Film index
Children Of Shatila + Frontiers Of Dreams And Fears (PG) (Mai Masri. Palestine. 200l ) 50/57 mins. l)ouble bill of documentaries from .\lasri. ('Iiilllrm concerns the efforts of the youth of a refugee camp to overcome the trauma of massacre and starvation. frontiers follows children from the same camp three years on after liberation from lsraeli occupation. Part of the Palestine At The Pictures season. Pilnihouse. Edinburgh.
A Christmas Carol - The Movie (t‘) 0 (Jimmy T. Murakaini. l'K. 2001) Voices of Kate Winslet. Nicolas Cage. Simon (‘allow. 80 mins. Despite the advances made in computer-generated imagery. there is still a case for the traditional form. Sadly. it's not one made by this poorly executed film: the animation is flat and static. scarcely better than that found on Saturday morning kids' TV. Nor does the storytelling do (‘harles [)ickensjustice. sweetening and softening an already sentimental original. The final straw. however. is the introduction of a pair of cute. slapstick mice. Bah. humbug. (ieneral release.
Chronicle Of A Disappearance (t') (lilia Suleiman. Palestine/lsrtiel/l’S. 199m 88 mins. Suleiman makes a trip home from the [S to Palestine and. through a series of vignettes mixing fact and fiction in Jerusalem and Nazareth. describes what it means to be a Palestinian today. Part of the Palestine At The Pictures season. l‘ilmhouse. Edinburgh.
Cinema Paradiso (PG) .000 ((iiuscppe Tornatore. Italy/France. 1988) Phillipe Noiret. Jacques Perrin. Salvatore ('ascio. 123 mins. Told largely in flashback. the winner of the l‘)‘)() Oscar for Best Foreign Film traces young Salvatore's infatuation with his village cinema. and his growing friendship with its projectionist (played to perfection by Noiret). Iissentially. it’s 'l‘ornatore's lament for the joyous movie- going experience of his youth and a recognition of the price we pay for our
maturity. (irosvenor. (ilasgow.
The Circle (Dayereh) (PG) 000. (Jafar Panahi. Iran/Italy. 2001 ) Pereshteh Sadr ()rafaei. Narges Mamizadeh Razlighi. ()1 mins. "‘The (‘ircle (PG) 0... (Jafar Panahi. lran. 2001 ) l-‘ereshteh Sadr ()rafaei. Narges Mami/adeh Razlighi. ‘)l mins. Through a series of qtiotidian incidents. Patialii (The ll'lii'tc Balloon) presents a devastating yet profoundly empathetic portrait of .\loslem women‘s stunted lives in Iran. Nobody could fail to be angered by the casual cruelties. wicked discrimination and blatant hypocrisy shown here. Yet. by the same token. nobody could fail to be impressed and inspired by the courage and resilience of these women. Linked only by their depressingly similar fates. the women rebel against the circle of discrimination. bravely denying their second-class status. (il'vl‘. (ilasgow.
Courage Of Lassie (t') .00 (Fred Wilcox. l'S. 19-12) Elizabeth Taylor. ()2 mins. [n .\1(}.\l‘s third canine adventure. everyone's favourite collie becomes a war hero. After which Wee young l.ll Taylor manages to turn the scamp into a good domestic pet. Ah. (il'T. (ilasgow.
The Crimson Rivers ( IS) .00 (Mathieu Kassovitz. France. 200l ) Jean Reno. \‘inccnt ('assel. Nadia Fares. l05 mins. Kassovitz's fourth film as director is a gruesome. glossy .S'ei-en-style murder mystery adapted by Jean-(‘hristophe (irang from his own bestselling crime novel. Reiio and (‘assel's police detectives are investigating two seemingly unrelated cases: a brutal murder outside an Alpine university town and the desecrated grave of a child in suburban Sar/ac. The action and suspense sequences are very slick. but once the mystery is solved the film looses impact. and ultimately fails to deliver the shocking denouement that sealed .S'ei'en's place in cinema history. l'('l. lidinburgh. Croupier ( 15) 0... (Mike Hodges. I'K. 1997) ('live ()wen. (iina McKee. Alex
WATERSTONE'S
EDINBURGH
lAN RANKIN
The Oueen's Hall
The Assembly Rooms
WATERSTUNE'S EDINBURGH: West End - 128 Princes Street East End - 13-16 Princes Street George Street - 83 George Street
in the UK launch of his new Rebus book
The Resurrection Men Monday 7th January at 7.30pm
Tickets: Eli/£3 from Edinburgh branches of Waterstone's or
JOE SIMPSON
world-famous mountaineer and author of ‘Touching the Void'. will be here to talk about his new book
The Beckoning Silence Monday 14th January at 7pm
fickets: Eli/£3 from Edinburgh branches of Waterstone's or
TeL 0131 226 2666 Tet 0131 556 3031i TeL 0131 225 3636
34 THE LIST 13 Der: 2001—3 Jan 2002
Young Brit director Joel Hopkins tries a little too hard to make an offbeat American indie comedy in Jump Tomorrow
Kingston. ()4 mins. Jack (()wen) is a struggling writer who takes up a job in a London casino where he quickly proves himself to be an accomplished croupier. But he finds himself assisting Jeni (Kingston). a South African gambler w lio‘s apparently in debt to a gang of criminals. llodges‘ taut. intelligent and darkly amusing drama combines cinematic flair and thematic substance. unfolding in a dream-like. hall-of— niirrors world. peopled by con-artists. card- sharks. and inveterate liars. Propelled by ()wen's impressively watchful and poised central performance. it boasts a delicious ()edipal twist in its denouement. Lumiere. lidinburgh.
