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COMEDY SEX DRIVE (15) 109min O
Determined not to start college a virgin. semi-nerdy teenager Ian (Josh Zuckerman. best known as Young Dr Evil in the Austin Powers sequel Goldmember) drives across country to bed a red-hot babe he met on the internet named Ms Tasty. Fuelled less by having the horn than being constantly humiliated by his older jock brother Rex (X-lt/len's James Marsden), Ian takes his best pal. the obnoxious chubster Lance (Clark Duke). and unrequited childhood sweetheart. Goth girl Felicia (Amanda Crew). on the road with him for moral support during the BOO-mile drive between Chicago and Knoxville. Pursued by Rex. in whose beloved vintage Pontiac GTO the kids have absconded. car trouble. jail time and an encounter with a roadside carnival conspire to keep Ian from sealing his dirty deal.
In a manner that's neither riotous nor risque. this supposedly raunchy comedy Is as dreary and disappointing as brewer's droop. It‘s a prick-tease and cop-out of a movie with no money-shot that makes other dumb and derivative sex comedies such as Road Trip and Super Bad look good by comparison.
(Miles Fielder) I General release from Fri 9 Jan.
METHOD MUSE
Tom Dawson talks to Jean-Pierre Dardenne and his latest muse Arta Dobroshi about The Silence of Lorna So what’s their secret? ln film after film Belgian filmmakers the Dardenne brothers have cast unknown actors and elicited powerfully naturalistic performances from them: think of Jérémie Renier in La Promesse, Emilie Dequenne in Rosetta, Morgan Marinne in The Son, Deborah Francois in The Child and now the Kosovan Arta Dobroshi, who plays the title character in their latest feature The Silence of Lorna.
‘There is no secret,’ smiles Jean-Pierre Dardenne. ‘Just a lot of hard work in the casting. There are two things that are important. We look for somebody who is capable of embodying the character and we also look for somebody who will bring their own qualities to enrich the character.’
The Dardennes usually spend a month to six weeks rehearsing with their actors, before starting the actual shoot. They call this period ‘the time of infiltration’, and it takes place on the locations that will be used in the film. What they don’t do is discuss the psychological motivations of their characters. ‘A lot of our rehearsals are about the actors moving around from A to B, and
DRAMA WAR DEFIANCE (15) 136min 000
The suggestion in Knocked Up that Steven Spielberg 's Munich was ‘Rambo for Jews' seems to have inspired Edward Zwick's latest project. After military epics Glory and The Last Samurai. Zwrck arrives at the remarkable true story of the Bielski brothers. three real-life heroes who. against all odds. preserved a community of Jews who escape Poland for the forests of Belarus during WWII. Allied wrth the Russian resistance. the community thrives unexpectedly. leaving Tuvia Bielski (Daniel Craig) with the heavy responsibilities of any leader. Partisan Bielski is no pacifist or diplomat. and fights fire with fire by taking part in vicious reprisal killings. watched by younger brother Zus (Liev Schreiber). who becomes separated from TuVIa's people as a potentially deadly Winter descends and the warfare intensifies.
The Bielski brothers' story is ideal for a thoughtful old-school action movie. and Defiance is never dull. driven by Craig's ability to handle action with charisma and gravity. But while laudable in its attempt to depict the difficulties facing communities at microcosmic levels. Deliance's range of supporting characters lack depth or context. And Zwick's po-faced examination of group dynamics is eventually abandoned for a conclusion which is pure Boy's Own adventure. closely resembling the equally melodramatic climax of Zwick's Legends of the Fall. (Eddie Harrison)
I General release from Fri 9 Jan.
INTERVIEW _
their gestures,’ continues Jean-Pierre. ‘Our stories tend to be about characters who have been grabbed by a fate they are trying to escape.’ The 29-year-old Dobroshi, who unlike many of the Dardennes’ discoveries already had acting experience prior to the film, recalls the drawn-out process by which she was cast as Lorna. First she attended a five-minute audition in Pristina. Two weeks later she was asked to meet the Dardennes in Sarajevo, where they spent the day filming her. Then she went to Liege for a couple of days to rehearse some scenes with her co-stars. Only then was she told that she had the part, and that she would have to learn French and cut her long hair. The Dardennes are famous for their perfectionist approach to the shooting of their films, insisting on multiple takes, yet Dobroshi points out that they are very open to the suggestions. And she herself willingly immersed herself in the character of Lorna. ‘During the movie I didn’t go out with the cast or crew. I went for walks or went swimming on my own. I wanted to get used to how Lorna was. When you live the character you don’t have to think about acting.’ l The Silence of Lorna, GFF, Glasgow from Fri 9— Sun 7 7 Jan.
8—22 Jan 2009 THE LIST 45