Film Index PROFILE
RACHID BOUCHAREB Born September 1st 1959, Paris. Background Bouchareb started his career working as an assistant director for French TV. In 1985 he made his debut feature Baton Rouge. In 1995 he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film with Dust of Life. Firmly on the film map, Little Senegal showed at Cannes in 2001 and he received another Oscar nomination for Days of Glory in 2006.
What’s he up to now? His new film London River is set in the aftermath of the July 7th London bombings and looks at the impact that the bombings has on the life on the families of those who died in the bombing.
On the impact of 9/11 on life for Muslims in France ‘Actually, I don’t think it changed anything too much. It’s always been something that has caused difficulty – the integration of Muslims into French life has always been a complicated subject. It is always in political debates. I don’t know if in England that Islam is mentioned every single day by politicians. In France it is the political world. In the UK I’ve heard the phrase British Muslim used, in France we still don’t say the French Muslim.’
On the Battle of Algiers ‘I don’t really watch many films. The Battle of Algiers is one that I have seen and like a lot, but I haven’t tried to copy it, even though people have called my next film Hors la Loi, which screened at Cannes, The Battle of Paris. Where there were protests against my film at Cannes by some French nationals that shocked me a little. It shocked me because 50 years after the film The Battle of Algiers there is always a reticence and a difficulty to talk in any way about Algeria and its relationship to France. There is a small majority of French people who still want to talk about the past and colonisation – the so-called French life.’ (Kaleem Aftab) ■ London River, GFT Glasgow, Tue 27–Thu 29 Jul. See review, page 46.
48 THE LIST 22 Jul–5 Aug 2010
Films screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate, star rating, credits, brief review and venue details. Film index compiled by Paul Dale ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry The A-Team (12A) ●●●●● (Joe Carnahan, USA, 2010) Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel. 118min. See review, page 47. General release. Alice in Wonderland 2D (PG) ●●●●● (Tim Burton, US, 2010) Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter. 108min. A sequel of sorts that takes in elements of both Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass, this finds Alice (Wasikowska) as a teenager returning to Underland, which has long since fallen into the tyrannical grip of the Red Queen (Bonham Carter). Dark and visually arresting, yet not quite as emotionally involving as Burton’s very best work. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel (U) ●●●●● (Betty Thomas, US, 2009) Voices of Justin Long, Anna Faris, Jason Lee. 88min. The singing chipmunk trio contend with the pressures of high school, celebrity and rival female band The Chipettes. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. Astro Boy (PG) ●●●●● (David Bowers, US, 2009) Voices of Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Freddie Highmore. 93min. A popular manga in Japan since 1952, and a cult TV show in the US since the early 1980s, Astro Boy makes a bid for worldwide domination in this flashy but flatly realised animation. A robot child cloned by Dr Tenma (voiced by Cage) from the DNA of his dead son, the titular space age Pinocchio (Highmore), is rejected by his father and banished to the robot graveyard that surrounds the city. Empire, Clydebank. Baarìa (15) ●●●●● (Giuseppe Tornatore, Italy, 2009) Francesco Scianna, Margareth Made, Angela Molina. 150min. See review, page 45. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Back-Up Plan (12A) ●●●●● (Alan Poul, US, 2010) Jennifer Lopez, Alex O’Loughlin, Eric Christian Olsen. 103min. Lopez returns to film acting in this bland, generic comedy about a single woman who
opts for artificial insemination. Of course Mr Right (O’Loughlin) breezes into her life just as she learns she’s pregnant. Odeon at the Quay, Glasgow. The Bad Sleep Well (PG) ●●●●● (Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1960) Toshiro Mifune, Kyoko Kagwa, Mori Masayuki. 151min. Kurosawa’s most socially responsible film – the first he made for his own production company – deals with corruption, graft and bribery at the public level. Glasgow Film Theatre. The Beat That My Heart Skipped (15) ●●●●● (Jacque Audiard, France, 2004) Romain Duris, Niels Arestrup, Linh- Dam Pham, Emmanuelle Devos. 106min. Gangster and wannabe pianist Thomas (Duris) and his friends spend their days and nights violently managing refugee squatted flats for greedy Parisian developers but his secret ambition is to become a concert pianist. Director Audiard and screenwriter Tonino Benacquista’s second feature together (their first was the superb Read My Lips) is a stunning remake of James Toback’s 1978 small thriller Fingers. In opening up Toback’s wantonly machismo indie flick to include many of their favourite themes (mistreatment of refugees, marginal characters caught in vaguely Hitchcockian melodramas etc) they have achieved something very unusual – a remake that measures up to the original. Part of 25 Years of Filmhouse. Filmhouse, Edinburgh; Cameo, Edinburgh (matinee). Beautiful Kate (15) ●●●●● (Rachel Ward, Australia, 2009) Rachel Griffiths, Bryan Brown, Ben Mendelsohn. 101min. See review, page 47. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Bedtime Stories (PG) ●●●●● (Adam Shankman, US, 2008) Adam Sandler, Keri Russell, Courteney Cox. 90min. Family fantasy about a man who can make bedtime stories come to life. Empire, Clydebank. Bliss (18) ●●●●● (Ray Lawrence, Australia, 1985) Barry Otto, Lynette Curran, Helen Jones. 112min. Advertising executive Otto suffers a massive heart attack and is clinically dead for four minutes. When he regains consciousness he believes himself to be in Hell and begins to jot down all the bizarre happenings that substantiate this conviction. Generally considered an improvement on Peter Carey’s original
Lacombe Lucien Louis Malle’s 1974 collaborator tale set in German occupied France during World War
Two gets a rare airing courtesy of this year’s Edinburgh Jazz and Blues festival. This year the festival marks the centenary of the birth of gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt whose music Malle utilised to make up the film’s excellent score. This great film will be showing with 1939 short Jazz Hot, which features footage of Reinhardt playing in Paris in the 1930s. ■ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Sun 1 Aug.
