Film Index
Dear John (12A) ●●●●● (Lasse Hallström, US, 2010) Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins. 108min. Seyfried plays Savannah, a student who strikes up a relationship with on leave soldier John Tyree (Tatum), but their romance is stymied when Tyree decides to put his military career first, and the inevitable Dear John letter results in mutual heartbreak. General release.
✽✽ Dirty Oil (U) ●●●●● (Leslie Iwerks, US/Canada, 2009) 73min. See
review, page 47. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Dogtooth (18) ●●●●● (Giorgos Lanthimos, Greece, 2009) Christos
Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia. 97min. See review, page 45. Cameo, Edinburgh and selected release from Fri 23 Apr. La Dolce Vita (15) ●●●●● (Federico Fellini, Italy/France, 1960) Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimee. 173min. Paparazzo Mastroianni mixes with the beautiful people of rich Roman society and is ambivalently shocked and fascinated by the vigour of their excessive decadence. Everything you ever wanted from a Fellini movie – black humour, grotesque sexuality, inspired visual imagination and the wonderful Marcello. See it. Part of Italian Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Eagles Over London (15) ●●●●● (Enzo G Castellari, Italy/France/Spain, 1969) Frederick Stafford, Van Johnson, Francisco Rabal. 112min. This Second World War action-thriller sees the British High Command infiltrated by German spies and in a sticky fix. This is an over-the-top saga featuring recreations of the evacuation of Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain. Part of Italian Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Easy Rider (18) ●●●●● (Dennis Hopper, US, 1969) Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson. 94min. Two dudes on choppers with a couple of tanks full of drugs, riding across America in search of . . . what? The Dream? Freedom? Well, they don’t find it. What they do find at the close of the 1960s is the butt end of a bad trip. Whether you regard this as the best biker movie ever made or a generation-defining classic (or both), the impact, now and then, of Easy Rider can’t be overstated. New 35mm print. Glasgow Film Theatre. The Family (PG) ●●●●● (Ettore Scola, Italy/France, 1987) Vittorio Gassman, Fanny Ardant, Philippe Noireti. 130min. A strong ensemble cast meander their way through an 80-year saga covering the resonant loves and hopes of one Italian family. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Follow Me – A Mountain Bike Film (15) (Various, 2010) 105min. Mountain bikers at the top of their game ride out in some incredible international locations. Part of Bike Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre. The Front Line (15) (Renato De Maria, Italy/Belgium/UK/France, 2009) Riccardo Scamarcio, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Fabrizio Rongione. 101min. Taking as his subject Italian terrorist organisation La prima linea, founded in the late 70s, director De Maria shoots from the perspective of a cell-bound protagonist who looks back on his youth with remorse and candour. Part of Italian Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Future Shorts/Lights in the Dark (18) (Various) 90min. This month’s programme is Rebel Yell, with a programme including Trevor Cawood’s Terminus, Michael Davies’ What’s Virgin Mean and Daniel Aragao’s Don’t Drop Me Home. This screening will be preceded by local event Lights in the Dark, a short film initiative showcasing Scotland’s most promising filmmakers. The Arches, Glasgow. The Ghost (15) ●●●●● (Roman Polanski, UK, 2010) Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall. 127min. See review, page 45 and profile page 47. General release. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (18) ●●●●● (Niels Arden Oplev, Sweden, 2009) Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Peter Haber. 152min. When investigative journalist Mikhael Blomkvist (Nyqvist) is
