| EDINBURGH 2008 MOP-UP : 8/13 posted, including all the 'new' films : TUE.12.AUG. |
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 i.e. films first seen (by me) at the 2008 Edinburgh International Film Festival and not reviewed (by me) in June/July for The Hollywood Reporter or Tribune Part 1: New films ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD [8/10] Werner Herzog It's somehow predictable that, after two high-profile Herzog films (Grizzly Man and Rescue Dawn) that have been widely overpraised, his real return to form seems to be flying under many people's radar. This documentary about Antarctica - and the oddball people who live and work there - is easily one of the year's most surprising, engaging, hilarious and visually beautiful films, the latter achievement notwithstanding the fact that it was entirely filmed on digital video. Herzog, though frequently either audible or visible, is less of an intrusive editorial presence than is usually the case, instead showing great empathy with the human and non-human residents of this, the most unspoiled of continents, and also his wonder at the natural splendours which he finds all around him. He proves a terrific guide - genially intelligent, acerbically quizzical when appropriate - and his film, while often disarmingly comical, presents a deft and topical analysis of some very pressing ecological issues: the "end of the world" referred to in the title isn't just a geographical description. A FILM WITH ME IN IT [6/10] Ian Fitzgibbon A Film With Me In It is a likeably engaging little Irish black-comedy which, despite the odd hilarious moment here and there, lacks the water-tight structure and the escalating absurdity that distinguish the best farces (such as The Ladykillers, which it not-so-coincidentally resembles.) This is the sardonic tale of Mark (Mark Doherty), an oft-unemployed actor whose Hollywood dreams are shared with - and encouraged by - his boozy, aspiring-screenwriter neighbour Pierce (Dylan Moran). Their routine of fuggy, sub-Bohemian inertia is shattered when Mark's dog, brother, landlord and girlfriend die in freak, unconnected accidents - all during the same day. Though the metafictional film-about-a-film talk feels distractingly extraneous, the picture works best as a two-hander contrasting hangdog, monosyllabic Doherty (who also wrote the script) with the delightfully languid, over-articulate Moran. Their interactions and antics ensure proceedings remain watchably droll, even when the plot veers from impausibility into silliness just after half-way. OF TIME AND THE CITY [8/10] Terence Davies Davies puts the "I" firmly into "Liverpool" with this wonderfully erudite and blazingly personal love-letter - albeit one that's often bracingly sour in tone - to his home town. A kaleidoscope of footage - some shot especially for the film, much of it judiciously extracted from the archives - is accompanied by Davies's own booming tones recounting his mercurial relationship with the place he grew up in, while also recording its historical, social, economic and cultural changes. The tone is elegaic, confessional, sometimes blisteringly sardonic, with results that combine the poignant with the laugh-out-loud amusing: Davies thus proves an unexpected and rather high-faluting addition to the legendary ranks of Liverpool "funny men." His intentions, however, are fundamentally serious: he has numerous axes to grind and does so with meticulous determination in an eloquent, extended polemic that, crucially, neither outstays its welcome nor slips into hectoring preachiness. This is a salty serving of 'scouse' - perhaps a little too rich for some palates, but an appetising little feast that will hopefully herald a belated return to the limelight for one of Britain's most world-respected auteurs. THE PRINCESS OF NEBRASKA [6/10] Wayne Wang It's less than two months since I saw this low-budget, character-based drama set in San Francisco and dealing with the everyday lives of young Chinese immigrants to the city - with particular emphasis on a headstrong, twentysomething woman who arrives with the intention of arranging an abortion. But I can recall surprisingly little about its meandering storylines, other than being impressed by how unsympathetically the protagonist was presented at times, and bring struck by an audacious - if somewhat arty - coda which plays a particular (and, by now, somewhat over-familiar) Antony & The Johnsons track in its entirety. RED [6/10] Diesen & McKee Small-town, character-based thriller is essentially TV-movie fare, greatly elevated by the presence of Brian Cox in the central role of Av Ludlow a proud sixtysomething mid-westerner with an astonishingly tragic family history. When his long-time canine companion is callously killed by the wayward son of a boorish, rich businessman, Av sets out for justice - or, if that isn't available, he'll settle for revenge. Picture has a troubled production background which involved it being worked on by two separate directors, but a bigger problem lies in the script, which has a cobbled-together and features several underdeveloped subplots (Kim Dickens is particularly ill-served by her slackly-written role as a crusading news-reporter who picks up Av's case.) But from first to last Cox treats proceedings as if he's acting in the most austere and penetrating RSC tragedy - forcing us to take it, whatever our misgivings, equally seriously. The supporting cast is also surprisingly high-calibre for this kind of fare, with a startlingly slimline Tom Sizemore as the immoral businessman with lousy parenting skills, plus Robert Englund and Amanda Plummer in extended cameos. Standout among the minor roles, however, is