www.list.co.uk/film 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
Action Replayy (PG) (Vipul Amrutlal Shah, India, 2010) Aishwarya Rai, Akshay Kumar, Aditya Roy Kapoor. 130min. Bollywood comedy about a young man who travels back in time in an attempt to re- ignite his parents’ passion for one another. Selected release. Africa United (12A) ●●●●● (Debs Gardner-Paterson, UK, 2010) Eriya Ndayambaje, Roger Nsengiyumva, Sanyu Joanita Kintu. 88min. Simplistic, feel-good road movie tracking the adventures of three intrepid children led by the wily and courageous Dudu (Ndayambaje), who set out to walk the 5000km from Rwanda to the World Cup in South Africa. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow; Grosvenor, Glasgow; Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. Alpha & Omega 2D (U) ●●●●● (Anthony Bell/Ben Gluck, US, 2010) Voices of Hayden Pannetierre, Christina Ricci, Justin Long. 87min. Cutesy and unremarkable lupine rom-com featuring Kate (Panettiere) and Humphrey (Long), wolves from opposite ends of the social spectrum who find that they have more in common than they thought after being removed from their pack by some meddlesome rangers. Selected release. Alpha & Omega 3D (U) ●●●●● (Anthony Bell/Ben Gluck, US, 2010) Voices of Hayden Pannetierre, Christina Ricci, Justin Long. 87min. See above. Selected release. 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. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh.
✽✽ The American (15) ●●●●● (Anton Corbijn, US, 2010) George
Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten. 104min. See review, page 44 and profile page ??. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Another Year (12A) ●●●●● (Mike Leigh, UK, 2010) Jim
Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen, Peter Wight. 129min. This bittersweet examination of middle-aged life gently unfolds over the seasons. Dealing with themes from death to marriage to depression and the search for happiness, the life cycle is enhanced by many fantastic performances. Selected release. Artur Zmijewski: Screening and Curators’ Talk (E) (Artur Zmijewski, Various) 90min. Lesley Young and James Hutchinson of The Salford Restoration Office, curators of the current Artur Zmijewski exhibition in Tramway 5, introduce a selection of the artist’s other films. Tramway, Glasgow. Atonement (15) ●●●●● (Joe Wright, UK, 2007) Vanessa Redgrave, Keira Knightley, James McAvoy. 123min. It’s a rare thing for a film to fuse the literary qualities of a great novel with dramatic power and cinematic grandeur, but Atonement does just that. Fine, heady and emotive performances from the cast and occasional scenes of astounding visual imagery mean that the tragic love story of childhood sweethearts Knightley and McAvoy remains as complex and heartrending as Ian McEwan’s original novel. 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. Grosvenor, Glasgow. Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story (E) (Sarah Townsend, UK, 2009) Eddie Izzard. 103min. Documentary following the fantastic Izzard on a difficult comeback tour. Featuring as-yet-unseen footage of his earliest performances, street acts and sketches. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. Bicycle Thieves (PG) ●●●●● (Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1948) Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell. 88min. De Sica’s 1948 Italian neo-realist
masterpiece. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Bitter Tea of General Yen (PG) ●●●●● (Frank Capra, US, 1933) Barbara Stanwyck, Nils Asther, Toshia Mori. 98min. Bizarre and sumptuous melodrama in which a missionary’s wife is taken hostage and falls in love with her warlord captor. Part of Capra season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Blade Runner (15) ●●●●● (Ridley Scott, US, 1982) Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young. 117min. A tough cop tracks down a group of malfunctioning androids in this gritty hi-tech retread of Raymond Chandler, executed with Scott’s customary visual flair, and with strong performances, especially from Ford and Hauer. Sloans, Glasgow. The Blood of a Poet (15) ●●●●● (Jean Cocteau, France, 1930) Lee Miller, Pauline Carton, Enrique Rivero. 53min. Semi-autobiographical study of the pain of being an artist, in many ways the overture to poet/author/director Cocteau’s later, richer work. Rougher and less sophisticated than Cocteau’s later Orphee, it is still a fascinating entry point into both surrealist cinema and Cocteau’s work. Screening with a live score from Steven Severin. Cameo, Edinburgh. Bon Jovi – The Circle Tour (E) (, 2010) 114min. Live footage of the poodle- rocking band’s latest lavish tour. Vue Omni, Edinburgh. Break Ke Baad (PG) ●●●●● (Danish Aslam, India, 2010) Deepika Padukone, Imran Khan, Sharmila Tagore. 125min. Coming of age romantic comedy from India about two childhood sweethearts who try and keep their love alive despite separation. Music by Vishal Shekhar and Prasoon Joshi. Selected release, Fri 26 Nov. brilliantlove (18) (Ashley Horner, UK, 2010) Liam Browne, Nancy Trotter Landry, Michael Hodgson. 97min. An intense, poetic love story about a couple who live in a garage. Glasgow Film Theatre. Burke and Hare (15) ●●●●● (John Landis, UK, 2010) Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Isla Fisher. 100min. A darkly comic retelling of the tale of Edinburgh’s most notorious murderous residents, Williams Burke (Pegg) and Hare (Serkis), and their quest to supply doctors with fresh bodies
All-Night Horror Madness You better hurry and book now for this dusk till dawn horror marathon because the tickets are already half sold out. Brought to you courtesy of those bloodthirsty fiends at Psychotronic, this celebration of the debauched and the venal features dyed in the wool classics Basket Case, Dario Argento’s Suspiria (pictured), Return of the Living Dead, From Beyond and, for a touch of seasonal cheer, the original 1974 version of Black Christmas. ■ Cameo, Edinburgh, Sat 27 Nov.
INDEX Film
PROFILE
ANTON CORBIJN Born Strijen, Netherlands, 1955
Background Corbijn began his career as a music photographer after borrowing his father’s camera to take pictures of a local concert aged 17. He quickly went on to establish his name through work for bands including Joy Division and U2 before expanding his repertoire to snap stars like Clint Eastwood and Pavarotti. The lure of the moving image led Corbijn to try his hand directing music videos which he made for the likes of Depeche Mode and Metallica. His first feature film, Control, was released in 2007, an elegant portrait of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis. It won a host of awards including Best New British Feature at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
What’s he up to now? Corbijn’s second feature film, The American is released in cinemas this month. The unconventional thriller stars George Clooney as a lone hitman who is forced to hide out in an Italian hilltop town.
On following up Control with The American ‘It’s in colour, it’s contemporary, it’s a Hollywood film, it’s not with English actors, everything is different than I did with Control. After Control it was essential for me to work in a very different genre, not to get labelled and to gain a lot of experience in filmmaking.’ On casting George Clooney ‘I wanted a very dark character to be the lead and I saw hints of darkness in George in Syriana and Michael Clayton. I think this role for George is the darkest role he’s ever played but he plays it fabulously. For him I guess it was a challenge that it was all about the movement, the inner workings of the mindset of this protagonist and to do very much with very little. He was really good at that.’
Interesting fact Corbijn structured the film in the style of a Western. His aim was to blend two genres of the Western and the thriller for the film. (Gail Tolley) ■ The American, general release from Fri 26 Nov. See review, page opposite.
18 Nov–2 Dec 2010 THE LIST 45