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DOCUMENTARY DIRTY OIL (U) 72min ●●●●● PROFILE
Which country is the largest supplier of oil to America? You might think it’s Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates or perhaps Venezuela. The correct answer is in fact its northern neighbour, Canada. Narrated by Neve Campbell, director Leslie Iwerks’ sobering eco-documentary explores the catastrophic consequences of extracting oil from Canada’s Northern Alberta tar sands, which form an area the size of England. Alongside some impressive aerial
photography, Iwers draws on the vivid testimonies of a range of interviewees – including scientists, activists and indigenous people – concerning the environmental damage wreaked by what one observer calls ‘the largest and most polluting industrial project on the planet today’. Amongst the contributors is a medical doctor John O’Connor, who on noticing an increase in unusual cancer rates amongst his Aboriginal patients, was pilloried by the authorities for ‘raising undue alarm’. The disturbing images of giant craters, bulldozed forests and sludge-filled lakes may resemble a work of post-apocalyptic science fiction, but Dirty Oil records a nightmarish reality, which is propelled by America’s insatiable thirst for petrol. And in highlighting how President Roosevelt forced the entire domestic car industry to switch to arms production in WW2, Iwerks demonstrates the need for radical state action if we are to fully embrace renewable energy sources. ■ Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 16–Sun 18 Apr.
ACTION/THRILLER REPO MEN (18) 111min ●●●●●
Repo Men is an adaptation of Eric Garcia’s novel The Repossession Mambo, which gets heavily plugged in this action thriller. The repossession industry has moved a long way since Emilio Estevez was trying to recover a ‘64 Chevy Malibu in Alex Cox’s esoteric 1984 film Repo Man. In Miguel Sapochnik’s debut, aspiring novelist and repo man Remy (Jude Law) recovers body organs for a living. Given the far out premise of the new film, it’s a big surprise that instead of going down the weird and wacky road that Cox took, this is a straight forward action flick that looks like it was written in scriptwriting room 101. Former art director Sapochnik visual talent shines in the promising
opening act. The dystopian urban landscape has a touch of Blade Runner while retaining a real world architecture that successfully creates a near future aesthetic. But it’s the plot that runs into a cul-de-sac. A woefully underwritten wife role for Black Book’s Carice van Houten has her giving Remy an ultimatum to give up his frontline job or lose her. Forest Whitaker, in a storyline straight out of Lethal Weapon, ensures his partner doesn’t get a transfer to sales, while Liev Schreiber as the crooked boss of ‘The Union’ which runs the corrupt organ scheme is surprisingly off form. Alice Braga offers little except as eye candy as the film loses interest in the troubled credit society set-up and turns into yet another pop-violence action yarn. (Kaleem Aftab) ■ General release from Fri 16 Apr.
THRILLER/ DRAMA CRYING WITH LAUGHTER (15) 93min ●●●●●
A foulmouthed comedian takes a ‘bad trip down memory lane’ in this confused but occasionally compelling low budget Scottish thriller.
Nihilistic stand-up comedian Joey is on the brink of success when old friend Frank (Malcolm Shields) turns up and offers Joey friendship and support. But Frank has an agenda that goes back to their school days. Plotwise, writer/director Justin Molotnikov’s blackly comic downbeat thriller is a mess. The wheres, hows and wherefores of the story are both ludicrous and mildly distasteful (there’s something unsettling about using dementia as a plot device). But Crying with Laughter is a film about one thing only – good dialogue and a powerhouse central performance. Slobby, rude, endearing and deeply unsettled, Stephen Cole’s Joey is a masterclass in how to dynamo an aimless, badly directed film into a space where the viewer may actually care. Molotnikov enables him to do this with some decent banterish dialogue and there is able if underwritten support from actors Niall Greig Fulton, Jo Hartley and Tom Jude. Visually, it’s muddy and all over the place, but editor Gary Scott seems to have contained some of that, and Inverness based composer Lorne Balfe’s intrinsic score really helps. (Paul Dale) ■ Selected release from Fri 16 Apr.
OLIVIA WILLIAMS Born 26 July 1968, Camden, London Background The daughter of two North London barristers, Williams read English at Cambridge University and studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Having spent three years at the Royal Shakespeare Company, she made her movie debut in Kevin Costner’s The Postman, before her acclaimed performances in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore and in M Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense. For the past ten years Williams has worked in film, television and theatre, with recent big-screen roles in An Education and Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. Currently She plays Ruth Lang, the wife of a former British prime minister accused of war crimes in Roman Polanski’s new thriller The Ghost. On playing Ruth Lang in The Ghost ‘I said from the start that I couldn’t come close to Helen McCrory’s performance as Cherie Blair in The Queen. I felt that if we wanted this film to stand on its own two feet as a thriller, then there would be no point in me doing an impersonation of Cherie. A role like Ruth only comes along once in a lifetime for a woman my age.’ On filming The Ghost ‘We shot the film on the German island of Sylt, which bears an astonishing resemblance to Martha’s Vineyard. For the scenes where my character Ruth strides along the beach in winter, I remember the steadicam operator, Polanski and his 86-year- old continuity supervisor all walking backwards up the dunes for hours without complaining.’ On Polanski’s direction ‘He’s incredibly meticulous. But he’s certainly not quiet. He’s the only director I know who will stop a take and come towards you and say, “No, no, no, this is not what I want.” It makes a change from people telling you: “That was great. Could we try it this way?”.’ Interesting fact In Flashbacks of a Fool she played Daniel Craig’s mother, despite both actors being born in 1968. ■ The Ghost is on general release from Fri 16 Apr. See review, page 45.
15–29 Apr 2010 THE LIST 47