www.list.co.uk/film
novel, this is a weird and blackly humorous parable about love and death, given immense credibility by the committed performance of Otto. Part of On Stage, On Screen season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Bluebeard (15) ●●●●● (Catherine Breillat, France, 2009) Dominique Thomas, Lola Créton, Daphné Baiwir. 107min. This dark, misogynistic tale about a nobleman with a penchant for uxoricide (murder of a wife) is given a feminist twist, exploring the contradictions implicit in both romantic and feminist impulses. Somewhat visually sparse, but with an excellent cast, it is an idiosyncratic take on the fairytale and costume drama genres. Glasgow Film Theatre; Cameo, Edinburgh. A Bout de Souffle (Breathless) (PG) ●●●●● (Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1959) Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Daniel Boulanger. 90min. A chic Parisian petty criminal (Belmondo) and his American girlfriend (Seberg) drift through a world of stolen cars and aimless romance towards an inexorable downbeat finale. Godard’s debut feature provoked quite a stir in its day for its carefree arrogance with the conventions of filmic grammar, but today it stands as a casual love letter to the American B-movie crime picture. Cameo, Edinburgh. Breaking Rocks (E) (Alan Miles, UK, 2009) Billy Bragg. 120min. Documentary about the Jail Guitar Doors project, set up by Billy Bragg to encourage prisoners’ rehabilitation through learning music. The film features many of the high-profile supporters of the project, such as Chris Shiflett of the Foo Fighters, Mick Jones of The Clash and Bragg himself, as well as graduates of the scheme. Screenings followed by performances from some of those involved and a Q&A with Billy Bragg. Glasgow Film Theatre; Cameo, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Bronco Bullfrog (15) (Barney Platts-Mills, UK, 1969) Del Walker,
Anne Gooding, Sam Shepherd. 86min. See Also Released, page 47. Glasgow Film Theatre. Brooklyn’s Finest (18) ●●●●● (Antoine Fuqua, US, 2010) Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke. 132min. The ironic title refers to three police officers who operate within the grey area of the law, where upholding justice and personal interest make uncomfortable bedfellows. Although the acting falls short, Fuqua ensures that there is always something interesting to watch on screen. Showcase Cinema, Paisley; Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (U) (Brad Peyton, USA/Australia, 2010) Voices of James Marsden, Nick Nolte, Christina Applegate. 82min. See Also Released, page 47. General release. City Island (12A) ●●●●● (Raymond De Felitta, US, 2009) Andy Garcia, Steven Strait, Ezra Miller. 103min. See review, page 45 and profile, page 49. Showcase Cinema, Paisley. The Class (15) ●●●●● (Laurent Cantet, France, 2008) François Bégaudeau, Esmerelda Ouertani, Franck Keita. 130min. One teacher, one class, one term and a whole load of problems. Remarkable social realist drama. Part of 25 Years of Filmhouse. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Le Concert (15) ●●●●● (Radu Mihaileanu, France/Italy/Romania/Belgium, 2009) Aleksei Guskov, Mélanie Laurent, Dmitri Nazarov. 123min. A comedy following the escapades of an unemployed conductor who, in 1980 Brezhnev Russia, was fired for refusing to exclude Jewish musicians. We meet Andrei Filipov (Guscov) 25 years later as he attempts to make his comeback in Paris under false pretences. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
Check out the GreatOffers on page 6