list.co.uk/film
Films screening in the next four weeks are listed below with certificate, star rating, credits, brief review and venue details. See list.co.uk for the most up- to-date list of films screening. Film index is compiled by Laura Ennor. ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry
✽✽ About Her Brother (Otôto) (PG) (Yôji Yamada, Japan, 2010) Ryo Kase,
Yû Aoi, Yuriko Ishida. 126min. Ginko is frustrated with her brother Tetsuro, who dreams of becoming a singer. When he drunkenly sings at Ginko’s daughter’s wedding she decides she’s had enough, but the guilt she feels over her part in his life means she can’t quite sever her ties. Part of the Contemporary Japanese Auteurs season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Actress’ Ball (Le bal des actrices) (tbc) (Maïwenn, France, 2009) Jeanne Balibar, Romane Bohringer, Julie Depardieu. 105min. While shooting a documentary about all kinds of actresses, the filmmaker Maïwenn falls for one of them. Institut Français d’Ecosse, Edinburgh. The Adopted (15) ●●●●● (Melanie Laurent, France, 2011) Marie Denarnaud, Denis Menochet, Melanie Laurent, Clementine Celarie. 100min. Marie (Denarnaud) and Lisa (Laurent) are sisters in contemporary Lyon whose relationship is disrupted when restaurant critic Max (Menochet) sweeps Marie off her feet. In her debut feature as director, Laurent aims for a fable-like atmosphere but the film hammers home its message and the most interesting character (Celarie) is underused. Selected release from Fri 24 Feb. Agneepath (tbc) (Karan Malhotra, India) Hrithik Roshan, Arush Bhiwandiwala, Deven Bhojani. Bollywood remake of the 1990 crime thriller of the same name. Selected release.
✽✽ All Around Us (Gururi no koto) (15) (Ryosuke Hashiguchi, Japan, 2008) Lily Franky, Tae Kimura, Tamae Ando. 140min. A newly (and unhappily) married man gets a job as a courtroom sketch artist, and ends up spending his time drawing some of the most disturbed people in Japan. Part of the Contemporary Japanese Auteurs season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Almanya — Welcome to Germany (15) (Yasemin Samdereli,
Germany, 2010) Vedat Erincin, Fahri Yardim, Aylin Tezel. 101min. Comedy about a Turkish family who came to Germany in the late 60s, and their trip back home when the patriarch of the family buys a holiday house in Turkey. See caption, page 74. Part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival (Edinburgh screening). Filmhouse, Edinburgh; Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (U) (Mike Mitchell, US, 2011) Jason Lee, David Cross, Jenny Slate. 87min. The singing chipmunks find themselves marooned on a desert island. General release. The Artist (PG) ●●●●● (Michel Hazanavicius, France, 2011) Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo. 100min. A joyous, impeccably crafted crowdpleaser about the advent of the talkies. It’s almost impossible not to fall for its charms. General release. Ashes of American Flags: Wilco Live (15) (Brendan Canty/Christopher Green, US, 2009) 88min. Chicago band Wilco were filmed during their 2008 tour across the US. Featuring footage of the concert, interviews and day-to-day footage. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Babe (U) ●●●●● (Chris Noonan, Australia, 1995) Miriam Margolyes, Hugo Weaving, Danny Mann. 92min. An orphaned pig falls under the eye of a kindly collie and begins to think he’s destined for glory at the regional sheepdog trials. Obviously for kids, but there’s enough skewed humour for adults too. Eastwood Park Theatre, Glasgow.