0 The Deep End ( IS) 0... it's. Scott .\lc(iehee. David Siegel. 2001 ) Tilda Swinton. (ioran Visnjic. Jonathan Tucker. ()0 mins. Assured adaptation of Elizabeth Sanxay llolding‘s 19-17 crime novel about a mother (Swinton) attemping to conceal the murder of her child's low life lover. ller actions are complicated by a blackniailer (Visiijic) who threatens to expose the crime and the romantic affair thus ruining the teenager (changed from the book‘s daughter to a gay son. which effectively updates the drama). The traditional web of intrigue is replaced by the emphasis on hiding a crime within the confines of domesticity. a brilliant move on McGehee and Siegel's part. and one which shows great fidelity to llolding's much tmdervalued writing. See review. Selected release.
The Devil’s Backbone (El Espinazo del Diablo) ( 15)....O ((iuillermo del Toro, Spain. 200l ) Marisa Paredes. liederico l.uppi. liduardo de Noriega. 107 mins. ln del Toro's expertly-crafted ghost tale set during Spain's ('ivil War a young ('arlos is brought to a remote orphanage presided over by an odd elderly couple (l.uppi and Paredcs). and haunted by the ghost of another orphan. A powerful political backdrop is seamlessly interwoven with a strong religious subtext. and there are numerous cultural references including the surreal imagery of Salvador Dali and the Victorian (iothic writings of MR. James. (iloriously photographed by Almodovar's cinematographer (iuillermo Navarro. this is brilliant visual. allegorical storytelling. Selected release.
Dirt For Dinner( l5) (Branweti ()kpako. (ierniany. 2000) 75 mins. Documentary about the experiences of Sam Meffire. one of (ieriiiany's few black policemen around the time of unification. w ho was Used to launch an anti-racist advertising campaign. Part of the (ierman liilm liestival. (il’l'. (ilasgow. Dog Eat Dog ( (Si O. (Moody Shoaibi. ['K. 200l ) Mark 'l‘onderai. ('runski. Nathan (’onstance. ()3 mins. liour black youths in London are down on their luck. They are spurned by girlfriends. employers. drug dealers and even their families. They
haven't even got a decent and funny script to work with. Times are bad for the characters and they 're almost as hard for the audience. Btit salvation is at hand. both for the group and the movie. They are offered a gig at a local night cltib. Assassins. and the soundtrack to the film is the best to a British film in the last decade. No doubt. 'I‘onderai's old job as a Radio 1 I” helped. l'(i(‘ Retifrew Street. (ilasgow.
La Dolce Vita ( IS) 00000 (Federico l‘elliiii. ltaly/l‘rance. l‘)(i0i Marcello .\1astroianni. Anita likberg. Anouk Aimee. 1 mins. l’u/iuru::i .\lastroianni mixes with the beautiful people of rich Roman society and is ambivalently shocked and fascinated by the vigour of their excessive decadence. liverything you ever wanted from a l-‘ellini movie black humour. grotesque sesuality. inspired visual imagination and the wonderful .‘vlarcello. See it. l-‘ilmhouse. lidinburgh. Down From The Mountain tr) 9... (Nick l)ooh, (‘hris llegedus. [8. 3001 l ‘27 mins. This record of the concert given by the musicians who recorded the soundtrack to () Brut/in; ll'lten' Art Thou." features the late John Hartford as .\l('. liarly on. backstage. he is at death‘s door. but on stage the wonderful music animates him iiiio a jig. Hartford is only one of the ama/ing bluegrass musician assembly including fellow veteran Dr Ralph Stanley as well as younger artists such as (iillian \\'elcli and Alison Kratiss. And there are a number of songs not on the original soundtrack. (il’f. (ilasgow.
Dr l)olittle 2 (Po) .0. (Steve (‘artz t'S. 2(l(ll ) liddic Nlltl‘plt). Kristen \Vilsotl. voice of Lisa ls'udrow. 87 mins. A .\latioso racoon turns tip at the doc's home and demands that he visit Beaver. (iodfather of the forest creatures. Beaver's problem is that two nasty humans want to ‘develop' their home. Ifonly l)olittle can mate endangered species bear Ava (voiced by Lisa Kudrow I with circus dude bear Archie. then by law the forest \\ ill be protected. Simple. cheesy and eco-friendly. ()deon. lidinburgli; ('ineworld. lialkirk.
Eloge de L’amourtt’m 0000 (Jean- l.uc (ioddard. l-‘rance. 3001 ) Bruno Put/ulu. (‘ecile ('amp. Jean l)a\y. US mins. (iodard's latest film sees him once again grappling with two constraints: the progressive and the elegiac. llere Put/qu play s an artist w ho in the film's monochrome. celluloid first halt struggles to get a project off the ground. In the colour. videoed second section. set a couple of years before. he interview s a Resistance expert and we watch how what we see may become the source of inspiration for the film Put/tilu wants to make. Blending the old with the new. (iodat'd offers a technical correlative to a story that puniiingly plays on the many forms resistance may take. (il’l‘. (ilasgow; l'iilmliousc. lidinburgh.