Film Index PROFILE
JEAN-FRANÇOIS RICHET Born 2 July, 1966, Paris Background Having grown up in the satellite town of Meaux, east of Paris, Jean-François Richet made his feature debut in 1995 with the Cesar-nominated Inner City (Etat des lieux). He went on to write and direct Ma 6-T va crack-er, a tale of teenage gang warfare in a Parisian housing project, which drew comparisons to La Haine, and he also made All About Love (De l’amour), a suburban female revenge story starring Virginie Ledoyen. In 2005 Richet remade John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 in America. What’s he up to now? This fortnight the second part of Richet’s epic biopic of the notorious French criminal Jacques Mesrine (played by Vincent Cassel) will open in cinemas. The films were shot back-to-back over a period of nine months and were box-office hits in France, attracting over three and half million spectators.
What he says about growing up with Mesrine ‘In the suburbs we had a vague idea of who he was. We knew that he was a gangster, and that he was gunned down by the state. We knew he was a rebel and we admired that. His name was graffiti tagged on walls.’ On the enigma of Mesrine ‘To me Mesrine was a man of honour. Once he’d given his word, he would stick to it. He was very OTT – he had an exaggerated personality. He operated by negation – that’s how he asserted himself. There are times that you want to like him and times where the things he does are hateful.’
On the war with Algeria ‘Mesrine was a paratrooper in the Algerian war for three years. I wanted in one scene to show him in his true colours. He’s asked to kill a young Algerian and instead he kills somebody else. It illustrates his contradictions in extreme circumstances.’ Interesting fact Richet financed his first film Inner City by gambling his unemployment cheques on games of roulette. (Tom Dawson) ■ Mesrine: Public Enemy Number One is on selected release from Fri 28 Aug.
34 THE LIST 27 Aug–10 Sep 2009
Hannah Montana – The Movie (U) ●●●●● (Peter Chelsom, US, 2009) Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, Emily Osment. 102min. This new adventure comedy shows how the rising starlet deals with fame. Why, by hanging out with a bunch of rednecks in Tennessee and realising what matters most, of course. Absolute crud. Selected release. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (12A) ●●●●● (David Yates, UK/US, 2009) Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint. 153min. While the sixth installment in the Harry Potter franchise does venture into darker, more adult areas than its predecessors it also injects more humour and character development than previous encounters, which doesn’t always make for a satisfying concoction. Yates picks up in the aftermath of a spectacular attack on London by Death Eaters and builds towards the death of a key character that will pre-empt the final confrontation between Harry and Lord Voldemort in two-part finale, The Deathly Hallows. General release. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 3D (12A) ●●●●● (David Yates, UK/US, 2009) Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint. 153min. See above. IMAX Theatre, Glasgow.
✽✽ Home (15) ●●●●● (Ursula Meier, Belgium/France/Switzerland, 2008)
Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Gourmet, Madeleine Budd. 98min. See Also Released, page 30. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ The Hurt Locker (15) ●●●●● (Kathryn Bigelow, US, 2008) Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty. 130min. See review, page 29. Selected release. I Love You, Beth Cooper (15) (Chris Columbus, US, 2009) Hayden Panettiere, Paul Rust, Jack Carpenter. 101min. Slumming it from her Heroes day job, Panettiere plays Beth Cooper, a high school cheerleader coveted by geek Dennis Cooverman (Rust). After exclaiming ‘I Love You Beth Cooper’ in his graduation speech, the object of Cooverman’s affections is flattered enough to pay him a house call. An ill-timed, prom night flop. Selected release. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (U) ●●●●● (Carlos Saldanha/ Mike
Thurmeier, US, 2009) Voices of Simon Pegg, Seann William Scott, John Leguizamo. 93min. Life is changing for Scrat, Manny, Ellie and co in many different ways in this the latest installment of popular animated series. Selected release. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs 3D (U) ●●●●● (Carlos Saldanha/ Mike Thurmeier, US, 2009) Voices of Simon Pegg, Seann William Scott, John Leguizamo. 93min. See above. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. Imagine That (PG) ●●●●● (Karey Kirkpatrick, US, 2009) Eddie Murphy, Yara Shahidi, Ronny Cox. 106min. Pedestrian but passably old-fashioned Disney-style recession parable starring Murphy as a successful financial executive who has more time for his blackberry than his seven-year- old daughter (Shahidi). When his career falters he finds himself drawn towards his daughter’s imaginary world. Selected release.
