index Film
()ver the course of a night the staff (Mark Rufallo. Dunst and Wilkinson) of a non- descript medical facility. Lacuna Inc. obliterate Barish‘s memories btit when he finds himself semi-conscious. he decides he wants to retain his memories. L'nable to fully wake to halt the procedure. a crazy cat-and-mouse chase through the patient's subconscious begins. with Barish attempting to hide Clementine in deeply repressed memories. places the Lacuna techies would never think of probing. It‘s an outrageously demented ride. but underlying this terrific trip are some serious metaphysical questions about human relationships. (‘an love endure‘.’ If not. was it worth it in the first place‘.’ (ienius. Cameo. Edinburgh.
Eurotrip (15) .0 (Jeff Schaffer. CS. 2004) Scott Mechlowicz. Jacob Pitts. Kristin Kreuk. Cathy Meils. .\'ial Iskhakov. 90min. Feeble sequel to Rnadtrip in which Iiuropudding and cliche abound. ()ccasionally very funny though. Selected release.
5,000 Fingers of Dr T (1') 000 (Roy Rowland. CS. 1953) Tommy Rettig. llans Conried. Peter Lind Hayes. 88min. A nine-year-old boy imagines his piano teacher as an authoritarian madman. On one level. the musical numbers and fantasy structure make it an acceptable kids‘ movie: on another. it's a fascinating blend of surreal dream imagery that would have had Freud tinkling at the ivories. (imsvenm: (ilasgmv.
O Fahrenheit 9/1 1 (15) one (Michael Moore. CS. 2004) Michael Moore. (ieorge W Bush. Donald Rumsfeld. Lila Lipscombe. l22min. See feature. page 18 and review. page 3 I. Selei‘ted release. Fallen Angels ( 15) 0000 (Wong Kar-Wai. liong Kong. 1995) Leon Lai. Takeshi Kaneshiro. Michele Reis. 94min. Similar in setting and style to arthouse hit ('hungking [zit/nest. this tale of love and death in the neon-soaked nights of llong Kong is much darker in tone. with characters that seem jtist a little more psychologically disturbed. ()verlapping lives of a hitman. his female boss. a petty thief and a distraught woman are filmed in a distinctive style that skewers both the frame and the emotions. Film/muse. lz'dinburglt. Finding Memo ([7) 0000 (Andrew Stanton/Lee l'nkrich. CS. 2003) Voices of Albert Brooks. Ellen DeGeneres. Alexander (iould. Willem Dafoe. Brad (iarrett. Allison Janney. l()()min. Pixar‘s latest now that it is free from the umbrella of Disney is the delightful tale of a little fish and his daddy's attempts to find him when he gets scooped out of the water by a human. Clever. funny and better than The Little Mermaid (just). .S‘ter Century Cinema. Edinburgh.
The Flower of My Secret ( IS)
.0. (Pedro Almodovar. Spain. I995) Marisa Paredes. Juan Iichanove. Rossy de Palma. l()lrnin. The cult director moves away from hysterical high camp towards a more serious melodrama as writer Paredes despairs of her life as a popular romantic novelist. A mature. controlled. often deeply moving work that retains some typically arch humour and sly ironies. Part of Alrnodovar retrospective. film/muse. Edinburgh.
The Flower of Evil (La Fleur du Mal) ( I5) 0.. (Claude ('habrol. France. 2003) Benoit Magimel. Nathalie Baye. Melanie I)outey. Suzanne Hon. I04min. The (‘harpin-Vasseur clan are an upper middle-class Bordeaux family with more than its fair share of dark secrets. Director Claude Chabrol. a veteran of some 50 films. is back on familiar territory. dispassionately revealing the hypocrisies and corruptions of the bourgeoisie and sardonically observing how patterns of behaviour are compulsiver repeated through the generations. Yet although it begins with a camera prowling through a country house and with the discovery of a Corpse. the digressive The Flower (If Evil shows little concern with thriller i conventions or with the interior psychology. as Chabrol is content to simply push his characters around like pieces on a chess board. Film/muse. Edinburgh.
