Film
Rough Cuts
Film news and giveaways for beautiful cineaste types
I Who said the yOth of today are apathetic? Don't miss the opportunity to see Pilton Video's G8 Scot/and: Won 't be Fooled Again (pictured) at Filmhouse. Edinburgh on Saturday 1 October, 5pm. The film is an in-depth look at what actually took place on the streets of Edinburgh in July this year. Also showing is the award-winning short Old Enough to Know Better.
I Glasgow Media Access Centre (GMAC) is Scotland’s longest-running open-access facility for filmmakers. Right now it is launching the GMAC Short Film Scheme to increase the opportunities for emerging talent in Scotland by commissioning a load of short films each year. Visit www.cineworks.co.uk or www.digicult.co.uk or contact david@cineworks.co.uk.
I Win a month of free mowes. simply by coming along to the late- night preview screenings of A History of Violence at the Filmhouse on Fri 23 and 24 September at
1 1pm. simply enter the prize draw to win free admission to Filmhouse for the whole of October.
I Don’t miss the last few days of the excellent Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival. Visit www.berwickfilm-artsfest.com, phone 01289 30 3355.
WIN THE EDUKATDRS ON DVD
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I Meet the Edukators, a group of young activists with lofty ideals and a new brand of suburban anarchy, but just how far they are willing to take their crusade for justice? The List has two copies of this great DVD to give away. To be in with a chance of winning one, simply send an email marked ‘THE EDUKATORS’ to promotions@list.co.uk before 4 October 2005. Usual List rules
apply.
42 THE LIST 7? Set) (5 ()(:l 900?)
DARK DRAMA BLINDED (15) 92min 0000
Peter Multan is surely the epicentre of quality Scottish cinema and even With limited screen time his presence dominates this oppressive tale of strained relations on a dilapidated country estate. Wise casting from filmmaker Eleanor Yule as she moves out of dociimentaries for her feature film debut.
Danish drifter sculptor Mike (Anders W Berthelsenl finds menial work dumping rusted machinery into a seemingly bottomless sinkhole on Black's estate. a rundown farm ruled over by the blind Francis Black (Multan). Bitter and angry. Black eXists Within his own harsh rules. imposing his strict ideology on his young Wife lJodhi May l. Mike's arrival throws their fragile relationship into turmoil as she finally grasps another way of life away
lllllt t R DRAMA A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (18) 95min COCO.
from the darkness and rage of her controlling husband. Willi events taking an even darker tangent as the inevitableconfrontation comes to a head.
This is a film swathed in shades of grey; from the dark narrative to the bleak landscape. Yule exploits the natural "driech' Scottish lighting to ominous advantage. The age old farm seemingly eXIsts Within its own time. adhering to almost medieval values. as untouched by the modern world that revolves outside. there is naturalism in
David Cronenberg built his career on an amalgamation of horror and science-fiction movies. In Shivers (1975), Videodrome (1983) and The Fly (1986) in particular, he used the boundary between the fantastical and the real to explore the beast within. Then in 1998 first with Dead Ringers and then his adaptation of Ballard’s Crash, Cronenberg’s cinema became increasingly embedded in ‘real’ situations, or more accurately, situations
that were just this side of plausible.
These films added further layers to topics that were becoming Cronenberg trademarks — questions of identity, the parameters of ‘the flesh' and the refusal to impose ethical conditions and moral constraints on his characters. As such, Cronenberg avoided Hollywood subject matter, and like Woody Allen, became a director that you knew could do a big Hollywood production with their eyes closed if they chose to do so. For Cronenberg, the question of how he would approach a straightforward Hollywood tale and whether the results would be any good has been answered with this adaptation off of John Wagner and Vince Locke’s graphic novel. A History of Violence is Cronenberg‘s masterwork, which is remarkable because the film sticks to Hollywood rules, but works them with a typically ‘Cronenberg agenda’, he submerges them in world of
identity crisis and moral ambiguity.
Tom Stall (Viggo Mortesen, in a seminal performance) owns a cafe and has an idyllic life with his lawyer wife (Maria Bella) and their two children in the small town of Millbrook. That life changes the day Tom kills two criminals who are causing trouble in his restaurant. His violence is deemed justifiable by society and, against his will, Tom becomes a local celebrity. Fame however comes at a price when a mysterious gangster (Ed Harris) appears convinced he knows a secret about Tom.
This story could easily have fallen into Quentin Tarantino pop—violence territory, but Cronenberg, with tremendous skill, manages to use Hollywood cliche to pose questions about the world in which we live, and then asks how this type of hero-worship affects the psyche of those subjected to it. All this while keeping the narrative tension cranked up to overdrive
throughout. (Kaleem Aftab) I General re/e.'ise from in .’a‘() Sep.
the performances and the sexual tension and ineVitable affair between Berthelsen and May is subtly and evocativer handled. while Samantha Bond adds a small but pivotal role as Caroline lamar. Dark secrets and a tinge of gothic horror hang over the piece. but the open ertded conclusion. which at first reeks of (Z‘y(‘,Il(iéII iiie\.'ital)ility. offers a rare ray of hope. It leniy Nortninoie)
I Selected release from (it) Sep. See rritervreit’. page JR.
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DEUCE BIGALOW: EUROPEAN GIGOLO (15) 82min .0
The uneven tone of :30 First Dates demonstrated the divergence between Adam Sandler's increasingly sober leading man career and sidekick Rob Schneider's gross out frat boy pranks. While his mentor may have moved on. With Sandler producing. but not appearing here. the second Deuce Brga/ow feature reveals Schneider's scatologicat routines as practically unchanged.
[-ur‘opeari Gigo/o's excuse of a plot sees fishtank cleaner-cum male whore Bigalow crossing the Atlantic to match wits Willi the louche sexual sophistication and rampant deVIancy synonymous With life in 21st century Europe. The paltry entertainment value on offer comes from distasteful encounters With a selection of female clients With odd disabilities. including a Chernobyl survivor With a penis for a nose. plus cameos from dubiously talented Page 1% girls and from the even more dubious .Johnny Vaughan. Schneider is. if nothing else. convincing as a complete idiot. and the Deuce Big.'ilow films are partly redeemed by the verve With which they try to shock. But for all his \.'V|IIllt§)lt(}SS to debase himself for our entertainment. Schnmder reriiains a sidekick. and Deuce Riga/oily .9 ultimately plays like 8? minutes of crude comic relief. I ike Bigalow's unfortunate clients. you'd do better to save your money for something classier. (t-ddie Harrison)
I General release from Fri 30 Sep. see Profile II) the f-r/rii rritlex.
(iHIMt DRAMA FOUR BROTHERS (15) 108min 00
Since his debut With Bow ii the Hood in 1991. social realist director .John Singleton seems to have become so enthused With the recently reVIved blaxploitation genre that his original ‘increase the peace' message has been replaced With a somewhat less liberal ‘let's kill everything that moves' agenda. ()n the heels of his ill advised Shaft remake and The last and the furious sequel, Singleton has revamped tlenry l’lathaway's 196:3