Reviews
Eji’jl’lfo
MAN IN THE MIRROR: THE MICHAEL JACKSON STORY
(PG) 87min (Scanhox DVD retail, rental, .0
On the subject of once liiglily-regarded artists fallen on hard titties. this madefor-TV biopic isn't the finest hour in director Allan Moyle's career. His first film was the New York-set cult punk classic Times Square, and he went on to direct a couple of other élgiOOiibiG‘(éiiOngtl youth flicks in Pump Up the Volt/rile. Empire Records and the forthcoming Vl/eir'dsV/lle. Sadly. this made—for- lV feature is a cut-and- shut rehash of Jackson- inspired tablord stories from the last two-and-a- half decades, wrth Jackson only sketchrly drawn as an adolescence-deprived man-child torn this way and that by the influence of hrs domineering father. his guru Liz Taylor. and so on. Visually. however. the film looks quite good. wrth Moyle plumping for a bleached-out. hand- held approximation of Michael Mann's style. but the content is little more than a flimsy loin- the-dots affair. and the fact Jackson didn't give permrsson for any of hrs mu5ic to be used only serves to accentuate the tenu0us nature of the whole affair. (Davrd Pollock)
WAR DRAMA THEY FOUGHT FOR THEIR MOTHERLAND (15) 137min lNOuVeaux
Pictures DVD retail) 0.
Like Sergei Bondarchuk's earlier Destiny of a Man. this is taken from a book by Mikhail Sholokhov. a
miter best known for Add Quiet Flor/s the Do" Unlike that film. this '3 a inulti-character. raqhag ‘men on a inissiorl' flick .‘ihere the troops / on't so muCh have a "lestin," as a turret As the Sowet army '3 f0rced to retreat after Hitler mobilises his troops against his former allies. a handful of soldiers do their utmost to keep the Germans from advanCing too QUICkiy.
l
Ev rb'iifiiiT FOR
'I‘II 1"".',.BMS?T”ERMNB
There are some fine fighting sequences. and Bondarchuk looks like he had as many military res0urces at hrs disposal as Stalin did fighting the Germans in WWII. But the film feels cumbersomer repetitive. and the characters never quite become more than stereotypes. Extras include interviews with lead actress Irina Skobtseva and leading Sovret film historian Professor A Ushakov. (Tony McKibbin)
DRAMA/ROMANCE THE BOW (15) 89mins (Tartan/DVD retail)
Best known in Western audiences for Bad Guy. 3-lron and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. . . and Spring. enfant terrible Korean director Kim Ki-duk has some serious IWisted form in Asian cinema. This one. like most of the others. comes recommended. The tale of a 60-year- old man (Jeon Seong- hwangl who lives in secluscn on a fishing boat with his willing
companion a ‘E-,ea'- old g'r: Ha." Veiled!“ The pair are sex‘ess friends who seen i" diffe'ent cocks. ,e‘. the Old mail CC‘unts i)“ T'ie days on his calendar untr‘. her ‘iTtt‘ "’.“'la,. when she has agree: Tc marry him That is. uth a handsome ‘,’).l"g student lSeo Si-reoki comes aboard and tomes the girl to question her odd life. lt's a unique story that makes a most abnormal relationship one of almost disguieting COlTiDaSSIOll. Told almost entirely through mu3ic and movement. yet — even With the thickly lain symbolism at the end ~ it's an affecting parable. Extras include “making of' featurette and original trailer. (Davrd Pollock)
COMEDY/CRIME ROMANCE ONE LAST DANCE
(18) 110min
(Tartan DVD retail/rental) OOOO
iIIIKIIII lllIII .IIIIIllilill
Straight-to-DVD premieres no longer herald generally third- rate titles. as this off- beat Asian crime film proves. Written and directed by BraZilian filmmaker Max Makowski. and financed and shot in Singapore. it's an entertainineg gurrky take on the Hong Kong gangster movie filtered through the now familiar kind of post- modern playfulness — non-chronological plotting. humorous dialogue exchanges. excessively stylised Violence — made popular by Tarantino. himself a big ASIan crime film fan.
