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AILEEN:
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A SERIAL KILLER
***½
USA
A documentary on the final days of convicted serial killer Aileen Wuornos,
the subject of the same year's "Monster". Though not particularly
well-constructed, it's compulsive viewing, both fascinating and scarring,
permanently etching Wuornos' crazed, bulging eyes into your memory.
dir: Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill
ALL THE REAL GIRLS
**½
USA
In a small mill town, a romance blossoms between a young rough-neck and a
virginal boarding school graduate.
Well-intentioned it is, but also angsty, air-headed, self-involved and more
than a touch precious. Perhaps it is an attempt to relate an anonymous though
clearly overwhelming sense of romance the maker and his cast once witnessed
without quite grasping its core. A film scholar's "Chocolat", if
you like. A film scholar should know better though.
dir: David Gordon Green
cast: Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel, Patricia Clarkson
AMERICAN SPLENDOR
****
USA
The life of comic-book writer Harvey Pekar.
A warm, amusing and moving mixture of documentary and fiction. An exemplary
biopic, expertly assembled, with excellent use of setting and soundtrack.
wr/dir: Robert Pulcini, Shari Springer Berman
cast: Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis, Judah Friedlander, James
Urbaniak
ANYTHING
ELSE
***½
AT FIVE IN THE AFTERNOON
***½
Iran/France
A 20-year-old woman in Afghanistan directly after the fall of the Taliban
attends school against her father's wishes and dreams of becoming president.
A fascinating, engrossing snapshot of contemporary Afghanistan, with various
political arguments - largely concentrating on women's rights - that aren't
necessarily novel - or subtle - but are certainly timely and valid.
dir: Samira Makhmalbaf
wr: Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Samira Makhmalbaf
ph: Ebrahim Ghafori, Samira Makhmalbaf
ed: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
cast: Aghele Rezaie, Abdolgani Yousefrazi, Razi Mohebi, Marzieh
Amiri
BAD SANTA
****
USA
A vulgar, alcoholic department store Santa hides out in the house of a
neglected, vulnerable child.
A jet black, subversive Christmas comedy that invites the viewer to ponder
how it ever managed to get away from Disney. Riddled with four letter words,
it works even when it takes a shot at the heartstrings thanks to perfectly
pitched performances.
dir: Terry Zwigoff
cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Brett Kelly, Lauren
Graham, Lauren Tom, Bernie Mac, John Ritter, Cloris Leachman
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS
***½
Canada/France
A cancer-stricken history lecturer spends his dying days among old friends
and estranged family members.
Arcand collects his characters from "The Decline of the American
Empire" (1986) for an intelligent, absorbing, brilliantly written
exploration of tensions between ailing leftist ideologies and consuming
materialistic capitalism. However, he struggles to balance emotion with
intellect.
dir: Denys Arcand
cast: Rémy Girard, Stéphane Rousseau, Marie-Josée Croze, Dorothée
Berryman, Louise Portal, Dominique Michel, Yves Jacques, Pierre Curzi, Marina
Hands, Toni Cecchinato, Johanne-Marie Tremblay
THE BEST OF YOUTH
****
Italy
Marco Tullio Giordana's much-acclaimed six-hour family saga, concentrating
chiefly on the choices made by two brothers very opposite in nature, against
the backdrop of some forty years worth of political turmoil in Italy. The
story abandons characters at will only to pick them up whenever convenient
and it isn't entirely above soap opera. But for six hours you live and
breathe the world of the Caratis and you gasp and soar according to the
vicissitudes of an entire nation's fortunes. Giordana's style is professional
more than masterful and polished more than organic. But it's perfectly
effective at reining in the talky, bounteous monster of a script and never
losing hold over the overarching objectives.
dir: Marco Tullio Giordana
wr: Sandro Petraglia, Stefano Rulli
cast: Luigi Lo Cascio, Alessio Boni, Adriana Asti, Sonia Bergamasco,
Fabrizio Gifuni, Maya Sansa, Valentina Carnelutti, Jasmine Trinca, Andrea Tidona,
Lidia Vitale, Camilla Filippi, Paolo Bonnani, Riccardo Scamarcio, Giovanni
Scifoni
BIG FISH
***
USA
An estranged son is tired of his dying father's famously colourful tales and
wants to know the truth.
