Film LISTINGS
PREVIEW AFRICA IN MOTION Filmhouse, Edinburgh and GFT, Glasgow, Thu 25 Oct–Fri 2 Nov
Now entering its seventh year, the Africa in Motion festival has established itself as one of the leading African Cinema events and for the first time it’ll also be screening a number of premieres along with its opening night in Glasgow at the GFT. With 23 feature length and 32 short films, this year’s event takes Modern Africa as its primary focus, and with the diversity of the films on offer, it looks to be one of their most progressive line- ups thus far. The programme is composed of strands including African science fiction, Arab Spring documentaries and the cult popularity of Nollywood – which is now one of the fastest growing and most productive film industries in the world, churning out over 500 films a year. There’s a barrage of related film events throughout the fortnight, including an extensive director’s masterclass with award-winning South African playwright and filmmaker Ndaba Ka Ngwane (Fri 26 Oct, Edinburgh College of Art), who will also be premiering his debut feature Uhlanga (The Mark) (Thu 25 Oct, Filmhouse; Sun 28 Oct, GFT). Ngwane’s film has received critical acclaim for its intense portrayal of rural poverty and violence in modern South Africa, told through the eyes of three teenagers.
From the short films category, easily one of the standout films is Hasaki Ya Suda (Swords) (Fri 26 Oct, Filmhouse), one of the first afro-samurai movies of its kind. It’s a dystopian look at Africa in the year 2100 in which a migration from south to north due to global warming has created a nomadic wasteland of survivors who have revived the ancient traditions of their ancestors – including swordplay.
On the documentary front there are some hard-hitting features that delve into the recent revolutions of the northern Arab states. Rouge Parole (Sun 28 Oct, Filmhouse) covers the Tunisian uprising and downfall of President Ben Ali as told from the frontlines of the resistance movement, while Tripoli Stories and Rabat Stories (Sun 28 Oct, Filmhouse) collects a number of real-life tales surrounding the Libyan and Moroccan cities amidst the revolutions and their transition towards democracy. With the forward thinking and topical nature of this year’s programming – along with its expansion across the central belt of Scotland – Africa in Motion has certainly upped the ante in terms of its scheduling and film selection, offering a plethora of insights into a modern and creative Africa which sadly gets overlooked by most Western audiences and festival programmers. (Nick Herd)
72 THE LIST 18 Oct–15 Nov 2012
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 screening times. Submit details of special screenings at least 10 days before publication to events@list.co.uk Film index is compiled by Thomas Murdock and Gail Tolley. ✽ Indicates Hitlist entry
NEW RELEASES
5 Broken Cameras (15) ●●●●● (Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Israel, France, Netherlands, 2012) Palestinian farmer/videographer Burnat was given a video camera, which he used to record the encroachment of settlements onto his village. Over time, as cameras got broken – by tear gas, rifle fire – he replaced them, and kept filming. See review at list. co.uk. Selected release from Fri 19 Oct.
✽ Argo (15) ●●●●● (Ben Affleck, US, 2012) Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston,
John Goodman. 120min. See review, page 69. General release from Wed 7 Nov.
✽ Beasts of the Southern Wild (12A) ●●●●● (Benh Zeitlin, US,
2012) Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, Levy Easterly. 91min. Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Fri 26 Oct–Thu 8 Nov; Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 19 Oct–Thu 1 Nov. For a Good Time, Call . . . (18) ●●●●● (Jamie Travis, US, 2012) Ari Graynor, Lauren Miller, Justin Long. 85min. See review, page 70. General release from Fri 2 Nov.
