Reviews
STREET/MUSIC DRAMA HUSTLE AND FLOW (15) 116min m
In American art the African-American pimp has taken on mythic proportions. The stereotype has been promoted by all sides of the racial line in the books of Iceberg Slim. through a plethora of Blaxploitation movies and most recently in music with gangsta rap. Self-
professed pimp Snoop Dogg is now the
voice of Coca Cola stateside. showing just how acceptable pimping has become. It is to writer/director Craig Brewer's credit then that he tries to show the harsh reality of pimps in Hustle and Flow. The only trouble is that Terrence Howard's terrifically observed pimp runs straight from one cliche into another, finally finding salvation in hip-hop. His lurid past means that Howard's character DJay is
THE DEAL BREAKER
able to keep it real and possess the necessary street cred when he raps the catchy. ‘lt's hard out here for a pimp.‘ Thus the film falls into a trap avoided by last year's Redemption in which Jamie Foxx's thug finds salvation writing children's books.
Those able to overlook the suspect route of salvation will find Brewer's second feature film as director (after 2000's The Poor and the Hungry) highly entertaining. There are many memorable moments. often coinciding with the appearance of prostitute Nola
TERRY GlLLlAM details the crooked path that led to the door of The
Brothers Grimm for Kaleem Aftab.
Terry Gilliam is sitting comfortably on an armchair in a
hotel. Almost 65 and despite his thinning hair, the former Monty Python still sports a ponytail. He first grew it while living in America, long before he made Britain his permanent home, and used to get pestered by the American authorities because of it. So the look has always signified rebellion to the director. It’s an attachment to the idea of rebellion that can be seen in many of his films from Brazil (1985) right through to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). Gilliam is here to chat about The Brothers Grimm, which on the surface looks like a typical Hollywood fantasy adventure starring Matt Damon and Heath Ledger as
the eponymous brothers.
‘l needed to make a box office hit to get the money for other projects I’ve wanted to do for a long time,’ says Gillia. Some time in the early noughties Miramax’s Weinstein brothers sent Gilliam a script for The Brothers Grimm by Scream 3 writer Ehren Kruger in the hope that Gilliam would direct. ‘I read the script and liked the concept of these conmen tricking people, but it was a little bit too clean so I changed it a bit.’ What Gilliam did was to add chaos. He was not going to simply roll over and make a straightforward Hollywood film: at some point he had to rebel. As he explains ‘I like films to make the audience work and not
just give them all the answers.’
Harvey Weinstein, it seems, begged to differ. The two stubborn figures were at Ioggerheads for several months and Grimm gathered dust on the Miramax shelf. Bowed, bloodied and frustrated, Gilliam then went off to make a low budget adaptation of Mitch Cullin’s disturbing familial novel Tideland. The hiatus enabled the two men to calm down. Harvey Weinstein relented and allowed Gilliam to complete The Brothers Grimm in a version that was to his satisfaction. The result is bewildering and dazzling and will no doubt divide audiences just like The Adventures of Baron van Munchausen’s did. Gilliam is clearly a man who refuses to curb his own vision.
I General release from Fri 4 Nov. See review, page 44.
(Taryn Manning) on screen and Brewer is especially good at choosing when to throw in some light—hearted moments. (Kaleem Aftab)
I General release from Fri 7 7 Nov.
THRILLER
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
(15) 130min eee
Conclusively demonstrating that the epic City of God was no flash-in-the- pan debut. Brazilian director Fernando Mereilles fuses the personal and the political in this absorbing adaptation of John Le Carre's novel. The constant gardener of the title is Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes). a mild-mannered British diplomat stationed in Nairobi. When his outspoken activist wife Tess (Rachel Weisz) is found murdered in a remote region of Kenya. Justin uncovers a whole load of dirty truths and soiled secrets.
Swrtching backwards and forwards in time and across continents. The Constant Gardener is swept along by Mereilles' propulswe and vibrant visual style.
Ultimately. Mereilles' film succeeds as both a polemical thriller and as a retrospective love story. with Fiennes outstanding in the role of a man gradually opening up to the depth of his feelings for his wrfe only after her death. And although the film's black characters are kept in the periphery. there's a sense of genuine anger here about the way global capitalism rapaciously explons the underprIVIleged Of the planet. (Tom Dawson)
I General release from Fri 7 7 Nov.
DRAMA IN HER SHOES (12A) 130min 000
’1‘, ‘ w.
Something of a change of pace for filmmaker Curtis Hanson after the macho fun of 8 Mile. Wonder Boys and LA Confidential. In Her Shoes is a
i glossy adaptation of Jennifer Weiner's
novel, pitting shy wallflower Rose (Toni Collette) against hopeless lush Maggie (Cameron Diaz). While Rose wrestles against her boss at a high-powered Philadelphia law firm, Maggie struggles to hold down a job in a pet store while conducting a messy sex life. firmly estranging her from her sensible sister. But redemption is at hand in the form of grandmother Ella (Shirley MacLaine). whose Florida retirement home provides a halfway house for the sulky girls. HansOn's regular interest in
Film
; Film news and giveaways
’ ~ 3
I The good news is that Stirling University is showing a very rare cut of Lindsay Anderson’s troubled 1985 film Foreign Skies (pictured) about the pop band Whaml’s tour of China this Thursday (3 November) at The Changing Rooms. The bad news is that it’s not a public screening and is only open to selected media idiots, here’s hoping there will be a proper screening of the film soon. Lindsay would have wanted it.
I Another year, another bonkers film season from Cult! Film Distribution at Filmhouse. Psychotronic Cinema — a Thursday late-night event beginning on Thursday 10 November brings together the insane masterpieces of yesteryear. The first film is Mark Campus' brilliant blaxploitation flick The Mack starring Max Julien and Richard Pryor. Psychotronic Bar opens at 10.30pm, classic exploitation trailers at 1 1pm, film at
1 1.80pm. Tickets £4.50 (£3.50). Season ticket is 221/215. 0131 228 2688. www.filmhousecinema.com I Film writer Eddie Harrison kicks off another of his illuminating film courses on Tuesday 8 November, 6.30pm to 8.30pm. New Worlds To Conquer is a four-week course looking at the language of film and new genres. The first session deals with Italian Cinema in the 19703. The course costs £24. 0141 332 8128. www.gft.org.uk
WIN THE ROCKY ANTHOLOOY ULTIMATE EDITION BOX SET
It's the knockout DVD box set that you've been waiting for! All five ROCKY films are presented in stunning packaging including the Rocky Ultimate Edition double disc box set with tons of extras. To celebrate we have three box sets to give away. To enter. send an email marked ‘ROCKY' to promotions(a)list.co.uk or on a postcard to The List. 14 High Street. Edinburgh. EH1 1TE by no later than 15 November 2005. Please include a daytime telephone number and postal address.
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