A sentimental mix of prime-time family pathos and Burton's real head. Whereas
each aspect lacks comfort and subtlety, the combination itself is efficiently
handled.
dir: Tim Burton
cast: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup,
Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Buscemi
BON VOYAGE
***½
France
A movie star, a student activist, a pair of escaped convicts, a professor and
his scientific discovery struggle to escape Nazi occupation.
Light, fast-paced drama with multiple characters and plot lines. It misses
many opportunities and often very nearly trips over itself, but consistently
provides lavish, old-style entertainment.
dir: Jean-Paul Rappeneau
cast: Gregori Derangere, Isabelle Adjani, Gerard Depardieu, Virginie
Ledoyen, Yvan Attal, Jean-Marc Stehle, Peter Coyote
BRIGHT FUTURE
***
Japan
A young factory worker is left to take care of his friend's jellyfish after
the latter is jailed for murdering their boss and his wife.
An offbeat drama with original observations and unexpected developments, but
also limp pacing and unattractive digital photography that detract from the
experience.
wr/dir/ed: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
cast: Jô Odagiri, Tadanobu Asano, Tatsuya Fuji, Takashi Sasano, Marumi
Shiraishi
CAFÉ LUMIERE
**½
Japan/Taiwan
A young Japanese woman's family is baffled by her plans to raise a child on
her own.
Intended as a homage to Yasujiro Ozu to mark 100 years since his birth. Even
at their most leisurely, Ozu's films were relatively absorbing. In this
particular picture though, most of the time there is nothing of interest happening
- no character observation, no local colour, no social commentary - nothing.
And on the rare occasion it ventures into exploring family dynamics, it
proves so incisive that the interminable stretches of nothing in between end
up all the more frustrating.
dir: Hou Hsiao-Hsien
cast: Yo Hitoto, Tadanobu Asano, Masato Hagiwara, Kimiko Yo, Nenji
Kobayashi
COFFEE AND CIGARETTES
***
USA
A collection of short films of variable quality basically revolving around
the vices of the title. Few are remarkable, and some are embarrassing, but
most are watchable.
wr/dir: Jim Jarmusch
ph: Tom DiCillo, Frederick Elmes, Ellen Kuras, Robby Müller
ed: Jim Jarmusch, Terry Katz, Melody London, Jay Rabinowitz
cast: Roberto Benigni, Steven Wright, Joie Lee, Cinqué Lee, Steve
Buscemi, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, Joseph Rigano, Vinny Vella, Vinny Vella Jr.,
Renée French, E.J. Rodriguez, Alex Descas, Isaach de Bankolé, Cate Blanchett,
Mike Hogan, Jack White, Meg White, Alfred Molina, Steve Coogan, Katy
Hansz, Genius/GZA, RZA, Bill Murray, Bill Rice, Taylor Mead
COLD MOUNTAIN
***½
USA
Towards the end of the Civil War, a disillusioned soldier deserts to return
to his Southern Belle.
There is an unevenness - particularly distracting in the opening scenes - and
miscasting as symptoms of the struggle to adapt such an episodic, epic story
into a coherent whole. However, even the under-conceived ideas hint at wholly
honourable intentions and despite the flaws, there is great feeling in the
storytelling and a strong disgust at the effects of war.
dir: Anthony Minghella
cast: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Donald
Sutherland, Brendan Gleeson, Ray Winstone, Kathy Baker, Philip Seymour
Hoffman, Eileen Atkins, Giovanni Ribisi, Natalie Portman
THE COMPANY
***
The
chronicles of a Chicago dance company.