Poker-faced Hong Kong actor Francis Ng plays an enigmatic professional assassm named T, who's hired to kill a gang of kidnappers. but who finds himself entangled in a web of deceit spun between his targets and the Italian mob in the form of
DVD ROUNDUP
On hearing of Marilyn Monroe's death, the filmmaker and gutter John tfufltt "
said: ‘lt's a terrible pity that so much beauty h. s been lost tt. as ' l _
years on. the first of two definitive DVD collections dedicated to h. iv an i out. Marilyn Monroe: The Collection Vol 1 am oooo i fi-attirw. of Monroe's most iconic performances inCIuding Gem/omen l m [3». will v
Niagara and Bus Stop along wrth some of her iGSSOr'kllth/J‘i :ii.
It‘f“n‘i 'l‘i
volume released in November features among others How lo Mann A Millionaire. There 's No Business Like Showbusmess and The Sei'er‘ Year Ira: (pictured) but surprisingly not Some le8 It Hot. which is something of a shame. Cinematographers are a rare breed. their talents can make or break a flllll and yet they rarely get the Credit on the finished deal. Ron Fr‘rcke is one cinematographer whose work has always been more about quality than quantity. Best known for his work on Baraka (1992). a madly lll‘./f,‘l‘.tl‘. e um documentary set to a dizzying score of mUSIC from many of the world's muw remote Cultures. Like much of his work before or since then, tucker. was debut film Chronos. a time-lapse Symphony about time and architecture originally shot on the Imax 1570 format. remains largely unseen. Bareka/Chronos: No Films by Ron Fricke (Second sight oooo l goes some way to correcting this. The standalones this fortnight come from the leftfield, including Santos vs
the She Devil (Yuma CO.
), the third of the popular Mexican
horror/wrestling exploitation flicks from the 19705 to find a home on DVD. This; one finds the iconic masked man doing battle with the Queen of the werewolves with often inscrutable results. In the lead up to the release of avant garde filmmaker Matthew The Cremaster Cycle Barney's newest filin Uld'J’l/lt] Restraint 9 comes the superior ‘making of ' film No Restraint lSoda oooo i. which follows this fascinating artist to Japan on his quest to find a whaling vessel and a whole load of petroleum jelly to create his newest protect.
Finally. there's the long-overdue release of pop promo filmmaker Jamie Thraves' debut film The Low Down (ADVD eeoe ) from 2000. This; siihtlr; character-study of a life lived on the margins of London's media world stars Queer as Folks Aidan Gillen as a troubled and impoverished prOps designer and brings to mind the early work of both Francois Truffaut and John C: ssavetes Why it never saw the inside of a cinema is anyone's guess. lParil Dale)
Harvey Keitel. As 'i comes closer ti, exeCUting his commission, his increaSing dlSlllLlS'Ul‘.” e". wrth his chose" profession bec mes mOre eVident. and the film reveals itself as an affecting character study No extras. Miles erlderr
HORROP
THE RED SHOES (15) 103mins
(Tartan ASia Extreme; 0..
Based loosely on the Hans Christian Andersen fainy tale. and the Powell and Pressburge' film of the same name. the KOrean psychological horror flick's biggest inspiration is perhaps the likes of The Ring.
A St‘y'iiini (til/i .l()(.‘/,‘r<t
ghiiler. 't fletaii‘; Mia: happens to a i/‘v'f/‘Cffitilffl‘ ,f .‘."/"‘i‘:"
III/ri/l
pair of smart re': a"
{hr/"1' (3{:(:rr‘|gy.rl}" lf\ ti“: SUD'l/ay. A‘.) if; ttl‘; .‘.Zt,.
.‘Jlti‘. Such things r'
Eastern ’;l'l‘:ll‘.a. a
comes as star/la"). :i' ’
ghsl’, death — Ll‘;.l£:‘l, l‘.'.'C/’J‘f‘fj the font/e
'erhoa' Q.‘ i883 — 7’03“ ‘
C see ceh ‘.°‘.’l:er: regertl, separate-’2‘ Sr Jae iKirrw Hye-so. fir/ls then: anf brings their name to her Claiogre. [337." their ll.’€3 8'8 placed an in‘m'nent danger
Although .t's leiere ,. paced and sometirr e hard to follow. Red
5
./{Iirtrlfi()i(lti it
shoes
q I III E m .4 D (in)