www.list.co.uk/film Reviews Film
DRAMA/BIOPIC THE SOLOIST (12) 117min ●●●●●
Having brought a brittle grace to adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, director Joe Wright makes a splashy stateside debut with The Soloist, a true-life drama about an unexpected friendship between world- weary LA journalist Steve Lopez, played by Robert Downey Jr, and homeless musician Nathaniel Ayers, played by Jamie Foxx.
Recognising that Ayers is a gifted musician who cracked up under the pressures of the prestigious Julliard music school, Lopez writes regular newspaper copy about the musician’s skid-row predicament, leading to a volatile friendship between the two men. The always charismatic Downey Jr makes an ideal filter to help dodge the inherent sentimentality of Ayers’ story, offering a welcome strain of laconic exasperation that still isn’t enough to offset Foxx’s mugging performance or the inbuilt do-goodery of the whole enterprise. Yet The Soloist sometimes soars,
with Wright and cinematographer Seamus McGarvey conjuring powerful poetic visuals to match the agony and the ecstasy of the Bach and Beethoven on the soundtrack, providing a window into the soul of the artist which snaps shut whenever the screen-writing conventions kick in. The Soloist isn’t a bad effort from Wright, but it falls well short of the greatness it clearly aspires to. (Eddie Harrison) ■ Selected release from 25 Sep.
DRAMA WHITE LIGHTNIN’ (18) 92min ●●●●● Some films come out of nowhere, knock you for six and leave you dazed and elated and wondering where the hell that came from. White Lightnin’ is one such film. It starts as a biopic based on the life of 1970s Appalachian mountain dancer Jesco White, and then mutates into an utterly demented revenge chiller. The first half plays as a black comedy à la the Coen brothers at their most cartoonish and introduces Jesco, a wayward soul from a dirt-poor family who got into drugs and reform school as a kid and was saved when his famous hoofer father D Ray taught him how to dance. When D Ray is brutally murdered by a pair of drunk hillbillies however, Jesco goes right off the rails and the film turns into a scuzzy seventies- style horror flick, abandoning fact for fiction and following its crazed protagonist on his grisly revenge trip. Somewhere in the middle of this Carrie Fisher turns up as Jesco’s white trash lover, which imbues the film with a wholly unexpected romantic tenderness (and one pricelessly funny scene involving fellatio and red hot chillies). Jesco is played with terrifying conviction by newcomer Edward Hogg, who may already have turned in the performance of a lifetime, and the inspired lunacy is directed by Dominic Murphy, a fellow Englishman here making his astounding debut. All that and it’s got a superb soundtrack featuring rockabilly legend Hasil Adkins. (Miles Fielder) ■ Selected release from Fri 25 Sep. See preview, page 44.
DOCUMENTARY THE CRIMSON WING (PG) 78min ●●●●●
This is the first cinematic venture to come out of the newly formed DisneyNature corporation and it certainly boasts all the right credentials: a syrupy narrative read by Mariella Frostrup and a trendy soundtrack by The Cinematic Orchestra. What you should know, however, is that this is no BBC nature
documentary. Filmed during a gruelling 16-month shoot on the salt lakes of Natron in Tanzania, the directors, Aeberhard and Ward, have set out to capture the life cycle of the Lesser Flamingo. The result is closer to a visual poem set to a musical score in which the lake becomes another planet inhabited by strange and elusive creatures. The directors deliberately draw upon various myths and fairytales (the
phoenix being one of them) to tell the story of the flamingo. While this use of certain familiar archetypes certainly adds an interesting layer to the film, it also means that hard facts are jettisoned in favour of an opaque narrative, which may grate with some viewers who are expecting a more traditional approach to the subject. Having said this, The Crimson Wing is well worth seeing for the simple fact that this is one nature documentary that attempts to break the mould. (Anna Rogers) ■ Selected release from Fri 25 Sep.
ALSO RELEASED
The Invention of Lying (12A) 99min ●●●●● Whimsical but likeable romantic comedy starring Ricky Gervais as a writer who discovers the power of lying in a world where it doesn’t exist. General release from Fri 2 Oct.
Driving Aphrodite (12A) 94min ●●●●● Appalling sequel to the abysmal My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Georgia (Nia Vardalos) has lost her kefi (Greek for ‘mojo’). She gets her groove back by becoming a travel guide and seeing things in new ways. General release from Fri 2 Oct.
Pandorum (tbc) 108min ●●●●● Two astronauts awaken aboard a seemingly abandoned spacecraft. They can’t remember anything. Who are they? What is their mission? Interesting if ultimately disappointing low budget space thriller. General release from Fri 2 Oct. District 13: Ultimatum (15) 100min ●●●●● More parkour thrills in decent follow up to Luc Besson’s winning thriller. General release from Fri 2 Oct.
Toy Story In 3D (PG) 80min ●●●●● John Lasseter’s original animated feature beefed up for 3D presentation. Toy Story 2 in 3D to follow soon. General release from Fri 2 Oct.
Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (15) 105min ●●●●● So-so remake of Fritz Lang’s film noir about a writer’s plan to expose a corrupt official goes haywire. Mercifully based on original screenplay by Douglas Morrow. Peter Hyams directs, Michael Douglas stars. General release from Fri 2 Oct. Surrogates (12A) 88min ●●●●● FBI agents Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell investigate the murder of a college student linked to the man who helped create a high-tech surrogate robots. Interesting but flawed graphic novel adaptation. Directed by Jonathan Terminator 3 Mostow. General release from Fri 25 Sep.
Fame (PG) 100min ●●●●● Pointless remake and updating of Alan Parker’s 1982 original film (and subsequent TV series) for the High School Musical crowd. The soundtrack is abysmal. General release from Fri 25 Sep.
The Godfather (15) 168min ●●●●● Digital print reissue of Coppola’s gangster classic. Selected release from Fri 25 Sep. Passchendaele (15) 114min ●●●●● Dreary First World War drama about brutally wounded Sergeant Michael Dunne (Paul Gross) who falls for Sarah (Caroline Dhavernas), a mysterious and attractive nurse while in a military hospital. GFT, Glasgow from Fri 2-Mon 5 Oct.
24 Sep–8 Oct 2009 THE LIST 47