Film index
The Little Vampire (1’) 00. it'll Iidel. L'K. 2000i Rollo Weeks. Richard li. (irant. Jonathan Lipnicki. ()5 mins. Tony (l.ipnickil. 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 y'ampire conveniently falls down his chimney. ('an Tony join in the quest for the missing amulet and help the fanged Rudolph and his family become human'.’ I)espite its Hollywood re- yamp. Angela Sommer-Bodenburg‘s well- loy'ed noy'el emerges with its sense of fun intact. However. while this film certainly doesn‘t suck. ultimately. it lacks real bite. l'(i(‘ Parkhead. (ilasgow.
Long Time Dead t 15; O t.\larcus Adams. L'K. 2001 l Alec Newman. Lara Belmont. Joe Absolom. ()4 mins. (billing in the basement beneath a wat'eliouse party. a group of college mates play a makeshift ()uiia board. t'nfortunately. they accidentally summon an Arabiati fire demon. which. as lore has it. must murder in gruesome. though not particularly ingenious way s. each member of the group before it can return to its realm. Post-three deconstructions of the horror thriller with the Scream trilogy these parodied in the two Sun-r .llmiex this rioti- ironic ‘stalk ‘n' slash' fiick is plain out of date. Perhaps the thinking was: Brits can make teen horror films too. They can't. See reyiew'. (ieneral release.
Orhe Lord or The Rings mo. ..... (Peter Jackson. New /.caland/I 'S. 2001) Ian .‘ychellen. lilijah \Vood. Liy' Tyler. ('ate Blanchett. \‘iggo .‘ylot‘tensen. 78 mins. At long last. a sword and sorcery adyenture that really deliyers the goods. J. R. R. Tolkien's great achicy‘ement was to create an Iinglish mythology. located in a fantastical yet beliey'able world. Jackson's great achieye~ ment is to bring the author's I000 page tome to life. not merely realising the fantastic ele- ments with special effects spectacle (though they are very spectaculari. but through story - telling flare and mary'ellous performances from his cast. Visceral and breathtakineg dramatic. The l'i‘lluws/iip (2/ The Ring is an inspired labour of low and a monumental achiey'ement. (ieneral release.
Lovely Rita t 15).... fJessiea llausner. Atistria. 200] l Barbara ()sika. ('hristoph Batter. Petr l'iiala. S0 inins. Jessica llausner's Lovely Rita is a grim. dyspeptic tale of teenage angst. Rita Iiyes on the outskirts of Vienna. goes to a nice ('atholic school and is suffocating under the pressures of wild hormones. bullying. dull parents and the fact that her best friend. I-‘esi. an I 1 year old asthmatic. seems to be dying. This grinding. Dogmc-esque slice of modern misery perfectly encapsulates the feelings of nihilism and anger that accompany us all in early puberty. A little gem of displaced therapy. (ilttsgow' I-‘ilm Theatre. (ilasgow '. The I'ilmhouse. lidinburgh.
The Low Down I list .000 «Jaime Thrayes. t'K. 200l l Aiden (iillan. Kate Ashlield. ()6 mins. I'rank tAiden (iillani is a promising sculptor-cum-model maker w ho's pissing away his life with friends and flatmates. lirank‘s attempts to grow tip are centred round his new girlfriend tAshfield excellenti. btit he still has to deal with his toxic—induced urban paranoia. lack of communication skills and a deeply ingrained selfishness. This is about the gap between late adolescence and mature resignation. and it shares with the View er the total exasperation and alienation of a misspent youth and the aching passage to maturity. A film about the minutiae of behay iour this is a little gem. ('(‘A. (ilasgow'.
A Ma Soeur! (Fat Girl) 1 I8» 0000 (Catherine Breillat. I‘rance. 200l l Ro\ane .‘ylesquida. Anais Reboux. l.ibero de Rien/o. 86 mins. The family Vacation of fifteen-year- old Iilena (Mesquidai and IZ-year-old Anais (Reboux) and their parents proy'ides lirench feminist auteur Breillat l.i/i I'illeHe. anum'ei with another disconcerting exploration of female sexuality. Inspired by a newspaper report of a family tragedy. Breillat has crafted an impressively acted film. frank and discomfortng to the y icwer. which dismantles the cosy assumptions of the teenage summer romance moy ie. And ey'en if the film lurches
30 THE LIST Ti'r 71‘: .Ja': ’27,?
into hot‘t‘or-moy’ie territory. with the \ iolent w ish-fulfilment of Anais's darkest desires. it ney er loses its essential ambiguity. (ilasgow I‘ilm Theatre. (ilasgow; The Iiilnihouse. Iztlinburgh.
