www.list.co.uk/film
MYSTERY/THRILLER THE GHOST (15) 127min ●●●●●
American publishers make an unnamed ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) an offer he can’t refuse – $250,000 for just four weeks’ work. His assignment is to ghost the memoirs of a British ex-prime minister, Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), who’s now afraid to leave America in case he’s forced to appear at the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges. The ghostwriter finds Lang, his wife Ruth (Olivia Williams) and his aide Amelia (Kim Cattrall) holed up in an ultra-modern house on a rain-soaked island off Cape Cod. Soon he begins to wonder whether his predecessor, who died in mysterious circumstances, had uncovered information about Lang’s past connections to the CIA. It’s impossible in this adaptation by Roman Polanski and Robert Harris of the latter’s ‘what if?’ novel to ignore the real-life parallels with a certain Mr and Mrs Blair and to Polanski’s own current situation: the filmmaker is under house arrest in Switzerland, potentially facing being deported back to America to face criminal proceedings. The film itself is a wintry Hitchcockian thriller in which McGregor’s everyman figure (who has no family or personal ties) becomes embroiled in a conspiracy where nothing is quite what it seems. If The Ghost doesn’t register as a major Polanski work, it still demonstrates his ability to create through mise-en- scène a mood of disquieting claustrophobia. (Tom Dawson) ■ General release from Fri 16 Apr. See profile, page 47.
Reviews Film
DRAMA DOGTOOTH (KYNODONTAS) (18) 97min ●●●●●
An initial leap of faith is needed to enter the strange world of Dogtooth. It tells the story of three grown-up children who have been brought up without venturing beyond the fence that surrounds their house. They believe the world outside is a hostile wilderness that adults are only allowed to enter once their ‘dogtooth’ has fallen out. Bizarre vocabulary and practices have developed in
order for the parents to prevent outside influences impacting on the children’s lives – they believe small yellow flowers are zombies and are taught to bark like dogs to scare off a killer beast known as a cat. On regular occasions the father brings home Christina, a security guard from his work, to meet the sexual desires of his son, a decision that will inadvertently lead to the gradual unravelling of this carefully controlled world.
Dogtooth is full of scenes that are surreal, occasionally funny (look out for the two girls’ peculiar
dance routine) and disturbing. There are moments of unexpected and graphic violence and incest that are all the more horrific because of the detached manner in which they are captured. The film’s visual style is particularly striking too: each shot appears carefully and precisely composed in a washed-out colour palette that lends the film a retro aesthetic.
Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos explores the logic and boundaries of what we deem to be right or wrong, in a situation where social norms have been removed or subverted. Yet this desire to tackle such a complex and important topic (which, ultimately, has a lot to say about society and human relations) jars with the film’s highly artificial premise. There are also numerous questions that go unanswered, most notably the exact motives of the parents for establishing such a ‘game’ in the first instance and how they have managed to maintain it for 20-odd years. For these reasons Dogtooth is best viewed as a dark fairytale for contemporary times. It’s a deeply memorable, stylish, anarchic but assured piece of filmmaking. (Carrie Tucker) ■ Cameo, Edinburgh and selected release from Fri 23 Apr.
ACTION CENTURION (15) 97min ●●●●●
Director Neil Marshall’s career started on such a high with the exuberant Dog Soldiers and the claustrophobic The Descent, even the disappointing Doomsday had a certain manic energy. In Centurion he takes us back to the ancient world of 117AD as the Romans try to ‘civilise’ Britain. And while he almost succeeds he never quite achieves the epic sweep he’s so obviously striving for. In a last ditch attempt to take control of the ‘Northern Britain’, a Roman
battalion, lead by Dominic West, is sent north of the border, only to be ambushed by the native Picts. It then falls to Michael Fassbender to lead the seven surviving members of the massacred Ninth Battalion as they run for their lives deep behind enemy lines chased by a ruthless Pict scouting party. Eschewing historical accuracy in favour of brutal and bloody confrontations,
axes hack off limbs and heads are cleaved. There’s no doubt Fassbender is a fine actor, but Centurion doesn’t call for acting – just a rippling torso, quick fists and shouted aggression. However, there are some thrilling combat sequences and the sections shot in Aviemore are forbidding yet beautiful. There aren’t many British directors producing films in the UK as ambitious in scale as Marshall, and while he may not have captured past glories he’s delivered the bizarre feat of being both grim and cheesy at the same time. (Henry Northmore) ■ General release from Fri 23 Apr.
15–29 Apr 2010 THE LIST 45