A plotless exposé of the world of ballet, with opulent stage productions and
spontaneous, irrelevant sketches that lead nowhere. The structure and the
stage personae - all of them vague or irritating or both - can aggravate, but
the backstage atmosphere comes off successfully.
dir: Robert Altman
cast: Neve Campbell, Malcolm McDowell, James Franco, The Joffrey
Ballet Company
THE COOLER
**
USA
A middle-aged loser in life, set up to bring bad luck to gamblers in a Las
Vegas casino, finds love.
A mediocre pseudo-noir addition to the loser-comes-good genre, with
superstition forced to account for most of the dramatic tension.
dir: Wayne Kramer
wr: Frank Hannah, Wayne Kramer
cast: William H. Macy, Alec Baldwin, Maria Bello, Shawn Hatosy,
Ron Livingston, Paul Sorvino, Estella Warren
THE CORPORATION
****
Canada
A superbly assembled, harrowing documentary indictment, drawing direct
parallels between the corporation as an entity and the behaviour of a
psychopath.
dir: Jennifer Abbott, Mark Achbar
COWARDS BEND THE KNEE
***
Canada
Hockey player Guy abandons his pregnant girlfriend when he falls for a
nymphomaniac hairdresser's murderous daughter.
Surreal, exaggerated, completely bizarre melodrama, presented as a silent
film. Also note, Maddin sells it as his autobiography.
wr/dir/ph: Guy Maddin
cast: Darcy Fehr, Melissa Dionisio, Amy Stewart, Tara Birtwistle,
Louis Negin
CRIMSON GOLD
****½
Iran
Jafar Panahi directs an Abbas Kiarostami script, which establishes how parties
are illegal in Iran, the disadvantaged are routinely humiliated and the gap
between the very poor and the very rich is distending. It's a quiet, gently
flowing and profoundly embittered piece of cinema, demonstrating without
redundant earnestness or hysteria how the most inoffensive, inconspicuous,
seemingly indomitable spirit can be smothered by any casually unjust system.
dir: Jafar Panahi
wr: Abbas Kiarostami
cast: Hossain Emadeddin, Kamyar Sheisi, Azita Rayeji,
Shahram Vaziri, Ehsan Amani, Pourang Nakhael
DOGVILLE
*****
Denmark/Sweden/France/Norway/
Netherlands/Finland/Germany/Italy/ Japan/USA/UK
One of the more bracing, thought-provoking and thoroughly eviscerating cinema
experiences. During the Depression Era, Nicole Kidman hides out from the mob in
a small town in the Rocky Mountains, seeking to be accepted by its residents.
Little hope or faith in humanity is
spared as the quintessential cynic (and obnoxious master) conducts a
quintessentially audacious, rigorous and confronting investigation into human
nature as betrayed by the acquisition of power. It's played out as an
allegory against a minimalist set - with houses and streets denoted by chalk
outlines - by an impeccable ensemble.
wr/dir: Lars von Trier
cast: Nicole Kidman,
Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, James Caan, Ben Gazzara, Philip Baker
Hall, Patricia Clarkson, Bill Raymond, Lauren Bacall, Chloë Sevigny, Harriet
Andersson, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Zeljko Ivanek, Jeremy Davies, Blair Brown,
Shauna Shim, Udo Kier, Miles Purinton
voice of: John Hurt
DOWN WITH LOVE
***½
USA
In 1963 NYC, a playboy journalist poses as a wholesome astronaut to seduce an
internationally successful feminist author threatening to ruin his life.
A stylish, spot-on send-up of the Hudson and Day vehicles of the 60s.
Simultaneously glossy, vulgar and cutesy on the surface, the wit and insight
beneath are often sadly underestimated.
dir: Peyton Reed
cast: Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, David Hyde Pierce, Sarah
Paulson
THE DREAMERS
**½
USA
An American tourist spends a few days in a Parisian apartment with a pair of
incestuous siblings.
A mix of nostalgia for Hollywood's golden age (and the French New Wave) and
graphic sex scenes with simple-minded subtext. The performances range from
barely adequate to inane and all of the highlights belong to other pictures.
dir: Bernardo Bertolucci
cast: Michael Pitt, Eva Green, Louis Garrel, Anna Chancellor,
Robin Renucci
ELEPHANT
**
USA
An ordinary day at an American high school is interrupted by violence.
