Film
4 remakes. The required chchrés are all in place — particularly the massed forces of good and eVil fighting on a disembodied stone bridge. complete With a frozen battle tableau that allows the laden plot to be explznned, fulfilling all the requirements laid down by The Matrix and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. now accepted Industry benchmarks for epic fantasy.
That said, there are plenty of stunning set pieces here and the subtitling is very funky — but in its repetition and thinness. this. the first of a trilogy. does not bode well. iAdele Hartley)
I General release from Fri 7 Oct.
DRAMA RAG TALE (15) 123min 00.0
This semi-improVIsed drama about a week in the life of a London tabIOid could have been little more than a feature-length paper—based version of an episode of the TV press sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey. minus the canned laughter. The frenetic filmmaking style of Rag Tale. however. ponits to something much more cinematic and. furthermore. there's a lot more going on in Irish writer- director Mary McGuckian's film than at first meets the eye.
In addition to providing a broad [Tilllllr character portrait of a post-Fleet Street right wing reactionary daily. the film plays out a power struggle between a menage a trios of ruthless characters: The Rag's editor Eddy Taylor (Rupert Graves); the deputy editor he's havmg an affair with. MJ Morton (Jennifer Jason Leigh): and the paper's owner and MJ's husband Richard Morton (Malcolm McDowell). Rag Tale is an at times shockingly vitriolic satire. not accidentally, one assaumes. played out against the background of President Bush's re~ election. The whole thing is shot through With arch humour — during an editorial meeting, for example. Taylor. looking for a Juicy front-page story. notes that ‘child porn is sexy'.
The relentless frantic camerawork and fractured editing (used to approXimate the supercharged office atmosphere) takes a bit of getting used to. but there's enough going on in terms of plot and (roundly spot -on) performances to dnve this fine addition to the newspaper moVie sub-genre to its malignant conclusion. (Miles Fielder) I Cineword, Glasgow and Edinburgh from Fri 7 Oct.
DRAMA MYSll RY UY X (15) 101 min 00.
Suicide is painless and it brings on many changes. But today it is hardly an option for young Corporal Rudy Spruance. First he has to clear up the
42 THE LIST 0 70 Oct Qlitifi
clerical error that landed him at a military base in the Arctic. rather than Hawaii. It's 1979 and Oangattarsa. Greenland is like nowhere else on earth. Besieged by mosquitoes and endless daylight in summertime and the ‘stark raving dark' of the winter, it is no place for men bored of Carter. the Cold War and cooked puffin. And then there is mad Colonel Woolwrap (Jeremy Northam). the beautiful. mysterious Sergeant Irene Teale (Natacha McElhone) and the room full of ageing ex military human vegetables in one of the outhouses. where Spruance meets Guy X (Michael
SEASON ROUND UP
Ironside).
Four years after his enloyable debut Late Night Shopping. Glaswegian filmmaker Saul Met/stein delivers an
RESFEST 2005
James Mottram sorts the dancers from the chancers at this year's Resfest.
If you’re the sort who likes to talk about how you spotted tomorrow’s talents last week, then Resfest is for you. Now in its ninth year, the digital film festival sweeps through Glasgow as part of its nationwide tour to present a cornucopia of cool cuts. Shorts, music promos, commercials, documentaries and features - Resfest has it all. The biggest coup is a sneak preview of Thumbsucker, the acclaimed feature debut of director Mike Mills (before its general release on 28 October).
Mills, whose varied work includes designing album covers for Sonic Youth and shooting promos for Air, admits the film was designed to calm his own neuroses. ‘The theme of the film is accepting all these things about yourself that you think that if other people knew they wouldn’t love you. That’s something I need to hear all the time. It’s a very American problem - “Why aren’t I perfect? Why aren’t I better, more successful or complete?” That haunts me. I definitely make art to remind me that it’s OK to be a fuck-up.’
Doug Prey, whose turntable history Scratch previously featured in Resfest, returns with Infamy (pictured), a look at graffiti from street vandalism to commissioned murals. Also worth checking out are two retrospectives. Firstly, a collection of videos for Beck - including the glorious Girl, in which he scoots around a town that keeps folding in on itself - shot by some of the true legends of the business, including Spike Jonze, Michael Gondry and Mark Romanek. Secondly, a tribute to Traktor, the Scandinavian advertising collective formed between six college friends in Sweden. Divided into four ‘seasons’ — ‘sex’, ‘violence’, ‘fear’ and ‘confusion’ - the group behind videos for Fatboy Slim, the Prodigy and Basement Jaxx, as well as spots for Nike, Diesel and the like, get to strut their stuff in this highly entertaining selection.
As for shorts, you can catch a rare chance to see Chris Cunningham’s latest twisted opus, Rubber Johnny. There is also Are You the Favourite Person of Anybody?, a five-minute skit directed by Chuck & Buck’s Miguel Arteta and starring John C Reilly and Miranda July. I strongly recommend the Shorts One programme for two reasons: 1) Jane Lloyd by Happy, a stunning cradle-to-the-grave story told in five minutes. 2) What Goes Up Must Come Down by Adam Smith, a Cockney rap in the back of a London mini-cab from the director of The Streets’ Blinded By the Lights video. But don’t take my word for it. Go see for yourself.
I Resfest runs from Thu 73—Sun 76 Oct at Gl-T and CCA, Glasgow. V/Sll wwwresfestcom for more details.
altogether more opague. unpredictable treat. \.""./illl 'ts echoes t::‘ Di Strange/eve. l".’lf./.1.\()\.//(:(11f(:;T It". (ii/y X is certainly a fiiin out of its time. its centiai conceit is built around an unsolxahle iiti//l<>. letting the film peel off in hi/aii'e. darkly comic tangents. It should work f3ll))(‘:ll)l‘. but is let down by Met/stein allot-rang n's screen's/iiters way too much i'ooe. f3i‘?‘.i‘7 Atti dge and John l’aui (Inapoies aoaotatioi‘ of John (Ei‘ieseniei’s eyr‘eiiei‘t nix-oi lacks the ilifgthin and tone tnat smiiiwtiwg this intriguing dese"-;es. i‘. 'f; aiszt horribly miscast. Riggs; ii; littit: 'l‘iil-I: than adeguate in the lead role. but Mel lhone is appalling as the .'.'i:;p. love interest. N(:‘.'."(i()l?l(:l Sean lurker. playing ‘.'.’{t"ll£ll)t: poet ai‘d 31:: fi freak lavone. goes so far oxei the top nifit £1lill()‘.'ll()l'(>i(:i'tttll‘lfHF'Hfllfllél
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FAR-(LE OUT ON A LIMB (15) 98min .0
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