Film Reviews
COMEDY THE OTHER GUYS (12A) 107min ●●●●●
The action/comedy genre gets a welcome boost with Adam McKay’s crowd-pleaser The Other Guys teaming Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as Allen Gamble and Terry Hoitz, an oddly-matched couple of New York cops. After years in the shadows of showboating rivals PK Highsmith and Chris Danson (Samuel L Jackson and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson), Gamble and Hoitz find themselves centre stage when their long-suffering captain (Michael Keaton) allows them to investigate crooked industrialist David Ershon (Steve Coogan). But given Gamble’s placidity and Hoitz’s numbskull mentality, the wannabe super-cops quickly find themselves in over their heads, not helped by Holtz’s crush on Gamble’s unnaturally attractive wife (Eva Mendes). After a series of misbegotten vehicles for Ferrell (Semi-Pro, Land of the Lost) and Wahlberg (Max Payne, The Happening), The Other Guys wisely re-employs the writing/directing skills of Saturday Night Live veteran Adam McKay (who worked similar wonders with rare Ferrell hit Anchorman). The chemistry of the two leads evokes memories of Alan Arkin and James Caan in Richard Rush’s excellent 1974 comedy policier Freebie and The Bean, with running jokes about Gamble’s past as a pimp, homeless people having orgies in Gamble’s Prius, and a sequence in which the twosome’s inability to recognise a bribe leads them to suspend their investigation in exchange for front row tickets to Broadway shows.
Without aspiring to be much more than low-brow Saturday night entertainment, The Other Guys deserves credit for delivering on its promise; showcasing Wahlberg’s previously unknown skills as a ballet dancer demonstrates a sense of fun lacking in most aspiring blockbusters. (Eddie Harrison) ■ General release, Fri 17 Sep.
56 THE LIST 9–23 Sep 2010
DRAMA FRONTIER BLUES (12A) 97min ●●●●●
British-Iranian director Babak Jalali captures the absurdist details and quiet tragedies of life in a remote Iranian border town in his debut feature Frontier Blues. Through long, static shots and
slow-pacing, Jalali details the lives of four interconnected characters. There is Hassan (Abolfazl Karimi), who goes everywhere with his beloved donkey, his uncle Kazem (Behzad Shahrivari) a clothes store owner who never quite meets his customers’ demands, chicken farmer Alam (Mahmoud Kalteh) who is learning English in the hope that he can one day escape with the woman he loves and a local musician who is mourning the loss of his wife. In Frontier Blues narrative and dialogue take a back seat to the prevailing tone of melancholy and gentle humour, and while this feels a little stretched over its reasonable running time there are parts which are subtly moving and that skilfully capture the monotony, repetition and loneliness of the characters’ lives. This is a film that is undoubtedly influenced by the work of Scandinavian directors Aki Kaurismäki (Lights in the Dusk, The Man without a Past) and Roy Andersson (Songs from the Second Floor, You, The Living), nonetheless Jalali successfully transfers their trademark deadpan aesthetic to his home country and in the process marks himself out as a confident young director. (Gail Tolley) ■ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Fri 17–Mon 20 Sep.
ALSO RELEASED Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D (15) 96min ●●●●● Alice (Milla Jovovich) continues on her journey to find survivors. Adequate sequel, this time in 3D. General release, Fri 10 Sep. Just Wright (PG) ●●●●● US romcom set in world of professional basketball. Reviewed in full at www.list.co.uk General release, Fri 10 Sep. F (18) 78min ●●●●● A group of teachers defend themselves from a gang of murderous schoolkids when their school comes under siege. Selected release, Fri 17 Sep. I’m Still Here (15) 108min Joaquin Phoenix meltdown documentary. Unable to review at time of going to press, will be reviewed next issue and at www.list.co.uk Selected release, Fri 17 Sep. Metropolis (PG) 145min ●●●●● Fritz Lang’s futuristic odyssey digitally restored and remastered. GFT, Glasgow, Fri 10-Thu 16 Sep; Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Fri 10-Sun 19 Sep; Cameo, Edinburgh, Sat 18 & Thu 23 Sep. Devil (15) 80min ●●●●● Effective minimalist horror in which a group of people stuck in a lift realise the devil is amongst them. General release, Fri 17 Sep. The Maid (La Nana) (15) 94min ●●●●● Chilean black comedy about a long-serving housemaid who begins to go a bit mental. Writer/director Sebastián Silva’s carefully empathetic screenplay and gutsy direction and an all- dominating performance by Catalina Saavedra make this well worth seeking out. GFT, Glasgow, Fri 10-Thu 17 Sep. Going the Distance (15) 102min Drew Barrymore romcom. Reviewed in full at www.list.co.uk. General release, Fri 10 Sep.
DRAMA/CRIME MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE (15) 93min ●●●●●
Inspired by true events, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done tells the story of Brad Macallum (Michael Shannon), an aspiring actor who commits the crime he is to enact in a play in which he is performing. So here it is. The outré cinema geek event of the year in which filmmakers
David Lynch and Werner Herzog go head to head. This is the collaboration of the two greatest talents currently working in English language cinema, with Lynch taking the producer’s seat while Herzog directs, and attempts, in essence, to make a David Lynch film. Like a super group or a coalition government the result is patchy and disappointing but occasionally thrilling and interesting.
Called to the scene of a domestic disturbance in suburban San Diego, Detective Hank Havenhurst (Willem Dafoe) arrives to discover an elderly woman (Grace Zabriskie) dead. The prime suspect is the woman’s son, Brad (Shannon), barricaded inside a nearby house having apparently taken hostages.
With its sterile suburban San Diego setting, non linear structure, potty characters and mundane dialogue, My Son, My Son calls to mind some of the best and worst things of the collected oeuvres of its director and producer. The trouble is that by reducing the suspense and upping the willful obscurity, the film becomes little more than an experimental curio peopled by decent actors turning in terribly hammy stylised performances. Still, there are a few dark laughs to be had. (Paul Dale) ■ GFT, Glasgow, Fri 17–Thu 23 Sep.