There is no narrative to speak of - the camera floats after relatively
anonymous teenage characters and initially the mood proves absorbing.
Gradually though, the jarring inconsistencies in the naturalism it attempts
begin to obliterate the observations. The chronology is interrupted for no
good reason and all the stark meditating gives way to the vulgar
sensationalism it was originally set up to disguise.
dir: Gus Van Sant
cast: John Robinson, Elias McConnell, Alex Frost, Eric Deulen,
Jordan Taylor, Carrie Finklea, Nicole George, Brittany Mountain
ELF
***½
USA
A human orphan raised by Santa realises he's not just one of the elves and
travels to New York in search of his biological father.
An impending Christmas programming fixture that is genuinely warm and funny.
Ferrell is way too old for the part - and things get particularly uneasy when
he's courting Deschanel - but in the end, he does manage to carry the picture
off through sheer conviction.
dir: Jon Favreau
cast: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary
Steenburgen, Edward Asner, Bob Newhart, Daniel Tay, Peter Dinklage, Jon
Favreau, Amy Sedaris
FAR SIDE OF THE MOON
***½
Canada
A middle-aged astronomy student working as a telemarketer is jealous of his
brother, a a TV weatherman.
An entertaining and largely rewarding tragi-comic character study, presented
with imagination that overcomes its shaky focus.
wr/dir: Robert Lepage
ph: Ronald Plante
ed: Philippe Gagnon
m: Benoît Jutras
cast: Robert Lepage, Anne-Marie Cadieux, Marco Poulin, Céline
Bonnier
FATHER AND SON
***½
Russia/Germany/Netherlands/Italy
It begins with two spectacularly built, seemingly naked men, embracing,
thrusting, panting and professing their love. But the director will call you
sick for drawing the natural conclusion. So, as you'd expect, the picture is
artsy, and fartsy, and frustratingly obtuse. But you forgive it for the
striking settings, and the hypnotic, dream-like feel - much indebted to
Tchaikovsky.
dir: Aleksandr Sokurov
ph: Aleksandr Burov
cast: Andrei Shchetinin, Aleksej Nejmyshev, Aleksandr Razbash, Fyodor
Lavrov, Marina Zasukhina
FINDING NEMO
****
USA
A clown fish goes in search of his son, stuck in the fish tank of a dentist
near Sydney Harbour.
Maybe it's the shock of experiencing a computer-animated feature bereft of
snark or crass pop culture references, but there is something about this
typically warm and imaginative Pixar saga that feels like a revelation.
dir: Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich
voices of: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander
Gould, Willem Dafoe, Geoffrey Rush, Brad Garrett, Allison Janney, Austin
Pendleton, Stephen Root, Vicky Lewis
THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS
**½
Denmark/Switzerland/Belgium/France
Lars von Trier challenges Jørgen Leth to remake his 1967 short film "The
Perfect Human" five times, devising a separate set of obstructions each
time.
A brilliantly conceived and potentially fascinating experiment turned into a
pseudo-philosophical exercise in unrestrained wankerism.
dir: Jørgen Leth, Lars von Trier
THE FOG OF WAR
****½
USA
Interviews with Robert S. McNamara, who served as the US Secretary of Defense
during the Vietnam war.
His subject grows increasingly elusive, but Morris is a master at this game.
The film is separated in eleven chapters, each with a lesson of its own, and
none of them remotely as simplistic as these things tend to be. Beyond the
evil and destruction of war itself, the film goes a long way into examining
the human nature that gives way to it all. Although particularly timely upon
its original release, it's not likely that it will ever be rendered
irrelevant.
dir: Erroll Morris
FUSE
***½
Bosnia-Herzegovina/Austria/Turkey/France
A small Bosnian town is notified of an impending visit from President Bill
Clinton.
