Film index
Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone (PG) .0... (Chris Columbus. [IS/17K. 2001) Daniel Radcliffe. Robbie Coltrane. Maggie Smith. John Cleese. Richard Harris. Julie Walters. 152 mins. Columbus has remained true not just to the spirit but. in many cases. the letter ofJ.K. Rowling‘s novel. With only the occasional nip and tuck. the film follows closely the tale of orphan boy Harry. who grows up in suburbia little realising that he‘s of wizard stock. Like the novel. the film is unsentimental. with no hint of icky whimsy. Rather. it is sustained by a set of superbly dry performances by the all- British cast and rewarded by the true. well- earned emotion of an honourable quest successfully fought. Selected release. Himalaya (PG) 000 (Eric Valli. France/Switzerland/L'K/Nepal. 2000) Thilen Lhondup. Gurgon Kyap. Lhapka Tsamchoe. 104 mins. In the high mountains of the Himalayas. a village prepares for the annual yak caravan to market. However. the young chieftain has been killed and the old clan head. refuses to recognise the hot-headed Karma as his successor. A worthy insight into the lives of a hardy people. the landscape is breathtakingly shot. and the attention to local detail feels authentic. The plot has less going for it. being at heart a fairly hackneyed story of an heir to the throne having to prove he is worthy of the crown. The Lumiere. Edinburgh.
The Hold-Up (El Palo) ( 15) (Eva Lesmes. Spain. 2000) Adriana ()lores. Carmen Maura. Maribel Verdu. 87 mins. This comic crime caper with a feminine twist concerns a divorced mother who works as a cleaner in a bank. which she plans to rob with a team of other unlikely women criminals. Part of the Spanish Film Festival. Eilmhouse. Edinburgh.
ice Age (1') 00 (Chris Wedge & Carlos Saldanha. LS. 2002) Voices of John Leguizamo. Goran \"isnjic. Jack Black. 81 mins. There's a faint air of cynicism in this story of a tnorose mammoth. a bumbling sloth
and a wily tiger whojoin forces. despite all their better instincts. to return a human baby to his father. As the planet gets colder. they head in the opposite direction of the animal migration. to battle snowdrifts. volcanoes. ice caves and predators. eventually delivering their charge. The animators try desperately to make you fall in love with this unlikely band of creatures. to make you .see the good hearts beneath the frosty exteriors. but they don't deliver that all important charm. wit. flair and imagination. General release.
It I Were You (Se fossi in te) (tbc) (Giulio Manfredonia. Italy. 2001) Lunetta Savino. Paola (’ortellessi. Emilio Sofriui. 100 mins. Preview of the forthcoming Italian Film Festival. a light-hearted comedy in which an accountant. an entrepreneur and a 1)] meet and decide to swap places in life. (ii-'1‘. Glasgow; l’ilnihousc. Edinburgh.
Ikiru (PG) (Akira Kurosawa. Japan. 1952) 'I‘akasha Shimura. Nobuo Kaneko. Kyoko
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Seki. 140 mins. Gentle comedy about a terminally ill bureaucrat who's seeks to give his dreary life vibrancy and meaning. Part of the Akira Kurosawa season. GET. Glasgow. In The Bedroom (15) 0000 (Todd Field. 2001) Sissy Spacek. Tom Wilkinson. .Marisa Tomei. 130 mins. Inspired by Andre Dubus' short story Killings. In The Bedroom is an exceptional debut feature from actor-turned-filmmaker Todd Field. it examines. with great sensitivity and insight. the aftermath of an unexpected bereavement when the son of Matt and Ruth Eowler (Wilkinson and Spacek) is murdered. Stylistic indulgences are prudently kept at bay. and it's also blessed with a series of expertly calibrated performances. not least from Wilkinson and Spacek. And there‘s no clear- cut closure or cheap redemption. Selected release.
Invincible ( 12) .0 (Werner Herzog. Germany/CK. 2002) Youko Ahola. Tim Roth. L'do Kicr. 122 mins. With it having been eleven years since Scream ()fSIone. Herzog's last fiction film. it was inevitable that a lot was going to be expected of Invincible. Set in 1930s Germany. Invincible is the story of a Jewish strongman Zishe Breitbart (Ahola) working for occultist and Nazi collaborator Rasmussen (Roth giving another irritatingly hammy performance). Equally bad. the lead character. respectably played by the former World's Strongest Man. is unbelievably dull. Maybe Herzog did it for the money; he seems bored by his subject. and his usual flair is strikingly absent. Whatever the reason. Hermg‘s heart is not in it. and so Invincible is anything but. See review. L'GC Renfrew Street. Glasgow". I'GC Cinemas. Edinburgh. Iris ( 15) 0... (Richard Eyre. 1K. 200]) Judi I)ench. Kate Winslet. Jim Broadbent. 90 mins. The love story of two of this century's most significant writer-academics. lris Murdoch and John Bayley. is lovingly created from Bayley‘s recent memoirs. 1t ultimately plots Murdoch's descent into the agonising fog ofAlzheimer‘s. but is inter-cut with scenes of the early. tentative love between these two Oxford starlets. Although the later years are more involving than the early ones. the two narratives switch with deft slickness. Take tissues. you might need a few. Selected release.
