(lanl. Isabelle Renauld. l32min. 'I'ypically' elegant meditation upon life front the (ireek atttettr. (ian/ plays a writer who is preparing to leave his lifelong home by the sea. Discovering a letter from his long dead wife. he becomes ensnared by his memories of her. Selected I'eletty’e.
Evelyn (PG) 0 (Bruce Beresford. (K. 2003) Pierce Brosnan. Aidan Quinn. Julianna Margulies. 95min. Brosnan has taken time off frotn spy duties as pukka Iinglish agetit James Bond to get it] tottch with his Irish roots with this comedy-drama set in l950s Dublin. Sporting thick stubble attd even thicker brogue. he plays working- class father and single parent Desmond Doyle. w ho is attetttpting to get his three childrett back from the orphanages tlte state has cast tltetn ittto. Althottgh Iii'elvn is based on a trtte. groundbreaking legal case. one that permanently changed Irish law. almost everything about the filtn is blarney. No one emerges from this farrago with tnuch credit. ()demt At The Quay. Glasgow. Glasgow.
Finding Nemo (t') 0000 (Andrew Stanton/Lee l'nkrich. LS. 2003) Voices of Albert Brooks. lillen De(ieneres. Alexander (iotlltl. Willcttt Dafoe. Brad (iarrett. Allison Janney. 100mm. Pixar‘s latest now that it is free from the umbrella of Disney is the delightful tale of a little fislt and his daddy's attempts to find him when he gets scooped out of the water by a human. ('lever. funny and better than The Little .llerntat'd (jttst ). Selected release.
The Five Obstructions ( 15) O... (Jorgen I.eth/l.ars Von Trier. Denmark. 2003) 90min. Theatre documentary directed by Lars von Trier and Jorgen l.eth. An investigative filtn journey in which old boy docutnentarian. l.eth. allows Trier to set him rulebook obstructions as he tries to revisit and recreate one of his first filttis. The Perfect Human /l)et per/elite menneske (I967). a document on life in Denmark. A fascinating experiment in a dogme stylec. I'it'lmhouse. Edinburgh.
Freaky Friday (Po) 0. (Mark 8 Waters. LS. 2003) Jatnic l.ec ('urtis. Lindsay l.ohan. .Mark llartnon. Ilarold (iould. ('had Michael Mttrray. 97min. ('ontrol freak mttm Dr Tess ('olcman ((‘urtis) attd her 15-year-old daughter Anna (I.ohan) are not getting along. They don‘t see eye-to-eye on clothes. Itair. music. and certainly not in each other's taste it) ntcn. Then an old (‘hinese lady causes a little mystic mayhem. and they are botlt forced to spend a couple of days in each others' bodies. So so version of the much loved Jodie I‘oster Disney vehicle from I976. Mildly diverting. atid as usual ('ut'tis gives it her till. (iettel'ul release.
Girl With a Pearl Earring ( 12A)
0. (Peter Webber. l’K/l.uxembourg. 2003) Scarlett Johansson. (‘olin I-‘irth. Tom Wilkinson. Judy Parfitt. ('illian Murphy.
Adapted from the book by Tracy Chevalier. Webber's sutnptuously upholstered film deals with the story behind the creation of Vertncer's famous painting. Marred by miscasting attd an overly literal approach to the cinematography‘. this is a tnajor disappointment: a fascinating story has been rettdered into a dull. syrup-thick tale of love and peasantry. See review. (ieneral release. Good Boy! (l') 0.0 (John Robert Ilofftnan. LS. 2003) Molly Shannon. Liam Aiken. Kevin Nealon. Brittany Moldowan. 87min. When ()wen (Aiken) gets a new pooch from the local pound he's in for tnore than he realised. llubble may look like a cuter than average Norfolk terrier. but he's actually an interstellar emissary from the planet Dog Star. the home world of all the galaxy 's canines. Arrivittg on Iiarth to discover that the hounds are no longer top dog. Ilubble with the help of ()w en ltas only got a few days to whip the neighbourhood dogs into shape before the arrival of the (ireat Dane (voiced by Vanessa Redgrave). If they don't tttattagc to pull this off. she‘s likely to order a global recall that will deprive man of his best friend once attd for all. Likcable talking animals comedy that is suitable for all ages. (ieneral release.