A low-key, beautifully observed tragicomedy, portraying a scarred people with
humour and heart.
wr/dir: Pjer Zalica
ph: Mirsad Herovic
ed: Almir Kenovic
m: Sasa Losic
cast: Enis Beslagic, Bogdan Diklic, Sasa Petrovic, Emir
Hadzihafizbegovic, Izudin Bajrovic, Jasna Zalica, Senad Basic, Admir Glamocak
GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING
***½
In
1665 Holand, respected painter Johannes Vermeer is entranced by his
seventeen-year-old maid.
An evocatively photographed speculation of circumstances behind the creation
of Vermeer's masterpiece. Rather limited in terms of both canvas and
imagination, but elegantly mounted.
dir: Peter Webber
ph: Eduardo Serra
cast: Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Essie Davis, Judy Parfitt,
Tom Wilkinson, Cillian Murphy, Alakina Mann
GOODBYE, LENIN!
***½
Germany
A devoted socialist lies comatose during the German reunification and when
she wakes up months after, her son goes to great lengths to make sure she
avoids every excitement, including news of colossal political changes.
Warm, irrepressible tale of a son's devotion as well as a clever and original
treatise on a momentous period in German history, with a fantastic but
fragile central concept, which required tighter control.
dir: Wolfgang Becker
cast: Daniel Brühl, Katrin Sass, Maria Simon, Chulpan
Khamatova, Florian Lukas, Alexander Beyer, Burghart Klaussner
HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG
*½
USA
A depressed housecleaner is evicted from her house and enters into conflict
with its eventual buyer, an Iranian immigrant and his family.
It's a credit to the actors that the most sincere characterizations turn out
to be those of the immigrant couple - since the script demeans them most - in
this overblown, exploitative melodrama, directed without the basic discretion
to let its powerful set-up evolve on its own.
dir: Vadim Perelman
cast: Ben Kingley, Jennifer Connelly, Shohreh
Aghdashloo, Ron Eldard, Frances Fisher, Jonathan Ahdout, Kim Dickens
HULK
**½
USA
A geneticist accidentally develops the tendency to turn into a raging green
giant every time he goes under stress.
An ambitious comic book adaptation that delays most of the action to the last
third and wants to thrive on heavy psychological underpinnings that just
aren't there. The comic-style split-screen techniques provide the only bit of
fun.
dir: Ang Lee
cast: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Nick Nolte, Sam Elliott, Josh
Lucas
INTOLERABLE CRUELTY
***½
USA
A star divorce attorney falls for his client's ex-wife.
Aside from some labored patches, a classy and entertaining throwback to
Hollywood's Golden star couplings. Somewhat more marketing-friendly than
previous Coen offerings, but nevertheless familiarly peopled by eccentrics.
dir: Joel Coen
cast: George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Paul Adelstein, Geoffrey
Rush, Edward Herrman, Cedric the Entertainer, Richard Jenkins, Billy Bob
Thornton, Julia Duffy
KILL BILL, VOL. 1
*****
USA
A bride-that-didn't-get-to-be goes to seek revenge on the international
assassination squad that betrayed her.
A scrappy, gratuitous, kinetic ode to diva worship and homage to 70s martial
arts movies - and Samurai movies, and spaghetti Westerns - with magnetic
stars and multiplying geysers of blood. Half a movie, it might be, and a
pulpy ego-trip, but it boasts maybe the most ingenious, arresting soundtrack
ever designed. And the action is spectacularly showcased to give you a
visceral, supremely satisfying sense of exhilaration. It's pure, magnificent
cinema.
dir: Quentin Tarantino
cast: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, David Carradine, Sonny
Chiba, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, Chiaki Kuriyama, Michael
Madsen, Julie Dreyfuss
KITCHEN STORIES
***
Norway/Sweden
In 1940s Norway, as part of an experiment, a Swedish researcher must silently
observe the kitchen habits of a cranky, unresponsive elderly bachelor.
