DRAMA INVOLUNTARY (15) 98min ●●●●●
In contrast to recent high drama hits from Sweden (Let the Right One In, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Ruben Östlund’s quiet and thoughtful film Involuntary concentrates on the small conflicts of everyday life. Five unconnected stories explore the
nature of group mentality and what happens when an individual stands in opposition. In one instance a teacher challenges the attitudes of her colleagues after a child is punished in school. In another an elderly man struggles through a family celebration to keep face after an injury. And in a third, a sensitive bus driver halts his journey and refuses to go any further until one of his passengers confesses to a broken curtain rail. The everyday subject matter is
contrasted with Östlund’s distinct style; he shoots his characters from unusual angles, often framing them with their faces obscured. This approach has the effect of distancing the viewer, adding an almost anthropological dimension to the film while simultaneously introducing an element of intrigue to the scenes. As a result Involuntary is a film conducive to quiet contemplation rather than dramatic revelation, a subtle yet perceptive work that shows a different side of Swedish cinema than that recently seen by audiences. (Gail Tolley) ■ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, from Fri 29 Oct. See profile, listings.
Film REVIEWS
ROAD MOVIE AFRICA UNITED (PG) 85min ●●●●● The 2010 World Cup is already a fading memory but the event’s afterglow is almost sufficient to cast a spell over the simplistic, feel good road movie Africa United. The film’s mood is eternally sunny, the approach is hectic and bustling and there is no crisis so grave that it cannot be solved by the flick of a screenwriter’s contrivance. Pitched somewhere between a Children’s Film Foundation production of the 1970s and an Alexander McCall Smith novel, it works best as a film for children and safe family viewing.
Eriya Ndayambaje is a bundle of joy as Dudu, a wily, wheeler-dealer in Rwanda who convinces middle-class pal Fabrice (Roger Nsengiyumva) to follow his dream of playing at the World Cup opening ceremony in South Africa. Accompanied by Dudu’s studious sister the trio of children embark on an epic, 5000km journey across the continent by bus, truck, cargo hold and foot. Along the way, they gather their own teammates in boy soldier Foreman George (Yves Dusenge) and sex worker Celeste (Sherrie Silver).
Africa United touches lightly on a
host of problems from child soldiers to sex trafficking, HIV and AIDS lending some grit to a soft-centred saga that seems designed to counteract more typical tales of suffering and recrimination that define our perceptions of Africa. Director Debs Gardner-Paterson seems content to accentuate the positive, peppering the narrative with brightly coloured stop- motion animation sequences and tugging shamelessly at the heartstrings. Her approach is not exactly subtle but it does prove effective. (Allan Hunter) ■ General release, Fri 22 Oct.
46 THE LIST 21 Oct–4 Nov 2010
EXPERIMENTAL DRAMA THE ARBOR (15) 94min ●●●●●
Writer-director Clio Barnard’s The Arbor takes its title from a semi- autobiographical play written by the late Yorkshire playwright Andrea Dunbar, who grew up on the deprived Buttershaw estate in Bradford. Dunbar was just fifteen when she began writing The Arbor, which was staged at London’s Royal Court Theatre. Tragically she died in a pub aged 29 of a brain haemorrhage, leaving behind three children from three different fathers, and two other plays, Rita, Sue and Bob Too (filmed by Alan Clarke) and Shirley. Blurring the lines between documentary and fiction, Barnard’s film
revisits Dunbar’s life and work, but it also explores the legacy she passed on to her offspring, particularly her mixed-race daughter Lorraine (Manjinder Virk). Barnard draws on archival material from 1980s TV arts programmes in which Dunbar can be glimpsed, and scenes from The Arbor script itself, which are performed by today’s Buttershaw residents.
Yet the most interesting formal device at play here is having actors lip- synch the interview testimony of real-life people involved in the Dunbars’ lives, whilst often looking directly at the camera. Partly this gives relatives and friends an element of privacy, given that their own faces remain unseen, but it also sets up an interesting tension between what is real (the words) and what is artificial (the performances), reminding us of the constructed nature of our own memories and recollections. Increasingly the work concentrates on the tragic events which have
befallen Lorraine, who was just 11 when her mother died and who subsequently spiralled into a nether world of hard drugs, prostitution, and physical abuse, culminating in a court case investigating her role in the death of her baby son. Interestingly, while Lorraine blames Andrea for her misfortunes, her half-sister Lisa presents a far fonder picture of her mother. What’s particularly haunting is the discrepancy between the calm delivery of Virk’s testimony as Lorraine and the horrifying experiences that are being described: rather than being distanced by Barnard’s formal experimentation, we end up engrossed. (Tom Dawson) ■ GFT, Glasgow; Cameo, Edinburgh, from Fri 22 Oct.
FAMILY ALPHA AND OMEGA (U) 88min ●●●●●
Improbably dedicated to the late Hollywood wild man Dennis Hopper, who provides the voice of pack leader Tony, Alpha and Omega is a cutesy animation for toddlers only. Sultry alpha wolf Kate (Hayden Panettiere) is expected by her pack’s leaders to be part of an arranged marriage to a husky hunk (Chris Carmack). She’s also secretly adored by doe-eyed omega wolf Humphrey (Justin Long), a popular rascal first seen organising a log slide in the Jasper National Park. But when the two frisky creatures are kidnapped by dart-gun-happy hunters and transplanted to a faraway park, Kate and Humphrey face a long, if not incredible journey back home.
Directors Anthony Bell and Ben Gluck have constructed a simple but anonymous romcom with wolves. Some golfing geese provide much needed comic relief, but Alpha and Omega’s sub-Lion King life lessons about opposites attracting are unlikely to create howls of delight from even the most undemanding tykes. (Eddie Harrison) ■ General release, from Fri 22 Oct.