His Girl Friday (t') 0000. (Howard Hawks. I'S. I940) ('at'y (irant. Rosalind Rttssell. Ralph Bellamy. 92min. llawks‘ dynamic comedy is one of the best Hollywood ever made. (irant and Russell are simply fantastic as the sparring newspaper editor and top reporter drawing battlelines in their professional and personal lives. llecht and .‘ylac.-\rthur's script frotn their original play The Front Page. spits otit a series of rapid-fire quips and cross—cutting gags. but allows the supporting characters to have their scene-stealing moments too. Don't ttiiss it. (amen, Edinburgh.
I’m Not Scared (the) ((iabt'iele Salvatores. Italy / Spain / I'K. 2003) Aitana Sanchez-(iijon. Dino Abbrescia. (iiorgio ('arcccia. (iiuseppe Cristiano. Mattia Di Pierro. Diego Abatantttono. I08min. Based on Niccolo Ammaniti‘s superb novel. This haunting portrait of rural childhood friendships is ttot what it seems. as one boy befriends another he finds living in a hole in the ground. Director Salvatores was. of course. the man who gave the world the deeply satisfying and quirky .lledt'tarranea. so who better to deliver this ttttich anticipated adaptation'.’ (irost'enm; Glasgow; Kill Bill: Volume ‘I ( l8) 0.... (Quentin 'I‘arantino. IS. 2003) l'ma 'I‘hut'man. David ('arradinc. Lucy l.iu. Daryl Ilannah. \‘ivica A Iios. Michael Madsen. ll0min. A long time in the coming. lili‘illllilitfs two-part martial arts sword fightittg epic gets off to a roaring rampaging start with Vol I. 'liu'antino wears those influences on his sleeves: (‘hinese/Japanese martial arts flicks. blaxploitation and anittte. Something of a departure frottt his previous
What the folk? The New Main Street
Singers work up A Mighty Wind
filtns in that there is no smart era-defining dialogue here. just glorious. bloody. driven narrative. A must for anyone with a passion for the left field. low budget joys of people like Argento. Jodorowsky and any of the directors who catne ottt of the Shaw Brothers stttdios in the 70s. (amen, Ifdt'nbtugh.
Kiss of Life (12A) 000. (Iimily Young. I'K/lirancc. 2003) Peter Mullan. lngeborga Dapkunaite. David Warner. 86min. Ilelen (Dapkunaite) lives in London with her father (Warner) and her kids. While John (Mullan). her husband. is an aid worker in Iiastern Iiurope. One day Ilelen is knocked over by a car and killed. and without knowing this her husband starts a four day odyssey past datigerous borders to get home. while his children wait and remember mama. Bizarre. troubling. tragic. elliptical drama. that was originally written for the late actress Katritt (‘artlidge (ietterul release.
Kitchen Stories (P( i) 0000 (Bent Ilattter. Norway. 2003) Joachim (‘almeyer. Tomas Norstrom. Bjorn l’loberg. Reine Brynolfsson. Sverre Anker ()usdal. 95min. A team of Swedish scientists is despatched to rural Norway in the early l950s in order to carry out a research project into the kitchen routines of confirtncd bachelors. ()ne of the boffins is the middle-aged liolke (Norstrom). who has been assigned to monitor the habits of a reclusive elderly fartner Isak (Joachim (‘almeyer). Any fraternisation between observer and participant is strictly frowned upon. yet over time these two reticent men find their roles reversing. and. to the dismay of l-‘olke's by-the-book boss Maltnberg (Brynolfsson) and Isak's troubled neighbour (irant (liloberg). they develop an unexpectedly significant relationship. Beautifully observed. wry comedy drama that lays open many of the l950s‘ scientific research myths with an assured sense of detail and deadpan humour. Also the photography is outstanding. (,'(}(' Renjreit- Street. Glasgow. Glasgow.
Landscape in the Mist ( IS) I... (Theo Angelopottlos. (ireeee. 1988) Michalis Zeke. Tania Palaiologou. Stratis 'I'Iort/oglou. 125mm. A small boy and his older sister leave home in search of their father and travel across a grubby (irecian landscape unable to find anyone to look after them. but frotn time to time witnessing visionary epiphanies. Mestnerising (ireek road tnovie in a similar style as .-\ngelopoulos's previous effort The Beekeeper-2. and once again beautifully perforttted. Selected release.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ( 12A) 0 (Stephen Norrittgton. l,'S/(iermany/(‘zech Republic/ l'K. 2003) Sean Connery. Naseeruddin Shah. Peta Wilson. Tony (‘urran. Stuart 'I‘ownsend. Shane West. I l0min. Diabolical version of Alan Moore‘s great graphic ttovel. Brunton Theatre. Edinburgh.
