Film Index PROFILE
DERICK MARTINI Born 2 December 1975
Background Born in New York City, he spent most of his childhood on Long Island until he was accepted into NYU as a film student. He dropped out after a month. He immediately wrote a play about unrequited love that was performed off Broadway. After writing another play he found gainful employment as a screenwriter.
What’s he up to now? Martini has filmed a script that he wrote aged 23 called Lymelife. Produced by Martin Scorsese, it’s tagline ‘The American Dream Sucks’ pretty much says everything about the lives of a community living in the suburbs of New York in 1979. He’s currently working on Hick, a film set in the American Midwest, which he calls another slice of American life. On working with Scorsese ‘I think that the most important thing about Scorsese for me personally is watching his work from earliest stuff all the way to today: he sets the bar for all filmmakers I believe and when you look at his films he delivers on every level, performance, editing, dialogue, music, every way you can deliver on a film and so when you watch his films I aspire to deliver the way he does and that is the best thing that you can learn from him.’
On the importance of deers ‘Deer are the connection to Lyme disease as one needs a deer tick to get Lyme disease and to me Lyme disease is a corrosive disease if gone untreated and relationships are like that too if they have rifts in them. It’s also the idea of a deer representing innocence and represents children in the movie. In the film the deer galloping in woods connected lots of narrative and thematic dots and helped me tell the story and form a narrative.’ Interesting fact Tim Hutton’s character who contracts Lyme disease and hides out in his basement pretending to go to work is based on someone that Martini knew as he was growing up. (Kaleem Aftab) ■ Lymelife, selected release from Fri 2 Jul. See review, page 47.
50 THE LIST 24 Jun–8 Jul 2010
Kicks (15) ●●●●● (Lindy Heymann, UK, 2009) Nichola Burley, Kerrie Hayes, Jamie Doyle. 82min. See Also Released, page 47. Glasgow Film Theatre. Kieron Maguire and The Cabinet of Living Cinema: Cinema of Diaspora (E) (Various) 80min. Live scores are performed to 20th century animation and surrealist film works by migrant artists. Works by contemporary filmmakers will also be screened. The Arches, Glasgow.
✽✽ The Killer Inside Me (18) ●●●●● (Michael Winterbottom, US, 2010) Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba. 109min. With this vicious character study of a seemingly contemplative cowboy (Affleck) who is sent to the outskirts of town to run off a prostitute, Winterbottom utilises Jim Thompson’s controversial pulp novel to explode the myth that the 1950s was a time of innocence. Fascinating, but not for the squeamish. Selected release. Killers (12A) ●●●●● (Robert Luketic, US, 2010) Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl, Tom Selleck. 100min. Witless, unfunny and lacking in any kind of chemistry between the leads, this action comedy is a forgettable dud. General release. Letters to Juliet (PG) ●●●●● (Gary Winick, US, 2010) Amanda Seyfried, Marcia DeBonis, Gael García Bernal. 105min. Airy, lightweight trifle which takes inspiration from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and, more peculiarly, the alleged phenomenon that many lovelorn people write letters to said Juliet. General release. London Assurance (E) (UK, 2010) 90min. Theatre director Nicholas Hytner’s (Miss Saigon, The History Boys) stage revival of Boucicault’s 1841 classic comedy about ageing dandy Sir Harcourt Courtley (Russell Beale), performed at The National Theatre and broadcast live. Glasgow Film Theatre; Cameo, Edinburgh. Lorca and Surrealism: Un Chien Andalou & Viaje a la Luna(E) (Various) 90min. Double bill of Surrealist work Un Chien Andalou and rebel poet Federico Garcia Lorca’s reply Viaje a la Luna, followed by a discussion with Catalan artist and director Frederic Amat and Professor Maria Delgade, Queen Mary, University of London. Weston Link, Edinburgh. Lymelife (15) ●●●●● (Derick Martini, US, 2008) Alec Baldwin, Cynthia Nixon, Kieran Culkin. 94min. See review, page 47 and profile in Listings. Selected release from Fri 2 Jul. MacGruber (15) ●●●●● (Jorma Taccone, US, 2010) Will Forte, Ryan Phillippe, Val Kilmer. 98min. This revival of Saturday Night Live character MacGruber, an 80’s action hero complete with body warmer, shades and a removable car stereo he carries around with him, is a welcome return to the Airplane! tradition of dry cinematic observation leavened with crude, silly jokes. Selected release. Madeleine (PG) ●●●●● (David Lean, UK, 1949) Ann Todd, Leslie Banks, Elizabeth Sellars. 114min. Lean’s wife Ann Todd stars as a woman who finds herself up against the moral hypocrisy of Victorian Glasgow. Pressurised on all sides by the men around her, she finds herself in court accused of poisoning her French lover. A strong depiction of a heroine who refuses to become a victim. Glasgow Film Theatre. Man No Run (15) ●●●●● (Claire Denis, France, 1989) 90min. Denis follows a group of African musicians, Les Têtes Brûlées (The Flaming Heads) as they travel to France for the first time. The screening will be followed by short film Vers Nancy. Part of Denis season. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Manon Des Sources (PG) (Claude Berri, France/Italy, 1986) Yves Montand, Daniel Auteuil, Emmanuelle Beart. 114min. Ten years after the demise of Jean de Florette, the Soubeyrans run a prosperous carnation farm. Steering this epic rural saga towards the realms of Greek tragedy, this is a full and satisfying second half that explores the suffering of the guilty