✽✽ Bad Company (Mabudachi) (15) (Tomoyuki Furumaya, 2001)
Yamato Okitsu, Ryosuke Takahashi, Yuta
Nakajima. 98min. When a schoolboy is caught stealing, his father makes him write an essay to explain himself. When his essay wins a competition, the boy becomes increasingly angry with his father’s pride. Part of the Contemporary Japanese Auteurs season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Bambi (U) ●●●●● (Various, US, 1942) Bobby Stewart, Donnie Dunagan, Hardie Albright. 69min. Disney at his cutest, purest best. Nice animation, with touches of extreme twee, and a massive hankie count when Bambi’s mum dies. Sloans, Glasgow. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (12) ●●●●● (John Madden, UK, 2011) Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson. 118min. Despite an irresistible army of pension-age talent including Dench, Smith and Wilkinson, all on excellent form, this story about a group of unconnected British retirees who come to the titular hotel in Jaipur and find resolution for their various issues and challenges, feels too calculated to offer anything more than disposable entertainment at best, and cheaply manipulative emotional kicks at worst. General release from Fri 24 Feb. Best Laid Plans (15) ●●●●● (David Blair, UK, 2012) Stephen Graham, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Maxine Peake, David O’Hara. 108min. Small-time crook Danny (Graham) relies for protection upon the gigantic but simple-minded Joseph (Akinnuoye-Agbaje), but reluctantly allows him to take part in cage fights organised by a ruthless gangster (O’Hara). This dreary fable reconfigures Of Mice and Men into the world of Northern gangsters; the result is clichéd, artistically predictable and commercially useless. Selected release from Fri 3 Feb. Big Miracle (PG) (Ken Kwapis, US, 2012) Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Kristen Bell. 107min. Romantic drama ‘inspired by the incredible true story’ of a new reporter (Krasinski) and his efforts to save a family of whales in Alaska. General release from Fri 10 Feb. The Big Year (PG) (David Frankel, US, 2011) Steve Martin, Jack Black, Owen Wilson. 100min. Three bird watchers go head-to-head at a prestigious North American tournament. macrobert, Stirling. Black Gold (12) ●●●●● (Jean-Jacques Annaud, France/Italy/Qatar, 2011) Tahar Rahim, Antonio Banderas, Mark Strong. 130min. See review, page 71. Selected release from Fri 24 Feb. Blood Car (tbc) ●●●●● (Alex Orr, US, 2007) Mike Brune, Anna Chlumsky, Katie Rowlett. 76min. Quirky ultra low-budget horror satire set in a near future where the oil reserves have run dry. However geeky young Archie (Brune) has come up with a grisly alternative fuel. A few clever ideas and a couple of good gags but ultimately the execution lets it down. General release from Thu 23 Feb.
✽✽ Blue Velvet (18) (David Lynch, US, 1986) Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper. 120min. A singular fusion of the cosy and the terrifying which blends kitsch and nightmare, B-movie detection and brutal sex to deconstruct our complacent vision of normal society. Part of Into a World: The Films of David Lynch. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Bombay Beach (tbc) ●●●●● (Alma Har’el, US, 2011) 80min. See
review, page 70. Selected release from Fri 3 Feb. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (15) ●●●●● (Blake Edwards, US, 1961) Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen. 115min. The iconic Hepburn has never made neurosis look so good, and while the film may have numerous redeeming features (not least the exquisite cinematography by Franz F Plane and the swinging soundtrack by Henry Mancini), it is she who remains responsible for making it such a well-loved classic. Sloans, Glasgow; Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. Bridge to Terabithia (PG) ●●●●● (Gábor Csupó, US, 2007) Josh Hutcherson, AnnaSophia Robb, Robert Patrick. 95min. Faithful adaptation of Katherine Paterson’s coming of age children’s book, worth a
look for adults and kids alike. The Hippodrome, Bo’ness. Brief Encounter (PG) ●●●●● (David Lean, UK, 1945) Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway. 86min. Stiff upper lips and emotionally charged brushes of the hands are all that Johnson and Howard will allow themselves as their extra-marital ‘affair’ doesn’t develop much beyond unspoken longings at a railway station. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. British Animation Awards Programmes 2 & 3 (15) (Various, UK) 90min. A rare opportunity to see the fantastic range of animation made in Britain over the past two years. The audience gets to vote for the winners in three categories, via forms issued at each screening. Filmhouse, Edinburgh; Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow.
✽✽ Cairo Exit (tbc) (Hesham Issawi, Egypt, 2010) Maryhan, Mohamed
Ramadan, Sana Mouziane. 96min. A young Egyptian woman toys with the idea of eloping to Italy with her boyfriend, pondering the lives of the women around her and how her own life might turn out if she was to stay. See caption, page 74. Part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Carnage (15) ●●●●● (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/Poland/ Spain, 2011) Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, John C Reilly. 79min. See Reilly interview, page 67, and review, page 71. Filmhouse, Edinburgh; Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. Cars 2 (U) ●●●●● (John Lasseter, US, 2011) Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine. 102min. Pixar’s charmless sequel replaces the homespun values of the original with impressive racetrack backdrops, violent guns-and-missile action, and juvenile comedy. A mechanical slew of pop-culture gags indicate a considerable drop in the level of invention from Finding Nemo or Up. macrobert, Stirling. Casablanca (PG) ●●●●● (Michael Curtiz, US, 1942) Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid. 102min. You must remember this . . . Bogart being impossibly noble, Bergman torn between two lovers, Claude Rains playing both ends against the middle, devious Nazis, a fogbound airport, a piano-player tinkling that tune. A wonderful hill of beans, re-released just in time for Valentine’s Day. Selected re-release from Fri 10 Feb.
✽✽ The Chemical Brothers: Don’t Think (E) (UK, 2012) 85min.
