Film
Film news and giveaways for beautiful Cineasle types
I Movie-themed underground club nights don’t come much better than those at the Fleapit. Those of you who can remember back seven years will know because that was the last time it was on. Well, now the Fleapit is back, relaunching with an evening devoted to the late great Russ Meyer. There will be loads of fun including free popcorn, a surly usherette and some nice trashy garage, surf, psych and glam music from DJ Hang. The Buff Club, Glasgow, Wednesday 23 February, 9pm-Oam, £3 (free before 10.30pm). Visit http://www.fleapit.org.uk email: info@fleapit.org.uk or phone 07780 661366.
I Don't miss the Yes Men Film Masterclass at the Glasgow Media Access Centre, Tuesday 22 February 6pm. The 08/28/525 sliding scale price includes a buffet meal. To book. send an email to info@camcorderguerillas.net or telephone 0141 553 2551. Messages left on the answering machine will be picked up regularly. Booking is on a “first come first served' basis as places are limited. See News and Around Town. Ilfyou areabitofascififilm geek then you could do a lot worse than dropping into the Sci Fi London Tour which beams into the Cameo cinema in Edinburgh between Friday 18 and Sunday 20 February. Highlights this year include 3 Matrix all-nighter and Sundance hit Primer. Contact cinema for further details. I Thinking of shooting a movie in Auld Reekie? Then check out Film Focus' excellent new website www.edinfilm.com. It’s great.
WIN A CLASSIC!
I The List has five paperback copies of John Irving‘s A
‘JoHN' IRVING
Widow for One A W,‘ "1“ MR ()KI. \)._.\R
Year, aspects of which the new Jeff Bridges film The Door in _ "' the Floor is £: partly based.
To win one simply send an email marked ‘Widow’ to promotions©list.co.uk, no later than Thursday 3 March. Usual List rules apply.
48 THE LIST 17 Feb—3 Mar 35
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another. Head On, though. is a far tougher proposition: since the death of his Wife. Cahit has been on a self (‘lestructive downward spiral of drink. drugs and seltloathing. Then he meets the rebellious. hedonistic Siliel who has slashed her wrists to escape
from her (l()llS€l’\/Elll\.’(} Muslim parents
draconian control.
From its stunning opening seguence to its merCiless fatalistic conclusion. this is directed With extraordinary COnfidence and riiaturity hy the 32* year-old Fatih Akin, and acted wrth painful intensity by the ravaged Unel and fresh—laced Kekilli. It was the deserVing Winner of this year's European Film of the Year award. and Cinema doesn't get any more passionate or provocative than this. (Nigel Floyd)
I Fr/rrihoi/se. Edinburgh from Fri 18 Feb. See rnterwew. page 49.
CON-ARTIST THRILLER CRIMINAL (15) 87min on
Let me save you some time. If you“.e seen Argentinean Fahian Bielinskys con-caper Nine Queens. there's no pOint reading this revrew or going to see Greg Jacob's LA-set remake. Given how it follow-rs its predecessors even. twrst and turn, its impact "Will he completer diminished if you already know the Outcome. With characters. events and even dialogue lifted directly from the original, there's nothing stars John C Reilly and Diego Luna can do to make yOu forget yOu're watching the same story.
The film begins as Richard iReiH‘, reSCues ROUTIQO (Lunal from a tight spot in a casino. explaining that he weeds a partner for a few days. After pulling a few scams. the pair mind uC inyoryed in an antique CurrenC‘, fraud
Tii‘é'ooon IN THE FLOOR (15) 111mm 0000
Adapted from a section of John Irving‘s novel A Widow for One Year by writer-director Tod Williams, The Door in the Floor focuses on the disintegrating marriage of Bridges‘ children‘s book writer Ted Cole and his wife Marion (Kim Basinger) during one summer in the private beach community of East Hampton in upstate New York. A family tragedy has sent Marion spiralling into depression, while the self-styled boho writer turns his back on marital dysfunction via a series of adulterous affairs. This ‘summer without love’ is witnessed by college undergraduate Eddie O‘Hare (Jon Foster) who, as Ted‘s assistant, acts as a go-between for the unhappy adults, albeit it in a painfully circuitous manner.
Despite receiving critical acclaim for their performances from time to time (noticeably Basinger in LA Confidential, Bridges in Fearless), The Door in the Floor’s leads have remained largely and woefully underappreciated actors. It’s perhaps appropriate, then, that Basinger and Bridges should be reunited for only the second time on screen after previously playing opposite one another in the forgettable 1987 comedy thriller Nadine. Here, second time around, they both give career best performances. And although much of their screen time is spent apart — Ted involved in a loveless fling with Mimi Rogers‘ local rich bitch, Marion gazing glazed-eyed out over the lake where their children used to play — Basinger and Bridges create a real sense of a couple of in crisis.
Neither particularly sympathetic nor simply dislikeable, there's a real sense of souls in torment. And while there‘s a fair amount of (sometimes painful) humour in the film, there‘s no easy sentiment, nor a cop out conclusion. (Miles Fielder)
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