relative newcomer Kyle Gallner as the mutt-slayer's conscience-haunted pal. 150 sleep furiously [7/10] Gideon Koppel It may be premature to start hailing Gideon Koppel as a youthful, British version of James Benning, but the documentarian's debut feature most certainly establishes him as a talent to watch. The sensitive, quiet and beautifully-composed study of a small community in a damply scenic corner of Wales, it's not without its minor pretensions (that all-minuscule title, a quotation from Noam Chomsky; a score almost entirely composed of 'found' tracks by The Aphex Twin), but Koppel's careful, painterly attention to quotidian detail is sufficiently impressive to negate their impact. Gradually we piece together evidence that the director has a personal, family connection to this particular place and to certain of the people who inhabit it, but these "hints" are largely oblique, and enticingly ambiguous. A stately, unhurried affair that may test the patience of certain audiences, sleep furiously has a gentle, cumulative power that rewards every scrap of attention which it demands. It'll be fascinating to see where Koppel proceeds from here. SUMMER [7/10] Kenny Glenaan The story of a friendship between two men in an economically-depressed corner of the East Midlands, Summer touches on terrain recently and profitably explored by Shane Meadows but is much more formally ambitious in the way it switches between three separate time-frames. We follow the fortunes - mostly misfortunes - of the two blokes, played as adults by Robert Carlyle and Steve Evets, from their childhood through to their time as school-leavers, when a series of traumatic events prove crucial in determining how their lives are going to pan out. On paper, much of what happens in Summer might sound maudlin or melodramatic, but Glenaan's sure touch ensures that instead the film is affecting and plausible throughout - it's surprisingly easy to overlook (or at least forgive) the fact that Carlyle's character retains a strongish Scots accent in youth and maturity, despite geographical factors which should make this distractingly unlikely. Long a critical favourite, Meadows has achieved a much higher profile with the public via his last couple of films - on this evidence, Glenaan is deserving of great prominence, although Summer's downbeat subject-matter may make it a rather tough commercial proposition. TRANSSIBERIAN [5/10] Brad Anderson A disappointingly lukewarm thriller - almost entirely set on the famous train of the title - from the director who showed a certain amount of genre flair with the likes of Session 9and The Machinist. Anderson is very much a movie buff - he once expressed an interest in remaking legendary Val Lewton chiller The Seventh Victim - so it's surprising how little his film, in which a pair of American tourists (Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer) get mixed up with various Eastern European baddies and goodies while travelling across snowy Russia, draws upon the venerable train-pic tradition exemplified by the likes of Horror Express, Runaway Train, Terror By Night, The Lady Vanishes or Murder on the Orient Express. Instead it's an overlong, convoluted affair that boasts a small handful of tense sequences - most of them involving Mortimer, who turns in a game effort under the circumstances - but otherwise struggles to maintain sufficient levels of suspense and interest, with Ben Kingsley conspicuously wasted as a scheming Russky cop. The cumulative impression is that either the script needed another rewrite, the footage needed another edit - or, preferably, both. As it is, the wheels come off the wagon some way before the end of the ride. Part 2: Jeanne Moreau retrospective The Adolescent [4/10] Jeanne Moreau 100 The Bride Wore Black [5/10] Francois Truffaut 100 Diary of a Chambermaid [7/10] Luis Buñuel 150 Jules et Jim [6+/10] Francois Truffaut 125 Lift to the Scaffold [8/10] Louis Malle 200 Neil Young xx.August, 2008 THE ADOLESCENT : [4/10] : L'adolescente aka An Adolescent Girl : France 1979 : Jeanne MOREAU : 92m : seen 27.June FH1 public (£6.50) THE BRIDE WORE BLACK : [5/10] : La Mariée était en noir : France 1968 (copyright-dated 1967) : Francois TRUFFAUT : 106m : seen 27.June FH1 public (£6.50) DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID : [7/10] : Le journal d'une femme de chambre : France/Ity 1964 : Luis BUÑUEL : 96m : seen 21.June FH1 public (£6.50) ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD : [8/10] : USA 2007 : Werner HERZOG : 99m : seen 25.June FH2 press A FILM WITH ME IN IT : [6/10] : Ireland 2008 : Ian FITZGIBBON : 88m approx : seen 27.June CW2 public (£8.00) JULES ET JIM : [6+/10] : aka Jules and Jim : France 1962 : Francois TRUFFAUT : 102m : seen 22.June FH1 public (£4.50) - digital projection (grrrr!) LIFT TO THE SCAFFOLD : [8/10] : Ascenseur pour l'échafaud : France 1958 : Louis MALLE : 89m (BBFC timing) : seen 19.June FH1 public (complimentary ticket) OF TIME AND THE CITY : [8/10] : UK 2008 : Terence DAVIES : 74m : seen 19.June CW2 public (£8.00) THE PRINCESS OF NEBRASKA : [6/10] : USA 2007 : Wayne WANG : 78m : seen 26.June CW6 press RED : [6/10] : USA 2008 : Trygve Allister DIESEN and Lucky McKEE : 93m : seen 21.June CW6 public (£6.40) sleep furiously : [7/10] : UK 2008 : Gideon KOPPEL : 94m : seen 19.June CW6 public (£6.40) SUMMER : [7/10] : UK 2008 : Kenny GLENAAN : 82m : seen 24.June FH1 public (£6.40) TRANSSIBERIAN : [5/10] : Spain/Fr/Ger/Lith 2007 : Brad ANDERSON : 111m : seen 25 .June CW7 press Edinburgh cinemas: FH = Filmhouse; CW = Cineworld underlined timings are hand-timed (and rounded up or down to the nearest minute)  |
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