Reviews
DOCUMENTARY ONCE IN A LIFETIME (15) 92min om
It was the best of times. it was the worst of times . . . it was the age of foolishness. An axiom that perfectly describes the ill-fated New York Cosmos. a team set up to bring the beautiful game, or soccer as the ignorant imbeciles called it. to the home of corporate capitalism. First- time British director Paul Crowder (hitherto best known for editing Dogtown and Z Boys and being a member of 808 band The Adventures) and co-director John Live Forever Dower do an excellent job in telling a tale of greed gone wrong.
Chelsea fan Crowder took over directing duties after Dower was substituted and knew straightaway that the beauty of this match lies not in the action on the pitch but the scoring and bickering on the touchline. The Cosmos were the brainchild of Warner president Steve Ross - the Roman Abramovich of 19703 American soccer. Ross believed that by getting the biggest names in world football, most notably Pele and Frank Beckenbauer. he could convince Americans to love the planet 's most popular sport. Matt Dillon's narration describes how the plan almost worked. Unfortunately for Ross. the soccer superstars came to America for money. fame and chicks. becoming regulars at Studio 54 and other top hangouts in 1977, New York's 'Summer of Sam'.
The battle of egos between Argentine Giorgio Chinaglia and Pele is a joy to behold in this high scoring film that. like Dogtown, has appeal beyond hardcore sports lovers. And for footie fans this is just poetry in motion. (Kaleem Aftab)
I Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow and Cameo. Edinburgh from Fri 19 May.
THRILLER BRICK (15) 109min m. »
As Barbara Stanwyck said to Keith Andes in the Fritz Lang's 1952 noir Clash By Night. ‘What do you want. Joe. my life history? Here it is in four words: big ideas. small results.‘ Rian Johnson's much heralded high school noir arrives on the shores with a weight of expectation, yet the idea of transposing, updating or generally raping the major tenets of film noir is hardly a new idea. everyone from David Lynch to Steve Martin having had a bash. The difference (one is
DRAMA TIME TO LEAVE (18) 85min mo
As the British Film Institute launches a huge Rainer Werner Fassbinder retrospective (coming soon to an art house cinema near you), his number one fan Francois Ozon returns with a small, quiet work, which looks at terminal illness with the same microscopic lust his 2000 film Under the Sand turned on bereavement.
Dislikeable gay Paris-based fashion photographer Romain (Melvil Poupaud) whites out at a shoot one day. After some tests for what he suspects may be AIDS he finds out that he has terminal cancer and about three months left to live. From this point on Romain embarks on a sometimes spiteful, sometimes hedonistic, always solitary journey of self- discovery.
Unflinching studies of decline are hardly the most original subject matter, from \fisconti’s Death in Venice to Antonioni’s remarkable The Passenger, they have been a staple cliché in many a good and bad filmmaker’s catalogue. Yet Ozon, the man who gave us the melodramatic joys of Sitcom and 8 Women, along with seamless, inquiring dramas Swimming Pool and 5x2 is such a subtle, gifted writer and director that he manages to find life in these old parables.
Through the devilishly self-absorbed and infantile Romain (intensely portrayed by Poupaud), Ozon finds a way of ruminating and challenging accepted ideas on heightened sexuality in the nearly dead, family, surrogacy and legacy.
This is possibly Ozon’s bleakest journey into the human psyche so far, one reminiscent in parts of the photographs of Martin Parr and Ron Peck’s Nighthawks, a fascinating, woefully overlooked dramatic odyssey through gay London in 1978. As with many of Ozon’s films, this is provocation in a minor key. (Paul Dale)
I Filmhouse. Edinburgh from Fri 12 May GET. Glasgow from Fri 26 May. See profile in listings.
school crime lord the Pin (Lukas Haas) and his muscle Tug (Noah Fleiss).
There's so much to commend Brick, it's just a shame that its flaws are so huge. Johnson's script is rich in Mamet-ian crispness and his plotting is tighter that Dashiell Hammett's trilby. There are also some glorious touches. which reference everyone from John Hughes to John Huston. The trouble is that Johnson can't direct for hell, and cinematographer Steve Too/box Murders Yedlin‘s imprecise approximation of classic noir set-ups really begins to grate after a while. The second half is. however. a lot better than the first. and amid the end of year school project feel to the whole thing there are irreproachably good performances from all concerned. A for effort. C for execution. (Paul Dale) I Cineworld Renfrew Street. Glasgow. Cineworld, Edinburgh and Cameo, Edinburgh from Fri 72 May See interview, page 42.
Wan:
nudged into realising here) is that this is ‘mini noir‘, performed by youths. Oh mummy. the nightmares of am-dram productions of Bugsy Malone are returning.
Geeky loner Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is having a bad week. His junkie ex girlfriend is dead and his investigations are leading nowhere. On his side he has the Brain (Matt O‘Leary) and rich girl sophisticate mystery woman Laura (Nora Zehetner). but then he crosses high
Film
Film news and giveaways for beautiful cineaste types
I Bitesize Cinema is a quarterly programme that scours the world of short film for award winning, original work from the hottest new talent. The latest selection includes this year’s BAFTA Vlfinner for Best Short Film and many more new and exciting shorts. Bitesize Cinema will be premiering at Filmhouse, Edinburgh on Saturday 13 May, at 2pm, £4 (£2.50). www.bitesize.com
I Yet again Rough Cuts is going giveaway crazy and here's the first. What do you get if you cross Vinnie Jones with Lost in Translation. Pulp Fiction and a Brazil nut? You've got Survive Sty/e 5+. a surrealist comedy thriller that's breathtaking in its swagger. but don't take our word for it check it out yourself, Manga are releasing it on DVD on Mon 29 May.
We have five copies to give away. To be in with a chance of winning one simply send an email marked SURVIVE to promotions@list.co.uk. Usual List rules apply.
I On Saturday 3 June at 9pm at the Cameo in Edinburgh the Cocteau Twin’s Robin Guthrie will play a collection of atmospheric guitar-based instrumentals in front of an animated film backdrop. The performance draws from his last few solo albums and his recent soundtrack to Gregg Araki’s Mysterious Skin. Tickets are now available 0870 7551 231, www.picturehouses.co.uk
WIN A WALK THE llNE DVD
Walk The Line is available to buy and rent on DVD on 22 May from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and we have four copies to give away. To be in with a chance of winning a copy simply send an email marked WALK THE LINE to promotions@list.co.uk. Usual List rules apply.
11—25 May 2006 THE LIST 41