Film INDEX
One Life (U) ●●●●● (Michael Gunton/Martha Holmes, UK, 2011) Daniel Craig (voice). 84min. Documentary for kids featuring stunning footage of animals in the wild and narrated by Daniel Craig. Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. The Painted Veil (12) ●●●●● (John Curran, China/US/Canada, 2006) Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber. 125min. The third screen adaptation of Somerset Maugham’s novel about an English couple (Norton and Watts) in 1920s China. Co-produced with the Chinese government, the production manages to step outside the domestic lives of the protagonists to become a genuinely touching romance and breathtaking piece of cinema. Introduced by Mike Barrett of the University of Glasgow and followed by a Q&A on tropical diseases. Glasgow Film Theatre. Pearl Jam Twenty (tbc) (Cameron Crowe, US, 2011) 109min. See Also Released, page 99. Selected release. Pina (U) ●●●●● (Wim Wenders, Germany/UK/France, 2011) 103min. Wim Wenders’ documentary is rooted in newly filmed excerpts from four of Pina Bausch’s productions and interspersed with theatrical performance footage and interviews. It’s a beautifully assembled tribute; unsentimental, insightful and ravishing to look at, with something for everyone. Cameo, Edinburgh. Poetry (12A) ●●●●● (Chang-dong Lee, South Korea, 2010) Jeong-hie Yun, Nae-sang Ahn, Hira Kim. 139min. The quest to write a single poem becomes a heroic act in this intricately plotted melodrama. Emerging from a lengthy period of retirement, Yun Jung-hee plays an elegant 66-year-old constantly confronted by the harshness of a world she no longer recognises. Deeply moving and satisfying. Glasgow Film Theatre. Ponyo (U) ●●●●● (Hayao Myazki, Japan, 2008) Voices of Noah Cyrus, Liam Neeson, Frankie Jonas. 101min. Delightful animated feature from the Studio Ghibli brand about a five-year-old boy who falls for a goldfish princess. It’s funny, charming and original enough to keep adults entertained, but where it really scores is Miyazaki’s (Spirited Away) ability to understand what a child sees. Like its goldfish heroine, Ponyo may seem like a slight and slivery proposition, but it dives to uncharted depths. Cameo, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Position Among the Stars (12) (Leonard Retel Helmrich, Netherlands/
Indonesia, 2011) 115min. Creative documentary following an Indonesian girl and her grandmother as they migrate from the countryside to live with the girl’s aunt in Jakarta. Part of Take One Action Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Post Mortem (15) ●●●●● (Pablo Larrain, Chile/Germany/ Mexico, 2010)
Marcelo Alonso, Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers. 98min. See review, page 98. Glasgow Film Theatre. Pray the Devil Back to Hell (12) (Gini Reticker, UK, 2008) 72min. Moving documentary about the thousands of Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country in 2003. Proceeds from the screening go to Women for Women International. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Predator (18) ●●●●● (John McTiernan, US, 1987) Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Elpidia Carillo. 107min. Arnie and his dirty half-dozen are hired to enter a dense South American jungle to free a hostage, but lurking unseen in the foliage is a chameleon- like being waiting to skin alive any unsuspecting human to cross its path. Slow to build, but ultimately gripping macho mayhem with a real sense of threat. Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. The Princess of Montpensier (18) ●●●●● (Bertrand Tavernier, France/Germany, 2010) Mélanie Thierry, Lambert Wilson, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet. 139min. Marie (Thierry) is forced to marry the Prince of Montpensier (Leprince- Ringuet). Torn between duty and desire, she captivates her tutor Chabannes (Wilson) and the Duke of Anjou (Personnaz). Based on the 1662 novella by Madame de Lafayette, writer/director Tavernier’s ‘romantic thriller’ feels modern in its treatment of religious
104 THE LIST 25 Aug–22 Sep 2011
Edindocs
Documentary film festival Edindocs has one agenda – to bring quality, independent documentary films to Scotland’s capital. With the exception of You’ve Been Trumped it’s unlikely that you will have heard of any of these films before but they will take you from dandies in the underworld to redemption-seeking-cads to naked men and back again, so it may just be worth buying a ticket for a whole evening. See feature, page 64. Check out the full programme at edindocs.co.uk ■ Church Hill Theatre, Edinburgh Fri 16–Sun 18 Sep.
