ATOMISED ' (18) 109mm .00.
Fans of Michel Houellebecq will, probably, be delighted and then infuriated by Oskar Roehler’s celluloid adaptation of Atomised. Roehler plunders the source material for character synopsis, incidents and subject matter, being most concerned with the ideas of despair, free love and dysfunctional relationships that he’s essayed in earlier works, Agnes and her Brothers and Suck My Dick. lntriguingly, Roehler takes Houllebecq's macabre and nihilistic story of two half-brothers traumatised by their childhood and flips it into a humourous romantic comedy with an ending that gives the middle finger to the narcissist fatalism of the source material.
Set in Germany, the film crosscuts between the present day wiles of two half-brothers: Michael (Christian Ulmen) a world renowned genetic scientist who is far better at his job than he is at picking up chicks, and Bruno (Moritz Bleibtrau), a teacher who has more than an academic interest in his students. In flashbacks, we venture into their distressed childhood, witnessing how the boys became the men they are. Changes in romantic fortunes and a death in the family bring the boys together again with hilarious results. Bruno searches for his perfect partner at a New Age campsite and Michael finds his girl-next-door (Franka Potente).
In subverting the ending, Roehler makes a statement that cinema is different from books, even when telling the same story. As screenwriter and director, Roehler takes what he likes from the novel and discards what he doesn‘t, not unlike the archetypal Houellebecq protagonist. (Kaleem Aftab)
heroii individual sa\.ing others' lives
Instead. through a series of Vignettes. Koltai follows the stoical (iyurka's attempts to survive the barbaric conditions despite his alarming physical deterioration In one haunting scene he and his staned colleagues are forced to stand outside to attention for ;’-1 hours, their bodies swaying '.vith fatigue. in another he doesn't tell a guard that his bunk mate in the hospital is dead in order to secure the latter 3. pitiful bread ration Yet what makes this such a daring and affecting film is that it recogni/es the moments of fleeting happiness felt b\ prisoners in the camps. where beauty can co exist alongside unimaginable horrors The piece illuminates the suivi\ or 's ambixalent feelings towards his own traumatic experiences Upon his return to the war imaged l~lungarian capital Gyurka himself admits to a degree of homesickness far the camaraderie he shared One thinks of the writer Primo l eu's own words with regard to life after Auschwt.’ 'All the rest was a briet pause. a deception of the senses. a dream ‘ i'lan‘. Dawson) I Of 7. (Lasgav. from r for: til-Int, 73 Jul farm/rouse, ftdir‘n..'g.'7 fro/7‘ Fri :5
HORROR DUMPLINGS (18) 91 min 0...
Hong Kong filmmaker Fruit Chan originally made this queasy parable
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about contemporary China. based on a novella by l illian lee. as one section of the por'tmanteau horror film fhree Extremes (which also features contributions from Asian shockmasters Park Chanwook and Takashi Miikei. Expanded to feature length. Chan now serves up Dumplings as a nearrperfectly prepared piece of modern horror
With her wealthy. womanising husband Siie (Tony Leungl serially cheating on her. and a televrsion acting career a thing of the past. ageing star Qing (Miriam Yeungl ventures away from her Hong Kong Island condo to downtown Kowloon, where trashy Chinese mainland woman Mei (Bar Ling) runs a black market business making succulent dim sum, the secret pink fillings of which reverse the ageing process.
Chan's film manages all at once to be my sterious. erotic. mouth watering and really quite sickening. And that oddly mixed recipe is seasoned with macabre humour, making the whole concoction \erx palatable indeed
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{1L1 umr Nixti-‘r t or.» ,r E"? AWESOME I FUCKING SHOT THAT (15) 89min 0..
A high cont ept Heastie Ht t'. film in whivh 5m fa ts .'.c'le‘ t;i.ert in .iw (,ariieras and told to shoot the York hip hop band playing .it Marlin. 1 Square (‘tarden one night in ( )t t 1be' 200-1
and some of this film’s best moments
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are provided by the bixarre ttlllli’,‘, of the cameiamen one heads off to bu. beer when the Beasties start planng instrumental numbers. another keeps filming whilst going to the toilet. and others are Just obsessed ‘.‘.’llll celebrities in the audience
The gig is shown in it's 8‘.) minute entirety. and while this will delight the legions of fans. others less enarrioureo by the band Hltf', find the r'lltif,l<, grating. As a film. this is a zalrant attempt at bringing down the fourth wall that eXists bet seen the audience
and the band on most concert lll(1.l‘,“, Director Nathaniel Hornblc.‘.~:r ran alias for Beastie Boy Adam Yatltth adds Visual tricks from time tc lllll(:.t:lt’lt1‘. such it's mildly reminiscent of Jonathan Derrirries Stop r't/tt'ilam; Sense. Auresorrre is a must for 8 Boy fans. and aficionados 1f concert films. even if it ultimater fails tr. capture the magic 21f actaall, heirg there. iKateern Aftab
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HORROR JU-ON: THE GRUDGE 2 (15) 95min 0..
The Rr‘g ma, well be the flit/)1 infamous Japanese hcrrcr fraracri._~.e but Ja-OH COuld gm; .t a 'un for ts money Confusingi‘, tnrs is actuall, 'Ae fourth part in Takashi Shimizu's series land Slots in Just befOre the American
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Superman Returns (12A) 154min (Unable to review at time of going to press) it ;
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w z', 1 . THE LIST 47