✽✽ Inglourious Basterds (18) ●●●●● (Quentin Tarantino,
US/Germany/France, 2009) Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth. 152min. Pitt’s Lieutenant Aldo Raine and his band of Nazi-bushwhacking Jewish-American GIs provide the film’s Dirty Dozen element, but their bloody antics are only one of the plot strands of this multiple narrative romp through occupied France. Plenty of action, a good deal of black humour and a number of superbly staged set pieces. General release. Japanese Summer: Double Suicide (18) ●●●●● (Nagisa Oshima, Japan, 1967) Keiko Sakurai, Kei Sato. 98min. Rare screening of this stylised criminal-underworld story centring on a suicidal gangster and a love-hungry woman. Part of Nagisa Oshima season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Just Another Love Story (18) ●●●●● (Ole Bornedal, Denmark, 2007) Anders W Berthelsen, Rebecka Hemse, Nikolaj Lie Kaas. 100min. Bornedal’s tale of confused and adopted identities sees Julia (Hemse) crash into the back of a car driven by the married Jonas (Berthjelsen). When she ends up in a coma and he starts to visit, the partly responsible Jonas may feel guilty
but he’s also besotted. Bornedal eventually loses interest in the subtleties of psychology and social milieu and opts for a knowing thriller denouement instead. Glasgow Film Theatre. Kanthaswamy (12A) (Susi Ganesan, India, 2009) Vikram, Shriya Saran. 125min. Big budget Tamil action thriller following a Robin Hood-esque battle between a dedicated investigative officer with the Special Branch and a corrupt, discriminatory establishment. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow. Katyn (18) ●●●●● (Andrzej Wajda, Poland, 2007) Artur Zmijewski, Maja Ostaszewska, Andrzej Chyra. 118min. Veteran Polish filmmaker Wajda examines the 1940 Soviet slaughter of thousands of Polish officers and citizens in the Katyn Forest through the eyes of officer Andrzej (Zmijewski) and his wife Anna (Ostaszewska), with sensitivity and a very particular Polish humanism. Glasgow Film Theatre. Kisses (15) (Lance Daly, Ireland/Sweden, 2008) Kelly O’Neill, Shane Curry, Paul Roe. 105min. On a suburban Dublin housing scheme two young people Kylie (O’Neill) and Dylan (Curry) live overcrowded and blighted lives. After a violent altercation with his father, Dylan and Kylie decide to run away to the magical lights of inner-city Dublin. Sweet and warm-hearted portrait of desperate youth. Cameo, Edinburgh. Land of the Lost (12A) ●●●●● (Brad Silberling, US, 2009) Will Ferrell, Anna Friel, Danny McBride. 101min. Dr Rick Marshall (Ferrell) and his research assistant Holly (Friel) are sucked into a vortex and sent back through time to an alternative universe full of crazy prehistoric creatures. Unfunny, inconsistent and very sketchy comedy based on a classic television series. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow. Laughter in Paradise (U) ●●●●● (Mario Zampi, UK, 1951) Alastair Sim, Joyce Grenfell, Hugh Griffith. 93min. The benefactors of an eccentric’s final Will and Testament must carry out embarrassing or criminal acts to get their legacies. Much copied, rarely bettered comedy. Part of Alastair Sim season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
The Big Smoke The ever English capital-centric British Film Institute presents this collection of films from lost London which includes shots of Victorians going to work, some turn of the 20th Century street scenes and, most interestingly, sci-fi short The Fugitive London about an inventor who can offer locals a glimpse of future London. ■ Filmhouse, Edinburgh on Sun 6 & Mon 7 Sep.