Film
Reviews
COMEDY/DRAMA MISCHIEF NIGHT (15) 93min «0
Mischief Night falls on 4 November and is when the occult has traditionally been celebrated in Yorkshire and children are given carte blanche to play tricks on adults. Kimberly (Holly Kenny) doesn't know who her father is and his identity is a dark secret. She asks her chainsmoking mother Tina (Kelli Hollis. on fiery form) ‘Am I a Paki’?’ Kimberly strikes up a friendship with Asif (Qasim Akhtar) in the run up to Mischief Night. and with bold grit the odd couple unlock some surprising secrets.
Penny Woolcock (The Death of Klinghoffer. The Principles of Lust) deserves plaudits for bringing three- dimensional Asian characters to British cinema. For too long British Asian characters have been drowning in a pool of limp. predictable and vanilla- flavoured second-generation multi- cultural romances. Woolcock doesn't pander to politically correct machinations and even the good guys like ex-convict lmmie (Ramon Tikaram) are bewitchingly deceptive. Alas. the same cannot be said for their predictable white counterparts. which is the main flaw in an otherwise delicious and funny tale set in a cultural hotspot in Leeds. The magical realist world seen through the eyes of two kids is reminiscent of the narrative style used by Danny Boyle in Millions.
(Kaleem Aftab) I Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow; Cineworld, Edinburgh.
DRAMA KRISANA (FALLEN) (12A) 88min «0.
Shot on digital video in high-contrast black-and-white. this uncompromising existential parable from German auteur Fred Kelemen (Frost. Abend/and) concerns a lonely Latvian archivist Matiss (Egons Dombrovskis). who is consumed by guilt at failing to prevent a stranger from apparently taking her own life by jumping from a bridge. ‘Man has lost his way — we are living like animals', is the gloomy observation of the vodka-swilling investigating detective (Vigo Roga). who deals with 700 suicides a year. Matiss takes it upon himself to investigate the disappeared woman's
40 THE LIST 2—16 NOV 2006
COMEDY BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNING-S OF AMERICA FOR
MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN (15) 83min om
The poorly executed Ali G Indahouse seemed to stymie Sacha Baron Cohen’s big screen ambitions, yet Borat appears set to make him Hollywood’s new Peter Sellers. Forget that unsatisfying turn as Talladega
Nights' Gallic gay racing driver, because Borat represents a depth of comic
character lnhabitation previously unseen in cinema. While Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries are a benchmark, they rely on ensemble
performances. This has only Borat, his producer Azamat (Ken Davitian) and
countless confused real Americans. The manner in which Baron Cohen maintains a straight face while babbling his racist, homophobic and sexist gibberish at them is a true joy to behold, especially when some respond in
kind.
Where Indahouse merely transplanted and overstretched a TV character over a film narrative, Borat wisely maintains the original television format of fake interviews, stringing them together as a series of road movie vignettes. After priceless opening scenes in his home village, Borat travels to the US, initially to report on American customs, yet later, to make Pamela Anderson his wife. On his way he encounters Americana head on, releasing a chicken on the New York subway, singing the Kazak national anthem at a rodeo in Virginia, meeting frat boys, feminists, street gangs,
socialites, Christians and rednecks. He insults women, gays, gypsies, Jews
and the mentally handicapped at every turn, yet remains an endearing innocent abroad, even when wrestling naked in a packed conference suite. Directed by Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm producer Larry Charles, Borat is sharply edited and brilliantly performed, eliciting constant belly laughs. The film beautifully balances the tickling of liberal ideals with jabbing fun at a swarthy misguided foreigner and stupid Americans, featuring some criminally funny moments and an admirable aim to satirise absolutely everyone. Hi five indeed! (Jay Richardson) I General release from Fri 3 Nov. See interview, page 39.
life. and after discovering undeveloped photos and love letters in her handbag. learns that she had been conducting an affair with a Russian lover (Nikolai Korobov). Echoing Antonioni's Blow Up and photographed in long takes reminiscent of Kelemen's mentor Bela Tarr. Krisana unfolds in an eerin deserted and shadowy Riga. with an expressive soundtrack of barking dogs. screeching gulls and rumbling industrial machinery amplifying the enveloping mood of despair. This is unabashedly austere. contemplative filmmaking, illustrating how in interpreting the world we create our own illusions and providing spectators with the most desolate closing image of the year. (Tom Dawson)
I GFT, Glasgow on Wed 75 and Thu 16 Nov only. Fi/mhouse. Edinburgh from Mon 27—Thu 30 Nov only. See interview, page XX.
(15) 152min m
DRAMA/CRIME ROMANZO CRIMINALE
This mobster epic charting the rise and fall of a gang of street punks from Rome's suburbs. who took control of
the capital's criminal underworld in the
19705. owes a debt not only to Italian
crime movies of the period. but also to
Italian-American filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. and finally to Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time in America. which Romanzo Crimina/e closely resembles. Given those heavyweight antecedents.
it's not surprising that the film gives one the feeling of having seen it all before.
Nevertheless. former volunteer cop. actor and director Michele Placido's homage is a handsome and robust piece of filmmaking. And if it drags in the second half. when the gang led by Pierfrancesco Favino's brutish Libano begins to fall apart. then Sandra Petragli and Stefano Rulli's screenplay (based on Giancarlo De Cataldo's bestselling novel) maintains interest by its seamless interweaving of fiction with modern ltalian history.
(Miles Fielder)
I Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow;
Grosvenor. Glasgow and Cameo, Edinburgh from Fri 3 Nov
ROMANTIC DRAMA STARTER FOR TEN (12A) 96min «0
Brian (James McAvoy). a geeky student. finds love and fulfils an ambition to appear on University Challenge when he becomes the first member of his family to win a place at university in 1985. Leaving behind his best mates Spencer (Dominic Cooper) and Tone (James Corden) to suffer the foibles of Thatcherite policies. fresh- faced Brian arrives in Bristol and enters a world approximate to John Hughes-scripted 80s benchmark Some Kind of Wonderful. Unfathomably. two chicks fancy the gauche Brian — blond university babe Eve (Alice Eve) and his best mate. the supposedly gawky feminist Rebecca (Rebecca Hall). As in Some Kind of Wonderful. the problem is that the dowdy girl is too cool and good looking for there to be any doubts as to who Brian should and will end up with. The expositional and predictable
’ relationship is rescued from tedium by ,‘ an excellent post-new wave
. soundtrack. Plus there is one great
3 gag referencing Nichol's The
Graduate. In total contrast to the drab relationship. the sequences dealing
. with Brian‘s forthcoming appearance
on University Challenge are extremely
amusing — the ambience of the show is recreated in all its naff glory. So
’ ’ much so. that it's almost possible to
gloss over the romantic comedy’s many wrong answers. (Kaleem Aftab) I General release from Fri 70 Nov.
COMEDY/DRAMA SCENES OF A SEXUAL
NATURE (1 5)_91 min ooo
Old school mates and new writing and directing team Aschlin Ditta and Ed Blum are to be congratulated for assembling an impressive cast. which
i includes Ewan McGregor. Sophie
Okonedo. Catherine Tate. Gina
. McKee. Hugh Bonneville. Adrian
: Lester and Mark Strong. for their low
I l