www.list.co.uk/film a comprehensible plot and well-developed characters. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. Invictus (12A) ●●●●● (Clint Eastwood, US, 2009) Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Tony Kgoroge. 133min. Based on a book by John Carlin, Invictus recounts how Nelson Mandela pulled off the political masterstroke of uniting a racially and economically divided South Africa in support of national rugby team the Springboks, once a symbol of Boer-ish oppression. This has a predictable trajectory but one leavened by minute details about the tedium of governance, ingrained prejudices and a belief that hope will always spring eternal. General release. It’s Complicated (15) ●●●●● (Nancy Meyers, US, 2009) Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwyn, Steve Martin. 118min. Baldwin and Streep play ex-husband and wife who suddenly get the hots for each other after ten years apart, in this farce of revived lust. While Baldwin’s Jake – now married to a much younger model, with a nightmare toddler in tow – jumps at the chance, Streep’s bakery owner Jane is initially appalled at her own behaviour. Uneven but not unfunny. Selected release. Knowledge is the Beginning (PG) (Paul Smaczny, Denmark, 2005) 90min. Emmy-nominated documentary about the controversial West-Eastern Divan Orchestra comprising Israelis, Palestinians, Egyptians, Jordanians and Syrians that was founded in 1999 by conductor Daniel Barenboim and writer Edward Said. This screening will be accompanied by an audience discussion led by members of the Global Citizen Corps youth project from across the Middle East, Scotland and the United States. Part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Ladybird, Ladybird (18) (Ken Loach, UK, 1994) Crissy Rock, Vladimir Vega, Sandie Lavelle. 101min. Loach’s hard- hitting socio-political drama tells the story of ‘Maggie’, a woman with a history of relationships with violent men, who has her four children taken from her when she refuses to co-operate with Social Services. A new liaison with a gentle South American exile only causes new traumas. Loach pushes our sympathies to the side of the underdogs rather than the social workers who are also victims of a heartless system. Extremely harrowing, but a vital catalyst to debate. Part of An Introduction to European Cinema. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Laila’s Birthday (12A) (Rashid Masharawi, Palestine/Tunisia/Netherlands, 2008) Mohammed Bakri, Areen Omari, Nour Zoubi. 71min. Gaza-born director Masharai examines the Palestinian situation and the spirit of the Ramallah people through the eyes of taxi driver and former judge Abu Laila (Bakri). Part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Land of Fear (Ard al-Khof) (18) (Daoud Abdel Sayed, Egypt, 1999) Ahmed Zaki, Farah, Hamdi Ghayth. 140min. Kafkaesque Egyptian story about a policeman who stays undercover as a drug lord for so long that his sense of identity becomes confused. Part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Last Station (15) ●●●●● (Michael Hoffman, Germany/Russia/UK, 2009) Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer, James McAvoy. 113min. It’s 1910 and Tolstoy’s (Plummer) writings have become so fundamentally progressive that his long time publisher Vladimir Chertov (Giamatti) has established a small community of Tolstoyans to carry on the work of the ageing leader. Tolstoy’s wife Sofya (Mirren) has other ideas. Universal tale of misplaced loyalties adapted from Jay Parini’s 1990 novel. Selected release. Leap Year (PG) ●●●●● (Anand Tucker, US/Ireland, 2010) Amy Adams, Matthew Goode. 100min. Hanging on the purportedly well-known Irish tradition that a woman is allowed to propose to her man on the 29th February, after Anna’s (Adams) boyfriend misses a tailor-made opportunity to propose, she decides to do the deed herself. Various things then get in
the way in this joyless, laugh-free embarrassment of a movie. General release from Fri 26 Feb. The Lovely Bones (12A) ●●●●● (Peter Jackson, UK/US/New Zealand, 2009) Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon. 135min. The problems with Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Alice Sebold’s popular novel run much deeper than the usual stumbling block of having a macabre subject matter. The casting is seriously misjudged, and, shirking away from the darkest elements of the novel, the tone and the aesthetic are completely wrong – where in the book, Susie (Ronan) resides in a 14-year-old’s idea of heaven, Jackson seems to have designed the movie equivalent in a Salvador Dali museum. General release. The Maltese Falcon (PG) ●●●●● (John Huston, US, 1941) Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre. 101min. Huston’s first film is a quintessential, claustrophobic film noir. Bogart is caught in a web of deceit and betrayal as the Fat Man uses every means, including murder, to get his hands on the elusive ornament of the title. Forget the twists and turns of Dashiell Hammett’s plot; enjoy instead the darkly comic world peopled by Sam Spade and Joel Cairo. St Bride’s Centre, 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 and is a definite crowd-pleaser with its sharp mix of humour and drama. Odeon, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Micmacs (12A) ●●●●● (Jean- Pierre Jeunet, France, 2009) Dany Boon, André Dussollier, Nicolas Marié. 