50 THE LIST 15–29 Apr 2010
called upon by an ageing Swedish industrialist to investigate the 40-year-old disappearance of his beloved great niece, his careful investigations get nowhere until a mysterious gothic Pippi Longstocking (Rapace) intervenes. The first of Stieg Laarson’s deservedly successful millennium thrillers receives a faithful but laborious film treatment. Selected release. Green Zone (15) ●●●●● (Paul Greengrass, US, 2010) Matt Damon, Jason Isaacs, Brendan Gleeson. 114min. This very adult thriller dissects the lies that were told to enable and maintain the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Adapted from Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s brilliant 2007 non-fiction book Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone, this is a brave and intelligent attempt to engage with a very recent history and its implications of governmental abuse of all of us. Muscular, sexless and deterministic filmmaking – undoubtedly the best thing Greengrass has done to date. Dominion, Edinburgh. A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (15) ●●●●● (Dito Montiel, USA, 2006) Robert Downey Jr, Martin Compston, Rosario Dawson, Shia LaBeouf. 99min. Montiel’s factually liberal adaptation of his own allegedly true biographic novel is based around two narratives: the young Dito (LaBeouf), growing up in 1980s New York and an older Dito (Downey Jr) returning years later. An untidy film about fathers, family, guilt, escape and poverty that can be pat and a little gauche but is never dull. Recommended. Cameo, Edinburgh. The Habit of Art (E) (Nicholas Hytner, UK, 2010) Danny Burns, Martin Chamberlain, Philip Childs. 170min. Live broadcast from the National Theatre of The Habit of Art by Alan Bennett, which imagines a meeting between WH Auden and Benjamin Britten. Glasgow Film Theatre. Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (PG) ●●●●● (Lasse Hallström, USA/UK, 2009) Richard Gere, Sarah Roemer, Joan Allen. 93min. This maudlin pet-sploitation flick transports the 1920s Japanese story of a faithful dog who waited nearly ten years for his master’s return, to an idyllic Rhode Island setting. Odeon Braehead, Renfrew. The Headless Woman (12A) ●●●●● (Lucrecia Martel, Spain/Italy/France /Argentina, 2008) Maria Onetto, Claudia
Cantero, Daniel Genoud. 89min. An upper- middle class Argentinean dentist suffers traumatic estrangement when she hits something with her car on a deserted country road in this enigmatic Antonioni- esque thriller from one of recent world cinema’s most distinctive talents. Martel’s visual and aural techniques intensify the atmosphere of confusion and anxiety, and Onetto’s performance is a masterclass in expressing internal emotion. Glasgow Film Theatre. The Heavy (18) ●●●●● (Marcus Warren, UK/US, 2010) Garry Stretch, Vinnie Jones, Christopher Lee. 101min. See Also Released, page 48. Showcase Cinema, Coatbridge, Glasgow; Showcase Cinema, Paisley. Hotel for Dogs (U) ●●●●● (Thor Freudenthal, US/Germany, 2009) Emma Roberts, Lisa Kudrow, Jake T Austin. 99min. Orphaned siblings turn their new foster home into a dog retreat. Cute family comedy based on the novel by Lois Duncan, undone by lame dialogue and buffoonish adult performances. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. How to Train Your Dragon 2D (PG) ●●●●● (Dean DeBlois/Chris Sanders, US, 2010) Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera. 97min. Commendable new DreamWorks animation set in the mythical world of Vikings and dragons, and based on the book by Cressida Cowell. Hiccup, a Viking teenager, befriends a dragon. General release. How to Train Your Dragon 3D (PG) ●●●●● (Dean DeBlois/Chris Sanders, US, 2010) Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera. 97min. See above. General release. Hubble 3D (U) (Toni Meyers, Canada, 2010) 44min. Leonardo Di Caprio narrates the latest 3D IMAX space adventure. IMAX Theatre, Glasgow.
