BIOPIC THE FLYING SCOTSMAN (15) 102min 00.
q,"
dream’ template has been repeatedly flogged to death by box-office non-events like A Shot At Glory and On A Clear Day, Broughan’s highly touted project looks like it
Riding your bike fast doesn’t make you a hero, but may end up stalling at the starter flag. Graeme Obree’s well-documented battles with the That said, The Flying Scotsman has plenty to external and internal pressures of professional cycling recommend it, not least Jonny Lee Miller’s muted, put him firmly in the Lance Armstrong class. As understated performance as the cyclist himself. But depicted in Douglas Mackinnon’s long-delayed biopic, there’s not enough spirit or substance in the back- Obree’s drive and invention (he built his bike from stories to make Laura Fraser’s worried wife, Brian washing machine parts and invented his own riding Cox’s grizzled mentor and Billy Boyd’s cheeky pal position) led to his winning the right to hold a world anything more than stock characters. Obree’s real life record, but also left him fighting tough battles against conflict with authority is largely posted missing, sporting bureaucracy and depression. jettisoned in favour of picturesque cycling montages Obree’s story is crudely simplified in The Flying and cod-psychology flashbacks that spuriously Scotsman into an old-fashioned triumph against-the- suggest that Obree’s personal difficulties can be odds tale. Sports film cliché is piled on top of sports attributed to bullying. film cliche as Obree builds up momentum in the saddle After recently emerging from US cinemas with a (while never quite getting out of second gear). desperate total box office taking of around £100,000, Something akin to staging Rocky as an egg and spoon The Flying Scotsman may well be remembered as the race, this is an ill-fated idea which might have had last gasping breath of lottery dependent Scottish more chance of finding an audience if it had hit the cinema, a well-intentioned but ultimately fusty venture
screen when producer Peter Broughan intended, in the that finally drags itself over the finish line a day late and
wake of 1997’s The Full Monty. But as Scottish Screen’s a dollar short. (Eddie Harrison) ‘community-rally-round-eccentric-individual-with-a- I Selected release from Fri 29 Jun.
HORROR SHUTTER (15) 96min 0.
In lieu of a forthcoming US remake. this half arsed 2004 Thai ghost story is getting an overdue and limited release.
DnVing home after getting drunk With a few of his old friends. photographer Tun (Ananda Everinghaml and his girlfriend Jane (Natthaweeranuch Thongmee) accidentally knock down a teenage girl. Rather than geing to the Victims aid. Tun conVinces Jane to leave the scene of the aCCident. In the days followmg the inCident. DIYZNTQ ghostly images begin to appear on photograj_)l'is taken by Tun. Investigations lead the couple to a disturbing secret.
Invoking increasineg jaded memories of J Horror template setters ngu and Ju On: The Grudge. this badly acted. manipulativer paced. jumpy shocker IS nothing it not familiar. JOint directors Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom seem to understand (as many South Korean filmmakers before them have) that one way to kick start a shuddering film industry is to emulate what has already been internationally Viable in the countries of your neighbours. And although the clicky crawl of the now stock black haired white faced female Liber demon is kept to a minimum (hell if you half close yOur eyes and take a load of drugs this could almost be an avant garde reinterpretation of Antonioni's Blow Up) there is nothing of unique stylistic or thematic interest going on here. If you do go and see this film, however, it is worth waiting until the end. for when it comes it's a killer. (Paul Dale)
I Selected release from Fri 29 Jun.
Film
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Hostel: Part II (18) 93min .0. Further exercises in extreme horror from Tarantino acolyte Eli Roth (Cabin Fever. Hostel). This time three young Americans studying in Rome set off for a weekend trip with a beautiful model from one of their art classes. Their exotic destination turns out to be a grisly playground for the fantasies of the sick and privileged from around the world who secretly travel there to savour the unsayable. As writer and director Roth ups the ante here with some truly shocking slasher gore and grotesque pornography. It's difficult to see the point of the whole exercise but in terms of pushing the generic envelope Roth deserves considerable attention. Selected release from Fri 29 Jun.
Shrek the Third (U) 92min .0 Fairly sluggish and tired- teeling third installment of this blockbuster phenomenon animated feature series. This time the green ogre (voiced again by Mike Myers) faces both parental and royal responsibility when his wife. Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), finds out that she is pregnant as her father. King Harold (John Cleese). lies dying. The shock of these revelations leads Shrek on a journey. with his loyal companions Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) to seek out another heir to the throne — an awkward young boy named Artie Pendragon (Justin Timberlake). It all feels a bit formulaic now. but at least there are enough fart. vomit and poo jokes to keep under-educated children entertained for the wearying running time. General release from Fri 29 Jun.
The Golden Door (12A) 120min 0... On a steamship journey from his Sicilian village. widower Salvatore Mancuso (Vincenzo Amato) encounters a ravishing, mystery-shrouded Englishwoman. Lucy (Charlotte Gainsbourg). An unexpected love story unfolds all the way to the halls of Ellis Island. where both Salvatore and Lucy will stop at nothing to make it through the golden door to the United States of their imagination. Thrilling. magical and rather setilful romantic drama. See interview. page 38. Cameo, Edinburgh from Fri 29 Jun. (Paul Dale)
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21 Jun—6 Jul 2007 THE LIST 41