as they pay a crippling penance for man’s greed and envy. The production values are as high as ever and Auteuil assumes Depardieu’s mantle in his development from glaikit idiot to broken-hearted suitor. Part of 25 Years of Filmhouse. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. A Matter of Life and Death (PG) ●●●●● (Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger, UK, 1946) David Niven, Kim Hunter, Roger Livesey. 104min. A witty and stylish film that rises above its beginnings as a piece of wartime propaganda about goodwill between Britain and the US. Niven is an RAF pilot who finds himself before a heavenly tribunal when he bales out of his burning plane. Part of Jack Cardiff season. Glasgow Film Theatre. Milk of Sorrow (12A) ●●●●● (Claudia Llosa, Spain/Peru, 2009) Magaly Solier, Susi Sanchez, Efrain Solis. 94min. Shooting potentially sensationalist material with admirable restraint, with this sombre allegorical drama about a young Peruvian indigenous woman, Llosa finds a measure of beauty in the rituals and superstitions of life in an impoverished community. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (PG) ●●●●● (Jacques Tati, France, 1953) Jacques Tati, Nathalie Pascaud, Michelle Rolla. 91min. M Hulot, the accident-prone bachelor arrives at a jaunty coastal resort and devastation very soon ensues. Comic timing at its most irresistible, as Tati gets away with a number of memorable, slow- burning gags, all undercut by the stabbing notion that we all have an uncle exactly like Hulot. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow. My Life as a Dog (PG) ●●●●● (Lasse Halstrom, Sweden, 1985) Anton Glanzelius, Manfred Server, Anki Liden. 101min. Wholly captivating rite of passage tale set in Sweden during the 1950s. Twelve-year-old Ingemar copes with his mother’s terminal illness and his family’s general indifference to him by indulging in a high fantasy life, including the pretence that he is a dog. Terrible title, wonderful, unmissable film. Part of 25 Years of Filmhouse. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Other Final (PG) ●●●●● (Johan Kramer, Netherlands, 2002)Football fanatic and agency director Johan Kramer brought together the world’s lowest ranking national football teams – Bhutan and Montserrat – to let them battle it out. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Our Family Wedding (12A) ●●●●● (Rick Famuyiwa, US, 2010) Forest Whitaker, America Ferrera, Carlos Mencia. 102min. The comic potentialities of an African-American/Mexican marriage are explored with variable results in this glossy rom-com, which makes a few pertinent points about race and family relationships before regressing into cringe-worthy slapstick. Selected release. Paper Cannot Wrap Ember (15) ●●●●● (Rithy Pahn, France, 2007) 90min. Documentary telling the stories of young Asian women who were sexually violated during the last half-century of war and genocide in Cambodia. Glasgow Film Theatre. 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. Selected release. 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 Check out the GreatOffers on page 6
astronaut’s adventures as an illegal alien on a far-flung planet. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. Please Give (15) ●●●●● (Nicole Holofcener, US, 2010) Elizabeth Keener, Rebecca Hall, Elise Ivy. 90min. Oddly saccharine comedy of bad manners in which Keener plays a morally bankrupt New Yorker who makes no secret of the fact that she wants her neighbour dead so she can make her apartment bigger. Selected release. Prince of Persia – The Sands of Time (12A) ●●●●● (Mike Newell, US, 2010) Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley. 115min. This video game adaptation sees Gyllenhaal star as a prince who must keep a powerful, mythical object called the Sands of Time out of the hands of villains. Tedious, zero chemistry big budget adventure. General 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. Selected release. Pulp Fiction (18) ●●●●● (Quentin Tarantino, US, 1994) John Travolta, Samuel Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis. 150min. Much more ambitious than Reservoir Dogs, the most awaited second feature of the 90s has many scenes that crackle with Tarantino wit, and a few others that fall flat as the writer-director bravely experiments. Interlocking stories in the pulp crime manner concern hitmen, ailing boxers, gang bosses and their molls, drug fiends, and assorted riff-raff. Grosvenor, Glasgow. Queen Margaret University (15) (Various, UK, 2010) 90min. Selection of short films and documentaries from graduate students from Queen Margaret University. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Raavanan (12A) (Mani Ratnam, India, 2010) Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Chiyaan Vikram. 135min. Tamil version of the Bollywood adventure in which a bandit falls in love with his hostage and ten heads roll. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow. Ran (15) ●●●●● (Akira Kurosawa, Japan/France, 1985) Tatsuya Nakadai, Mieko Harada, Akira Terao. 162min. Kurosawa’s King Lear is a bleak and despairing vision of mankind torn apart by disunity, personal vengeances and family feuds that produce no honour, no victors, just victims. An accomplished fusion of Japanese history and blood-drenched Shakespearean drama, this film grows more impressive with repeated viewings. Part of 25 Years of Filmhouse. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Rashomon (12) ●●●●● (Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1951) Toshio Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori. 88min. Responsible for introducing Japanese cinema to the world market, this extraordinary film recounts four people’s versions of a violent incident involving a nobleman and a bandit. New print. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Robin Hood (12A) ●●●●● (Ridley Scott, USA/UK, 2010) Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Matthew MacFadyen. 140min. Ridley Scott’s fifth film with Crowe never quite musters up the epic power of its predecessor Gladiator, yet still, with Scott going for a gritty take on the legend of the outlaw who robbed the rich to give to the poor, at least Crowe lends the character a level of credability Kevin Costner never attained. Selected release. S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine (18) (Rithy Panh, Cambodia/France, 2003) 101min. Disturbing documentary about the S-21 genocide prison in Phnom Penh set up during the Vietnam war and continued in action for many years after it finished. Could a second holocaust have really happened right under the noses of American security forces? The answer seems to be yes. Panh season, part of Refugee Week. Glasgow Film Theatre.