AUTUMN MOVIE SPECIAL
THE BEST OF THE REST
Paul Dale on the best of the rest out this autumn
ADVENTURELAND There’s no more fitting tribute to the late, lamented John Hughes than Gregg Superbad Mottola and writer Jesse Eisenberg’s bittersweet tale of crappy fairgrounds, misplaced allegiances and crazy love in the late 1980s, an age seemingly before mobile phones and the ‘consume and complain’ culture. Great performances from a young cast plus sublime support from older hands Ryan Reynolds and the Bill Hader make Adventureland quite a ride. As a bonus the soundtrack featuring Lou Reed, The Replacements and Husker Dü is excellent. ■ Out Fri 11 Sep.
FISH TANK Andrea Arnold heads south after Red Road and brings her peculiar brand of magic realism to the kitchen sink estates of the south east of England. This withering and powerful tale of poverty, obsession and the need to dance edges Arnold into the same league as Belgium’s much-heralded Dardenne brothers. Fine performances from newcomer Katie Jarvis and the omnipresent Michael Fassbender, Kierston Wareing and Harry Treadaway and Arnold’s remarkably skewered eye for all things ugly and beautiful in juxtaposition is unrivalled. ■ Out Fri 11 Sep.
THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour allows the cameras in to her rarefied kingdom for the first time in RJ Cutler’s illuminating and amusing documentary
feature. In the lead up to the publication of the bumper Autumn 2008 fashion issue, Wintour gave Cutler and his small crew unlimited access to every level of the preparation. Part car-crash and part corrective on the image of a cultural ogre, Cutler’s film is a must for fashionistas and fans of Ugly Betty. ■ Out Fri 11 Sep.
THREE MILES NORTH OF MOLKOM Robert Cannan and Corinna McFarlane’s fascinating documentary debut visits Sweden’s annual Angsbacka No Mind Festival. Dynamic meditation, shamanism, tantric sex workshops and a whole lot of other things to make your average Brit blush are the order of the day here and we share this remarkable journey of inner discovery with the cynics and the believers. See feature in next issue. ■ Out Fri 18 Sep.
27 Aug–10 Sep 2009 THE LIST 11
‘I NEVER SET OUT TO BE SCANDALOUS. I JUST WANTED TO TELL STORIES’
making films for 30 years and, yes, now my films are probably less shocking. At my age it’s only natural that you live a more settled life. I started making movies at that point in time when Spain reached its democracy, and I’m a direct heir to how the newfound freedom spilled over into all forms of human, artistic and cinematic expression. There was this huge, exhilarating freedom of pleasures that we had been denied before,’ he says, ‘and of course that affected my filmmaking.’ Much has been made of Almodóvar’s gay sensibility, reflected in the way he portrays women in his films, but also in the assumption that his films are/were outrageous because their maker is homosexual. Again, Almodóvar rejects this simplistic view. ‘I don’t think the fact that I’m homosexual necessarily influences all of my films. I don’t believe in the Anglo-Saxon description of a gay movie. There’s not necessarily a connection between
being gay and having a gay sensibility.
‘What’s more important about the way I write, cast and shoot women in my movies is that when I grew up I was surrounded by women,’ says Almodóvar, who grew up south of Madrid in rural La Mancha. ‘I lived with my mother, my sister, my neighbour, from a very young age. They were very strong women; that’s what’s reflected in my movies.’
Almodóvar’s continuing muse and leading lady is, of course, Penélope Cruz, whom he first cast in 1997’s L i v e F l e s h (which, coincidentally Cruz’s current squeeze Javier Bardem also stars in). Of Cruz, Almodóvar says, ‘She’s very much the same actress as when we made our first film together 12 years ago. Her life has certainly changed enormously because she’s been extremely successful, but that hasn’t changed her approach to her roles and the way she works. Fortunately, she continues to place blind faith in me.’ That’s something that cinema-goers have, for a long time now, also been at liberty to do whenever a new film arrives from the man from La Mancha.
Out on selected release Fri 28 Aug.