“\ Film index
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Le Jour Se Leve (PG) 0000 (Marcel (‘arnc. France. 1939) Jean (iabin. Arletty. Jtiles Berry. Jacqueline Laurent. 87 mins. Standout performance by (iabin as a doomed factory worker. holed up with a gun in an attic. surrounded by police. remembering in flashback the circumstances ofjealousy and murder that brought him there. One of the most memorable examples of French poetic realism. Lumiere. lidinburgh.
Julien Donkey-Boy ( 15) 0000. (Harmony Korine. LS. 1999) Ewen Bremner. (‘hloe Sevigny. 9-: mins. Adorned with a perm that would please Kevin Kcegan. Breniner plays the title role. a paranoid schizophrenic based on Korine's uncle Iiddie. Even when constrained by the Dogme 95 rules. Korine's narrative deconstruction manages to otit avaiit garde the most talked about film movement of the last decade. With Jil/ft’li [)0nkt'y'-Bay' Korine attempts to get to the essence of the back-to-basics movement by dispensing with a script and using spy cameras to gage the general public's ‘real reactions' to staged situations. A genius. though perhaps not to everyone’s taste. C(‘A. Glasgow.
Jurassic Park Ill (PG) 000 (Joe Johnston. LS. 2001 ) Sam Nei11.Tea Leoni. William H. .Macy. 92 mins. The flimsy excUse to get the cast over to the Park is a young lad who has become stranded on the dinosaur island. Ar) unofficial search party. headed by his parents (Macy and Leoni ). hoodwink palaeontologist Dr (irant (Neill. reprising his role) into helping them out. Of course. things go wrong as soon as they arrive and they are attacked by a Spinosaur. a new and improved T—rex. From there on in the cast jump from one perilous situation to another. A complete retread of the first two movies with even more dinosaur attacks. more ridiculous predicaments and bigger monsters. Selected release.
A Knight’s Tale (PG) 000 (Brian Helgelaiid. LS. 2001) Heath Ledger. .Mark Addy. Paul Bettany. 132 mins. After his master dies halfway through a jousting tournament in medieval France. peasant William Thatcher (Ledger) dons his suit of armour and drags begrudging pals Roland (Addy) and Wat (Alan Tudyk) across iiurope towards victory. Writer- director Helgeland's (LA. ('oii/iilwiii'al. Pay/nick) film displays a playful sense of humour with its anachronistic soundtrack featuring Queen. David Bowie and other 70s rockers. and amusing allusions to the World Cup. And unusually it also emphasises character interaction so that the working class heroes are aided by Laura Fraser's widow - turned-blacksmith and Bettany's scene- stealing gambler/poet ‘(ieoff' ('haucer. (leneral release.
Legally Blonde ( 12) 000 (Robert Luketic. [‘S. 2001) Reese \‘v'ithersptxvii. Luke Wilson. Selma Blair. 97 mins. Legal/v lilo/tile is adapted from Amanda Brown's unpublished novel. an anthropological study of the ‘law student specics' drawing on her experiences as a blonde attending law school. By contrast. Karen Mc(‘ullah Lutz and Kirtsen Smith's ( [0 Things I Hate About You) screenplay focuses on the ‘clueless' nature of protagonist iille Woods (Witherspoon). a (‘aliforiiia babe who finds herself to be a fish out of water when she follows her boyfriend to Harvard. 1! also
36 THE LIST 18 Oct-1 Nov 2001
resorts to a deeply conventional narrative about honesty and integrity winning the day. Thus. Legal/v Blmulc lacks the bite of other teen satires such as lz'li’i'ti'mi. another film starring Witherspoon. but one which lived tip to the actor's impressive talents. See review. General release.
Les Ouatre Cent Coups ( PG) 0000 (Francois 'i‘ruffaut. France. 1959) 97 mins. Semi-autobiographical account of one 13- year-old boys bleak life. through reform school to an ambiguous linal escape. Filmed documentary style in Paris. Qua/re ('wit (‘oups still stands the test of time. remaining one of the finest films about childhood ever made. (il’l’. (ilasgow.
