliss in writer HANIF KUREISHl's latest film, My Son The Fanatic.
Words Rodger Evans
The motif of Hanif Kureishi's last film was an elusive pair of shoes, so it was perhaps fitting that the response of most revrewers was to arm a critical size ten at his backside.
'I was trying to do something like Trainspotting] he says of London KWS Me, ’to show a world of drugs and
’Being a father myseif newt r, M I tries-tidied i’i’itttfii‘; mere with
j "A, *0 r ,t': ‘3 Re ,x 9 (4'2, c 35 3 < < : 751‘} x}; gyms! 3r ics‘t‘ tics... tat-1.35m” its: gust-.5 r i «:2: is s$§ ?
582'“: ifiii‘ité‘ié'f‘tif 53 ‘i‘ ‘
Hartli‘ Kureishi
seedy capitalism but it didn't really come off, mostly because it wasn’t my world Sometimes you can imagine yourself into a world, sometimes you can’t.’
Author, screenwriter, pop culture pundit, and sometime bete noire of the broadsheets, Kureishi is back With
a movie closer to his main more 51 .s wrth some relief this and pots :‘othi that he has chosen not to t'Aftfil‘Il 3n the directorial career l)(.‘~'§l.f‘ ‘.'.'!th the aforementioned and incomprehenSIble i99l effort ‘l'irr not a director,’ he admits ’l can’t I've taken the time to find out hos; it.’
My 50/) The Fanatic is a tale :,f teenage rebellion in r‘e‘.'<‘-rse Of a ,i it who knows all the ans‘ixxers and a father whose world is undone.
It began life as a piece Kureishi had penned for The New Yorker, subsequently appearing in Low /n A B/ue Time — his (OlthilOl: of short stories from last year. He was reminded of the story after reading reports about disturbances in Leeds behxreen local Muslims and prostitutes ‘Ancl there
was the clash between the
father and the son,’ he arlds hadn't grit quite enough emotional ,iziit e frr in that '
Having got the BBC "ill board, he filled out the story, working on the father's character in particular He Is keen, however, to (rise ir‘erlit to Om Puri, a stalwart of inilian Cinema, who plays Pant-x to brilliant effect 'He is \‘xoiideiful,’ agrees Kureishi. ’He’s made so iriany firms that he‘s very relaxed on irillif‘lti it... knt JUSI what to do and that's zany ite's in every single frame of the filrn’
Asked whether his our father '.'.'as
frankly
to do
._-rning
CITIZENS THEATRE
www.citz.co.uk/
Citizens’ Theatre
G&J Productions, Bright Ltd., Royal Court Theatre and Out of Joint
Shopping and F***ing
by Mark Raventh 4 - 9 May £10/E5
Raindog
Love, Lies, Bleeding
devised by Raindog with Daniel Boyle 13 - 23 May £8/£4
Mull Theatre
Retreat
Circle Studio
by James Saunders 5 & 6 May £8/£4
Dr Sullivan & Mr Gilbert
by Christopher Webber 7 - 9 May £8i£4
0141 429 0022
preview FILM
Hanif Kureishi: father doesn't always know best
an influence in the creation of Pan/e2, Kureishi is thoughtful. 'l have many uncles, so maybe there are elements of them in there too. And being a father myself now, I identified much more with Parvex. I’d always written from the son’s pomt of view before and the idea of dOing it the other way round appealed to me. How would I feel if my son became a fundamentahst?’ The key to all Kureishi's work, whatever the generational perspective, is love. 'It’s the only subject] he suggests. 'What else is there but two people wanting to be together and then facing the problems of being
0
:1:-:V.-3:3 " _w i.
by Carl Davis.
together?’
My Son The Fanatic is certainly a film about love, but it is also about COliillU, not only between father and son, but husband and wrfe, husband and lover, lover and son, and so on.
‘Love is desire and desire breaks things up,’ says Kureishi. 'There’s a conflict between duty and love, between passion and convention, and deSire doesn’t hold still. It does all kinds of things it shouldn't and that’s why it's so amusing and so painful.’
Glasgow Film Theatre and Edinburgh Cameo from Fri 1 May.
The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall presents Kings of Come dy
Classic silent comedy films with /ive music
"2:53.
Harold in The I‘l’t’S/liilriil (1925)
with live music composed and conducted
Sunday 10th May at 3pm Tickets: 0141 287 5511
Family tickets and discounts available
Popcorn, hot-dogs, magicians, exhibitions and talks before
and after the concert.
3O Apr—M May 1998 THEUST21