104min. This slight but enjoyably manic satire from Amelie and Delicatessen director Jeunet sees eccentric Parisian loner Bazil (Boon) draw on a bunch of insane refuseniks for help when he is left with a bullet in his cerebellum following a freak accident. In evoking the ghosts of Buster Keaton and Jacques Tati and displacing them in an anarchic underground world peopled by the forgotten and abused, Jeunet is clearly on familiar ground. Fun and innovative stuff. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Mirror (15) ●●●●● (Andrei Tarkovsky, USSR, 1974) Margarita Terekhova, Philip Yankovsky, Ignat Danillisev. 106min. An artist reflects on his early life and relationships in this most intensely personal of all Tarkovsky’s works. Multi layered and at times almost impenetrable, it nevertheless remains a catalogue of sensitive and enigmatically arresting imagery, one of the cinema’s closest approximations to poetry. Part of An Introduction to European Cinema. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. My Name is Khan (12A) (Karan Johar, India, 2010). Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Tanay Chheda. 145min. Romantic Hindi melodrama in which Indian superstar Khan plays a Muslim man with Asperger’s who decides to follow his estranged betrothed across America when they run in to trouble after 9/11. Selected release. The Nightingale Prayer (12A) (Henry Barakat, Egypt, 1959) Faten Hamama, Ahmed Mazhar, Amina Rizk. 109min. Tale of love and betrayal set in the Egyptian countryside, based on the novel by Taha Hussein and starring first lady of the Arab silver screen Faten Hamama. Part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Nosferatu (PG) ●●●●● (FW Murnau, Germany, 1922) Max Schreck, Alexander Granach, Gustav von Wangenheim. 72min. Schreck is a truly terrifying figure as Bram Stoker’s famous vampire, looking more like a skinned bat than a human being. A wonderfully visual movie, with twisted shadows and sexual undercurrents placing it well above the Kinski/Herzog remake.
David Allison’s live soundtrack includes live music, samples and sound effects, and adds to the eerie nature of this film classic. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. 1234 (15) (Giles Borg, UK, 2008) Ian Bonar, Lyndsey Marshal, Kieran Bew. 75min. Stuck in a dead-end job, nerdy musician Stevie (Bonar) is desperatley seeking a girlfriend. Along comes new band member Billy (Bew) and his cute pal Emily (Marshal), and Stevie’s hopes are finally on the rise. A New British Cinema Quarterly screening. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. OSS 117: Lost in Rio (15) ●●●●● (Michel Hazanavicius, France, 2009) Jean Dujardin, Louise Monot, Rudiger Vogler. 101min. Dujardin returns as France’s dumbest super spy. This time he’s looking for Nazi’s in Brazil with a sexy Jewish female spy and the hippie son of a Nazi in tow. Cameo, Edinburgh. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (PG) (Chris Columbus, Canada/US, 2010) Brandon T Jackson, Steve Coogan, Uma Thurman. 118min. Big screen adaptation of Rick Riordan’s first fantasy adventure novel featuring Greek mythology-baiting child Percy Jackson. Possible franchise? We think so. General release. Pillow Talk (PG) ●●●●● (Michael Gordon, US, 1959) Rock Hudson, Doris Day. 103min. Brad (Hudson) is a songwriter, Jan is an interior designer. They get together through a series of misunderstandings, but millionaire Jonathan Forbes (Tony Randall), who harbours an obsession with Jan, isn’t happy about it. Fruity, camp as hell Day/Hudson vehicle. One of their best. Scotsman Screening Room, Edinburgh. Planet 51 (U) ●●●●● (Jorge Blanco/Javier Abad, US, 2009) Voices of Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Beil, Gary Oldman. 90min. Dull, mildly offensive Spanish animated feature about one astronaut’s adventures as an illegal alien on a far-flung planet. Selected release. Po-Lin (E) (Jolanta Dylewska, Poland/Germany, 2008) 82min. Documentary examining the life of Polish Jews in 1939. Part of the UK Jewish Film Festival. Grosvenor, Glasgow.
✽✽ Ponyo (U) ●●●●● (Hayao Myazki, Japan, 2008) Voices of Noah
Cyrus, Liam Neeson, Frankie Jonas. 101min. Delightful animated feature from the Studio Ghibli brand about a five-year- old boy who falls for a goldfish princess. It’s funny, charming and original enough to keep adults entertained, but where it really scores is Miyazaki’s (Spirited Away) ability to understand what a child sees. Like its goldfish heroine, Ponyo may seem like a slight and slivery proposition, but it dives to uncharted depths. General release.