Freaky Friday (PG) 0. (Mark S Waters. 2003) Jamie Lee Curtis. Lindsay Lohan. Mark Harmon. Harold (iould. Chad Michael Murray. 97min. Control freak mum Dr Tess Coleman (Curtis) and her 15-year-old daughter Anna (Lohan) are not getting along. They don't see eye-to-eye on clothes. hair. music. and certainly not in each other‘s taste in men. Then an old Chinese lady causes a little mystic mayhem. and they are both forced to spend a couple of days in each others‘ bodies. So so version of the much loved Jodie Foster Disney vehicle from 1976. Mildly diverting. and as usual Curtis gives it her all. (ilas‘gmv Eilnt Theatre. (ilas‘gmi‘. Godsend (15) 0 (Nicky llarnrn. [TS/Canada. 2004) (ireg Kinnear. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos. Robert De .\'iro. Cameron Bright. 102min. Very dodgy cloning thriller in which two grieving parents agree to go along with the offers of a saturnine genetics expert Dr Wells (Dc .\‘iro). Incoherent at best. General release.
Good Boys ( l5) (Various. L'K. Wales Ireland. (iermany. ITSA. 2002/2003/2004) 75min. The best in gay short filrnrnaking. Comprises six films: ()It All Floors ((ieoff livans. Wales. 2002. 3min). A Eerret Called .l/liekey (Barry Dignam. Ireland. 2003. l()min). Spin (Cath Le Coutetir. CK. 2003. 8min). Styx (Falk l'lhrich. (iermany. 2003. 24min). All ()l't’l' Bra:il (David Andrew Ward. ITK. 2003. 10min) and First Breath (Jimmy (ieorgiades. ISA. 2004. 20min). Part of London Lesbian and (lay Film Festival on Tour. Film/muse. Edinburgh. Good Girls (15) (Various. L'SA/ Switzerland/South Africa. 2002/2003/2004) 90min. The best in lesbian short filrnmaking. Comprises six films: Where the Girls Are (Tricia Cooke & Jennifer Arnold. ISA. 2003. 31min). Hummer ((iuinevere Turner. ISA. 2004. 9 min) Little Bluek Rm)! (Collette Burson. LSA. 2003. 15 min). Summer Bruneh (Sarnira Zingaro. Switzerland. 2003. 10 min) and Evervthing Must Come to Light (Mpumi Njinge (Q Patilo Alberton. South Africa 2002. 25 mins). Part of London Lesbian and (iay Film Festival of Tour. (ilasgmi' I'iltn Theatre. (i/asgmr.‘ Film/muse. Edinburgh. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (PCi) .0. (Alfonso (‘uaron. CS. 2004) Daniel Radcliffe. Richard (irifiiths. Pam Ferris. Fiona Shaw. (iary ()ldman. l-llmin. It is the summer before Ilarry's third year at Hogwarts. and he has heard that Sirius Black ((iary ()ldman). a renegade wizard. is the Prisoner of Alkaban. What Harry doesn't suspect is that Black has escaped and is coming after him. Iixpectations are riding high for Harry Potter .i. with a new director in Cuaron (Y 'Iii Mama 'I'ambien). and a darker. more complex book to adapt. There is enough dark humour. spectacular effects and appealing performances to keep you trapped in the franchise. But Harry's new adventure is also ponderoUs and overlong. regular Putter screenwriter Steven Kloves‘ coriftisirig. rambling. structurally incoherent script. in which characters appear and disappear and plot turns are never realised. keeps the door firmly closed on this private club. (ieneral release.
Haunted Mansion (PG) 00 (Rob Minkoff. CS. 2003) Iiddie Murphy. Terence Stamp. Nathaniel Parker. Marsha 'l’homason. Jennifer Tilly. Wallace Shawn. 86min. Jim livers (Murphy) is a real estate shark who makes a detour from the famin holiday to take his family to an old mansion at the request of a ghostly butler. lli jinx and life lessons ensue. Anaemic attempt to turn at Disneyland theme park ride into a family film. (.'('I ( 'lvdebank. ( ’lvdebank; (X '1 Edinburgh. Edinburgh.
Hidalgo ( 12A) 0. (Joe Johnstone. 2004) Viggo Mortensen. Zuleikha Robinson. ()mar Sharif. Louise Lombard. 137mm. Mortensen plays the iconic all- American hero Frank T Hopkins who travelled to Saudi Arabia in the 1890s to teach those stereotypical cheating Arabs a thing or two about being valiant. chivalrous. and winning horse races. Insipid period vehicle for the now unemployed King Aragon. ()deon. Edinburgh.