Made t I5l ... tJon l’ayreau. LS. 3001 l Jon I’ay reau. Vince Vaughn. I"amke .lanssen. ()4 mins. A follow up rather than a sequel to the effery escent Sn ingery. to which this silly foul-mouthed caper pay s more than lipsery ice w ith its sharp dialogue and the stylised swing of its more hedonistic scenes. Wannabe boxer Bobby tl‘ay reaui Iiyes a low rent e\istence ferry ing his stripper girlfriend tI‘amkc Jansseni to work. The albatross around his neck. how ey er. is his best friend Ricky (Vaughni. a three-bit bum with a superannuated ability to piss people off with his mercurial offensiye manner. When they are offered a quick job as out of town muscle for Los .'\ngeles mob chief .\Ia\. Bobby gets to sit back and watch as his truly idiotic friend dismantles the best laid plans of NY(' mobsters and men. See rey iew. I'(i(' Renfrew Street. (ilasgow; I'(i(' (’inemas. Iidmburgh.
The Man Who Wasn’t There f Lil ..... tJoeI (‘oen. I‘S. 200l l Billy Bob Thornton. I‘rances .‘ylcl)ormand. James (iandolfini. I 10 mins. Set in the (‘aIil'ornian backwater town of Santa Rosa circa the I‘Hfls. 'I'lit' .llim ll'lio Him: 'I There takes its cue from the cynical world of pulp crime writers like James .\I. (am. The tale turns on a regular fella. Thornton‘s mild-mannered barber lid ('rane. who is unw ittingly the catalyst for a spiralling series of e\ents beginning with infidelity and e\tortion and ending with. well. maybe you can guess. The (‘oen brothers‘ latest reiny ention of a classic llolly wood film genre is their most audacious to date. mising hard-boiled. small town film noir with e\istentialism and metaphysics. It's a wry -humoured. retro-sty led. w ickedly - plotted. moody gem. Adam Smith 'Ihcalrc. Kirkcaldy.
Mean Machine I IX) 0 (Barry Skolnick. IiK. 2TH” I 's‘innie Jones. Jason Statham. I)ay id llemmings. .\lins tbc. Imagine a film about a prison football team. starring Jones. featuring stereoty pcd characters left oy er from the TV sitcom I’uI'I'u/ui' and blessed with the \ intage grainy \ isuals. cod-(‘ockney dialogue and macho posturing of The Sn eem'y. The producers of [m k. Stork .lrti/ Iii o Smoking Barrels are behind this piss-poor. parochial aw fulness. And it's an insulting remake of Robert Aldrich's bruising. fiercely anti-authoritarian .-\merican football moy ie. (ieneral release. Meet Me In St Louis 0'; .000 t\'incentc .\linnclli. I'S. I‘M-1i Judy (iarland. Margaret ()‘Brien. .\lary Astor. l l3 mins. Released during wartime. this musical was an optimistic attempt to emphasise family \alues. but Minnelli ney er wallow s in nostalgia. Instead he combats it with sparky
Helen Mirren and Bob Hoskins remembe the old days in Fred Schepisi’s adaptation of Graham Swift’s novel Last Orders
and sarky famin dynamics. Set in 1003. the put-upon father wants to moye his family from St Louis to New York btit faces resistance from his gaggle of girls w ho hayc romances to get on with. and the fast- approaching \Vorld l’air to enjoy. Perfect casting and performances. along with songs like ‘llaye Yourself A Merry l.ittle ('hristmas' add to the warm glow. (ilasgow l'ilm Theatre. (ilasgow.
Memento 1 ISI 0.... t('liristopher Nolan. LS. 3000: (iuy Pearce. ('arrie-Ann .\loss. Joe Pantoliano. llo mins. Beginning where most other films would end with an act of \engeancc. w titer-director Nolan tells his story by gradually working backwards in time. Leonard Shelby tPearcei is obsessed with ayenging his w ifc's rape and murder. Trouble is Leonard suffers from a condition of short-term memory loss. and so he relies on an elaborate system of mementoes maps. Polaroids. body tattoos to piece together the clues in his inyestigation. A compelling. elliptical reconstruction of the reyenge thriller. which skilfully examines the connections between memory. identity and perception. Iidinburgh l-ilm (iuild. lidinburgh.
Memory Of The Camps f lSi i\'arious.
I'K. I‘HSJ 55 mitts. In recognition of
Holocaust Memorial Day. I)r Toby IIaggith of
the Imperial War Museum introduces this screening of this documentary filmed by the military during the liberation of the (ierman concentration camps. \Vith narration by 'Ireyor Iloward. (ilasgow I-"ilm Theatre. (ilasgow.
Miller’s Crossing I Isl 0.... (Joel (’oen. IS. 1900) (iabt'iel Byrne. Albert l-‘inney. .\Iarcia (iay IIarden. John ‘l‘urturro. Jon l’olito. J.ti. I‘reeman. IIS mins. The ('oen Brothcrs' latest opus is a predictably quirky - but-sty lish reworking of genre material in this case the gangster flick. Set in an unnamed Iiast-coast city in the l‘).i0s. it centres on the falling-out between mob—leader I‘inney and his right-hand man Byrne when both take a shine to the same broad tllarden l. Possibly the best. most under-rated film of IWI. t‘('l. ('lydebank.
