Film INDEX Life Cycles and Vast (E) (Ryan Gibb/Brian Gottschalk & Fabian Haf, US/Switzerland, 2010) 95min. Double bill of mountain bike films shot in astonishing locations around the world. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. London (U) ●●●●● (Patrick Keiller, UK, 1993) 84min. Three trips across London, taking in the city’s artistic and literary heritage and rubbing it against contemporary social and political events from 1992. Presented as a fictional series of journeys, narrated by Paul Scofield, it is a poetic, brilliantly photographed, insightful take on the capital. Part of Keiller season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. London Boulevard (15) ●●●●● (William Monahan, UK, 2010) Colin Farrell, Keira Knightley, Stephen Graham. 90min. A reclusive London based actress (Knightley) gives an ex-con (Farrell) a job as her bodyguard and ends up falling for him. Sparky, enjoyable comedy and directed by The Departed and Kingdom of Heaven screenwriter Monahan. General release. Look at What the Light Did Now (15) (Anthony Seck, Canada, 2010) Lesley Feist. 77min. Behind-the-scenes rock-doc about the making of Canadian singer Feist’s album The Reminder. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Lost Horizon (U) ●●●●● (Frank Capra, US, 1937) Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, Edward Everett Horton. 130min. Adaptation from James Hilton’s bestselling novel in which a plane full of stranded passengers are taken to Shangri-La. Part of Capra season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. M (PG) ●●●●● (Fritz Lang, Germany, 1931) Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgu, Otto Wernicke. 98min. Lang’s masterpiece is a fascinating and intriguing film which follows the manhunt for a Dusseldorf child-murderer. In highlighting the procedurals of police organisations this was incredibly influential. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
Machete (18) ●●●●● (Robert Rodriguez, US, 2010) Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez and Robert De Niro. 105min. Absurdly violent Mexploitation homage starring Trejo as a set-up hitman out for justice, with over-the-top pantomime stylings and a game all-star cast including Don Johnson as a racist sheriff and Cheech Marin as a turbulent priest. Bloody, silly (and bloody silly) but great fun. General release. Made in Dagenham (15) (Nigel Cole, UK, 2010) Sally Hawkins, Miranda Richardson, Rosamund Pike. 112min. Sally Hawkins stars as the ringleader of a group of machinists who went on strike at the Ford Dagenham factory in 1968 to demand equal pay for female workers. Cameo, Edinburgh. Magic Hour (E) (Various, UK) 90min. Portmanteau film project facilitated by 104 Films for writers and directors with a disability. Part of UK Disability Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre. Marmaduke (U) ●●●●● (Tom Dey, USA, 2010) Voices of Owen Wilson, George Lopez, William H Macy. 88min. Crude and unfunny adaptation of popular cartoon strip about the adventures of a clumsy Great Dane dog. Empire, Clydebank. Mary and Max (12A) ●●●●● (Adam Elliot, Australia, 2009) Voices of Toni Collette, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Humphries. 92min. Bonding over their misfit status, the 20-year pen-friendship between young girl and middle-aged loner is followed in witty, compassionate, monochrome claymation. Humourous and bruising simultaneously, the sad yet uplifting conclusion befits a film that is a consistent joy to watch. Glasgow Film Theatre. Megamind 2D (PG) ●●●●● (Tom McGrath, US, 2010) Voices of Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey. 95min. See review, page 47. General release.
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50 THE LIST 2–16 Dec 2010
Megamind 3D (PG) ●●●●● (Tom McGrath, US, 2010) Voices of Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Tina Fey. 95min. See above. General release. Miral (12A) ●●●●● (Julian Schnabel, France/Israel/Italy/India, 2010) Willem Dafoe, Frieda Pinto, Vanessa Redgrave. 112min. See review, page 46. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow; Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Monsters (12A) ●●●●● (Gareth Edwards, UK, 2010) Whitney Able,
Scott McNairy. 93min. See interview, page 45 and review. page 46. Selected release. Moolaadé (15) ●●●●● (Ousmane Sembene, Senegal/France/Burkina Faso/Cameroon/Morocco/Tunisia, 2004) Fatoumata Coulibaly, Maimouna Helene Diarra, Salimata Traore, Dominique Zeida. 124min. Four young girls turn up in a small Muslim village in Burkina Faso after fleeing from their circumcision ceremony. They seek refuge at the house of Colle (Coulibaly), who, several years earlier, refused to allow her own teenage daughter to undergo the practice. Colle grants them protection but her decision incenses the community’s male elders, who believe that a woman must be ‘purified’ before marriage. Excellent, insightful and, believe it or not, funny social drama from that old Marxist master filmmaker Sembene. Part of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Muppet Christmas Carol (U) ●●●●● (Brian Henson, US, 1992) Michael Caine, Steven MacKintosh, Meredith Braun. 86min. It’s Christmas time, and nasty old miser Scrooge (Caine) needs to be taught a lesson by three seasonal ghosts. Colourful version of Dickens’ classic tale that will please the kids and keep the adults smiling with its little irreverent spices. Part of Christmas at Our House. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. My Afternoons with Margueritte (15) ●●●●● (Jean Becker, France, 2010) Gerard Depardieu, Gisele Casadesus. 82min. An elderly woman (Casadesus) bonds with an illiterate man (Depardieu) over their love of pigeons and decides to tutor him by reading aloud extracts from her novels. Sweet and moving French drama from veteran filmmaker Becker (Conversations with My Gardener, One Deadly Summer). Glasgow Film Theatre; Cameo, Edinburgh. NLS Film Club (E) (Various) 90min. A screening of two films about one of Britain’s remotest corners – the storm- battered and now uninhabited isle of St Kilda, off the Outer Hebrides. St Kilda – Britain’s Loneliest Isle, a collection of footage of island life between 1923 and 1928 which is now included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, is followed by a 1967 film, St Kilda – The Lonely Islands. National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. Nativity! (U) ●●●●● (Debbie Isitt, UK, 2009) Martin Freeman, Marc Wootton, Ashley Jensen. 105min. Surprisingly enjoyable British family drama about one school’s attempt to put on the best nativity play in Britain by getting the media involved. Freeman and Wootton as the two primary school teachers at the eye of the storm are excellent. Empire, Clydebank. The Nightmare Before Christmas (PG) ●●●●● (Henry Selick, US, 1993) With the voices of Chris Sarandon, Danny Elfman, Catherine O’Hara. 76min. Jack Skellington, the skinny trickster king of Halloweentown, is restless with success and needs a new challenge, so he hatches a plot to kidnap Santa and creates a mixed-up Yuletide which isn’t quite what the kids expected. Produced and based on a story and characters by Tim Burton. Sloans, Glasgow.
