list.co.uk/film
COMEDY/DRAMA WIN WIN (15) 105min ●●●●●
Like his earlier two films, The Station Agent and The Visitor, Tom McCarthy’s new film Win Win makes no grand statements and is all the better for it. An expertly shaken comedy/drama cocktail, it tells of small-town attorney Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti), who spends most of his spare time coaching his local school’s wrestling team. When he spies a moneymaking opportunity involving an aged client, it puts him in contact with the man’s troubled teenage grandson Kyle (Alex Shaffer) – who, it transpires, is a champion wrestler. Before you can say ‘win win’, Kyle’s on the team, finding a new purpose in life and even living with Mike, wife Jackie (Amy Ryan) and their kids. But with the arrival of Kyle’s mother (Melanie Lynskey), fresh out of rehab, trouble soon begins to brew.
The result is a sharply observed film that doesn’t draw its characters as black-
and-white cutouts. Rather, it dwells in the morally grey area that makes up real life, pinpointing just what makes human beings fallible. Giamatti is his usual flawless self, both funny and sad at the same time, and his relationship with newcomer Shaffer is to be treasured. (James Mottram) ■ Cameo, Edinburgh and selected release from Fri 20 May.
DOCUMENTARY VIDAL SASSOON (PG) 93min ●●●●●
Some bold claims are made about the subject of this documentary. ‘It’s impossible to overestimate his importance,’ declares one off-screen voice, while he’s also compared to Ali, Einstein and the Messiah. The film’s subtitle is equally hyperbolic: ‘How one man changed the world with a pair of scissors.’ Made in conjunction with a coffee-table book charting Sassoon’s life, this is
very much a glossy, rose-tinted cinematic portrait from director Craig Teper. Sassoon, himself still enviably trim and healthy-looking in his 80s, proves to be a charming interviewee, and it’s his revisiting of his impoverished early years which prove the most interesting sections: he spent six years of his childhood in an orphanage, sang in a synagogue choir, and later fought against Oswald Mosley’s black shirts in London’s East End.
The bulk of Vidal Sassoon celebrates his undeniably impressive hairdressing career on both sides of the Atlantic, and there’s no shortage of friends and colleagues to attest to his perfectionism and creativity. A shame however that interviewer Teper didn’t probe deeper into Sassoon’s inner world and perhaps explore the latter’s sense of identity after a lifetime of reinvention and self- improvement. (Tom Dawson) ■ GFT, Glasgow from Mon 30 May and selected release.
ALSO RELEASED Insidious (15) 102min ●●●●● Old school scary flick from the Saw team. Read full review and see interview at list.co.uk. General release from Fri 29 Apr. Upside Down: The Creation Records Story (15) 100min ●●●●● Diverting documentary about the dominance of Scotland and the UK’s ‘most inspired and dissolute label’ which helped launch the careers of The Jesus and Mary Chain, Oasis, Primal Scream, Teenage Fanclub and many more. GFT, Glasgow; Cameo, Edinburgh and selected release from Fri 29 Apr. Cold Weather (15) 96min Slacker detective comedy thriller set in Portland, Oregon. Reviewed at list.co.uk. GFT, Glasgow and selected release from Fri 29 Apr. The Tree of Life (tbc) tbcmin The new film from feted filmmaker Terrence Malick is a period piece set in 1950s America starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. Reviewed at list.co.uk. General release from Wed 4 May. Water for Elephants (12A) 120min Circus-set romance starring Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson. Reviewed at list.co.uk. General release from Wed 4 May. Everywhere and Nowhere (tbc) tbcmin Drama about a young British Asian who is torn between the traditions of his family and a love for DJing. Reviewed at list.co.uk. Selected release from Wed 4 May. Something Borrowed (tbc) tbcmin Moneyed New York-set romance starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson and Colin Egglesfield. Reviewed at list.co.uk. General release from Fri 6 May. Priest 3D (12A) 87min Post- apocalyptic western/thriller based on excellent graphic novel series. Reviewed at list.co.uk. General release from Fri 6 May. Holy Rollers (15) 88min Inspired by the Hassidic Jews who were recruited as drug mules in the late 1990s, Holy Rollers is a darkly comic tale of one young man’s descent into a very alternative lifestyle. Jesse Eisenberg stars. Reviewed at list.co.uk. Selected release from Fri 13 May. Take Me Home Tonight (15) 97min ●●●●● Predictably tedious Yuppie era romantic comedy starring Topher Grace. General release from Fri 13 May. Taxi Driver (18) 113min ●●●●● Travis Bickle is back and looking
Film REVIEWS
better than ever in a new digital rendering of the film. Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 13–Thu 19 May; GFT, Glasgow from Mon 23–Thu 26 Mar. Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides (tbc) tbcmin Jack Sparrow is back to do some more milking. Reviewed at list.co.uk. General release from Wed 18 May. Blitz (18) 97min A tough cop tracks down a police officer slaying serial killer. Another Jason Stratham adventure. Reviewed at list.co.uk. Selected release from Fri 20 May.
Julia’s Eyes (Los Ojos de Julia) (15) 117min Classy Spanish horror about a woman losing her sight as she is trying to investigate the death of her twin. Reviewed at list.co.uk. GFT, Glasgow and Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 20 May The Hangover Part II (tbc) tbcmin Those bad boys from The Hangover head to Thailand for more rum, sodomy and the lash. Reviewed at list.co.uk. General release from Thu 26 May. Apocalypse Now (15) 147min ●●●●● Coppola’s journey into the heart of darkness re-emerges on new digital print. Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 27 May. Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Roderick Rules (tbc) tbcmin ●●●●● Anaemic sequel to last year’s adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s best-selling books. General release from Fri 27 May. Screaming Man (tbc) 100min ●●●●● Sorrowful African drama about a hotel pool attendant who finds himself demoted when new management takes over. Read full review at list.co.uk. Selected release from Fri 13 May. The Way (12A) 128min ●●●●● Emilio Estevez directs his father Martin Sheen in this moving drama about a father's journey to recover the body of his estranged son who died while on a pilgrimage from France to Spain. Reviewed in full at list.co.uk. General release from Fri 13 May. X-Men: First Class (tbc) tbcmin The X-Men series goes back to the start of the saga to chart their beginnings and secret history in the 1960s. James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and January Jones star. Brit Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, Layer Cake) directs. Reviewed at list.co.uk. General release from Mon 30 May. 28 Apr–26 May 2011 THE LIST 57