0 Monsoon Wedding t ISi 0000 (Mira Nair. India/I‘K. 200] l Naseeruddin Shah. l.il|ete l)ubey. Vijay RaaI. l l3 mins. ()n the me of the longed-for. cooling mon- soon season. the far-flung members of art upper-middle class Indian family gather in Delhi for a typical Punjabi wedding But as the big day dawns. the wedding contractor's promises become more e\asiy e. while the bride's hard-pressed father worries how he is going to pay for ex erything. Nair's sprawling. carniyalesque drama combines the colour and \ ibrancy of Bolly wood with an earthy real- ism. And while she can be sharply satiric. Nair treats her characters. high and low. w ith- otit condescension. See feature and rey iew. Selected release.
Moulin Rouge ( I: l 0”” (Ba/ I.uhrmann. IS. 200] t liw'an .\Ic(iregor. Nicole Kidman. Jim Broadbent. I08 mins. I.uhrmann's follow -up to Romeo A'- Juliei is a wildly unrestrained. gloriously camp. lude as hell musical love story that re-iny'ents the form. from the (iolden Age Hollywood song and dance spectaculars tip. I.uhrmann has transformed the eponymous l‘)th century Parisian dancehall-cum-brothel into the rave capital of liurope. w eay ing 20th century pop music hits into the very dialogue of the film so that it becomes almost opera. And spiralling around a fairytale romance between .\lc(iregor's idealistic poet and Kidman's dance girl is a barrage of riotous imagery and design. There's no middle-ground with I.uhrmann's film: if you abandon yourself to it it‘ll leave you intoxicated with pleasure. Selected release.
0 Mulholland Drive i IS) on. (Dayid Lynch. t'S. 200l l Naomi Watts. Laura lilena llarring. Justin 'lheroux. I46 mins. (iiyen the troubled production history of Lynch's latest slice of nightmare noir it was originally a pilot for a [S teIey‘ision series which was cancelled it‘s nothing short of miraculous that .IIu/lml/tuul Drive shines with the filmmakers idiosyncratic brilliance. Although set in the present day talbeit with retro stylingi. Lynch draws on his fascination with 40s and 5th Hollywood and its secret history of crime. here inyoly mg two actresses. amnesiac Rita tllarringi and ama- teur sleuth Betty (Watts). The proceedings yecr into the kind of waking nightmare terri- tory that either flummoxes or delights \ iew- ers as Lynch mixes the bi/arre. almost latiin- able with the moments of electrifying fear. Selected release.
0 My Neighbour Totoro it‘i tlIay'ao .‘yliya/aki. Japan. 1988) .S’T‘ mins. (ientle fan- tasy exploring rural Japan circa the 1950s as seen through the eyes of a pair of young girls who moye to the country and discoy er the spirits of the forest. Part of the Studio (ihibIt season. (ilasgow l'ilm Theatre. (ilasgow; The I‘ilmhouse. Iidinburgh.
0 My Neighbours The Yamadas tP(ii tIsao 'Iakahata. Japan. 199‘)! I04 mins. In a radical departure from the Studio (ihibli norm. The iiIIIItH/(H is a digitally animated film that resembles a tnoying water colour painting. l)iy ided into a number of episodes and adapted from a newspaper cartoon strip. the film is a look at life in modern day Japan. Part of the Studio (ihibli season. (ilasgow I'iIni Theatre. (iIasgow.
Nobody Somedayi ISI 00 (Brian llill. (K. 200] l Robbie Williams. 0‘) mins. This documentary film is meant to be a from the heart. warts and all. look at the day -to-day tour life of Robbie Williams. He says he wants people to see the truth about w hat his life is like. which. despite being his dream come true. he describes as boring. I)espite all this we see him putting on a fine show in front of sell-out crowds of screaming girls. There are. howey'er. few insightful moments and a lingering feeling that he does haye a rather boring life. which in turn makes for a rather boring IiItll. Ann/Huh Sinner/in is hesl suited to die-hard Robbie fans and those with a shallow fascination with popstars Iiy'es. ()deon. (ilasgow.
One WEEKt I5) II'iLI\\ilI'tI Kline/Blister Keaton. LS. 1020» Knockabottt comedy and e\traordinary stunt work from the king of slapstick. 27 units. (‘('A. (iIasgow.
0 Only Yesterday I P( it tIsao ’I‘akahata. Japan. IWI l l 1‘) mins. I)epiction of modern Japan seen from the perspectiye of twen- tysomething woman Taeko. As she ponders the direction her life has taken. the film flash— es back to the fills. and these anecdotal scenes are crammed with pop culture references. Part of the Studio (ihiin season. (ila\‘~"‘“ liilm Theatre. (ilasgow.
The Others I III C... i.-\le|andro Antenabar. I'S/Spain. 200! l Nicole Kidman. l‘ionnula I‘lanagan. Alakina .\Iann. James Bentley. 10! mins. l'lit' ()I/It'l‘y combines all the elements of the Victorian (iothic thriller. btit .-\nien.'ibai”s .'\lllt‘l'le;lll debut is actually
set on Jersey. at the end of World War II. ls'idman play s ( irace. a highly -strung woman who keeps her cluldrcn locked tip in an old mansion because she behcy es they \\ tII the II- e\posetI to the \tllt. IIU“ cy er. they do not