Film
FESTIVAL FILM continued
Journey To The Sun
***
Epic in its themes, if not its length, Journey To The Sun, follows the lives of two young heroes in modern day Istanbul. Mehmet hails from the West, but his dark skin leaves him open to the harrassment suffered by the Kurdish community. This violence introduces him to Berzan, a Kurd from the East, and their friendship is a catalyst for the eponymous journey. Yacek Petrycki (Krzysztof Kieslowski's cinematographer) evocativer visualises the nation's political realities. Riots and military manoeuvres are shot in gritty documentary style and the red X, the mark of racism against the Kurds, haunts the landscape of this powerful film. (Catherine Bromley)
l Journey To The Sun, 19 Aug. 7.15pm; Fi/mhouse 2, 21 Aug, 8pm, £7 (£4.50).
Cookie's Fortune
** i *
With its eccentric Southern characters and sauntering pace, Robert Altman's amiable comedy is as seductive as a sultry summer evening; but it has the sting of a mosquito bite. The sudden death of eccentric Mississippi matriarch 'Cookie' Orcutt (Patricia Neale) throws into confusion a small town preparing for an amateur theatrical production of
festival
Salome. Cookie's conspiring daughters — domineering thespian Camille (Glenn Close) and slow-witted drudge Cora (Julianne Moore) - throw suspicion on the old lady’s gentle black servant Willis (Charles S Dutton), but nobody believes he did it. Least of all the local sheriff (Ned Beatty) and Cookie‘s wayward niece Emma (Liv Tyler).
(Nigel Floyd)
. Cookie’s Fortune, Cameo 1, 17 Aug, 10.30pm; 78 Aug, 3pm, £7 (£4.50).
The Thomas Crown Affair
A it i 1k
In the context of a world cinema increasingly dominated by the intellectual and emotional shallowness of its largely American teenage audience, Die Hard director John McTiernan's classy remake of the 605 heist movie that starred Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway is a cherishable rarity — a skilfully executed romantic thriller featuring grown-up characters in the context of a plot that does not insult the audience’s intelligence. Focusing in on the spiky, sexually-charged relationship between Pierce Brosnan’s eponymous gentleman art thief and Rene Russo's hard-bitten insurance investigator, this works as both a cat-and-mouse thriller and as an edgy romance. (Nigel Floyd)
I The Thomas Crown Affair, Odeon 1, 16 Aug, 7.45pm, £7 (£4.50).
Ratcatcher *ir‘kt‘k
Anyone who has seen Scottish director Lynn Ramsay's short films - Small Deaths, Kill The Day and Gasman - will welcome Ratcatcher, a mature exploration of the child-centred working class milieu, with striking imagery and subtle emotions found in embryo therein. Larger seen through the eyes of James Gillespie (William Eadie), a lonely twelve-year-old boy haunted by the drowning of a neighbour’s son, Ratcatcher presents a grimly realistic vision of working class family life that is shot through
Field of dreams: William Eadie in Ratcatcher
with vivid moments of happiness and release.
This opposition finds expression in the claustrophobic domestic interiors, where the atmosphere is edgy and uncertain. especially when the boy's father has been drinking, which is often, and the wide open spaces beyond, in particular a half-built house on the edge of a cornfield, which symbolises, in James’s mind, a better life. Although the performances by the non- professional child actors are extraordinarily natural and unselfconscious, the world of the film is very much a constructed space. Ramsay uses lighting, framing and camera angles to capture the texture of everyday life, as well as expressing complex emotional states. Like her short films, this is the work of a gifted visual stylist and an acutely sensitive human being. (Nigel Floyd) I Ratcatcher, Odeon 1, 15 Aug, 9. 30pm; Glasgow Film Theatre 1, 17 Aug, 8.15pm, £7 (£4.50). Lynne Ramsay Retrospective, Fi/mhouse 1, 6 Aug, 2pm, £7 (£4.50).
the word
publicity dislribulion
Tel 0131 555 1897 www.cae.co.uk
88 THE U81 12-19 Aug 1999
Humanity (L’Humanité) ****
Although Bruno Dumont’s second film (his first was La Vie De Jesus) scooped three prizes at Cannes this year, it has divided audiences. For some it’s an incisive, low-key character study set in provincial Northern France. For others, it’s pure tedium. Central to the division is main character, Pharaon, a slow-witted policeman who plods through a brutal murder investigation. It's been argued that Pharaon doesn't convince, but Emmanuel Schotté's sparing performance as a thirtysomething man, depressed after the loss of his partner and child two years before, becomes mesmerising over the lengthy running time. Less is more. (Miles Fielder)
I Humanity Fi/mhouse 1, 16 Aug. 9pm; 21 Aug, 4pm, £ 7 (£4.50).
Janice Beard 45 wpm 1k 1k 1k it
Director Clare Kilner and star Eileen Walsh’s wonderfully quirky Janice Beard joins Billy Liar and Walter Mitty in the comedy hall of fame. With her mother suffering from post-natal, post-mortem depression (her husband died in the delivery room), the goofy young Scots lass heads for London to find a cure for mum by making her fortune as a secretarial temp. Janice compulsiver strays into the realm of fantasy with a constant stream of white lies, but her endearing lack of concern for the real world leaves her vulnerable to Patsy Kensit's bitchy typing pool boss and Rhys lfans's scheming office assistant. You will fall in love with Janice. (Miles Fielder)
. Janice Beard 45 wpm, Cameo 1, 18 Aug, 8pm; Glasgow Film Theatre, 21 Aug, 6.15pm; Cameo 2, 23 Aug. 9.15pm, £7 (£4.50).
GBH: Skate photographer Tobin Yelland's brutal documentation of an assault. Thorn
And Toad, playing in Mirrorball short film programme, Coast. Filmhouse 3, 17 Aug.
9pm. £7 (£4.50)