A slight, outlandish concept based on fact is treated with warmth and
practically earnest composure, focusing on the development of a
not-so-unlikely friendship, with limited insight and imagination.
dir: Bent Hamer
wr: Jörgen Bergmark, Bent Hamer
ph: Philip Øgaard
ed: Pål Gengenbach
m: Hans Mathisen
cast: Tomas Norström, Joachim Calmeyer, Bjørn Floberg, Reine
Brynolfsson
LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
***½
Thailand/Japan
A suicidal Japanese librarian living in Thailand befriends a young woman,
after he witnesses her sister die in a car crash.
A bittersweet, darkly comic story of the unlikely bonding of two troubled,
alienated outsiders. Breathtaking to look at.
dir: Pen-ek Ratanaruang
wr: Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Prabda Yoon
ph: Christopher Doyle
cast: Tadanobu Asano, Sinitta Boonyasak, Laila Boonyasak, Yutaka
Matsushige, Riki Takeuchi, Takashi Miike
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE
KING
****
USA/New
Zealand/Germany
The conflicts of Middle Earth rage on as Frodo and Sam face further evil on
their way to Mount Doom.
The landmark trilogy ends. Over and over again. And quite embarrassingly. But
the preceding journeys and battles - both personal and geographical - are
captivating, ravishing and breathtaking. Basically, the first three hours are
consistently spectacular, then it goes downhill rapidly and repeatedly.
dir: Peter Jackson
cast: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin,
Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Miranda Otto, Orlando Bloom, Jonathan
Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Bernard Hill, John Noble, David Wenham, Liv
Tyler, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm
LOST IN TRANSLATION
***½
USA
A washed-up American actor and a married, much younger Yale graduate share an
unlikely bond in Tokyo.
An indie piece that is obviously intended as a delicate, dreamy ode to
dislocation of both the geographical and emotional kind, except a lot of the
directorial strokes are vague and the stereotyping vulgar. The lead
performances though, and some of the one-liners, make you remember it fondly.
wr/dir: Sofia Coppola
ph: Lance Acord
cast: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni
Ribisi, Anna Faris, Fumihiro Hayashi, Yutaka Tadokoro
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LOVE ACTUALLY
*
UK/USA
A supremely simple-minded romantic comedy, utterly bereft of dignity and
credibility. In voiceover, Hugh Grant, playing a hip, single and lovesick
Prime Minister, announces that the post 9/11 world has been misrepresented
and is actually swarming with love. Supporting this thesis, an exhaustive
bunch (eighteen in total!) of lovably quirky, straight, white, middle-class
Brits (and one American equivalent) that have nothing to do with anything
(much less, each other) run around ponds and airports professing love which
is duly requited. None of them are given room for a personality, development
or even much of a storyline.
wr/dir: Richard Curtis
cast: Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Bill
Nighy, Laura Linney, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley, Martine McCutcheon,
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rowan Atkinson, Billy Bob Thornton, Claudia Schiffer,
Denise Richards, Elisha Cuthbert
MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE
WORLD
***½
USA
During the Napoleonic war, a British navy ship pursues a French warship that
almost sank it.
A vividly staged and well acted high-seas epic, borderline subversive in its
scarceness of plot and dramatic conflict. As a result, its grip over the
audience tends to falter, but it offers some memorable passages along the
way.
dir: Peter Weir
cast: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, Billy Boyd,
James D'Arcy, George Innes, Mark Lewis Jones, Robert Pugh, David Threlfall,
Edward Woodall
MATCHSTICK MEN
***½
USA
A con man with an obsessive compulsive disorder tracks down a 14-year-old
daughter he's never met before.
Despite jarring tonal shifts and a rushed closing act, this plot-twist-driven
dramedy becomes surprisingly touching as it settles into a character lesson.
Amusing, well acted and technically immaculate throughout.
dir: Ridley Scott
cast: Nicolas Cage, Alison Lohman, Sam Rockwell
A MIGHTY WIND
***½
USA
Three well-known folk groups come together for a reunion concert in NYC.