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (L') 0.. (John A. Davis. CS. 2002) Voices of Debi Derryberry. Megan Cavanaugh. Patrick Stewart. 82 mins. Jimmy Isaac Neutron's inventions often cause more problems than they solve. so when he contacts an ultra- intelligent alien life form. the boy genius sets off a chain ofevents that lead to the Yokians — imagine an egg with a see-through shell and green yokes — kidnapping all of the parents in Retroville. So Jimmy leads an expedition of fellow 1950s retro-styled classmates into space to rescue their parents. As is the norm since lit)‘ Story. Jimmy .\'cutron is packed with pop-references. btit lacks sufficient sophistication to appeal to adults. General release.
John Carpenter's Ghosts 0! Mars
( 15) .0. (John Carpenter. LS. 2001) Natashsa lienstridgc. Ice Cube. Pam Grier. 97 mins. Carpenter transplants the western plot
of Rio Bravo. plonking the ‘cowboys' on the red planet where Henstridge's police lieutenant is part of a team charged with collecting Cube‘s criminal from a mining settlement. However. once there. they discover the inhabitants have become murderous Zombies. Rarely straying beyond its genre boundaries. Ghosts ()_f.llrtr.s is entertaining enough. but Carpenter re-treads familiar ground. making this another of the ailing auteur‘s lesser work. Cameo. Edinburgh.
Just Visiting (PG) .0 (Jean-Marie Gaubert. France/L'S. 2001) Jean Reno. Christian Clavier. Malcolm McDowell. 88 mins. When Medieval French nobleman Thibault (Reno) accidentally kills his wife on the eve of his wedding he implores his potion-concocting wizard McDowell to send him back in time to right the wrongs. But the wizard mistakenly sends Thibault and his devoted servant Andre (Clavier) forward to 21st century Chicago where they have ‘hilarious adventures‘ with indoor plumbing and electrical appliances. While the original. Les Visiteurs exuded a certain Pythonesque charm with its petit bourgeoisie parody and schoolboy vulgarity. this slushy remake is saddled with an anaemic. witless script co- written by 80‘s teen flick director John Hughes (The Break/21st Club). Ster Century Cinema. Edinburgh.
Kate a Leopold (PG) 00 (James Marigold. US. 2002) Meg Ryan. Hugh Jackman. Liev Schreiber. 121 mins. Leopold (Jacktnan). an English Duke in 1876 New York. is being forced to marry for money. Giving chase to a furtive fellow he finds at a party at his home. the two men finally fall from the Brooklyn Bridge. Switching to 21st century Manhattan. the man in question. Stuart (Schreiber). has discovered a portal to cross time and has inadvertently taken Leopold back with him. Stuart‘s downstairs neighbour happens to be his ex-girlfriend Kate (Ryan). Cue love interest for Leopold. What follows is an often tiresome. only occasionally amusing combination of time- travel. humour and romantic comedy. interspersed with the clumsily delivered message that in modern times we have forgotten the important things in life. especially the arts of courtesy and courtship. See review. General release. Kwaidan ( 18) O... (Masaki Kobayashi. Japan. 196-1) Rentaro Mikuni. Ganjiro Nakamura. Michiyo Aratama. 164 mins. The title translates as Ghost Story and this eerily beautiful though rather overlong film presents four tales of the supernatural by English writer Lafcadio Hearn. each of them transferred in time and location to a hauntingly evoked medieval Japan. Marvellous use of the wide screen. GI‘T. Glasgow.
Lift To The Scaffold (PG) 0”. (Louis Malle. France. 1957) Jeanne Moreau. Maurice Ronet. Georges Poujouly. 90 mins. Considered quite a gripping thriller in its day. Malle's first dramatic feature hinges on a perfect crime of murder that does not go according to plan. The cool noir elements are still effective. the Miles Davis score still sets a decadent tone. and Moreau is still glowing on screen. GFT. Glasgow.
Little Women (L’) 00.. (Gillian Armstrong, US. 1994) Winona Ryder. Susan Sarandon. Gabriel Byme. 118 mins. Louisa May Alcott's novel has charmed readers for generations. despite weighing down its morals with a mountain of sentimentality. In Hollywood's third screen version. the March girls are still unbelievably good and forgiving. but Armstrong and writer Robin Swicord have added a touch of 90s post-feminism to give a contemporary relevence to their bonding and independence. A glowing view of family love. ()deon. Edinburgh.
0 Living Hell (iki-iigoku) ( 18) (Fuji Shugo. Japan. 2000) Honda Hirohito. Shiraishi Yoshiko. Fujii Shugo. 114 mins. An old lady and her granddaughter. the only sur- vivors of an horrific spate of murders. are put in the care of distant relatives - who get more than they bargained for. Another healthy (if that's the right word) addition to Eastern hor- ror cinema. Part of Dead By Dawn. Eilmhouse. Edinburgh.