Film Index through conspiracies and cover-ups, he soon realises that the personal may just be about to become the apocryphal. General release. An Education (12A) ●●●●● (Lone Scherfig, UK, 2009) Peter Sarsgaard, Carey Mulligan, Alfred Molina. 99min. Sarsgaard is on top form as seductive cad David, the older man responsible for educating bright but confused schoolgirl Jenny (Mulligan) in matters of love and life in swinging sixties London. With only a few tired stereotypes to detract from a superbly managed depiction of the central relationship, director Scherfig here combines romantic drama and the coming- of-age tale to wholly enjoyable effect. Cameo, Edinburgh. Equinox Flower (U) (Yasujiro Ozu, Japan, 1958) Shin Saburi, Kinuyo Tanaka, Ineko Arima. 118min. His first film in colour, Ozu’s Equinox Flower examines familial transitions, with the central character struggling to come to terms with his daughter’s secret engagement. Part of Yasujiro Ozo: From Spring to Autumn season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Everybody’s Fine (12A) ●●●●● (Kirk Jones, US/Italy, 2009) Robert De Niro, Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore. 99min. Well-meaning but utterly dull remake of Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1990 film Stanno Tutti Bene. De Niro has plenty of reason to put on his over-familiar raised eyebrows and trademark gurn as he realises that since his wife kicked the bucket his four adult kids don’t really spend any time with him. Surprise, surprise he decides to pay unannounced visits on his four bambinos. General release from Fri 26 Feb.
Extraordinary Measures (PG) ●●●●● (Tom Vaughan, US, 2010) Brendan Fraser, Harrison Ford, Keri Russell. 105min. Ford and Fraser add some high-powered star wattage to Vaughan’s otherwise formulaic medical drama about a father’s desperate attempt to save his children from a potentially fatal disease. Inspired by an article written by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Geeta Anand, as well as her subsequent book, Extraordinary Measures. General release from Fri 26 Feb. Eye of the Sun (15) (Ibrahim El- Batout, Egypt/Morocco, 2008) Hanan Youssef, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Ramadan Khater. 90min. El-Batout depicts the neglected and poor neighbourhood of Ein Shams, Cairo, through the eyes of ebullient 11-year-old Shams. A poignant portrait of modern day Egypt. Part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Fantastic Mr Fox (PG) ●●●●● (Wes Anderson, USA, 2009) Voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Adrien Brody. 88min. Anderson’s inspired choice of stop- motion animation pays off in this beautiful and idiosyncratic adaptation of the well- loved children’s tale. While kids may enjoy it, Anderson’s typically arch humour is aimed more at their parents, who will also be impressed by the star-studded voice cast – Bill Murray as a badger lawyer anyone? Selected release. Fata Morgana (PG) ●●●●● (Werner Herzog, West Germany, 1971) Eugen Des Montagnes, Lotte Eisner. 78min. Herzog’s experimental three-parter mixes music from Handel, Mozart and Blind Faith,
desert visuals and surreal poetry. Divided into ‘The Creation’, ‘The Paradise’ and ‘The Golden Age’, it’s more concerned with philosophy and filmic texture than with straightforward narrative. Collective Gallery, Edinburgh. Fly Me to the Moon (U) ●●●●● (Ben Stassen, US, 2008) Buzz Aldrin, Adrienne Barbeau, Ed Begley Jr. 84min. A 3D film describing mankind’s first trip to the moon is a lively sounding prospect, and moments in Stassen’s animation provide a genuine wow-factor, but such moments of poetry are fleeting and the majority of this film insanely focuses on the uninteresting plight of three houseflies who stowaway onboard. IMAX Theatre, Glasgow. Food Inc. (PG) ●●●●● (Robert Kenner, US, 2008) 94min. Dismantling some cherished myths about its agrarian way of life, Kenner’s persuasive Oscar- nominated documentary seeks to lift the veil surrounding the food industry in America. The broad thesis is that agriculture in America has undergone a radical transformation in recent decades – a handful of multinational corporations now controlling how produce is planted, grown, distributed and sold. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Freestyle (12A) (Kolton Lee, UK, 2010) Lucy Stanhope, Arinze Kene, Wolfgang Mwanje. 85min. Lee’s second feature, made under the auspices of Film London’s Microwave scheme, which also produced Shifty, stars Lucy Stanhope as Ondene, a young woman who falls for freestyle basketball player Leon Chambers (Kene) against her mother’s wishes. General release from Fri 26 Feb. From Paris with Love (15) ●●●●● (Pierre Morel, France, 2010) Jonathan Rhys Meyers, John Travolta, Kasia Smutniak. 92min. Following on from his surprise action hit for Liam Neeson in Taken, Morel comes a cropper in his latest venture by teaming Rhys Meyers and a shockingly bald Travolta for the usual run- of-the-mill Parisian race and chase espionage potboiler. General release from Fri 26 Feb. Glasgow Film Festival (Various) See feature, page 22 and listings at www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk. Various venues, Glasgow. The Hurt Locker (15) ●●●●● (Kathryn Bigelow, US, 2008) Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty. 130min. Based on the accounts of a freelance writer who was embedded in Iraq, The Hurt Locker presents an excoriating vision of the war as seen through the eyes of one particularly wired member of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit (EOD). Bigelow creates an unromantic vision of modern warfare, which is both muscular and visceral while making us question just how close such heroisms are to lunacy. Cameo, Edinburgh. The Informant! (15) ●●●●● (Stephen Soderbergh, US, 2009) Matt Damon, Clancy Brown, Tony Hale. 108min. Soderbergh comes across as something of a conceptual show-off with this stranger- than-fiction biopic about a whistle-blower who’s more than a little implicated in the scandal he tries to uncover. Intent on capturing the look and feel of a 1970s caper flick (and he succeeds), the director has sadly managed to forget essentials like
Nosferatu FW Murnau’s 1922 expressionist horror masterpiece gets the live music treatment in this special one off screening. ■ Filmhouse, Edinburgh on Sun 21 Feb.
50 THE LIST 18 Feb–4 Mar 2010