index Film
Loc Kargll (18) (JP Dutta. India. 2003) Sanjay Dutt. Ajay Devgan. Saif Ali Khan. Sunil Shetty. Sanjay Kapoor. 250mm. April 1999. Pakistani infiltrators capture sottte Indian territory in Jamtnu and Kashmir. The Indian army fottght for over four months to reclaim the territory and lost around 450 soldiers in the ensuing battle. This is the story of that ignored Kargil war. Two years in the making. filmed in inhospitable settings with low oxygen levels. director Dutta has translated Kargil into a whopping four hour film. Fascinating. stirring. appalling or overly jingoistic. depending on where you stand on the subject of India's recent military history. (,‘(‘I Ifdinlmrglt. I:'(littl)t(/'glt.
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King ( 12A) 0.... (Peter Jackson. lfS/NX. 2003) lilijah Wood. Billy Boyd. Ian McKellan. (‘ate Blattehett. Orlando Bloom. Viggo Mortensen. (‘hristopher l.ee. 210mm. A retnarkable end to a retnarkable series of filttts. the journey of i-‘rodo. Sam and (iollum is the piece de resistance of the trilogy. 'Ihe tension filled journey forces both (iollum and Sam to show their true colours as lirodo suffers under the burden of the ring. All around is war as Aragorn fights to reclaim what is rightfully his. Jackson's vision is awesome. The Return oft/1e King is some kind of beautiful. sottte kind of masterpiece. Ifnmissable. (ieneral release. 0 Lost in Translation (15)..” (Sofia Coppola. [TS/Japan. 2003) Bill Murray. Scarlett Johansson. Akiko Takeshita. Kit/.uy'oshi Minamimagoe. I05min. Bill Murray plays it straight as an ageing movie star forced to shoot advertisements in Tokyo becattse they are so lucrative. 'lhis culture clash. fish out of water. part-faced pseudo cotnedy marks Sofia (‘oppola's second outing as director. Pan love story. part oddball lost weekend drama. Last in laxity/anon underlines the continuing leftfield talents of Murray and (‘oppola and. of course. the precocious Johansson. See feature and review. (ieneral release.
Love Actually ( (5 ) 000 (Richard (‘urtis. l'K. 2003) Bill Nighy. (iregor I‘isher. lltigh (irant. ('olin Firth. .Martinc Mc('utcheon. Liam Neeson. Iimma 'l‘hompson. l 10min. (‘urtis sets out to prove the fairly anodyne point that love is actually all around us in all its many forms. but to do this he indulges a huge cast and several different story strands. So we see a new pritne minister bachelor ((irant) fall in love with a Number If) tea girl (Me(‘utcheon). And then there is the story of the brokeri- hearted writer ((‘olin Firth) who falls for his liastern liuropean cleaner. On top of this limma 'l‘hompson. Alan Ricktnan. Keira Knightley. Andrew Lincoln. Liam Neeson and Laura Linney all pop tip to play ottt their roles as either object of. or giver of. the sweet gift of love. Lightweight and enjoyable. if a little over-populated. romantic comedy. This is actually fairly impressive considering it is writer ('urtis’s first time in the director‘s seat. General release. Manhattan Murder Mystery (PU ) .0. (Woody Allen. ITS. I993) Woody Allen. Diane Keaton. Alan Alda. 108mm. When her elderly neighbour dies mysteriously and suddenly. (‘arol Lipton (Keaton) does some amateur sleuthing along with the New York literary set. Allen returns to the comic fortnula that first tnadc his name » neat plot. snappy one-liners making this a tnttch more approachable and enjoyable experience than his more serious work. ('(‘xL Glasgow:
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World ( 12A) .000 (Peter Weir. LS. 2003) Russell (‘rowe. Paul Bettany. James D'Arcy. lidward Woodall. (‘hris Larkin. l38tnin. Ship Surgeon Stephen Maturin (Bettatty) and Navy (‘aptain Jack Aubrey ((‘row e) get caught tip in a battle of wits with a I‘rench Naval destroyer during the Napoleonic Wars. ltt Weir's first film as director since The Truman Show in I998. Based on the hiin seas adventure novels of Patrick ()‘Brian. this a rare and stirring treat which boasts great performances and some truly awe inspiring action sequences. Selected release.
8—22 Jan 2004 THE LIST 31