Immersive concert film filmed on no less than 21 different cameras during the Chemicals’ 2011 Fuji Rock festival set. See caption, page 77. Selected screenings on Fri 3 Feb. Chicken Run (U) (Peter Lord, Nick Park, UK, 2000) Julia Sawalha, Mel Gibson, Timothy Spall, Phil Daniels, Jane Horrocks, Miranda Richardson. 85min. Aardman studios re-writes the WWII POW experience as an Orwellian satire, but with laughs. Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. Chronicle (12A) (Josh Trank, US, 2012) Michael B Jordan, Michael Kelly, Alex Russell. 83min. Three high school friends develop superhuman powers after a discovery in a mysterious craters. However, their lives spiral out of control when one of them decides to test his dark side. General release.
✽✽ Close Up Kurdistan (15) (Yüksel Yavuz, Germany, 2007) 104min. This documentary follows the route of refugees returning to Kurdistan from the safety of Europe. Followed by a Q&A with director Yüksel Yavuz. See caption, page 74. Part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Coriolanus (15) ●●●●● (Ralph Fiennes, UK, 2011) Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox, Jessica Chastain, Paul Jesson. 123min. Coriolanus (Fiennes) is a valiant Roman soldier whose contempt for the masses causes him to fall victim to the city’s scheming politicians. Fiennes, debuting as director, creates a modern day, war-torn Rome using Serbian locations, restless cinematography and an excellent cast,
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making this a powerful and resonant reimagining of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Selected release. Crimes of Passion (18) (Ken Russell, US, 1984) Kathleen Turner, Anthony Perkins, Bruce Davison. 107min. Ken Russell’s exploitation epic is a black comedy satire on America’s sexual mores. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ A Dangerous Method (15) ●●●●● (David Cronenberg,
UK/Germany/Canada/Switzerland, 2011) Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, Vincent Cassel. 99min. See review, page 68. Selected release from Fri 17 Feb.
✽✽ The Dark Harbour (Futoko) (12A) (Takatsugu Naitô, Japan, 2009) Kazuki Hiro’oka, Shinya Kote, Akaji Maro. 101min. Deadpan comedy about a lonely fisherman who only notices a woman and her son hiding in his wardrobe when watching back a video he’s made for a dating service. Part of the Contemporary Japanese Auteurs season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Darkest Hour (12A) (Chris Gorak, US, 2011) Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Rachael Taylor, Max Minghella, Joel Kinnaman. 89min. Five young people lead the fight-back against aliens in a war-torn Moscow. macrobert, Stirling.
✽✽ Dear Doctor (PG) (Miwa Nishikawa, Japan, 2009) Tsurube
Shôfukutei, Eita, Teruyuki Kagawa. 127min. A doctor moves to a remote village with an elderly population. When a woman asks him to conceal her cancer from her distant daughter, he agrees, for he has a secret of his own. Part of the Contemporary Japanese Auteurs season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ The Descendants (15) ●●●●● (Alexander Payne, US, 2011) George
Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Judy Greer, Beau Bridges. 115min. When his wife is seriously injured during a boating trip with her lover, a Hawaiian land baron takes his daughters on a trip to confront her beau. General release. Dickens on Screen (E) 90min. A talk by Adrian Wootton offering overview of how Dickens’ work has been adapted for film and television, featuring plenty of clips from 1898 to the present day. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Doctor Strangelove (Or How I Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love The Bomb) (PG) ●●●●● (Stanley Kubrick, UK, 1963) Peter Sellers, George C Scott, Sterling Hayden. 93min. Devastating black comedy on the lunacy of the nuclear age with Sellers ideally cast in three roles (US President, jolly Brit captain, and demented teutonic boffin) and Slim Pickens the good ole boy heading for oblivion to a chorus of ‘We’ll Meet Again’. Still alarmingly relevant. Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. Dreams of a Life (12A) ●●●●● (Carol Morley, UK, 2011) Zawe Ashton, Neelam Bakshi, Jonathan Harden. 95min. After Joyce Vincent died in her North London bedsit, her body lay undiscovered for three years. Filmmaker Morley sets out to learn about this little-known woman in a film which speaks volumes about the profound mysteries of other peoples’ lives. macrobert, Stirling.
✽✽ Dune (15) (David Lynch, US, 1984) Kyle MacLachlan, Virginia Madsen,
Francesca Annis. 137min. Lynch’s complex, convoluted adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1960s million-selling novel is strikingly shot and not without merit. Part of Into a World: The Films of David Lynch. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. L’Eclisse (The Eclipse) (PG) ●●●●● (Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy/France, 1962) Alain Delon, Monica Vitti, Francisco Rabal, Louis Seigner. 125min. Vittoria (Vitti) leaves her long term lover for a stockbroker, but is increasingly drawn to solitude. The last of Antonioni’s unofficial ‘doomed relationships’ trilogy (after L’Avventura and La Notte), this again captures a restless feeling of human alienation and sets it against an unforgiving backdrop. Introduced by Dr Pasquale Iannone. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
2 Feb–1 Mar 2012 THE LIST 73