Notably gentler than this ensemble's previous efforts and less developed as
the sheer number of characters relegates some comic geniuses to regrettably
brief cameos. Slightly below the team's usual standard, but it's a high
standard, and this still manages to provide some decent jokes and a good
time.
dir: Christopher Guest
cast: Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene
Levy, John Michael Higgins, Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Ed Begley, Bob Balaban,
Jennifer Coolidge, Fred Willard, Michael Hitchcock
THE MISSING
**
USA
When her daughter is kidnapped by Indians in pre-1900 New Mexico, a cattle
rancher is forced to seek help from her estranged father.
Solemn, inert drama. It's as racist as any Western ever made, though it's
likely the makers don't realise this.
dir: Ron Howard
cast: Cate Blanchett, Tommy Lee Jones, Evan Rachel Wood, Eric Schweig,
Jenna Boyd, Aaron Eckhart
MONSTER
***½
USA
The story of serial killer prostitute Aileen Wuornos and her romance with a
shy younger woman in Florida.
A dark, unsettling adaptation of a gruesome true life story. Flawed but
harrowing, largely due to Theron's remarkable - both physical and
psychological - transformation.
dir: Patty Jenkins
cast: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern,
Lee Tergesen
MY FLESH AND BLOOD
***½
USA
A documentary that follows a middle-aged Californian woman who lives with her
her biological daughter as well as 11 adopted children, each bearing a
handicap of some kind.
A powerful portrait of a modern-day saint-with-an-asterisk that is difficult
to watch at times but carries a strong emotional impact.
dir: Jonathan Karsh
MY LIFE WITHOUT ME
***½
Spain/Canada
A 23-year-old working-class mother of two discovers she has only a short time
to live but decides not to tell anyone.
It's sticky afternoon-TV-special material, but Coixet knows to pack quirky
humour where excess sentimentality tends to normally furrow its ugly mug. The
cast proves of great help, particularly Sarah Polley's striking, fascinating,
completely idiosyncratic presence.
wr/dir: Isabel Coixet
cast: Sarah Polley, Mark Ruffalo, Deborah Harry,
Scott Speedman, Leonor Watling, Amanda Plummer, Maria de Madeiros
MYSTIC RIVER
***½
USA
The paths of three childhood friends cross after the brutal murder of a
daughter of one.
An unsubtle but resolutely bleak and relatively solid exploration of scarred
individuals overwhelmed by a grief that opens up old wounds.
dir: Clint Eastwood
cast: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon,
Marcia Gay Harden, Laurence Fishburne, Laura Linney
OFF THE MAP
**½
USA
A comic-melancholic indie about a middle-aged hippie, her aggressively
precocious pre-teen daughter and a couple of depressed men they live with in
an isolated patch of New Mexico desert. Joan Allen plays the mother with more
grace and dignity than is granted to this kind of character - she never drops
into airy-fairy mode. She makes the picture watchable. But otherwise too much
of it is about quirky people being quirky.
dir: Campbell Scott
cast: Joan Allen, Valentina de Angelis, Sam Elliott, Amy Brenneman,
J.K. Simmons, Boots Southern, J.D. Garfield
ONG-BAK
**½
Thailand
In silly martial arts movies, the story is irrelevant, the message
half-assed, and the silliness just part of the charm. It's the action scenes
that matter. The action scenes in this particular case aren't completely
shabby, but so far below the very high standard of recent Asian cinema that
you wonder why this particular film was selected for international release
over other, better titles.
dir: Prachya Pinkaew
cast: Tony Jaa, Petchtai Wongkamlao, Pumwaree Yodkamol, Suchao
Pongwilai, Wannakit Sirioput, Cumporn Teppita
OPEN WATER
**
USA
This was meant to be the next Blair Witch. It's actually about a couple of
yuppie tourist divers left by their boat in the middle of the shark-infested
ocean, but the budget is similarly low and the approach is similarly
minimalist. The main problem though, is that the tension subsides every time
the actors speak.
dir: Chris Kentis
cast: Blanchard Ryan, Daniel Travis, Saul Stein, Estelle Lau, Michael
E. Williamson
OSAMA
****
Afghanistan/Netherlands/Japan/Ireland/Iran
During the Taliban rule, a young girl is forced to dress up as a boy and become
her family's breadwinner.