fundamentalism and female oppression. The Hippodrome, Bo’ness. Project Nim (12A) ●●●●● (James Marsh, UK, 2011) Bob Angelini, Bern Cohen, Reagan Leonard. 93min. Marsh follows Oscar-winning documentary Man On Wire by playing it safe stylistically with a similarly formatted documentary package. Telling the story of a baby chimp taken away from its family and placed in a surrogate home in 70s New York, Project Nim proves deeply affecting through a mix of intelligent storytelling and expert direction. Selected release. Raise Ravens (Cría cuervos) (12) ●●●●● (Carlos Saura, Spain, 1976) Geraldine Chaplin, Mónica Randall, Florinda Chico. 110min. A fusion of the personal and political into a portrait of how fasicsm effects a middle-class family, foreshadowing Pan’s Labyrinth in its portrayal of childhood. Filmhouse, Edinburgh; Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. Rango (PG) ●●●●● (Gore Verbinski, US, 2011) Voices of Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin. 107min. Depp voices a wannabe swashbuckler chameleon in this animated action comedy. Glasgow Film Theatre.
✽✽ Rise of the Planet of the Apes (12A) ●●●●● (Rupert Wyatt, US,
2011) Tom Felton, James Franco, Andy Serkis. 104min. Intelligent and at times exhilarating prequel to the 60s cult classic, adeptly handled by Wyatt, who mixes headline influenced narrative with all the visual spectacle required of a blockbuster. Franco plays a scientist on the hunt for the cure for Alzheimer’s whose experiments result in a test ape developing human-like characteristics, the animal’s capture and abuse setting the scene for rebellion and the astonishing dystopian fiction that follows. General release. Rocky Road to Dublin (15) ●●●●● (Paul Duane & Peter Lennon, Ireland, 2004/1968) 102min. Excellent near revolutionary documentary from Ireland which, although fundamentally a portrait of everyday life in Dublin in the 1960s, asks what you do once you have won the revolution. In the case of Eire you hand it straight back to the bourgeousie, better known as the Roman Catholic Church. This film will be preceded by a making of documentary. CCA, Glasgow. Roll Out, Cowboy (15) (Elizabeth Lawrence, US, 2010) 75min. Documentary following Chris ‘Sandman’ Sand, one of the few musicians working in the ‘country hip hop’ genre, on his 2008 tour of the American West. These screenings are followed by a preview of extracts from Matt Hulse’s travelogue about a deaf cyclist who biked
solo from Scotland to the Arctic Circle in 1951, and discussion with Hulse (Edinburgh) and Lawrence (Glasgow and Edinburgh). Filmhouse, Edinburgh; Glasgow Film Theatre. The Salt of Life (Gianni e le Donne) (12A) ●●●●● (Gianni Di Gregorio, UK, 2011) Gianni Di Gregorio, Valeria De Franciscis, Alfonso Santagata. 90min. Writer-director Di Gregorio plays a middle aged Italian struggling with his relationships with women, including a spendthrift mother, condescending wife and daughter, and a party-girl neighbour. Unashamedly autobiographical as he pokes fun at his own foibles, Di Gregorio succeeds in making a poignant and warmly funny piece of Italian cinema. Selected release. Sarah’s Key (Elle s’appelait Sarah) (12A) ●●●●● (Gilles Paquet-Brenner, France, 2010) Kristin Scott Thomas, Mélusine Mayance, Niels Arestrup. 111min. The life of a journalist in present-day Paris becomes entwined with that of a young Jewish girl who died in the Holocaust as she investigates a shameful chapter in France’s history. Unsurprisingly earnest and visually restrained, director Paquet-Brenner is aided by a fine ensemble cast in his creation of a real sense of moral ambiguity. Selected release. The Scapegoat (PG) ●●●●● (Robert Hamer, UK, 1959) Alex Guinness, Bette Davis, Nicole Maurey. 91min. Elaborate Daphne du Maurier adapted to star Guinness as the quiet English teacher conned by a count – who happens to be his double – into assuming his identity, and all the problems that go with it. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Self Made (15) ●●●●● (Gillian Wearing, UK, 2010) 83min. Debut feature documentary by Turner Prize-winner Gillian Wearing, in which members of the public explore the idea that we’re all, always, playing a role. Glasgow Film Theatre; Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee.
