Revrews COMLLM ACTION SEDIJEL PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S
CHEST (12A) 115mm e.
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original director Gore ‘t'e'tlv‘sk; f". kind of trioate’l blockbuster menace llllllétll‘, Suspected the orzg:rtal ‘ r' would be. Picking up where the previous tllrn left off. Captair‘ .la: k" back at the helm of hr, gallexrx trawling the high seas for the mysterious contents cf Dave» Jones" locker, the pirate legend owner ‘)l which Sparrow has a score to sett'e Meanwhile. uptight smordsmit.h \.‘.'-il Turner (bland Orlando Bloom, ‘llt’l straight-laced goxernor's daughter Ell/abeth Swann ldull Kelra Knightle‘,
What a delightful surprise Pirates of the Caribbean; The Curse of the Black Pearl was. lhe 2003 Hollywood blockbuster, based on a Disney theme park ride. promised little more than popcorn accomi)animent. but
DRAMA HEADING SOUTH (VERS LE SUD) (15) 108min eee
Haiti 1971, 19-year-old Jean Claude Duvalier AKA Baby Doc has just succeeded his father Francois Duvalier aka Papa Doc as dictator for life of Haiti. It was business as usual for the small republic, which takes up one third of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Baby Doc was every bit as cruel as his daddy, as he used political murder and expulsion to suppress his opponents while embezzling and rerouting every piece of foreign investment that came his country’s way.
It is into this world of the expropriation, economic suppression and corruption that Anglo Bostonian teacher Ellen (Charlotte Rampling), Georgian (US) drip Brenda (Karen Young) and French singleton Sue (Louise Portal) come to taste the ebony hued delicacy of the local male population on the island’s beaches. Between bitching at each other, sex and shopping trips these three ladies have no time to realise just how thin the veil is that stops them from seeing this troubled land’s realities.
Laurent Cantet's highly laudable, wilfully controversial follow up to his superb 2001 film Time Out (about the real personal cost of corporate downsizing) is something of a well-intentioned mess.
Derailed almost immediately by very poor period detail, an overly verbose and obvious script and some fairly cringy direct to camera monologues its difficult to try and ascertain what Cantet is reaching for here. As an investigation of exploitation, cultural subversion and the sex tourist industry it seems purely to turn on the shock tactic of seeing well- preserved middle aged women in the arms of Adonis-like black boys. Or was Cantet's intention to doff his cap to both Wyler's The Letter and Cukor's The Women as these ladies scrapple for the attention of doomed youth Legba (Ménothy Cesar)? The usually reliable Robin Campillo (Who Killed Bambi?, They Came Back) and Cantet’s script is just a bit too torpid and wilful for its own good. It’s all something of a shame really because the film is undeniably watchable, and, for want of any other really interesting female centred melodramas out this year, it is a film that resonates in the cerebellum long after viewing. (Paul Dale)
I Fi/mhouse. Edinburgh from Fri 7 Jul.
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I General release from TN. (5 Jul
lXXJUMi-N mm
DAVE CHAPELLE’S BLOCK PARTY
(15) 103min 0.00
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One Saturday lll September 2004. US comedian Dave Chappelle hosted a concert in a Brooklyn street featuring some of his favourite musterans. While he doesn't have the same profile here. Chappelle is a massive star in the States ~ and you can get a sense of his Influence from the calibre of the performers he lured for the gig. Some of the biggest names lll hip hop. including Mos Def, Tallb K‘.‘.’f3ll and Kanye West. answered his call and did sets for the lucky hundreds lll‘alled to the free concert.
Following Chappelle's attempts to put the event together alongsmle footage of the acts themselves. this :s an enormoust enjoyable documentary record of the gig. Chappelle is a brilliantly funny man. and director Michel Gondcy's flurd. quick-thinking shooting style captures the comic at his unpredictably. tree-flowmg best. including one hilarious theident wl‘len Chappelle unyites a marching brass band to the gig from his hometown h Ohio. whose progress the film subsequently follows to New York.
But the main focus lS on the musicians. A former drummer .n a French rock band — and celebrated pdeo director — Gondry knows that the best approach for film.ng mus-clans at the top of ther game is the Simplest. So he 'lghtl‘,' Shoots the line-up with a minimum of fuss, Ourte simply irresistible. lEdward Lawrensor. I Out now. on selected release.
Film news and giveaways fOr beautiful cineaste types
I Researchers at Aberystwyth University are tackling a set of controversial but important questions at the request of the British Board of Film Classification. A team of film researchers are studying the ways audiences understand and respond to films that include scenes of sexual violence. They are exploring responses to five films - A Ma Soeur, Balsa-Moi (pictured), Irreversible, Ichi the Killer, and House on the Edge of the Park. All these films have raised classification issues, and provoked considerable press debate. The aim of the project is to provide the BBFC with knowledge that can guide their future thinking. If you are interested in taking part in the research of this fascinating project then visit www.extremefilmsresearch.org.uk and fill out the web questionnaire, over the next six months; they are aiming to gather more than a thousand responses for analysis. I There are some great film-based bar events coming up at the Cameo Cinema Bar in Edinburgh. They include ‘A Night With . . . The Beach Boys: Keepin' the Summer Alive' on Thursday 27 July from 9pm: an evening of Beach Boys 'Sound 8. Vision' with DJ Good Vibrations. Let's go surfing safari.
WIN THE SEAN PENN COLLECTION ON DVD
Sean Penn is one of the most .llléll modern screen presences lll US crnerna. a fact that this fantastic new DO)“ 981 containing State of Grace. Colors. Casual! es of War, At Close Range are The 3.;asslnation of Pic/2a,”; l l/mn more thar urxderlirwes '.’/e ha 1‘:
three copies of the collectlor‘ ’o
gi/e away. To U: tr: wrtr a chance of wlr‘unlng one. simply send art emaal marked 'PEllN' to promotions'glmt.C’Juk by no ‘at‘x Than 19 July. sual List rules appiy.
6—23 J . THE LIST 45