DRAMA AWAY FROM HER (12A) 109min 0000’
Canadian short and TV filmmaker Sarah Polley's leap into feature film directing is a moving adaptation of Alice Munro's short story The Bear Came Over the Mountain. Set in present day Ontario. middle class Fiona (Julie Christie) and Grant (Gordon Pinsent) have been married for 40 years. Their harmonious life is soon disturbed when Fiona is diagnosed as having Alzheimer's and decides to go into a retirement home. Grant is forbidden to visit her for 30 days to allow Fiona to ‘adjust'. Arriving for his first visit, he finds Fiona's affection has transferred onto Aubrey. a fellow resident. Confused and angry. he seeks emotional and physical solace with Aubrey‘s wife Marian (Olympia Dukakis).
Polley skilfully manages to slowly draw out this intensely personal drama without losing pace and finds odd moments of humour. Confidently photographed in static. composed shots of wide open Ontario spaces or institutionalised interiors. this is a young director who is clearly not afraid to tackle hard-hitting subjects. placing the older generation centre stage — in love. in lust. in anger and in remorse. A beautifully low-key. intelligent debut. (Selina Robertson)
I Fi'lmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 27 Apr. See interview, page 38.
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DRAMA GOYA’S GHOSTS (15) 113min O.
‘SUPERHERO BLOCKBUSTER SPIDER-MAN 3 (12A) 156min .0.
‘Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.’ Writer/director Sam Raimi’s third and (alleged) final film outing with the New York dwelling arachnid superhero is a hit and miss affair which still manages to contain some of the best sequences of any of the trilogy. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is happy in his relationship with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst finally surpassing mad Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane as the ultimate superhero girlfriend). But the fact that the denizens of New York City love Spidey has gone to Parker’s head. Believing the hype, he turns into an egotistical brat who starts to take Mary Jane for granted. The sticky patch gets worse when Spidey is given a gothic makeover that brings out the rebel in him. He comes on like a walking, strutting Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever (a nod to the era that Stan
Lee and Steve Ditko’s original comics were written in) and all hell breaks loose.
And now for the bad news. Spider-Man 3 is overloaded with villains. Sandman (Thomas Hayden Church) and Venom (Topher Grace) join the second Green Goblin who is aptly named The New Goblin (James Franco). By far the worst character is Sandman who lacks the motivation to be evil while his backstory involving the murder of Uncle Ben needlessly rewrites past history. Cementing these structural problems are some rather overdone visual effects (the absence of FX maestro John Dykstra is all too evident in this film). This being a finale of sorts the tying up of all the loose webbing involves more dénouements and false endings than The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Suffering from many of the recurrent problems of blockbuster sequels Spider-Man 3 is an engaging if ultimately disappointing finale. (Kaleem Aftab)
I General release from Fri .1 May:
It seems to be the silly season for biopics that lure audiences into the Cinema only to slap them across the face with a heavy hand full of nonsense. Steven Secretary Shainberg's Fur. about photographer Diane Arbus. and the forthcoming Klimt from Raoul Time Regained Ruiz (starring John Malkovich) are the major offenders. but lvlilos Forman has certainly given them a good run for their money with his latest dreary opus.
Forman, who did such a good job on period pieces Amadeus and l/a/mont. struggles to marry together the Spanish Inquisition and the French Revolution with the life of Goya. Indeed Stellan Skarsgard's Goya is not even the main character; that honour goes to Javier Bardem's artistic heretic hunter Brother Lorenzo. whose first target is Goya's muse lnes (Natalie Portman). From here the plot descends into the. land of fantasy, with illicit children. banishments and a jump of 15 years to help incorporate the arrival of the French and just desserts for Brother Lorenzo. Aside from the waste of great talent (Bunuel's favourite screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere's wrote this mush) the real shame here IS that a film that takes the great master's name could at least try to evoke the raw visual power of his paintings. As it is cinei'natographer Javier Talk to Her Aguirresarobe's visuals look desecrated and profane. (Kaleem Aftab)
I GFF, Glasgow and Film/rouse, Edinburgh from Fri 4 May.
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