✽✽ The Skin I Live in (La Piel que Habito) (15) ●●●●● (Pedro
Almodóvar, Spain, 2011) Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Jan Cornet. 120min. See feature, page 67 and review, page 96. Selected release. The Smurfs 2D (U) (Raja Gosnell, US, 2011) Hank Azaria, Neil Patrick Harris, Katy Perry. 102min. Those blue French/Belgian woodland creatures make their first 3D trip to the big screen in this hybrid live-action and animated family comedy. When the evil wizard Gargamel chases the Smurfs out of their village, they’re forced through a portal, out of their world and into ours, landing in the middle of New York’s Central Park. Stuck in the Big Apple, they must find a way to get
back to their village before the evil wizard finds them. General release. The Smurfs 3D (U) ●●●●● (Raja Gosnell, US, 2011) Hank Azaria, Neil Patrick Harris, Katy Perry. 102min. See above. General release. The Social Network (12A) ●●●●● (David Fincher, US, 2010) Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake. 120min. Dramatisation of the story behind the founding of the world’s most ubiquitous stalking vehicle, starring Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, the Harvard nerd who may or may not have backstabbed his way into becoming a billionaire. An interesting examination of the nature of modern friendship and the emotional cost of enormous financial success. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Space Between (15) ●●●●● (Tim Barrow, UK, 2010) Vivien Reid, Tim Barrow, David Whitney. 85min. Film made by (and starring) Tim Barrow (The Inheritance) on a mini-budget in Edinburgh and London, about two lonely people who find hope in one another. Brunton Theatre, Edinburgh; The Hippodrome, Bo’ness. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World 2D (PG) ●●●●● (Robert Rodriguez, US, 2011) Jessica Alba, Jeremy Piven, Joel McHale. 88min. Marissa Cortez Wilson (Alba) has given up spying to concentrate on motherhood but she’s not finding it easy. Her world is turned upside down when the maniacal Timekeeper (Piven) threatens to take over the planet and she’s called back into action by the head of OSS, where the now defunct Spy Kids division was created. Robert Rodriguez’ enjoyable adventure saga continues. General release. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World 3D (PG) ●●●●● (Robert Rodriguez, US, 2011) Jessica Alba, Jeremy Piven, Joel McHale. 88min. See above. This version in ‘4D’, ie with an ‘Aromascope’ scratch ‘n’ sniff card for all viewers. General release. Super 8 (12A) ●●●●● (JJ Abrams, US, 2011) Elle Fanning, Riley Griffiths, Kyle Chandler. 111min. A science fiction adventure harking back to the character- driven values of late 1970s and early 1980s films, particularly all those Spielberg classics, and it’s a potent reminder of why Close Encounters . . . and its like continue to stand the test of time. While Abrams’ rarely- seen monster is wrapped up in a suitably exhilarating tension, it’s the coming-of-age story and the endearing young characters at its heart that are really the masterstroke in this enjoyable homage to the way blockbusters used to be. General release. Sweet Sixteen (18) ●●●●● (Ken Loach, UK, 2002) Martin Compston, William Ruane, Gary McCormack. 106min. Cheeky west coast Scotland ned Liam (Compston) is awaiting his mother’s release from prison. Pa’s not around, so Liam, determined to give his ma a new home and a better life, begins dealing drugs. Glasgow Film Theatre. Tangled 2D (PG) ●●●●● (Nathan Greno, US, 2010) Voices of Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy. 96min. Disney/Pixar funk-up of the classic tale of Rapunzel that is nonetheless traditional to the core, blessed with catchy musical numbers and a plethora of scenes ripped off directly from the studio’s own back catalogue (see Aladdin, Little Mermaid et al). Funny and impressive, but lacking charm. The Hippodrome, Bo’ness. TT3D: Closer to the Edge (E) ●●●●● (Richard de Aragues, UK, 2011) Guy Martin, Ian Hutchinson, John McGuinness. 103min. Impressively shot documentary about The Isle of Man’s annual dangerous and exhilarating motorcycling Tourist Trophy. Glasgow Film Theatre. The Thief of Baghdad (PG) ●●●●● (Ludwig Berger/Michael Powell, UK, 1940) Sabu, Conrad Veidt, Rex Ingram. 155min. This super Arabian Nights fantasy has native boy Sabu outwitting evil Grand Vizier Conrad Veidt with the help of a magic carpet and a rather splendid genie (played by silent director Ingram). The blend of fantasy, thrills and special effects has rarely been bettered, and children will absolutely adore it. Glasgow Film Theatre.