www.list.co.uk/film
Koyaanisqatsi Organised by Take One Action to mark the lead up to the global climate change talks in Copenhagen
and the national climate change march in Glasgow on Saturday 5 December this screening of Godfrey Reggio’s still prescient 1982 film collage will be scored live by Scottish ensemble Urban Farm Hand. ■ GFT, Glasgow on Mon 30 Nov.
Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall. 200min. Still the only sequel to win the Oscar for Best Picture, Coppola’s extended gangster epic looks at the life of the Corleone family before and after the events of the first movie. De Niro is superb as the young Vito, newly arrived from Sicily and making his mark in the Land of the Free; his son Michael (Pacino), now fully corrupted by absolute power, extends his crime empire, but at the expense of killing family and friends. A magnificent achievement. Cameo, Edinburgh. Grown-Ups (15) (Anne Novion, France/Sweden, 2008) Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Anais Demoustier, Judith Henry. 84min. Comic drama about a single French father and his retiring teenage daughter who both find romance during a Swedish summer holiday. Part of French Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. 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. Odeon at the Quay, Glasgow. Harry Brown (18) ●●●●● (Daniel Barber, UK, 2009) Emily Mortimer, Michael Caine, Iain Glen. 103min. See Also Released, page 50. General release.
✽✽ Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno (15) ●●●●● (Serge
Bromberg/Ruxandra Medrea, France, 2009) Romy Schneider, Serge Reggiani, Jacques Gamblin. 100min. The fascinating tale of an unfinished masterpiece, reassembled from surviving footage and interviews with original crewmembers. Crazed filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot (the French Hitchcock in the eyes of many) never completed Inferno, a romantic thriller of obsessive jealousy that combined traditional filmmaking with radical new ideas from the art world – a great loss for cinema, if this is anything to go by. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Homo Sapiens 1900 (18) (Peter Cohen, Sweden, 1998) 88min. Documentary tracing the birth and rise of the eugenics movement in the early 20th Century. Part of Eugenics season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster (15) (Samuel Benchetrit, France, 2007) Anna Mouglalis, Edouard Baer, Jean Rochefort. 113min. Silly French fancy comprising four vignettes set in an anonymous roadside café. This screening will be followed by David Guiraud’s short film The Barrel of the Danaides. Part of French Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. I Want to See (Je Veux Voir) (12A) ●●●●● (Joana Hadjithomas/Khalil Joreige, France, 2008) Catherine Deneuve,
Rabih Mroue, Daniel Auwermann. 75min. See Also Released, page 50. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. 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. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (12A) ●●●●● (Terry Gilliam, US, 2009) Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Johnny Depp. 122min. After Ledger’s death, the film only saw the light of day once Depp, Law and Colin Farrell stepped in. The typically Gilliam-esque story focuses on immortal carnival owner Dr Parnassus (Plummer) as he enters a wager with the Devil and, given the trauma surrounding it, is a return to form for the director: an enthralling morality tale with his trademark visual panache. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. In the Night Garden: Mind the Haahoos (U) (Dirk Campbell, UK, 2009) 28min. The inhabitants of the Night Garden all go for a ride on the Ninky Nonk in this cinema screening of the CBeebies bedtime favourite. Glasgow Film Theatre. In the Night Garden: Mr Pontipine’s Moustache Flies Away (U) (Various, UK, 2009) 55min. An episode of the soothing BBC TV programme that readies children’s minds for bed while freaking out parents. Glasgow Film Theatre. In the Night Garden: Upsy Daisy Dances with the Pinky Ponk (U) (Dirk Campbell/Alex Kirby, UK, 2009) 28min. Upsy Daisy and Pinky Ponk get up to their usual chilled out tricks. Glasgow Film Theatre. The Informant (15) ●●●●● (Stephen Soderbergh, US, 2009) Matt Damon, Clancy Brown, Tony Hale. 108min. See review, page 50. Selected release. Jennifer’s Body (15) ●●●●● (Karyn Kusama, US, 2009) Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons. 102min. A darkly original take on the teen-horror genre, featuring Transformers star Fox playing a slutty cheerleader who develops a taste for the blood of the high-school hottie. The script features über-smart, quick-fire teen jargon and the warped girl rivalry of Fox and co-star Seyfried provides an interesting focus. General release. The Joy of Singing (15) (Ilan Duran Cohen, France, 2008) Marina Fois, Lorant Deutsch, Jeanne Balibar. 99min. Unpredictable comedy with a labyrinth plot that pulls together intelligence agents, uranium secrets and a singing teacher. Part of French Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
Julie & Julia (12A) ●●●●● (Nora Ephron, US, 2009) Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci. 123min. Ephron’s film balances eccentric US chef Julia Child’s awkward start in the cookery business in France with a parallel, modern narrative in which Adams plays a ditzy, self-important blogger. Ephron is an accomplished purveyor of light-as-a-souffle filmmaking, and powered by Steep’s winning portrayal as the earthy but sophisticated Child, this succeeds as a classy chick flick. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. Katalin Varga (15) ●●●●● (Peter Strickland, Romania/UK/Hungary, 2009) Hilda Péter, Tibor Pálffy, Norbert Tankó. 84min. Filmed in two weeks on a micro budget, Strickland’s debut – a tale of revenge set in Transylvania – is proof of how good independent filmmaking can be. The film’s slowly unfolding narrative, non- didactic approach and blistering central performance from Péter contribute to an utterly breathtaking film. Cameo, Edinburgh. King Coal (PG) (Various, UK, 1910- 1984) 78min. Programme of shorts proffering an insight into the coal mining industry in 20th Century Britain. Screening in conjunction with the BFI’s Britain’s Industrial Heritage Project. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Koyaanisqatsi (U) ●●●●● (Godfrey Reggio, US, 1983) 87min. Ron Fricke’s cinematography is the pillar of the narrative voice in this first film of Reggio’s ‘qatsi’ trilogy. It opens with a single deep red word and some archaic cave drawings. All of which represents our collective ‘life out of balance’, a translation from the Hopi Indian word ‘koyaanasqatsi’. This is scrapbook filmmaking in harmony with the creative elements. This Take One Action! presentation features a live score by Edinburgh’s Urban Farm Hand. Glasgow Film Theatre. Kurbaan (15) (Renzil D’Silva, India, 2009) Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Om Puri.Hindi romantic thriller set against a background of global terrorism. Selected release. Lads & Jockeys (PG) (Benjamin Marquet, France, 2008) 100min. Equestrian documentary following thirty 14-year-old boys and girls who enter a boarding school in Chantilly specialising in the education of jockeys and stable lads and girls. Glasgow Film Theatre. The Lady from Shanghai (PG) ●●●●● (Orson Welles, US, 1948) Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, Everett Sloane. 87min. Irish sailor Welles falls in love with femme fatale Hayworth and becomes enmeshed in a deadly game of murder and intrigue involving her unscrupulous millionaire husband. Part of French Film Festival. Part of O For Orson season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Lady Jane (15) (Robert Guèdiguian, France, 2008) Ariane
Ascaride, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Gèrard Meylan. 104min. When fifty-something Muriel’s (Ascaride) son is taken hostage by an unseen kidnapper, she is forced to face her shady past – part of a criminal gang decades before, which the now vulnerable Muriel must now regroup as a member. Part of French Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Lady Vanishes (U) ●●●●● (Alfred Hitchcock, UK, 2008) Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Dame May Whitty. 95min. Hitchcock’s wonderfully entertaining pan-European railway thriller feels as fresh today as it must have back in the appeasement years. Beginning in a fictitious Eastern European principality, an old lady does a disappearing act on a train. Suspicious, a young man and woman investigate. Though often dismissed as one of Hitchcock’s more lightweight films, this was and is an allegory of Britain when Blimpish complacency was believed to be the best deterrent to war. Scotsman Screening Room, Edinburgh. Law Abiding Citizen (18) ●●●●● (F Gary Gray, US, 2009) Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Colm Meaney. 108min. See review, page 50.. General release from Fri 27 Nov.
Index Film
✽✽ Louise-Michel (15) (Benoît Delépine, France, 2008) Yolande
Moreau, Bouli Lanners, Mathieu Kassovitz. 94min. The iconic Moreau plays Louise, the leader of a group of workers maddened by the sudden shutdown of their company. After the hitman they hire fails, Louise must take charge. Part of French Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Macbeth (PG) ●●●●● (Orson Welles, US, 1948) Orson Welles, Jeanette Nolan, Dan O’Herlihy. 107min. Shot on the cheap in 23 days for the B-picture studio Republic Pictures, it’s hardly any surprise that this comes over as one of Welles’ least successful enterprises. Largely spoken in an unintelligible, bastard form of mangled Shakespearean Scots, one can however sense the attempt to create a shadowy, wholly cinematic space for the drama to operate in. Part of O For Orson season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Magic! (Magique!) (PG) (Philippe Muyl, France/Canada, 2008) Marie Gillain, Cali, Antoine Dulery. 100min. An old-fashioned musical about a single mother struggling to raise her son on an isolated farm. Having never known his father, the young lad imagines him to be an astronaut and watches the sky longingly anticipating his return. Part of French Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre. The Magnificent Tati (PG) (Michael House, UK/France, 2009) 60min. Documentary tracing Jacques Tati’s rise and fall in the world of cinema. Comprising clips from Tati’s films, interviews with the director and clips of contemporary artists paying tribute to Tati’s work. Part of French Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Me and Orson Welles (12A) ●●●●● (Richard Linklater, UK, 2008) Ben Chaplin, Claire Danes, Zac Efron. 113min. Teenage student Richard Samuels (Efron) is cast into a minor role in Orson Welles’ legendary 1937 Mercury Theatre production of Julius Caesar. Previews only, reviewed next issue. Cameo, Edinburgh. The Men Who Stare at Goats (15) ●●●●● (Grant Heslov, US/UK, 2009) George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey. 95min. A light-hearted yet intelligent trippy hippy satire on the strange-but-true story of the US military experiment to create a New Earth Army of ‘psychic soldiers’ preaching a creed of love not war. Witty and slickly directed, Heslov’s film features a cast on top form with a sharp mix of humour and drama. General release. Mesrine: Killer Instinct (15) ●●●●● (Jean-François Richet, France, 2008) Vincent Cassel, Cécile De France, Gérard Depardieu. 113min. The early career and criminal gestation of France’s most notorious bank robber and gangster Jacques Mesrine circumscribed in the first of two films telling his remarkable story. Tracing a line from Mesrine’s disillusioning military service during the Algerian war to the beginning of his notoriety in 1972, the first instalment of this epic crime tale is derivative, energetic and hugely enjoyable. Odeon at the Quay, Glasgow.
UNTIL 22 NOVEMBER
Dean Gallery Belford Road, Edinburgh ADMISSION FREE
Full programme details at www.nationalgalleries.org
19 Nov–3 Dec 2009 THE LIST 53