The Little Vampire (1') 000 1th lidel. l'K. 2000) Rollo Weeks. Richard F. (irant. Jonathan Lipnicki. 95 mins. Tony (Lipnicki). fresh from the orange groves of California. moves with his family to beautiful Scotland. He quickly becomes the most unpopular kid in his class. but finds a playmate when a ten-year-old vampire conveniently falls down his chimney. (’an Tony join in the quest for the missing amulet and help the fangcd Rudolph and his family become human'.’ Despite its Hollywood re- vamp. Angela Somiiier-Bodenburg's well- loved novel emerges with its sense of ftiii intact. However. while this film certainly doesn‘t suck. ultimately. it lacks real bite. Stcr ('ciitury ('inema: lidinbtirgh. lidinburgh. Maelstrom (tbc) (Denis \'il|eneuve. Canada. 2001 ) Marie-Josee (‘ro/e. Jean- .\'ico1as \'erreau|t. Stephanie Morgenstcrn. 87 mins. After plunging her car into a river. a desperately unhappy woman meets a man who helps her to come to terms with her life. Preview screening of the new film from one of (‘anada's more interesting contemporary talents. Villeneuve. director of August .i‘2ml ()Ii [fart/i. Filiiihotise. lidinburgh.
Malena ( 15) O. ((iiuscppe Tornatore.
Italy. 2001) Monica Bellucci. (iiuseppe Sulfaro. Luciano Federico. 92 mins. An outsider in a small Sicilian town during World War Two. Malena (Bellucci) is regarded by the locals with a mix of lust. envy and suspicion. We see her through 12-year-old
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French period romance meets conspiacy theory, horror movie and mar- tial arts adventure in the genre hybrid The Brotherhood Of The Wolf
narrator. Renato‘s devoted eyes. as he spies voyeuristically on her and turns her into the co-star of his masturbatory fantasies. There's something offensive about the way Tornatore uses .‘vlalena's fate to provide his young protagonist with a lesson in the realities of the adult world. Btit the film‘s mix of whimsical coming-of-age comedy and linger-wagging moral fable leaves the viewer feeling queasy. .\'ew Picture House. St Andrews.
0 The Man Who Wasn’t There ( 15) ems (Joel (‘oen. LS. 2001) Billy Bob Thornton. Frances McDormand. James (iaiidollini. 1 1() mins. Set in the (‘alifornian backwater town of Santa Rosa circa the 19-l0s. The Man 11710 11am it There takes its cue from the cynical world of pulp crime writers like James M. (‘ain. The tale turns on a regular fella. 'l'hornton's iiiild-iiiaiinered barber lid ('ranc. who is unwittingly the cata- lyst fora spiralling series of events beginning with infidelity and extortion and ending with. well. maybe you can‘guess. The (‘oeii broth- ers' latest reinvention of a classic Hollywood liliii genre is their most audacious to date. mixing hard-boiled. small town liliii noir with existentialism and metaphysics. It's a wry -huiiioured. retro-styled. wickedly-plot- ted. moody gem. See feature and review. (il’l‘. (ilasgow: ('ameo. lidinburgh.
El Mar ( 18) .0. (Atigtist Villaroiiga. Spain. 2001) Bruno Bergon/ini. Roger (‘asaiiiajon Antonia Torrens. 1 12 mins. In If] .llar. childhood despair is aiiiplilied by political horror. Here the Spanish ('ivil War serves as a precursor to childhood violence: local kids watch as one kid stabs another to death and then kills himself. \‘illaronga explores the after-effects as the on-lookers grow up and reunite in a strange saiiatorium. Is the double impact of violence in the historical past and violence in one's immediate circle years before inevitably going to result in violence in the present? Villaronga gives a heady spiii to the idea that Franco‘s Spain was necessarily oppressive: here the aftermath of the Spanish (‘ivil War indicates bottled tension explosively released. See review. Filiiihouse. lidinburgh.
Mary Poppins (t') 0000 (Robert Stevenson. LS. 1964) Julie Andrews. Dick Van Dyke. David 'l‘omlinson. 139 mins. When high-spirited youngsters. Jane and Michael Banks send yet another nanny packing with their shenanigans. they advertise for a replacement who'll ‘sing songs and bake cakes'. liiiter Julie Andrews as the loveable Mary. a woman who turns the household on its head and forces their suffragette mother and banker father to linally pay their children some attention. (ireat songs. wonderful ’l‘echiiicolor animation in the fantasy scenes. and if it weren't for Dick Van Dy ke's appalling London accent this would. like Mary. be ‘practically perfect in every way". St Bride's (‘eiitre. lidinburgh.
Me, You, Them (Et, Tu, Eles) (PG) .0. (Andrucha Waddington. Brazil. 2001) Regina (‘ase. Lima Duarte. Stenio (iarcia. 106 mins. .lli'. You. ’I‘lu'ni was apparently inspired by a real-life study of a Bra/ilian woman who lived with her three husbands under the same roof for a decade. In different hands this might have been turned into a Itisty. bed-hopping farce. yet director
Waddington and screenwriter lilena Soare/ have carefully fashioned a low-key and gently amusing fable about an alternative family unit and the way its members cope with the day- to-day business of cohabiting in a menage a quartre. Case. a huge television star in Brazil. deserves the plaudits for her portrayal of the earth mother ligure. whose appetite for life isn't diminished by unprepossessing material circumstances. MacRobert. Stirling.
