Film Index PROFILE
TODD SOLONDZ Born Newark, New Jersey, 1959.
Background Following some off-beat short films, American Jewish screenwriter and director Solondz had a genuine surprise cult hit with his 1995 feature debut Welcome to the Dollhouse, a darkly sadistic tale of high school, bullying and otherness. Solondz quickly compounded his gift for suburban satire and controversy with 1998’s Happiness, a multi-award winning comic tale of dysfunctional families, paedophilia, suicide and murder. His next film, Storytelling, was compromised by the censor but he returned to experimental form with 2004’s Palindromes, a road movie/comedy about abortion and identity in which many different actors, male and female, took it in turns to play the lead character Dawn Wiener, who was also the lead character in his debut feature. It was the first time that Solondz had played with ideas of repetition and identity in his films. What’s he up to now His new film Life During Wartime will soon be out on DVD after a brief cinema and pay-per-view release. The film revisits the characters from Happiness and Welcome to the Dollhouse but has different actors playing them. The film is as spiteful, nasty, obscene and genuinely challenging as anything Solondz has done before.
On ideas ‘I don’t know where ideas come from, if they are indeed ideas? I just found myself writing the first scene and realising there is more to be said about the characters I thought I had finished with ten years ago and I began to get excited about the idea of recasting everyone.’
On Life During Wartime ‘It’s basically a qualified sequel: part variation, part sequel. But it doesn’t have the same aims as Happiness and you don’t have to have seen any of my previous films to appreciate it.’ Interesting facts When not writing and trying to secure film finance, Solondz teaches at NYU Film School. (Paul Dale) ■ Life During Wartime, out now, selected release. Available on DVD from Mon 12 Jul (Artificial Eye).
58 THE LIST 10–24 Jun 2010
✽✽ The Brothers Bloom (12A) ●●●●● (Rian Johnson, US, 2008)
Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo. 113min. Convention-twisting follow-up to Brick, offering a light-hearted spin on that favourite of cinematic sons, the con man. Ruffalo and Brody balance humour and heart as the titular tricksters and Weisz stays just the right side of kooky as the eccentric millionairess they target. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow; Cameo, Edinburgh. Calamity Jane (U) ●●●●● (David Butler, US, 1953) Doris Day, Howard Keel, Allyn Ann McLerie, Philip Carey. 101min. Indian scout Calamity Jane (Day) is hard- riding, boastful and handy with a gun. She has to be, living as she does in Deadwood, Dakota, a place where men are men and women are toothsome. When Jane falls in love with a young army lieutenant she realises she may have to change, because he really does not appreciate her more butch qualities. Part of West End Festival. Grosvenor, Glasgow. Carrie (18) ●●●●● (Brian DePalma, US, 1976) Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, John Travolta. 98min. DePalma’s adaptation of Stephen King is still the high school angst movie to end ‘em all. Distressingly awkward teen Spacek’s adolescent experience is so humiliating that she develops telekinetic powers, and the school bullies finally get their comeuppance. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. Centurion (15) ●●●●● (Neil Marshall, UK, 2010) Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, David Morrissey. 97min. Marshall takes us back to the ancient world of 117AD as the Romans try to ‘civilise’ Britain. An entertaining action piece with some sturdy performances, sustained tension and vicious combat. Cameo, Edinburgh. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2D (U) ●●●●● (Phil Lord, US, 2009) Voices of Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan. 90min. Vivid and likeable animated version of Judi and Ron Barrett’s 1978 children’s book set in the town of Chewandswallow, where the weather comes three times a day, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Empire, Clydebank.
The Collective (Double Bill with Follow Me) (PG) ●●●●● (Darcy Wittenberg, Canada, 2005) 95min. Multi- award-winning film that pushes the boundaries of the mountain bike film – a modern sports film classic. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Crimes and Misdemeanours (15) ●●●●● (Woody Allen, US, 1989) Martin Landau, Anjelica Huston, Woody Allen, Alan Alda. 104min. Accomplished Allen offering which effortlessly blends the Big Questions side of his art with the one-line wit we’ve taken for granted from him. Optician Martin Landau has a hit man bump off his unsettled mistress, while worthy documentary filmmaker Allen clashes with smug media tycoon Alda. Part of Allen retrospective. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Death at a Funeral (15) ●●●●● (Neil LaBute, US, 2010) Peter Dinklage, Chris Rock, Zoe Saldana. 91min. A scene- by-scene remake of 2007’s ultra-lame Frank Oz comedy Death at a Funeral, this is a facile, crude, unloved sub-Richard Curtis farce in which a family’s attempts at mourning are repeatedly interrupted. General release. Distant Voices, Still Lives (15) ●●●●● (Terence Davies, UK, 1988) Freda Dowie, Pete Postlethwaite, Angela Walsh, Dean Williams. 85min. In the Liverpool of the late 40s and early 50s, a working class household perseveres through domestic violence, death and marriage. A brilliantly made tribute to the filmmaker Davies’ family experience, and a requiem for a way of life now past. CCA, Glasgow. Doctor Strangelove (Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love The Bomb) (PG) ●●●●● (Stanley Kubrick, UK, 1963) Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden. 93min. Devastating black comedy on the lunacy of the nuclear age with Sellers ideally cast in three roles (US President, jolly Brit captain, and demented teutonic boffin) and Slim Pickens the good ole boy heading for oblivion to a chorus of ‘We’ll Meet Again’. Still alarmingly relevant. Part of West End Festival. Grosvenor, Glasgow. ECA Animation Degree Show (15) (Various, UK, 2010) 90min. This year’s Edinburgh College of Art students’ work showreel. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. ECA Film and TV (15) (Various, UK, 2010) 90min. The annual anthology screening of the best work from ECA’s graduating students. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Edinburgh International Film Festival This 64th year promises many more new films, star-studded premieres, industry- led workshops and red carpet glamour. The opening gala this year is The Illusionist, a new film from Sylvain Chomet, the French director who made the charming Belleville Rendezvous. Tickets for most films cost £8.50 (£7.50), unless otherwise stated in listings. Exceptions usually apply for discussion events, opening and closing galas, shorts programmes and matinees – see listings for details: edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/events/ film-festival/. Various cinemas, 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?. Empire, Clydebank. 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. Follow Me – a Mountain Bike Film (Double Bill with The Collective) (15) (Various, 2010) 105min. Mountain bikers at the top of their game do their thing in some incredible international locations. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
Refugee Week The film strand of this week-long celebration of those who seek a haven and enrich this land goes from strength to strength, and this year the Glasgow programme is
particularly strong. Highlights include director Mat Whitecross’ fascinating new documentary Moving to Mars which follows a Burmese family from a Thai refugee camp to Sheffield. Showing exclusively in Glasgow is polemical and celebrated French filmmaker Claire Denis’ new film White Material and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1957 courtroom drama Witness for the Prosecution, while in Edinburgh there is a screening with accompanying Q&A of Robert Rae and the Theatre Workshop’s powerful 2008 feature Trouble Sleeping. Meanwhile Glasgow has an offshoot retrospective celebrating the work of French Vietnamese filmmaker Rithy Pahn whose films include S21: The Khymer Rouge Killing Machine and The Sea Wall. Ticket deals available. www.scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk; www.reelfestivals.org ■ GFT, Glasgow from Mon 14 Jun; Filmhouse, Edinburgh Sun 13–Tue 15 Jun.