Film HITLIST THE BEST FILM & DVD RELEASES
list.co.uk/film
We Need to Talk About Kevin Scottish writer/director Lynne Ramsay returns with a consummate adaptation of Lionel Shriver’s novel. See review, page 68. General release from Fri 21 Oct.
Africa in Motion The yearly festival of quality new and old African cinema is on for a shorter spell this year but the films are as good as ever. See panel, page 69, and follow our festival coverage at list.co.uk. Filmhouse, Edinburgh and selected venues, Wed 2–Sun 6 Nov. Self-Made Artist Gillian Wearing’s excellent debut feature blurs the boundaries of documentary cinema with Brechtian disdain. See review at list.co.uk. Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Fri 21, Tue 25 & Thu 27 Oct.
Miss Bala Thrilling Mexican drama about beauty pageant corruption and drugs trafficking in modern day Mexico. See review, page 67. GFT, Glasgow and Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 28 Oct. The Future Writer and filmmaker Miranda July essays domestic disharmony as only she can. See profile, right and review, page 67. Cameo, Edinburgh and selected release from Fri 4 Nov.
Weekend Tender, mature and heartbreaking drama of same sex love and longing in Nottingham from director Andrew Haigh. See review, page 68. Selected release from Fri 4 Nov.
Dance: Film Dance, dance wherever you may be. As long as it’s in the cinema. Annual dance fever returns with an emphasis on the creative process. See panel in film index. Various venues, Edinburgh, Sat 12–Sat 19 Nov.
Drive Cucumber cool heist thriller starring Ryan Gosling as a getaway driver. Michael Mann better watch his back, there’s a new master director in town and his name is Nicolas Winding Refn. Out now on general release.
Document 9 Glasgow’s human rights documentary film festival has a killer line- up of political documentaries this year. See our coverage at list.co.uk. Various venues, Glasgow from Thu 13-Sun 23 Oct.
La Piscine St Tropez, petit bourgeoisie mores and Alain Delon without his top on. What more do you want? 1969 French class satire re-issued on digital print. Do not miss. GFT, Glasgow, Wed 2 & Thu 3 Nov.
66 THE LIST 20 Oct–17 Nov 2011
Profile MIRANDA JULY
Name Miranda July Born 15 February, 1974
Background July is an artist, writer and filmmaker from Berkeley, California. She is best-known for her critically acclaimed film Me and You and Everyone We Know, which won the Sundance Film Festival award for ‘originality of vision’ and the Camera d’Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005. With the artist Harrell Fletcher, she has created the online communal art project ‘Learning To Love You More’. Her short stories have been published in the Paris Review and The New Yorker. She is married to the filmmaker Mike Mills.
On making her much- anticipated second film ‘I knew when I was editing my first movie that the next one was not going to be a comedy. I just had too much of my own darkness . . . and I knew that I had to make something really honest about that.’ On surrealism and The Future ‘I was trying to stretch beyond what I knew and, of course, that’s really hard. But I thought somehow everyone is going to know if [the sentiment of] this is untrue. I wanted to explore feelings that are so unbearable that they are beyond words so the surreal elements in this film are not tied to those moments of life that are wondrous and whimsical [as they were in her first feature film]. It was about being true to the feeling of something [like heartbreak].’
Interesting fact July was born Miranda Grossinger. Her stage moniker comes from a character named ‘July’ whom she co-created (with her best friend from high school, Johanna Fateman of the band ‘Le Tigre’) for a ‘girlzine’ called Snarla. She later changed her name legally to ‘Miranda July’. (Anna Rogers) ■ The Future is on selected release from Fri 4 Nov. See review, page 67.