Merci Pour Le Chocolat (Night Cap) (PG) 0.. (Claude (’habrol. France. 2001 ) Isabelle lltippert. Anna Mouglalis. Jacqties Dutronc. 99 mins. Old man of French cinema (‘habrol has cast his favoured performer. Huppert. as a feniine fatale named Mika. ()r is slie‘.’ Sparky young piano student. Jeanne (Mouglalis). can't decide either when she comes to Mika's home to meet husband Andre (Dutronc) and his son. Andre. with whom she was nearly switched at birth. Huppert‘s heiress to a Swiss chocolate-making company is a stone-faced businesswoiiian who gives little of herself away. it’s that which creates the palpable sense of unease that pervades ('habrol's liliii. Filmhouse. Edinburgh: FTH Cinema. Falkirk.
Mike Bassett: England Manager ( 15) 0.. (Steve Barron. l'K. 2001) Ricky 'l‘onilinson. Philip Jackson. Amanada Redinan. 90 mins. (‘omedy reigns on and off the pitch in Mike Russell: ling/arid .1Ianaei'r. a self- effacing send-up of the linglish soccer scene. 'I‘omlinson plays the affable but inept scouser Bassett. the only person mug enough to try and steer the national team to the finals of a fictitious World (‘up in Brazil. Shot on digital video as a mock-docuiiientary. an impressive amount of filming was done at the actual stadiums. lilsew here. a dead-pan Martin Bashir (as himself) interviews an equally po-faced Tonilinsoii. and there is also a lovely cameo from Pele. But while fans will doubtless love the foot-in-iiiotith humour. others may find it a bit predictable. (ieiieral release.
0 Moulin Rouge ( 12)”... (Ba/ 1.uhrmann. LS. 2001 ) liw an Mc(iregor. Nicole Kidman. Jim Broadbent. 103 mins. Lultriiiann's follow-up to Roman A'- .Iu/u'r is a wildly unrestrained. gloriously camp. lude as hell musical love story that re-invents the form. from the (iolden Age Holly wood song and dance spectaculars tip. Luhi'mann has transformed the eponymous 19th century Parisian dancehall-cum-brothe1 into the rave capital of liuropc. weaving 20th century pop music hits into the very dialogue of the liliii so that it becomes almost opera. And spiralling around a fairytale romance between Mc(ircgor‘s idealistic poet and Kidman's dance girl is a barrage of riotous imagery and design. There‘s no middle-ground with Ltihriiiann's liliii; if you abandon yourself to it it'll leave you intoxicated with pleasure. (ieneral release.
Network ( 15) .00. (Sidney Lumet. LS. 1976) Faye Dtiiiaway. William Holden. Peter Finch. 121 mins. ()verheated 70s satire of media and morals has ()scar-w inning Finch as a fading news aiiclioriiian who finally freaks out in the sttidio. finds (iod and begins to spurt much evangelistic boiiibast. and finally sets himself tip to commit suicide on air. Ratings soar. of course. and station boss Holden rubs his hands in glee. a gesture every bit as self- congratulatory as Paddy ('hayefsky ‘s screenplay for the liliii. (iiliiioreliill(il2. (ilasgow.
102 Dalmatians (l') 000 (Kevin Lima. l‘S/l'ls'. 2000) (ilenii ('lose. (lei‘ard Depardieu. loan (iruffudd. 90 mins. ('ruella‘s back. And this time she's F.11a. Thanks to a shot of iiiiiid-altering Pavlovian treatment during her stay at Her Majesty 's Pleasure. the larger than life baddie is released into the community as an animal-Iov iiig philanthropist. Only when Big Ben strikes twelve does the spell snap. letting her rev en to character. her passion for Dalmatian fur renew ed. 102 is a generation on from the original cute canines. but the shape of the story is virtually identical. while the script's too caught tip in the machinations of the human world to give the dogs enough of a look in. Stcr (‘cntury (‘inenia: lidinburgh. litlinburgh.
A One And A No (Yi Yi)(15).... (lidward Yang. Taiwan. 2001 ) Wu Xian/hen. Tnag Ru-yun. lilaine Jiii. 173 mins. Remarkable study of a middle class Taiwanese