www.list.co.uk/film COMEDY DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS (12A) 110min ●●●●●
THRILLER 22 BULLETS (L’IMMORTEL) (18) 117min ●●●●●
Twenty-two being the number of slugs retired gangster don Charly Matteï (Jean Reno) is plugged with at point-blank range during the striking opening of this glossy French crime movie. Improbably, Matteï survives the assassination attempt with only a paralysed hand and a scar on his cheek. Now wishing to live a good and quiet life, he renounces revenge despite learning that the kill order had come from his old partner-in-crime Tony Zacchia (Kad Merad). But when Zacchia begins to wipe out his friends and colleagues, Matteï comes out of retirement seeking some old-fashioned, cold-blooded revenge.
Both 22 Bullets and the novel it’s adapted from, L’Immortel by Franz-
Olivier Giesbert, are based loosely on the life of the last don of Marseille, Jacques Imbert, and the gang war he fought with rival Tany Zampa in the 1970s. Writer-director Richard Berry has updated the action to the modern day and given the story the commercial polish of a Hollywood blockbuster. Thus, we’re treated to several deafening shoot-outs, a handful of gruesome executions, much macho posturing and some handsome location photography. We’re also expected to accept that old chestnut good crime boss/bad crime boss and sympathise with Matteï now that he no longer runs the rackets and never dealt drugs – unlike his wicked ex- partner.
It’s a bit hard to swallow the sentimentality, and the tonal shifts between sadistic violence and syrupy drama don’t help. Still, Berry maintains the pace and Reno is watchable as always. And the OTT opening is a stunner. And, apparently, true. (Miles Fielder) ■ Selected release from Fri 3 Sep.
On paper Jay Meet the Parents Roach’s new film sounds appetising. But this remake of Francis Veber’s passable 1998 French comedy Le dîner de cons squanders a cast headed by Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, and supported by Lucy Punch, David Walliams, Chris O’Dowd, US ventriloquist Jeff Dunham and The Hangover’s Zach Galifianakis. Promotion-seeking executive Tim
(Rudd) attempts to find a loser to compete at his boss’ ‘dinner for winners’, which rewards – and secretly belittles – the biggest oddball of the night. Tim is in with a chance, however, after meeting awkward tax agent Barry (Carell), a man with a penchant for creating artwork from dead mice. But as annoying as Barry becomes, Tim soon finds his loyalty tested. Roach’s film isn’t without amusing moments, but it struggles to balance the eccentric and sentimental tenets of the original. A bloated running time also severely tests the patience. (Rob Carnevale) ■ General release from Fri 3 Sep.
DRAMA/THRILLER DOG POUND (18) 90min ●●●●● Young French writer-director Kim Chapiron, who made the hillbilly horror Sheitan, heads to the American Midwest for his English-language
DRAMA CERTIFIED COPY (12A) 106 min ●●●●●
Reviews Film debut feature. Based on Alan Clarke’s seminal borstal drama Scum, Dog Pound is set in a Montana facility for juvenile offenders. Three new teenage prisoners arrive through its gates: Butch (Adam Butcher) has assaulted a correctional officer; Davis (Shane Kippel) has been caught dealing drugs, while Angel (Mateo Morales) was arrested stealing a car. A warden explains to them that if they play by the rules, they will be treated fairly. The newcomers quickly discover, however, that in this dog-eat-dog world, it is thuggish bullies like their fellow in- mate Banks (Taylor Poulin), who have to be confronted.
A visceral authenticity is this claustrophobic film’s main asset, which is partly achieved by the convincing lead performances and the casting of gang-members and ex- prisoners in supporting roles, who all look and seem right for this environment (Poplin, for example, has real-life convictions for violence). Credit, too, to Chapiron and his cinematographer Andre Chemetoff for the way they capture the climactic riot scene in the cafeteria with a dramatic you-are-there immediacy. There’s no question that the filmmaker is effective at portraying the brutality and intimidation that define this detention system and, fittingly, even the anger- management class flares up into a violent confrontation. What’s less clear. though, is what the film actually adds to Clarke’s original vision. (Tom Dawson) ■ Selected release from Fri 27 Aug.
Certified Copy is the first feature shot outside Iran by director Abbas Kiarostami. Initially, it feels out of kilter with the austere experimentation of his recent features and displays more of an affinity with Richard Linklater’s Before Sunset than the work of the man who made 10 On Ten and Shirin. Set amidst sun-kissed Tuscan locations, it is playful, accessible and surprisingly engaging. It feels like Kiarostami in holiday mood.
Opera singer William Shimell is suitably dry and starchy as academic author
James Miller. In Arezzo, he talks about his new book which questions the notion of authenticity in art and whether reproductions or copies can be just as artistically valid as the originals. He subsequently meets an unnamed antiques dealer (Juliette Binoche) who drives him to the hill town of Lucignano. They chat and challenge each other, skirmishing in a way that hints at conventional romantic comedy. When they are mistaken for a married couple, they seem to play along with the misconception and the film asks the viewer to decide what is genuine, whether this is just a copy of a real relationship and if it even matters. Deliberately evoking Roberto Rossellini’s Voyage To Italy, Certified Copy is a thoughtful, genuinely beguiling puzzle of a film with a luminous performance from Binoche that earned her the Best Actress Prize at Cannes. It is a film that grows in stature as it stubbornly haunts the memory. (Allan Hunter) ■ GFT, Glasgow from Fri 3 Sep. Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 17 Sep
26 Aug–9 Sep 2010 THE LIST 85