Reviews
DRAMA
1 1 :1 4
(15) 86min
(lox DVD retarl rentalr
rill-kc “MM-J"
"manna
6“ dark”
C W
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lhrs clever cubrst thrrller exarnrnes a srngie moment rn trme from the varying perspectrves of a do/en people for whom ‘r 1th: pm proves to be a pivotaI moment in their lrves. \A/rrter-tlrrector Greg Marcks' inspired and assured feature debut begins wrth l-lenry lhomas' drunk drrver running rnto someone or son‘nethrng on an otherwrse empty New Lngland hrglmay. Thereafter. the baton rs passed from one character to another. most of whom are strangers. and a new set of events unfolds eventually bringing the story back to the empty hrghvtvay.
l utl po:nts to Marcks for has consistently surprrsrng ()t()lllll(). whrcl‘ leaves the audrence guessrng despite incorporating some of the same events as witnessed from different angles. lhe shockrng and not a lllllf,’ gruesome turn of events are presented wrth pitch perfect gallows humour, emphasised by the creepy soundtrack by former l’op Will lat Itself rapper ()irht Manse-l, (txrlto began hrs frlm career egually rmpresswefy scorrng Darren Aronofsky's Pr.
Beyond the technical aspects of the frlm. the cast ltachael l ergh Cook. Barbara Hershey. Patrrck le'ray/e. Shawn llatosy and l lrlary Swank among them do a delightful rob of fLeshrhg out the wet defrhed (,I'taracters rn Marcks' scrrpf. Set your alarm for ll: .’-l. l xtr‘as Include ‘rhakrng of' featurette. l‘l\/1'les l rerder‘l
44 THE LIST ~'- ‘9'; .La' .1
(ZOMl? DY DRAMA ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL (15) 98min
(Sony Pictures DVD retarl rental) 0..
lhe surprrsrngly swift DVD release of Terry /\.'v.rrgoff and Daniel Clowes' adaptation of (Zlowes' graphic novel rs saddenrng but hardly surprrsrng. By far and away the weakest frlrn that Yy‘xrgoff has made (follovr/rng on from the off krlter joys of Cruml). Ghost World and Bad Sanfal, the end result here feels both comprornrsed and oddly dour. l ollowrhg one young man's journey through a
rrrr; strum. urrrrunrrrrr
particularly pretentrOus art school. thrs certarnly has some good. crrrtgeworthy moments and some stellar performances from John lvlalkovrch (as an immensely annoying lecturer art guru) and rising star lvlax lvirnghelta. lhe trouble rs the frlm flags so woefully halfway througl‘r that rt never really frnds the pozsonous sense of otherness that informs e\./er\,'thrr‘.g else that /‘.vrgoff and ()lowes have done up to thrs point. It rs. ll()‘.‘./(}V(}l. of interest to anyone interested rn enr‘ollrhg at Art College: see thrs as a warnrng. lvlrnrmal extras: thrs rs however a regron 1 only DVD. (l’aul Daler
[)(Xltlr'vll NlAilY THE DAY THE COUNTRY DIED (E) 90min
(Prnnacle Vrsron DVD retarl. rentalr COO.
Subtrfled 'A Hrstory of Aharcno Punk' l"|8 rs (actually a vrsual retellrng of la". (Elasper's excellent nook of the same name. l xptorr'tg r" ll‘:l."tll(3 (retarl t'te obsctrr‘e. esoteric. UK anarcho punk scene of the early 80s. tl‘ts absolutely fascrr‘atrhg frlm .rses
(‘locunfentary and other rmages to expound on the musrc's deadly serrous connection wrth socral Issues such as anrmal rights. the antr- glot'ralrsatron movement and others. lnfluentral perforn‘en; Crass. Conflrct. Subhumar‘s and Ch;rmbawamba pop up between arci‘rve footage to prove t'tat age has 'tOl x'rrtnered tner" visceral vrstons. l-teco'hmen:led. for a'tyone who can remen‘ber tne poll tax (rots. Maggie lt‘atcl‘er milk st‘atciter or Dr Martens boots.
(Paul Daler
HORROR
THE HEIRLOOM (18) 97min
(Yume Prctures DVD retarl rental) 00.
HI‘IRIU M
In thrs polished haunted house movre. an architect returns from the UK to take up hrs inheritance: a huge but drlaprdated mansron on the outskrrts of larper. At frrst hrs grrlfrrend and friends can't get enough of the house. wrth rts hrgh cerlrngs.
large rooms and lengthy
corrrr‘tor‘s. but soon enough they r'ealrse something untoward rs gorng on lhe 95—year- old director I este Chen claims Alerandro Amenabar as an rnfluehce, and certarnly the story alone echoes lhe ()f’rers. lhe haunted house movre has a long and respectable tradrtron and thrs lrts rt rnto the specificain Asian context \‘rrtlt ntrld fret-shness. lvlrnrma! extras. (lorry McKrbbrm
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Welcome one, welcome all and Happy New Year. To mark the end of the old we would like to bring in something new. Until, of course, you get totally bored of it and we will try something else.
This is the first of a new DVD round-up column designed to pull out or highlight some of the best releases of the fortnight. And then, to your left we will continue with slightly longer reviews of anything that is still around or of particular interest. The agenda is simple: if it’s half decent, two dimensional and moves while being scintillating, entertaining, intellectually stimulating or just plain weird we will have it covered on this page for you, now and maybe forever.
So let’s get this party started. The DVD delights you should give house space to in the first half of January should definitely include Rian Johnson’s curious, flawed but delightfully brave fusion of film noir and high school melodrama, Brick (Optimum 0000 ). The two disc edition of this film is better, the transfer is superior, plus the extras include a revealing interview with Johnson (an exclusive in the UK edition), deleted and extended scenes, cast auditions,
Johnson’s video diary and loads of hidden extras and other exclusives.
Japanese animation guru and Studio Ghibli maestro Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle (Optimum 0000 l was one of the very few of his films that was not met with the kind of fanfare that would make a Geisha blush at the time of its theatrical release. That may have something to do with the overriding European influences on the look and design of the piece (it was, after all, based on Diana Wynne Jones’ novel). Immerse yourself in this fairytale adventure of adolescent girls, wizards and spells and I suspect you will be dazzled. Stick to the Japanese language version on the disc, however, as the dubbed version has the curious effect of making everything seem a little hokey. This single disc contains minimal extras only.
Also, Gabriele Salvatores’ lovely magic realist anti war story Medittaraneo (Optimum COCO ) emerges from its island idyll - despite the poor extras this will have wondering why this fabulous l director was never given the chance to direct the film version of Captain Core/Ii’s Mandolin.
Oversexed, Overpaid and Over Here (Panamint Crnema 000 l compiles two films from the archives which were made to help the wives of American Gls settle in the UK during WWII. One for those with a penchant for domestic history methinks.
Alfonso Cuaron’s excellent futuristic thriller Children of Men (Universal .000 ) gets a release with decent extras as does Jason 4 Reitman’s amusing if fairly insubstantial Thank You for Smoking (Fox 000 ). The highlight of the fortnight, however, has to be the l Directed by Douglas Sirk box set (Universal .0000), a near divine selection of the great US filmmaker’s melodramas Imitation Of Life, E Magnificent Obsession, Written On the Wind. All I Desire. Has it Anybody Seen My Gal, All That Heaven Allows (pictured) and The l Tamished Angels. Dreams are made of such things. Next issue we F will be carrying on regardless with the very substantial release of a near complete Carry On film box set. (Paul Dale)