EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL
FILM FESTIVAL
Action!
You decide who will win this year.
(ll (7W
i. 1,.)
30 THE LIST 19 Jun—3 Jul 2008
smven (ESKALOFRIO) (Isidro Ortiz, Spain) 91 min 000
Once again Spain is proving to be a breeding ground for newly discovered horror talent. Isidro Ortiz puts in his most satisfying feature yet as paranoia and the old staple of something lurking in the woods are brought into sharp focus.
Teenager Santi (Junio Valverde) suffers from photophobia and moves. with his mother (Blanca Suarez). to the Spanish mountains to avoid the sunlight. Soon livestock and local inhabitants start turning up in a state of mutilation and the villagers jump to conclusions. But is there something else skulking in the forest?
It may not have the visual flourish of Pan '3 Labyrinth or the intense claustrophobia of [REC] and there are a couple of glaring plot holes. but this is an efficient 'monster in the woods' chiller with a few stand-out moments of creepiness. (Henry Northmore)
I Cameo, Wed 25 Jun, midnight; Sat 28 Jun, 9. 75pm, £38 (£6.40).
DEATH DEFYING ACTS
(Gillian Armstrong, UK, Australia) 97min .00
It's 1926. and the world tour of escape artist Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) brings him to Edinburgh. There he‘s charmed by local con-artist Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones). who poses as a psychic to put Houdini in touch with his beloved dead mother. But what begins as a simple scam is complicated by their increasingly intertwined hearts.
The intriguing premise of this historical romance. which freely mixes fact with fiction, was dreamed up by co-writers Tony Grisoni (Brothers of the Head) and Glaswegian Brian Ward. Their script neatly contrasts deceptions of a professional and personal nature. and there are fine performances from the leads and their support: Timothy Spall and Atonement's Saoirse Ronan. The film is let down in the end, however. by Gillian Armstrong‘s surprisingly flat direction. (Miles Fielder)
I Cinewor/d, Tue 24 Jun. 8pm; Thu 26 Jun, 5pm, £8 (£6.40).
ELITE SQUAD (TROPA D’ELITE) (Jose Padilha, Brazil) 118min 0000
Based on Luiz Eduardo Soares' bestseller. Elite Squad is a favela thriller from the director of 2002 documentary Bus 174. It's 1997 in Rio de Janeiro. months before a visit from Pope John Paul II. The rundown housing schemes of the city are mired in drugs. violence and police corruption. It's time for the city's Elite Police Squad to step up their game.
THE WACKNESS
(Jonathan Levine, USA) 110min one
Jonathan Levine’s follow-up to his superior teen horror flick All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is just as assured a film, although this wigged-out high school movie is greatly enriched by being afar more personal project.
Set in Levine’s hometown of New York City in 1994, the year he graduated from high school, The Wackness focuses on an unlikely friendship between two guys on the verge of a breakdown: semi-suicidal dope-dealing schoolkid Luke (Josh Peck) and his domestically dysfunctional hash-smoking psychiatrist Dr Squires (Ben Kingsley). Their twin meltdowns are set against the backdrop of a celebrated year in hip hop history, when Biggie and Tupac were still alive, but also the period in which Mayor Giuliani was using controversial heavy-handed methods to deal with homelessness and crime in
the Big Apple.
Authentic, uncompromising and unapologetic in its depiction of street culture and a city on the verge of change (for the worse), Levine’s film is also a dreamy nostalgia trip to a bygone time. But the sharply drawn characters and vivid performances from a superb cast (which also includes Olivia Thirlby, Famke Janssen, Mary-Kate Olsen and The Wu Tang Clan’s Method Man) crystalise this frequently hilarious and finally very affecting film.
Definitely the dopeness. (Miles Fielder)
I Cinewor/d, Fri 20 Jun, 6.30pm & Sat 21 Jun, 9. 45pm, £8 (£6.40).
Meanwhile Captain Nascimento (Wagner MOura) is having a hard time finding a successor as unimpeachable as he is.
Told with maturity and intelligence. this immensely violent. full throttle policier attempts to lay bare the extraordinary machinations of the BOPE. Brazrl's controversial military police whose speciality is urban warfare with armed drug dealers. As such. the film IS undeniably reactionary (and to a certain extent propagandistic) but powerful. unrelenting and unforgettable. (Paul Dale) I C/newor/d. Wed 25 Jun, 8. 75pm; Fri 27 Jun, 9.45pm, [8636.401
BIGGA THAN BEN: A RUSSIAN’S GUIDE TO RIPPING OFF LONDON (SA Halewood, UK) 85min .0.
Allegedly based on the diary of a young Moscovite who came to London in the late 19908. Bigga than Ben is. for the majority of its running time. a distracting
black comedy. Cobakka (Ben Barnes) and Spiker (Andrei Chadov) are a couple of Russian wide boys who. on arrival in Britain. quickly learn the beauty of cashback. shoplifting and smoking crack. Told with a tongue-in-chexak expositional glee that brings to mind Guy Ritchie's mockney dramas. Bigga Than Ben certainly has a freewheeling charm that is greatly enhanced by some winning performances. As Cobakka and Spiker's ,5 .4 friendship
*3 breaks down. however. director Halewood seems at a loss how to make us feel emotion for these self-proclaimed racist scumbags. (Paul Dale)
I Fi/mhouse. Fri27 Jun, 9.30pm. $8 ($6.40).
The EIFF runs until 29 June. See film section, page 49, for further coverage and
wwwedfllmfestmuk or call 0.131 623 8030.