Highwaymen ( 18) 0 (Robert Harman. Canada. 2003) James (‘aviezaL Rhona Mitra. Frankie liaison. 81min. See review. page 3 l. Selet‘led release. House of Sand and Fog (15) 0.. (Vadim Perelman. ISA. 2003) Jennifer Connelly. Ben Kingsley. I24min. Kathy (Connolly) is a recovering addict and ends tip being evicted from her father‘s old house because of a bureaucratic error. Iranian immigrant Behrani (Kingsley) buys the property. so one has a legal claim to the house. the other a moral one. With obvious sectarian parallels the two individuals go to war against each other. Irritatingly contrived and overly symbolic take on Andre Dubus lll's best-selling book. The lead performances. however. are great. CCA. Glasgow. Hum Tum (12A) (Kunal Kohli. India. 2004) Saif Ali Khan. Rani Mukherjee. Rishi Kapoor. Kiron Kher.Karan Kapoor (Khan) is a cartoonist with one of India‘s leading newspapers. ()n a trip to Amsterdam she meets Rhea (Mukherjce). They disagree on just about everything but there is definitely a spark there. and it‘s going to be a bumpy courtship. Pleasing romantic musical. Music bv Jatin Lalit. L'CI Edinburgh. Edinburgh. I’m Not Scared (12A) 0000 ((iabriele Salvatores. Italy/Spain/I'K. 2002) Aitana Sanchez-(iijon. Dino Abbrescia. (iiorgio Careccia. (iiUseppe Cristiano, Mattia Di Pierro. Diego Abatantuono. 108mm. Pan horror movie. part political thriller. this haunting. eerie Il'histle Down the ll’ind-style drama is set in the bankrupt rural south of Italy during the late 1970s. Director Salvatores has filmed Niccolo Ammaniti's popular novel about a boy passing from innocence to experience with quiet sun-drenched malevolence. Adapted for the screen by Aminaniti himself. the film keeps its audience as much in the dark as its innocent protagonist. ltalo Petriccione's photography of the baking landscape is vivid enough to induce an itchy
heat rash and the performances Salvatores elicits from child actors Giuseppe Cristiano and Mattia Di Pierro are wonderful. A glorious paean to childhood with the wrenching pain of childhood's end. Seleeted release.
In July (lm Juli) (15) (Faith Akin. Germany. 2000) Moritz Bleibtreu. Christiane Patil. Mehmet Kurtulus. l()()min. The story of a love-struck teacher who embarks on an adventurous trip from Hamburg to Istanbul. l'iltnhuuse. Edinburgh.
Intimate Strangers (Confidences Trop lntimes) ( 15) .0. (Patrice Leconte. France. 2003) Sandrine Bonnaire. Fabrice Lucini. 10-1min. Anna (Sandrine Bonnaire) is trying to get out of an abttsive relationship and seeks help from a psychologist. Btit she accidentally walks into the wrong office and starts revealing intimate details to shocked tax lawyer William (Fabrice Luchini). He is so absorbed by the sadness. darkness and fantasies she shares with him that he doesn't quite get round to telling her who he is. She keeps coming back. and he becomes as much her patient as she is his client. Intriguing psychmlrama. l'ilmhuuse. Edinburgh.
Ju-On: The Grudge ( IS) 000 (Takashi Shimizu. Japan. 2003) Megurni ()kina. Misaki Ito. Misa l7ehara. Yui Ichikawa. 91min. There's a ghost in my house and it‘s going to kill the lot of you. Told in criss-crossing sections. each one following a different victim and jumping hack and forward along its own tirneline. Ju ()n has much to recommend it. The grainy opening leaves you instantly unsettled — a state which the filmmakers never allow you to veer too far from. Also the use of sound is exemplary. But it is ultimately too heavily influenced by Nakata's Ring and Dark Water to stop itself descending in to parody. CGC Renfrew Street. Glasgow. Glasgow: Ster Century Cinema. Edinburgh.
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8—22 Jul 2004 THE LIST 35