| Edinburgh Film Festival pt.VII (Wed 24 Aug) incl. Paul Schrader’s 'Dominion' [7/10] |
|
|
| Wednesday, 24 August 2005 | |
|
John Fawcett's THE DARK [3/10] Stephen Woolley's STONED [6/10] Robinson Devor's POLICE BEAT [7+/10] Paul Schrader's DOMINION - PREQUEL TO THE EXORCIST [7/10] --------------------------------------------------------- The Dark was the first stinker I saw at Edinburgh '05 - a week and 20 or so films in, it was arguably overdue. A title-card informs us that it was allegedly adapted from Simon Maginn's genuinely chilling novel Sheep, but I'd never have guessed it from the film itself: never have I seen a film so at variance with its supposed "source" book. All that's retained is the setting on the Welsh coast (pic was ‘lensed' on the Isle of Man), the sheep, and the vaguest outline of the plot. When the young teenage daughter of an estranged couple apparently drowns, the mother becomes convinced that the child isn't actually dead but is being kept prisoner in a kind of limbo - from which she might possibly be rescued. Cue clunky shenanigans in the Ring vein - the (barely coherent) climax bears eerie similarities to a sequence at the end of The Ring Two, though the resemblance is presumably coincidental. Elements of Poltergeist II, The Wicker Man, Pet Sematary, The Fog and even Don't Look Now surface in a script which has the distinct feel of having been rewritten and rewritten until nearly every trace of the original plot has been lost. Maria Bello has worked her way to the brink of stardom over the last few years and she emphatically deserves a juicy lead role in a proper movie - this isn't it. She nevertheless fares rather better than Sean Bean who contributes an unexpectedly weak turn as the husband, one which suggests he should concentrate on the villainous-Brit roles he usually lands in Hollywood blockbusters. Neither scary nor involving, this Edinburgh world-premiere might end up serving one useful purpose: Canadian director Fawcett's Ginger Snaps was, to my mind, somewhat over-rated, and this misfire can only serve to bring his reputation down a notch or two. Admirers of Maginn's novel, and anyone in search of a decent horror fright, meanwhile, are advised to be very afraid of The Dark... --------------------------------------------------------- Stoned is a messy but oddly watchable version of the final months on the life of Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones, and a belated directorial debut from veteran Britpic producer Woolley. A self-indulgent labour of love for Woolley, it's worth seeing mainly for the fact that it brings together the UK's two outstanding actors of the moment: David Morrissey (channelling Michael Caine as the Stones' road-manager Keylock) and Paddy Considine (on fine tormented form as Thorogood, the builder whose friendship with Jones leads to tragedy). Woolley isn't any great shakes as a director (visual cliches abound), and the script (based on three different books) is a bit all over the place, but there are plenty of plusses: the period-invoking production design is spot on, and Leo Gregory is a suitably fey, just-visiting-this-planet presence as the mercurial, infuriating Jones. More Stardust than Velvet Goldmine, undoubtedly, but at least it's no Wonderland... --------------------------------------------------------- Having missed the press and public screenings of Police Beat I had to catch it on DVD in the festival's Videotheque - never an ideal option, and especially not for a widescreen film like this one. I nevertheless saw enough to know that I should catch it on the big screen if at all possible, and to rank Devor's followup to his frustratingly hard-to-see Charles Willeford adaptation The Woman Chaser (1999) among the top handful of the pictures I've seen here. An impressionistic, eerily calm character-study of a Seattle cop, Police Beat isn't a million miles away from territory covered in Pablo Trapero's El Bonaerense or Joseph Pierson's Evenhand, another American indie which screened at this festival two years ago. |
| < Prev |
|---|
