www.list.co.uk/film HORROR TRASH HUMPERS (18) 79min ●●●●●
Returning Harmony Korine to the downbeat Nashville locations of his 1997 debut feature Gummo, in some ways his new effort, Trash Humpers, has its roots in films like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity. Like those, Korine wants you to think what you’re watching is some kind of real-life-document, discovered almost by accident in the wake of horrific events. But shot on fuzzy VHS tape and crudely edited, what you get is something far more disturbing than half-hearted horrors about things that go bump in the night.
Inspired by everyone from Tobe Hooper to David Lynch, Trash Humpers does exactly what it says on the tin. A series of vignettes focusing on a trio of wizened rednecks, they pass by the time by dry-humping dustbins, as well as performing fellatio on tree branches and generally pleasuring themselves in any way possible. With the actors (including Korine and his real-life wife Rachel) all masked up, the result is an unnerving experience at times. It’s also tedious, repetitive and downright abrasive, wilfully defying you to enjoy it. If only the midnight movie circuit was still thriving: Trash Humpers was made for it. (James Mottram) ■ GFT, Glasgow on Wed 14 Jul and Thu 15 Jul.
Reviews Film
CRIME DRAMA AJAMI (15) 120min ●●●●●
Co-written and directed by Yaron Shani, an Israeli Jew, and Scandar Copti, a Palestinian living in Israel, Ajami is a compelling crime drama, set on the streets of a predominantly Arab neighbourhood in Jaffa, Tel Aviv. Taking their cue from the likes of Pulp Fiction and Amores Perros, the filmmakers split their narrative into a series of achronological and overlapping chapters: we follow a number of characters backwards and forwards in time, sometimes revisiting the same events from different perspectives. The pivotal character here is Omar (Shahir Kabaha), a
Muslim teenager whose family has become embroiled in a vendetta with Bedouin gangsters. In order to protect himself and his relatives, including his younger brother Nasri (Fouad Habash, the film’s narrator), Omar has to swiftly raise a vast sum of blood money. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Malek (Ibrahim Frege), his co-worker at the bar of local fixer Abu Elias (Youssef Sahwani), needs cash to pay for his mother’s bone- marrow operation. Out of desperation Malek and Omar
plan a drug deal, which brings them into the orbit of a Jewish policeman, Dando (Eran Naim). The latter is increasingly obsessed by the disappearance of his soldier brother, last seen in the Occupied Territories.
Shot on actual locations and impressively acted by an entirely non-professional cast, the Oscar-nominated Ajami has a powerful immediacy, which is not always achieved by more star-studded productions. This is a volatile world where a verbal argument between neighbours over the noise of livestock can spiral into a fatal stabbing. To their credit, Shani and Copti refuse to view their characters as either heroes or villains, preferring instead to explore the pressures, loyalties and responsibilities experienced by individuals within their own communities. Omar, for example, has to keep secret his relationship with the Christian-Arab Hadir (Ranin Karim), the daughter of Abu-Lias, while the dreams of Binj (played by Copti himself) to escape Ajami with his Jewish girlfriend are halted tragically. Following on from The Band’s Visit, Lebanon and Waltz with Bashir, Ajami is further evidence of the current resurgence within Israeli cinema. (Tom Dawson) ■ GFT, Glasgow from Mon 19–Wed 21 Jul.
DRAMA THE CONCERT (15) 122min ●●●●●
Director Radu Mihaileanu made the beguiling Live and Become, a film that dealt with the difficult integration into Israeli society of the Ethiopian Falasha Jews. Similarly, his latest film also has a strong religious theme, and is based on several historical incidents highlighting the anti-Semitism of Brezhnev’s Soviet Union. Russian conductor Filipov (Aleksei Guskov), dismissed from his position at the
Bolshoi orchestra for hiring too many Jewish musicians thirty years ago, is working as a cleaner. One day he intercepts an invitation for the Bolshoi to play in Paris, and like The Blues Brothers, decides to put the band back together. Herein lies the film’s problem: the director can’t decide whether he’s making a comedy or a drama; or going for slapstick or realism, and in the end it ends up being a hotchpotch, especially when the action moves to Paris and young virtuoso violinist Anne-Marie Jacquet (Melanie Laurent) is employed to play with the orchestra.
It comes as no surprise when the ridiculous backstory ties up her past with the orchestra. The action is hindered by clunky expositional dialogue that borders on the slapstick, especially in the Russian scenes that do move along at a fair clip. It follows the template of dozens of other musical movies, including The Commitments, in positing the drama around a will-they-or-won’t-they perform plot. The final concert may be a highlight, but it’s a crescendo that arrives far too late to help hit the right notes. (Kaleem Aftab) ■ Filmhouse, Edinbugh from Fri 16 Jul.
8–22 Jul 2010 THE LIST 51