Film Reviews DRAMA VILLA AMALIA (PG) 94min ●●●●●
The latest collaboration between Isabelle Huppert and director Benoît Jacquot is this spare existential drama, which begins with concert pianist and composer Ann Hidden (Huppert) discovering an infidelity. Helped by Georges (Jean-Hugues Anglade), an old childhood friend from Brittany, Anne systematically severs all connections with her present life. Carrying only a weekend bag, she travels by train through France, Germany and Switzerland, eventually reaching the Neapolitan coast. It’s there, on the sun-drenched volcanic island of Ischia, that she discovers the Villa Amalia of the title, which turns out to be an uninhabited hilltop shack. It’s how Jacquot directs this tale of a
woman taking radical measures to forge a new identity which impresses. The editing is elliptical, leaving strange gaps in the the narrative and heightening the mysteriousness of the human encounters, which are often marked by a lack of verbal communication. The impressive cinematography of Caroline Champetier contrasts the cold tones of Northern Europe with vivid Mediterranean seascapes, whilst throughout, Bruno Coulais’s powerful score adds a layer of dissonance. It’s a film which is both concrete – showing for example how Ann’s material belongings are discarded – and abstract, particularly in the way it creates the utopian space of Villa Amalia itself. Balancing emotional reticence and physical determination, Huppert memorably depicts an enigmatic character embracing self- imposed solitude. (Tom Dawson) ■ Cameo, Edinburgh, Fri 30 Jul (matinees only).
46 THE LIST 22 Jul–5 Aug 2010
ADVENTURE/COMEDY/ANIMATION TOY STORY 3 (U) 108min ●●●●●
Sooner or later, everyone grows out of their toys. It’s been over a decade since the world fell for Pixar’s much loved Toy Story and the superior Toy Story 2, so a third instalment, arriving long after its audience has grown up, seems, at best, ill-timed. Remarkably it’s anything but, for Toy Story 3 retains the charm, good humour and surprising pathos of the first two films, while bringing all the characters to a satisfying, final resolution. Ten years after the events of Toy Story 2, Andy is now leaving home for college. His mother packs the toys in cardboard boxes and donates them to Sunnyside day- care centre, to spend their declining years being played with by some boisterous nippers. With Sunnyside presided over by the plush, strawberry-scented Lotso Bear (Ned Beatty), it initially seems like the toys have landed on their feet, but when Lotso reveals his darker side, it’s up to Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz (Tim Allen)
to rescue the toys from the prospect of a trip to the incinerator.
Toy Story 3 does have a few lapses of taste, with the gags involving Ken and Barbie, the humour is a little cruder and more stereotypical than usual, but it sticks firmly to the Pixar formula of accomplished gags (the best of which sees Buzz switched to demo mode, leaving him talking in fluent Spanish for much of the action) and unsentimentally-wrought pathos (the grim resolution on the faces of the toys as they prepare for incineration is unforgettable).
With even new characters like Lotso Bear, a
patriarchal double-dealer straight out of Tennessee Williams country, proving as interesting as old stalwarts Woody and Buzz, Toy Story 3 satisfies as the final chapter of a much loved tale. Arriving after effective experiments in genre WALL-E and Up, Pixar’s knack for creating polished, gleaming and delightful productions make Toy Story 3 look like what it should do – child’s play. (Eddie Harrison) ■ General release from Mon 19 Jul.
DRAMA LONDON RIVER (12A) 88min ●●●●●
The 7/7 bombings serve as the backdrop to this clash of cultures tale. Guernsey- based Falklands War widow Elisabeth (Brenda Blethyn) is first seen listening to a church sermon about loving your neighbour. In Africa, Muslim Ousmane (Sotigui Kouyaté) is seen praying at an olive grove. They are both impelled to come to London as their children have gone missing in the aftermath of the attack where they meet and converse in stifled French. Both parents realise how little they really know about their children (in Ousmane’s case it’s unsurprising as he is an absent father) and are surprised at the cosmopolitan nature of London.
The lack of discussion on terrorism here is a crucial and near-fatal omission,
especially as writer/director Rachid Bouchareb showed his dab hand at treating contentious political issues with his 2006 debut Days of Glory (which brought into focus the sterling effort that Algerian troops made to liberate France during World War Two).
The kitchen sink aesthetic accentuates the fact that Bouchareb’s London is a series of clichés and stereotypes. Nonetheless, despite its flaws it does build to a dramatic conclusion filled with pathos that avoids the pitfalls usually associated with stories about two seemingly opposite people realising they have a lot in common. (Kaleem Aftab) ■ GFT, Glasgow from Tue 27–Thu 29 Jul. See profile, listings.