✽✽ I Am Love (15) ●●●●● (Luca Guadagnino, Italy, 2009) Tilda
Swinton, Flavio Parenti, Edoardo Gabbriellini. 120min. An announcement made at the birthday celebration of an ageing Italian industrialist triggers a series of events that will impact the family’s lives forever in this film of rare formal grace. It is at this party that central protagonist Emma (Swinton) meets Antonio (Gabbriellini), a
Italian Film Festival The Romans return for another year to show off the best of their old and new cinema. Renato De Maria’s 1970s set terrorist thriller The Front Line kicks off the festival in both cities. Elsewhere there’s a newish film (2006) from Cinema Paradiso director Guiseppe Tornatore called The Unknown Woman plus prison set musical It’s All Judas’ Fault. The more routine coming-of-age genre is this represented by Cosmonauta, a tale of sibling loyalty and the Communist chic during the original space race. The retrospective this year pays homage to Italian actor Vittorio Gassman (see profile) and both cities are showing original Inglorious Bastards director Enzo G Castellari’s rarely screened 1969 war thriller Eagles Over London. Edinburgh also has a 50th Anniversary screening of La Dolce Vita (pictured). Ticket deals available, you’re going to need them. ■ GFT, Glasgow from Thu 22 Apr.
gifted chef, with whom she begins an illicit love affair which gives rise to new passions, emotions and a desire for liberation. Inspired and accomplished filmmaking with a confident aesthetic. Selected release. I Am Not Your Friend (18) (György Pálfi, Hungary, 2009) István Szüle, Gyöngyvér Országh, Corbisier Kim. 100min. This unusual drama, played by a cast of non-professional actors and shot in just 20 days, delves deep into the dark side of modern relationships in Budapest. Part of New Europe Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. I Know Where I’m Going! (U) ●●●●● (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, UK, 1945) Wendy Hiller, Roger Livesey, Finlay Currie, Pamela Brown, Nancy Price. 91min. Beautifully shot in black and white, this is an intriguing comedy romance with dark undertones, in which the young, confident Ms Hiller sets out to marry her rich, elderly fiancé in the Hebrides, but falls instead for Livesey’s sexy young naval officer. The visual symbols, all drawn from the islands’ natural landscape, underline the story’s deeper resonances. Glasgow Film Theatre. I Love you Phillip Morris (15) ●●●●● (Glenn Ficarra/John Requa, US, 2009) Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann. 97min. Demented comedy based on a true story from writers of Bad Santa Ficarra and Requa about a gay con man, his prison squeeze and his inexhaustible appetite for scheming. By far the best work leads Carrey and McGregor have done for years. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Il Postino (U) ●●●●● (Michael Radford, Italy, 1995) Massimo Troisi, Philippe Noiret, Maria Grazia Cucinotta. 108min. When exiled Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (Noiret) arrives on a remote island off the Neapolitan coast, he aids local postman Mario (Troisi) to woo the village barmaid. Gently paced and full of Mediterranean sun, Radford’s film is nicely unsentimental. Sadly, Troisi died the day after shooting was completed, but he couldn’t have left a finer legacy. Scotsman Screening Room, Edinburgh. An Inconvenient Truth (U) ●●●●● (Davis Guggenheim, US, 2006) Al Gore. 96min. The former next president of the United States brings his global warming ‘slideshow’ to the big screen. Gore presents a compelling PowerPoint presentation of the planet’s impending environmental catastrophe in what is a sometimes manipulative but generally sober and intelligent film. Part of Edinburgh International Science Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Infidel (15) ●●●●● (Josh Appignanesi, UK, 2010) Omid Djalili, Matt Lucas, Richard Schiff. 104min. A concept movie about a cockney Spurs-supporting Muslim who discovers that he was adopted at birth and that his father is actually a Jew. After a promising initial burst of energy, The Infidel runs out of steam as it heads mind-numbingly into we-are-all-the-same- underneath territory. Odeon at the Quay, Glasgow; Cameo, Edinburgh. It’s All Judas’ Fault (15) (Davide Ferrario, Italy, 2009) Kasia Smutniak. 102min. Prison-set musical in which young theatre director Irena (Smutniak) goes to a Turin prison to develop a performance piece – a reinterpretation of the crucifixion – with the convicts, only to find that no-one will agree to play Judas. Part of Italian Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. 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. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. It’s a Wonderful Afterlife (12A) ●●●●● (Gurnder Chadha, UK, 2010) Goldy Notay, Shebhana Azmi, Sendhil Ramamurthy. 100min. See Also Released,