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October Country (tbc) (Michael Palmieri/Donal Mosher, US, 2009) 80min. Special screening by the Scottish Documentary Institute of a film about an American family struggling with the impact of war, teenage pregnancy, foster care and child abuse on their lives. Followed by a Q&A with directors Michael Palmierei and Donal Mosher. Glasgow Film Theatre.
✽✽ Of Gods and Men (15) ●●●●● (Xavier Beauvois, France, 2010)
Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, Roschdy Zem. 120min. See review, page 46. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ An Ordinary Execution (15) ●●●●● (Marc Dugain, France, 2010)
André Dussollier, Marina Hands, Edouard Baer. 105min. See review, page 47. Cameo, Edinburgh. Oska Bright (E) (Various, UK) 30min. A selection of works from the Oska Bright Film Festival, the first festival to be run by, and for, people with a learning disability. Includes Journeys – Country Road? Take Me Home! by Glasgow disability arts group Project Ability. Part of UK Disability Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre. Outcast (18) ●●●●● (Colm McCarthy, UK/Ireland, 2009) James Nesbitt, Karen Gillan, Therese Bradley. 97min. See review, page 47. Selected release, Fri 10 Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow (E) ●●●●● (Sophie Fiennes, France/Netherlands/UK, 2010) 105min. Idiosyncratic documentary from Fiennes exploring the work of German installation artist Anselm Kiefer, who has spent the last 20 years constructing a parallel miniature city in a remote and derelict silk factory in the south of France. A demanding but fascinating study into the physical processes of large-scale artistic creation. Cameo, Edinburgh. Paranormal Activity 2 (15) ●●●●● (Tod Williams, US, 2010) Katie Featherston, Gabriel Johnson. 91min. A prequel to the ‘found footage’ horror phenomenon of 2009. This time a family set up surveillance equipment after what appears to be a break-in, but slowly realise something far nastier is lurking in the shadows. A wonderfully restrained and genuinely creepy modern ghost story. That they managed the trick twice is a miracle. Showcase Cinema, Glasgow; Showcase Cinema, Paisley.
✽✽ Peeping Tom (18) ●●●●● (Michael Powell, UK, 1960) Karl
Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey. See profile, Index and Also Released, page 47. Cameo, Edinburgh. QPOC Shorts (18) (Various) Digital Desperadoes screening of short films made by Queer People of Colour, including Homotopia, Desi Girls and C6H8O6. CCA, Glasgow. Quest for Fire (15) ●●●●● (Jean- Jacques Annaud, Canada/France/US, 1981) Everett McGill, Ron Perlman, Nicholas Kadi. 100min. Pseudo documentary telling the stories of five ancient tribes from locations the world over and they way they harnessed the power of fire to their advantage. Part of Science and Film season. 70mm print. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. RED (12A) ●●●●● (Robert Schwentke, US, 2010) Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren. 111min. Action romcom adapted from Warren Ellis’ graphic novel as a bunch of old duffers (Willis, Freeman, John Malkovich, Mirren and Brian Cox) are called back from retirement (RED stands for Retired Extremely Dangerous) for one last mission. The first-rate cast lends this hodgepodge of clichés more class than it deserves. Showcase Cinema, Paisley. Rakht Charitra (A History of Blood) (15) (Ram Gopal Varma, India, 2010) Vivek Oberoi, Surya, Abhimanya Singh. 125min. Biographical film telling the life story of Paritala Ravi, one of the most prominent (and most feared) leaders of South Indian factional politics, who was assassinated in 2005. Showcase Cinema, Glasgow.
✽✽ Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (15) ●●●●● (Jalmari
Helander, Finland, 2010) Jorma Tommila, Per Christian Ellefsen, Tommi Korpela.