and Gregory's Girl. lt's a slight but engaging tale of a night watchman at Turin's Museum of Cinema.
The central character. Martino (Giorgio Pasotti). falls for the willowy. slightly boyish looking Amanda (Francesca lnaudi) as he regularly buys his dinner from her at a nearby fast food joint. But no cause and effect here. It's only when she falls out with her boss and pours hot oil all over the man's legs that coincidence rather than intent comes into play. Of course she goes undercover in the close-to-hand Museum of Cinema. and finds herself falling for Giorgio's film buff charms.
That there is a macho. criminal boyfriend in pursuit. as well as the boss. could have turned the film into a frenetic exercise in audience tension cranking. But. like Forsyth. Ferrario‘s always looking to dissolve conflict into positive energy. In one scene the boyfriend. Angel (Fabio Troiano) has his reputation at stake and has to offer poor Giorgio a beating. But he settles for just one face- saving punch and feels almost guilty about that.
This is nice. mellifluous cinema. underplayed and neatly handled.
(Tony MCKibbin)
I GET, Glasgow on Mon 30 and Tue 31 Jan only. Fi/mhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 3—Mon 6 Feb only.
THRILLER 1 3 ('I'ZAMETI) (15) 93min 0000
When poor 20-year-old immigrant Sebastian (George Babluani) is hired to fix the roof of an ageing morphine addict Godon (Philippe Passon) and his shrewish young wife he chances upon a letter for the old man which promises fonunes if the instructions it contains are followed. When Sebastian starts doing as the letter says, he soon realises he is in way over his head. Structured to look and feel like the most perverse nightmare you may have had the misfortune to sleep and sweat through. Gela Babluani's debut is a brilliant short film that has been stretched into a still riveting feature. Shot in the bleakest of monotones. Babluani conjures up one of the most sadistic. bizarre visions of an underground society in recent cinematic memory. Though flawed by some poor acting and a misjudged music score. 73 is nevertheless as
ADAPTATION A COCK AND BULL STORY (15) 94min 0000
‘I wish either my father or my mother, or indeed both of them, as they were in duty both equally bound to it, had minded what they were about when they begot me; had they duly considered how much depended upon what they were then doing.’ And so begins Lawerence Sterne’s great, bewildering nine volume book The Life and Opinions of Trisfram Shandy, Gentleman. Written between 1759 and 1767 by a Yorkshire parson, this book of witty digression was arguably the first postmodern novel, and now, thanks to the tireless efforts of filmmaker Michael Winterbottom, we have a
postmodern attempt to interpret it.
But Winterbottom and writer Frank CottreIl Boyce (under the name Martin Hardy because he decided to take his name off the project) are clever enough to know that Sterne’s work did not come from nowhere, and that Tristram Shandy emerged from a Mesopotamian mess of influences that included Rabelais, Swift, Cervantes and, of course, John Locke. Keeping in mind this chaos of influences and tangents Winterbottom keeps things jaunty, improvisational and light. Making his film as much about the making of a version of Tristram Shandy as it is about the egoism of the lead actor Steve Coogan (played, of course, by the real Coogan). What develops is a wonderfully messy satire of deviations and diversions, one that will make sense to anyone who has read the book.
Shambolically touching on themes of celebrity obsession, cultural vulturism, situationism and the thin line between the hysterical and the historical, this is an absolute treat with Rob Brydon, Dylan Moran, Shirley Henderson and Gillian Anderson among many others beautifully counterbalancing Coogan’s vicious self parody. Undoubtedly touched by Godard’s One Plus One, Richardson’s Tom Jones, Bresson’s Lancelot du Lac and the entire oeuvres of the great Peter Watkins, Peter Greenaway and Christopher Petit, this is British cinema at its most ambitious and most
welcome. (Paul Dale)
I GET. Glasgow. Cameo. Edinburgh and selected cinemas from Fri 20 Jan.
intriguing a proposition as any of those from the tiny ghetto of dyspeptic. gritty works from which it hails — most noticeably Kazakhstani miserablist Darejan Omirbaev's 1998 film The Killer. Carlos Saura's masterful llie Hunt and Aronotsky's Pi. 13 also boasts an unforgettable killer tWIst. Rr-zcommended. (Paul Dale)
I Filinliouse. Edinburgh from Fri
20— Thu 26 Jan. GET. Glasgow from Fri 70 Feb.
GANGSTER THRILLLH
A BITTERSWEET LIFE (DAL KOM HAN IN-SAENG) (18) 118min 000
Sunwoo (Lee Bvung-hunl is the quiet but anally organised right hand man of underworld boss Kang lKim Young- chul). By day he poses as a respectal_,)le hotel manager and by night he does his chief's bidding. When he is asked to spy on Kang's young mistress (Shin Mina) he makes a snap (feelsioii that is to cost him dear — but not before he fights back.
Kim Jee—woon. the director of The Foul King and A Tale of Two Sisters. continues his tour of duty through eveiy possible genre he can think of. This time out he attempts to put a new twist on the cliche of the mob henchman on the run drama. And for at least half of the film's excessive running time he pulls off a nervy and intriguing hybrid of Audiard's The Beat That My Heart Slapped and Miike Takeshi's Shinjuku Triad films. Jee—woon certainly has a quirky lightness of touch and veive and imagination with the action sequences but he allows if all to fall into
This week Rough Cuts has been given over to the guys in the cheap seats as we find how you can watch movies on a shoestring.
I Everyone knows that cinemas do not make their fortunes from the actual film ticket sales but on their popcorn takings. so they might as well let us all come in for free and just let us buy loads of popcorn. but that's never going to happen (and where would it leave those cinemas that do not sell popcorn?) Anyway. the Cameo Picture House in Edinburgh is still the cheapest cinema in town (apart from the wonderful St Bride’s Centre in Gorgie which still manages to show the occasional film for 80p). The threatened Cameo wins the gong because the first show of every Wednesday costs £1 for concession cardholders. The Cameo also offers an excellent membership deal (now back on a sale after a brief hiatus). which costs £25. The benefits include two free tickets upon joining (four for joint members) and at least $1.40 off every full price ticket; special benefits and discounts at the Edinburgh International Film Festival; free programme mailouts and free invitations to four special events per year.
I Over in Glasgow. the OFT offers cheap Friday afternoon screenings ($23.50/$22.50 before 5pm) and Saver tickets: $22.50/$17.50 concessions to see five films. On top of this they have a £30 CineCard (wwwgftcinecardcom) and selected free entry every Saturday to Take 2 family films and Screendaze films. Other venues were contacted about their cheap deals but were less than forthcoming.
|llCOllCl€HC€ in the second half when Sunwoo seeks answers to his questions (in a Violent way. of course). Peckinpah did it all so much better in Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. (Paul Dale)
I Ci'newor/d, Renfrew Street. Glasgow and Cinewor/d. Edinburgh from Fri 20 Jan.
1%) Jan 4.) Feb 2006 THE LIST 39