✽✽ Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (15) ●●●●● (Lee Daniels, US, 2009) Gabourney Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Paula Patton. 110min. The central turn from Gabourey ‘Gabby’ Sidibe as the titular protagonist – an abused black, overweight and uneducated single mother – is mesmerising and endearing. Despite being made pregnant for the second time by her own father, Gabby fantasises about fame and fortune. Unexpected and moving, the Sundance and Toronto film festivals’ top prizewinner, based on the novel Push by Sapphire, is a gem from the projects. Selected release. The Princess and the Frog (U) ●●●●● (Ron Clements/John Musker, US, 2010) Voices of Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Keith David. 97min. Set in 1920s Louisiana and featuring Disney’s first African-American Princess, this culturally important, beautiful and evocative (of a New Orleans that no longer exists) film may not have the standout musical numbers of some of its stablemates but is an old fashioned treat all the same. General release.
✽✽ A Prophet (18) ●●●●● (Jacques Audiard, France/Italy, 2009) Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif. 150min. Naïve youth Malik (Rahim) enters prison with a view to keeping his head
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down, but murderous circumstance see him aligned to the Corsican mafia who run the prison. As prison population demographics begin to shift, the cunning Malik uses all his resources to elevate his financial and hierarchical status. Plotted and executed with a slow burn complexity and rare grace, this is a wonderfully mature piece of filmmaking. Cameo, Edinburgh. Record of a Tenement Gentleman (PG) ●●●●● (Yusijiro Ozu, Japan, 1947) Choko Lida, Hohi Aoki, Eitaro Ozawa. 72min. Ozu’s generous and spirited tale about the young son of a carpenter who refuses to be abandoned for a second time. Part of Yasujiro Ozo: From Spring to Autumn season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Reichenbach Falls (15) ●●●●● (John McKay, UK, 2007) Alec Newman, Alistair Mackenzie, Nina Sosanya. 75min. Written by James Mavor and based on an idea by Ian Rankin, Reichenbach Falls delves deep into Edinburgh’s literary and criminal past. Part of Made in Edinburgh. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Room (18) (Tommy Wiseau, US, 2003) Tommy Wiseau, Juliette Danielle, Greg Sestero. 99min. Cult film that has suffered some very harsh criticism but is loyally defended by mysterious director Wiseau. Cameo, Edinburgh. Sad Vacation (E) (Aoyama Shinji, Japan, 2007) 136min. A young man is helping to smuggle illegal Chinese workers into Kita-Kyushu, an industrial city on the northern part of Kyushu island, when he encounters his mother, who had abandoned him and his father years before. This screening will be preceded by 1989 documentary short Tideland Fishing – The Ariake Sea. Part of Contemporary Japanese Film season. Gilmorehill G12, Glasgow. A Serious Man (15) ●●●●● (Joel Coen/Ethan Coen, USA, 2009) Michael Stuhlbarg, Sari Lennick, Fred Melamed. 105min. An idiosyncratic gem filled with details dredged from the Coen brothers’ fertile imaginations and woven into a tapestry as rich as anything they’ve produced in 25 years of filmmaking. Stuhlbarg is wonderful as a physics professor for whom everything is going wrong, and the rest of the cast is largely unknown, making this the polar opposite of the empty and A-list heavy Burn After Reading. Cameo, Edinburgh. Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (18) ●●●●● (Mat Whitecross, UK, 2010) Andy Serkis, Olivia Williams, Naomie Harris. 115min. In this amusing biopic of Ian Drury, Whitecross sets up the story as a vaudeville act fronted by the musician in which fantasy, dreams and realism are mixed to discuss Drury’s life in a thematic rather than chronological manner. Serkis plays Dury as a brash, no-nonsense and often confused man, whose rebellious nature made him a charismatic personality, terrible lover and great songwriter. Largely entertaining, but not without fault, much like Dury himself. Cameo, Edinburgh. Sherlock Holmes (12A) ●●●●● (Guy Ritchie, UK/Australia/US, 2009) Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams. 128min. Ritchie’s long-awaited, high-octane action interpretation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary hero. General release. A Single Man (12A) ●●●●● (Tom Ford, USA, 2009) Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult. 99min. The fashion industry’s Tom Ford adapts Christopher Isherwood’s spare, lyrical study of alienation and loss for his film debut. Tracing a day in the life of George Falconer (Firth), a middle-aged English college professor, a series of flashbacks outline George’s 16-year relationship with the recently deceased Jim (Matthew Goode). A frustrating experience, this is at times achingly moving, but ultimately it Check out the GreatOffers on page 6
18 Feb–4 Mar 2010 THE LIST 51