Film HITLIST THE BEST FILMS
OUTSIDE THE FESTIVALS
list.co.uk/film
DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE (18) 106min ●●●●●
Subtlety is not in director Lee Tamahori’s repertoire. His excellent 1994 debut, Maori drama Once Were Warriors was full of well caught masculine bravado and tearful repercussions but the director’s career went wayward and reached its nadir with the 2002 Bond yarn Die Another Day. The Devil’s Double about Uday Hussein and his body double Latif Yahia (who wrote the source novel) is a return to winning form, mostly because the director plays to his melodramatic strengths, telling the egomaniacal tale with tongue firmly in cheek. It’s the work of a mad man about a mad man. At its heart is a career changing performance from Dominic Cooper, hitherto only seen playing middle class twits in The History Boys, Mamma Mia! and Tamara Drewe. The British actor is released from his acting shackles playing the crazy son of the notorious Iraqi dictator. He channels Tony Montana as he rapes and murders his way to respect just as George Bush Sr is ordering the troops to liberate Kuwait.
Tamahori mixes archive footage with the fictionalised account of Uday that adds to the schizophrenic nature of the picture. This rambunctious romp is not for the faint-hearted but it is packed with over-the-top lines to quote for weeks after. (Kaleem Aftab) ■ General release from Fri 12 Aug.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes Smart, exhilarating and ingeniously executed prequel to those famous ape master race sci-fis, based on a novel by Pierre Boulle. See review, page 116. General release from Fri 12 Aug.
The Devil’s Double Rip-roaring thriller based on a book by the man who was forced to be Uday Hussein’s body double for years. See review, right. General release from Fri 12 Aug. Elite Squad 2 – The Enemy Within Back on the streets with Brazil’s deadliest anti-crime force and world-weary Captain Nascimento. See review, page 116. Selected release from Fri 12 Aug.
The Salt of Life Gianni Di Gregorio’s low budget, low-key follow-up to 2008 autobiographical foodie film Mid- August Lunch. See review, page 116. GFT, Glasgow and Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Fri 12–Thu 25 Aug. Project Nim More apes! Genius documentary about a social experiment in the 1970s that went embarrassingly wrong. See review, page 116. Selected release from Fri 12 Aug.
Super 8 A reminiscent mystery involving children in a small American town in 1979. Spielberg produces, JJ Abrams directs – you are in the hands of master storytellers. See review at list.co.uk Out now on general release.
Raise Ravens (Cría Cuervos) Digital reissue of overlooked 1976 Spanish fantasy by veteran filmaker Carlos Saura. A major influence on Guillermo del Toro Pan’s Labyrinth. Cameo, Edinburgh, Fri 12–Thu 18 Aug.
Film Socialisme Political French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard is back to twist our melons about the ethics and crimes of the global community. Matinees only. See review at list.co.uk Cameo, Edinburgh, Fri 12–Thu 18 Aug.
COMEDY/ROMANCE BEAUTIFUL LIES (DE VRAIS MENSONGES) (12a) 104min ●●●●●
Despite the efforts of a fine French cast – which includes Nathalie Baye, Sami Bouajila and Audrey Tautou – this visually unremarkable romantic comedy from writer/director Pierre Salvadori (Wild Target, Priceless), in which mother and daughter clash over the same sensitive man, never entirely comes alive. Riffing off Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner, it’s set around a beauty salon in a southern French seaside town. Cultured handyman Jean (Bouajila) improbably turns out to be a multi-lingual ex-translator and declares his amorous feelings for the shop’s brusque, self-centred owner Emilie (Tautou) via an anonymous letter. The recipient proceeds to forward the billet-doux to her depressed single mother Maddy (Baye), who’s naturally keen to meet the author of such heartfelt prose.
The stage is set for a predictable procession of misunderstandings and complications, leading to the generic happy ending, with Salvadori struggling to engineer actual laughs from his convoluted tale. In fact these lonely, troubled characters – Jean for example shields a painful secret from his past, whilst the parent-child relationship between Emilie and Maddy is riddled with resentments and tensions – seem better suited to being the subjects of a more intimate drama. (Tom Dawson) ■ Selected release from Fri 12 Aug.
11–18 Aug 2011 THE LIST 115