✽ Ginger & Rosa (12A) ●●●●● (Sally Potter, UK, 2012) Elle Fanning,
Christina Hendricks, Annette Bening. 90min. See Sally Potter profile, page 67, and review, page 71. Selected release from Fri 19 Oct. Keep the Lights On (18) ●●●●● (Ira Sachs, US, 2012) Thure Lindhardt, Zachary Booth, Julianne Nicholson. 101min. See review, page 70. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow, Thu 25 Oct and selected release from Fri 2 Nov. Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day (tbc) (Dick Carruthers, UK, 2012) Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones. 124min. Concert footage of Led Zeppelin’s 2007 reunion concert at the O2 Arena. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh, Sun 21 Oct; Vue Omni, Edinburgh, Sun 21 Oct. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (PG) ●●●●● (Eric Darnell, US, 2012) Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen. 93min. See review, page 69. General release from Fri 19 Oct. The Master (tbc) (Paul Thomas Anderson, US, 2012) Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams. 137min. Critically acclaimed drama loosely based on the Scientology movement and its founder L Ron Hubbard, as a volatile Navy veteran (Phoenix) arrives home after WWII and falls under the thrall of The Master (Hoffman), the charismatic leader of The Cause. See review at list.co.uk. General release from Fri 2 Nov. The Matchmaker (tbc) (Avi Nesher, Israel, 2010) Adir Miller, Maya Dagan, Tuval Shafir. 112min. Coming of age comedy set in 1960s Israel. Selected release from Sun 11 Nov. Metropolitan Opera: Otello (tbc) (US, 2012) Johan Botha, Renee Fleming, Falk Struckmann. 207min. New York’s Met Opera reprise Verdi’s acclaimed version of Shakespeare’s classic drama. Selected release from Sat 27 Oct, incl Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee; Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow; Cameo, Edinburgh. Metropolitan Opera: The Tempest (tbc) (Robert Lepage, US, 2012) Audrey Luna, Isabel Leonard, Iestyn Davies. 210min. British composer Thomas Adès makes his Met Opera debut conducting his new version of Shakespeare’s fantasy. Selected release from Sat 10 Nov, incl
Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow; Cameo, Edinburgh. My Brother the Devil (15) ●●●●● (Sally El Hosaini, UK, 2012) James Floyd, Fady Elsayed, Saïd Taghmaoui. 111min. Rashid (Floyd) is a gang member growing tired of the lifestyle, while his younger brother Mo (Elsayed) is keen to make name for himself on the street. Predictable but credible and heartfelt, and told with a fresh, fluid style.See review at list.co.uk. Selected release from Fri 9 Nov. Paranormal Activity 4 (15) (Henry Joost/Ariel Schulman, US, 2012) Katie Featherston, Kathryn Newton, Matt Shively. 95min. Fourth in the perennial haunted house series takes place five years after the first, the most profitable film ever made. See review at list.co.uk. General release from Wed 17 Oct. Paris-Manhattan (tbc) (Sophie Lellouche, France, 2012) Alice Taglioni, Patrick Bruel, Marine Delterme. 77min. French rom-com about a pharmacist (Taglioni) whose love of Woody Allen movies is getting in the way of her love life. Release from Thu 1 Nov. The Rolling Stones: Crossfire Hurricane (tbc) (Brett Morgen, UK/US, 2012) Documentary, named for a line in the song ‘Jumping Jack Flash’, featuring interviews, extensive live performance material and news archive footage about the first great rock’n’rollers. See review at list. co.uk. Selected release from Thu 18 Oct.
✽ Room 237 (15) ●●●●● (Rodney Ascher, US, 2012) Bill Blakemore,
Juli Kearns, Geoffrey Cocks. 102min. See feature, page 68, and review, page 70. Selected release from Fri 26 Oct, incl Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Fri 2–Thu 8 Nov.
✽ Rust and Bone (15) ●●●●● (Jacques Audiard, 2012) Marion
Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts. 120min. See review page 71. General release from Fri 2 Nov. The Sapphires (PG) ●●●●● (Wayne Blair, Australia, 2012) Jessica Mauboy, Deborah Mailman, Shari Sebbens, Miranda Tapsell, Chris O’Dowd. 103min. See review, page 69. Release from Wed 7 Nov.
✽ Skyfall (tbc) (Sam Mendes, UK, 2012) Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem,
Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney, Naomie Harris, Bérénice Marlohe. 145min. When MI6 is attacked, James Bond’s loyalty to M is challenged as he seeks out and eliminates a threat from her past. Sam Mendes directs Daniel Craig’s third outing as Bond. See review at list.co.uk. General release from Fri 26 Oct.
✽ Sister (tbc) ●●●●● (Ursula Meier, France, 2012) Kacey Mottet Klein, Léa
Seydoux, Martin Compston. 100min. Release from Fri 26 Oct. See review page 69. Stitches (tbc) (Conor McMahon, Ireland, 2012) Tommy Knight, Ross Noble, Gemma-Leah Devereux. 86min. Noble plays a sleazy clown who dies during a prank at a children’s party before returning to life years later thanks to a black magic clown cult. See Noble interview, page 21, and extended interview and review at list. co.uk. Showcase Cinema Paisley, Paisley, Thu 25 Oct.
STILL SHOWING
Anna Karenina (12A) ●●●●● (Joe Wright, UK/France, 2012) Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Johnson. 130min. Adaptation of Tolstoy’s classic novel, in which the title character (Knightley) has an affair with an army officer (Taylor- Johnson). Despite lush photography and a charismatic (if low-key) performance by Knightley, the clever design and theatrical presentation make the characters seem spoiled and shallow, and rob the story of impact. General release. Barbara (PG-13) ●●●●● (Christian Petzold, Germany, 2012) Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Rainer Bock. 105min. East Germany, 1980, and a physician from Berlin has been sent to a country town as punishment by the Stasi. The Winner of Best Director at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, Petzold’s haunting film depicts