list.co.uk/fi lm Reviews | FILM
COMEDY ENOUGH SAID (12A) 93min ●●●●●
DOCUMENTARY THE LEBANESE ROCKET SOCIETY (PG) 96min ●●●●● DRAMA LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON (PG) 121min ●●●●●
The late James Gandolfini was seldom used well on film, so it’s wonderful that one of his last roles gives him a chance to shine – that of Albert in writer-director Nicole Holofcener’s fifth feature, Enough Said.
The sublime Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays Eva, who’s finding things tough as her daughter Ellen (Tracey Fairaway) prepares to leave for college. At a party, Eva is awkwardly introduced to Gandolfini’s Albert, whom she begins dating – but it later transpires that he’s the ex-husband of her new client Marianne (Catherine Keener). Rather than fess up, Eva listens to Marianne’s gripes about her ex – information that poisons the fledging romance.
It’s refreshing for the focus to fall on a middle- aged female lead, and Holofcener pens dialogue that’s both witty and believable. Eva and Albert have plenty of time to fall for each other before the fairly contrived set-up kicks in. Louis-Dreyfus is so good here that it makes you wonder why she’s failed to score a big-screen lead role before, and Gandolfini skilfully balances gruffness with glimpses of vulnerability. Enough Said is a match made in romantic comedy heaven, heart-warming and frequently hilarious. (Emma Simmonds) ■ General release from Fri 18 Oct.
Fascinating questions about history and shared memory are asked in this ultra-low-budget documentary from Lebanese filmmakers Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige. It begins with an image from the 60s of a space rocket liveried in Lebanese colours – the first rocket in the Arab world. From the voiceover come the questions: ‘Why do we know nothing of this? Why has this story been lost?’ The filmmakers drop the ball somewhat after this compelling introduction. They dwell on reflective narration and clunky visual segues instead of cutting straight to their most valuable asset, an in-depth interview with Manoug Manougian, the university professor responsible for the Lebanese rocket project. Once he is on screen, it becomes clear why this story is so important: back in 1960, Lebanon was a pioneer – the country had a rocket, a dream and a vision, before Israel.
The film’s scrappy structure is a persistent problem, though. Questions bounce off the central subject but are not ultimately tied together. The filmmakers end strongly, however, with the thought that in cinema, dreaming is still possible – even in relation to their beloved and troubled Lebanon. (Paul Gallagher) ■ GFT, Glasgow, Fri 18 Oct–Mon 21 Oct.
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s gentle, perceptive studies of family life (Nobody Knows, Still Walking, I Wish) have rightly earnt him comparisons with Yasujiro Ozu. His Cannes prizewinner Like Father, Like Son uses a well-worn plot device as a springboard to explore the meaning of family and fatherhood in an age and a society where guilty parents struggle to achieve a healthy balance between life and work. Ryota (Masaharu Fukuyama) is a Tokyo architect who rarely has time to play happy families with his wife Midori (Machiko Ono) and their six-year-old son Keita (Keita Ninomiya). Everything changes when the parents are informed that Keita is not their biological son. Two babies were switched at birth. Their real son Ryusei (Hwang Sho-gen) has been raised in the household of suburban storeowners Yudai (Lily Franky) and Yuraki (Yoko Maki).
Like Father, Like Son is a delicate if overlong charmer
that creates credible dilemmas from the situation in which the two families find themselves. There is predictable drama in the way Ryota is forced to re-examine his priorities, and while it may sound sentimental, Kore-eda’s sensitive handling ensures that it also feels real and poignant. (Allan Hunter) ■ GFT, Glasgow, Fri 18 Oct–Tue 24 Oct.
DRAMA THE SELFISH GIANT (15) 91min ●●●●●
Although loosely inspired by the Oscar Wilde fairytale, writer-director Clio Barnard’s follow-up to her acclaimed experimental debut feature The Arbor fits very much into a hard-hitting social-realist tradition, exemplified by the work of Ken Loach, Shane Meadows and the Dardenne brothers.
The film is set amid the housing estates and surrounding countryside of contemporary Bradford, and its volatile protagonist is the hyperactive 13-year- old Arbor (Conner Chapman), who comes from a troubled family background. Permanently excluded from school, he and his gentle giant pal Swifty (Shaun Thomas) hit upon a money-making scheme: they begin scavenging scrap metal from their neighbourhood, and sell it to fearsome local dealer Kitten (Sean Gilder). To Arbor’s dismay, however, it becomes clear that Kitten regards him as a loose cannon, and favours the horse-loving Swifty instead.
A tragic predictability pervades the plotting of The Selfish Giant, yet amid the poverty, greed and quasi- Dickensian exploitation, Barnard captures a palpable feeling of human vitality in adversity: see, for example, the horse-and-cart race held at dawn on a motorway, or Arbor and Swifty’s entrepreneurial flair. Propelled by the powerfully credible performances of its non- professional teenage leads, and punctuated with contemplative images of post-industrial landscapes, The Selfish Giant ultimately achieves in its poignant coda a note of unexpected grace. (Tom Dawson) ■ Limited release from Fri 25 Oct.
17 Oct–14 Nov 2013 THE LIST 71