FILM PREVIEW
Chemical generation
If Trainspotting left you wanting more Irvine Welsh on the big screen, get ready for the world premiere of The Acid House.
Short story collections might not sell as many copies as novels, but Irvine Welsh still managed to shift the equivalent of a few Caledonian forests with The Acid House. Three of these stories - ’T he Granton Star Cause', ’A Soft Touch’ and 'The Acid House' - now appear in a single movie with the same overall title as the book.
Paul McGuigan, director of The Acid House, reckons the three sections of his movie work as stand-alone stories, but together have a sense of unity. In this way,
he hopes to overcome the obstacles that typically face ‘anthology' movies from as diverse backgrounds as European arthouse (RoGoPaG) and gory horror (Tales From The Darkside), where the viewer tends to compare one bit with another, leading to feelings of inconsistency. McGuigan’s also prepared for an
additional burden.
’Inevitably people want to make comparisons to Trainspotting,’ he says, 'but I hadn't seen the film when I was asked to direct The Acid House, and it became a very conscious decision on my part not to watch it. This film is like an urban fairy tale. Some fairy tales can be black, some can be funny, and some can be downright weird. We had the choice of making the film either as real and hardcore as possible or watering it down and making it more commercial. We chose to film it the way
it was written.’
Acid casual: Ewen Bremner in The Acid House
'The Granton Star Cause’, in which Boab is turned into a fly after meeting God in an Edinburgh pub, has already been broadcast on television. ’A Soft Touch’ sees Small Faces star Kevin McKidd as a young husband left literally holding the baby, while 'The Acid House’ casts Ewen Bremner as a Hibs casual on a nightmare
drug trip that sends his personality into a middle-class
recognise.
couple's new-born child. None of this takes place in an Edinburgh the tourists - or even social workers - would
'We’re not going for that slum woe-is-me look, because the film’s not like that,’ McGuigan insists. ‘lt's a romp - rock ’n’ roll, very in your face, lots of music, montages and very stylised, lots of really high colour. We aimed to make Edinburgh look like South L.A., unlike the dull way it usually is.’ (Alan Morrison)
a The Acid House, Cameo l, Sat29, 8pm, £6.50 (£4).
Best Of The Fest
Cameo and Fi/mhouse, Sun 30 Aug.
1‘3 f
Poetry in motion: Saul Williams in Slam
It’s all here in a single-day sitting - the highlights of the 52nd Edinburgh International Film Festival as nominated by critics, audience and festival programmers. Tickets from 623 8030. FILMHOUSEI
Noon: Get Real (is 3: 33¢ i2) Young boy has relationship with closet gay who’s the school hetero hearthrob.
50TllE llST 27 Aug -10 Sep 1998
2.30pm: Oscar Moore Lecture
(at it: at: a) Screenwriter Richard Curtis talks about his work.
4.30pm: Orphans (3i v'x «iv is) Peter Mullan’s warm, darkly comic take on family relations.
7pm: Love Is The Devil (flat as- a 2) Derek Jacobi excels as artist Francis Bacon. 9.30pm: Pi (at :t- a x at) Number theory, capitalism and religious conspiracy lead to mental breakdown.
FILMHOUSE 2
12.30pm: Cracked Actor (a: a: it: sir) BBC documentary from 1975 on David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust.
1.45pm: Best Shorts (x- x- Mi 3*) Eight of the best short films collected in a oner
3.45pm: Moment Of Impact ( a x) Filmmaker documents her mother’s care of disabled dad.
6pm: Divorce Iranian Style (iv a. a) Three women take on male-dominant Islamic law courts.
7.50pm: Cube (a. first 3*) Superior sci-fi with six people caught in a 30 maze. 9.40pm: Free Tibet (at: a: a) Concert documentary featuring Beastie Boys and Beck.
FILMIIOUSE 3
1pm: Christine (it x it it) Retrospective subject Alan Clarke's drama about
teenage heroin addiction.
3pm: Road (3? s“ at?) Clarke captures the desperation at the heart of Jim Cartwright's play.
5.30pm: Contact/Elephant (it 9? ~'~. a ) Clarke’s Northern Ireland duo: one, a portrait of demoralised British squaddies; the other, a chilling sequence of sectarian murders.
9pm: Scum (TV version) (-5-: :3» :-*. :=:) Banned drama on Borstal life. CAMEO 1
1pm: Urban Ghost Story (-r-s as it) Gritty Glaswegian drama meets supernatural Chiller.
2.45pm: Slam (Iit' a :2) Prison life and street poetry combine in Sundance award-Winner.
CAMEO 2
3pm: The lnheritors (:4? ts‘ *) Eccentric Austrian st0ry set in I930s farming community.
4.45pm: Terra Nova (2* 4. air) Mentally ill y0ung mother flees from over- protective parents.
CAMEO 3
2.30pm: Buttoners (a «'c vi) Episodic movie dealing with themes of chance and fate.
4.30pm: The Pharmacist (~52 e v a) Stylish German film noir With a nice line in amorality.
final credits roll: Surprise Film What will be revealed when the projector starts to turn? In the past, it’s been Pulp Fiction and LA. Confidential, but even here at The List, we're in the dark. Surprise Film, ABC, Fri 28, 8pm, £6.50 (£4). Richard Curtis The writer of Four Weddings And A Funeral and Blackadder talks about his work in an event that celebrates the life of film journalist Oscar Moore. The Oscar Moore Lecture, Fi/mhouse 7, Sun 30, 2.30pm, £6. 50 (£4).
Seul Contre Tous A brutal and disturbing portrait of one man's howl against contemporary French society. Seul Contre Tous, Fi/mhouse 7, Thu 27, 9.30pm, £6. 50 (£4).
Alan Clarke Events The retrospective on one of Britain’s most influential directors draws to a close with a day of panal discussions (Thu 27) featuring Clarke’s closest friends and collaborators. Highlights from his work screen in Glasgow and Edinburgh over the weekend. Alan Clarke Events, Fi/mhouse 7, Thu 27, 2.30pm, £9.50 (£4); GFT, Fri 28,
5 45pm; Fi/mhouse 2, Sat 29, 3.30pm, £6.50 (£4).
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The Hole The director of The River adds musical interludes to a tale of millennial anxiety. The Hole, Fi/mhouse 7, Fri 28, 4.30pm, £6.50 (£4).
The Book Of Life Jesus comes down to end the world in Hal Hartley's metaphysical masterpiece. The Book Of Life, Filmhousel, Fri 28, 7pm, £6.50 (£4).
Central Station A strong word-of- mouth is building ('this year's // Postino') about this unusual and movmg Brazilian road movie. Central Station, Cameo 7, Sat 29, 5.30pm, £6.50 (£4).