www.|ist.co.uk/film
HOMANCF
(15) 100min 00.
life.
llllill II R ACTION DEATH RACE (15) 104min coo
After a long gestation as a big budget vehicle for lom Cruise. Paul W Anderson's rehash of elements from Roger Corman's 70s cheapre [Death Race 2000 finally rolls rnto theatres; to he met with suitably lowered expectations. It's hard to cheapen the memory of a seedy original in which points are awarded to drivers who kill children and pensioners. but somehow Anderson. the creator of lye/it Horr/on. AVl‘): Alien vs Predator and Resident l. vr/ has managed it.
Jason Statham (who else'2i stars as Jensen Arnes. a former race car driver who works in a steel mill circa 2012 to support his farnrly. On the orders of tough prison warden I'Iennessey (Joan Alleni. Arnes is framed for his xvrfe's murder and stuck in the slarnrner. He avoids rotting in lélll by agreeing to replace popular driver Frankenstein. played by the original Death Race 2000's Davrd Carradrne in a voice only cameo. With the support of gri//led rnechanrc Coach (Love/oy and Det’rdwood's Ian McShane; Arnes is forced to take part in a three stage Death Race on a trap loaded track around a grey Island prison. With the results streamed to an audience of (if) million plus on pay perview televrsron.
l‘3redictably stripped of the anarchic humour and political srdeswrpes of the original. Andersen’s reboot s still probably the most accornplrshed entry in his shoddy portfolio of sci fr (lllf s so far (faint praise indeedi. Statham grits his teeth. the three chase sequences are satisfyineg well done and Allen clearly enjoys some action rnovre slumming. Snarlrng l3 movre lines like 'Activate the death headsi'and 'Ftelease the dreadnoughtl'. Allen's confrontation Wllll Statham is surely the weirdest celebrity death match srnce Vrn Diesel took on Judr Dench in The Chronicles of erdrck. (Fddie I-Iarrrson;
I General release from lrr 26 Sep.
THEN SHE FOUND ME
Adopted. broody April (Helen Hunt) is rocked when her husband leaves her and her adopted mother dies. but everything changes again when her birth mother (Bette Midler) iostles her way into her
The theme of actress Hunt's directorial debut is that of being lost and found April is lost in her own life. but is unsure whether she wants to be found by her brash. showbi/ birth mother. She's also not ready to be found by Frank (Colin Firth). a parent at the school where she teaches Wllli whom she starts an affair and loves being part of hrs family. Firth rs the typical stuffy Brit father with issues. but lvfrdler steals the show. as the over-the-top. guilt ridden. desr)erate-to-please mother. Hunt as director has a good eye for detail and mood. but the film plods along: April‘s mental anguish becomes languid and uninteresting. her realisations about what will make her happy are distant and non—inclusive — identification. belonging and fulfrlrnent as distant to her character as they are to the audience. (Georgina Wilson-Powell)
I Selected release from Fri I 9 Sep. See feature. page I 4.
lI-IRILLER JAR CITY (15) 94min coco
‘Another typical Icelandic murder - messy and pointless'. sighs Inspector Erlendur (lngvar E Sigurdsson) following the killing of an elderly Reykjavik low-life towards the beginning of Jar City. a starkly atmospheric detective thriller from writer- director Baltasar 707 Reykjavik Kormakur.
Erlendur and his colleagues soon discover that this case is connected to some long-buried secrets. involvrng police corruption. sexual violence. and the death of a child some three decades earlier from a rare brain condition. Meanwhile a distraught father. Orn (Atlr Rafn Sigurdarson) is tracking into a national genetics database A~ which exists in real life — in order to find out about the mysterious inherited disease that has killed his own young daughter.
An assured adaptation of Arnaldur lndridason's best-selling crime novel. Jar City fuses its parallel stOrylines to reveal an Iceland that couldn't be further away from the tourist brochure cliches. Favouring an almost monochrome colour palette. Kormakur and director of photography Bergsteinn Biergt'rlfsson confidently switch between the barren, storm- lashed countryside and dreary suburban estates. as Erlendur's team make their laborious journey through the grisly investigation. The bearded. chain-smoking Sigurdsson is perfect in the role of the wearin dignified Erlendur and the supporting cast add greatly to the sinister mood. The devil is in the details of this distinctive and absorbing police procedural.
('Iom Dawson) I Out now on selected release. See profile, right.
Name Baltasar Kormakur
Born 27 February 1966
Background A graduate of Iceland’s National Academy of Fine Arts, Kormakur worked as both an actor and theatre director, before making his debut feature in 2000 with the slacker comedy 101 Reykjavik, which he wrote. starred in. produced and directed. The film was an international success.
What’s he up to now? Kormakur's fourth feature. 2006 atmospheric detective thriller Jar City. has been released in the UK following its enormous success in Iceland. It is estimated that the film has been seen by one third of the 300.000 population. Earlier this month Kormakur’s newest film White Night Wedding. inspired by Chekhov's Ivanov, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. He is currently editing his US indie Run for Her Life. starring Dermot Mulroney and Diane Kruger. What he says about having a domestic blockbuster “To me Jar City is a character study of the Inspector Erlendur. who's leading the murder investigation. It's a very personal movie and it's very Icelandic. What made it work with audiences was that I tried to make it as true as possible. Lots of old people went to see it: some of them got lost in the escalators in the malls. because they hadn't been to the cinema for so long.‘ What he says about the hidden Iceland ‘I wanted in Jar City to show a part of Reykjavik that hasn't changed and that isn't visited by tourists. This is the Iceland of my youth. where the culture I showed in 101 Reykjavik doesn't exist. It’s significant that the character of Erlendur has moved from the countryside to the city: that's why we used long lenses to make it look as though the mountains are much closer to him than they are in reality. It reflects his state of mind.‘
Interesting fact Aside from filmmaking Kormakur also breeds horses on his farm in Northern Iceland with his wife. who's a professional horse-rider.
(Tom Dawson)
I Jar City is at GFT, Glasgow and Cameo, Edinburgh now. See review, left.
18 Sep-2 Oct 2008 THE LIST 4"