The first picture made in recently liberated Afghanistan: a devastating,
beautifully crafted drama with a haunting face at its centre.
wr/dir: Siddiq Barmak
cast: Marina Golbahari, Arif Herati, Zubaida Sahar,
Mohamad Nade Khadjeh, Mohamad Haref Harati
PETER PAN
***
USA
Classy, imaginative family entertainment, kid-friendly but very much aware of
all the sexual awakening underscoring the story.
dir: P.J. Hogan
cast: Jason Isaacs, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Jeremy Sumpter, Olivia Williams,
Freddy Popplewell, Harry Newell, Ludivine Sagnier, Lynn Redgrave
PIECES OF APRIL
***½
USA
The black sheep of a family with a cancer-stricken matron invites them to New
York for Thanksgiving.
Exceptionally well written but lazily directed, and all by the same man. Much
of the biting humour and the general impact thankfully survives all the same.
dir: Peter Hedges
wr: Peter Hedges
cast: Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, Oliver Platt,
Derek Luke, Sean Hayes, Alison Pill, John A. Gallagher, Alice Drummond, Sisqo
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF
THE BLACK PEARL
***
USA
An unlikely pirate and a righteous blacksmith apprentice go in search of the
governor's daughter, kidnapped by pirates eager to break a horrific curse.
Awesome scenes of disintegrating ghost pirates capture the eye as forced
humour regularly trips over itself in demand for attention. Logic is a
non-issue and continuity never allowed to get in the way of a good time.
dir: Gore Verbinski
cast: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley,
Jack Davenport, Jonathan Pryce
PLAYING
'IN THE COMPANY OF MEN'
****
PROTEUS
***
Canada/South
Africa
In 18th century South Africa, a romance develops between two prisoners - one
African one Dutch.
A stylized, well-acted effort based on a true story, with more imagination
and style than most queer films but needing some more still.
wr/dir: John Greyson, Jack Lewis
ph: Giulio Biccari
ed: Roslyn Kalloo
m: Don Pyle, Andrew Zealley
cast: Rouxnet Brown, Neil Sandilands, Brett Goldin, Tessa Jubber,
Jeroen Kranenburg
THE RETURN
***
A
long-absent father takes his two young, estranged sons on a trip.
Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, this sparse, brooding
and good-looking but dramatically thin fable sacrifices plot development to
mood, ambiguity and, eventually, mere vagueness. Afterthought isn't kind to
it.
dir: Andrei Zvyagintsev
cast: Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin
Lavronenko, Natalya Vdovina, Galina Petrova
THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD
***½
Canada
In Depression Era Winnipeg, a beer baroness offers to pay $25,000 to the
nation that brings the saddest music in the world.
A psychedelic mélange of outlandish, absurd characters, images and
situations, presented as a faded 30s melodrama. Indisputably an acquired
taste, it goes overboard on style and kink to a somewhat distancing point,
but it's never less than outrageous and entertaining.
dir: Guy Maddin
cast: Mark McKinney, Isabella Rossellini, Ross McMillan,
Maria de Medeiros, David Fox
SARABAND
***½
Sweden
A continuation of Bergman's brilliant "Scenes from a Marriage"
(1973) where we find the original couple 30 years later, dealing with a pair
of new characters, who, although certainly complex, just aren't as
interesting. Every scene spent in their presence feels like precious time
taken away from Marianne and Johan. All the same, this may very well be the
final time the master announces his retirement, and this picture serves as a
worthy, fascinating swansong.
wr/dir: Ingmar Bergman
cast: Liv Ullman, Erland Josephson, Börje Ahlstedt,
Julia Dufvenius
SHATTERED GLASS
***
USA
Much envied young journalist Stephen Glass may or may not be fabricating his
articles.
Fascinating for the true story it tells and efficient for the most part in
the way it tells it, but there are clumsy interludes that stick out, opening
up facets that are then left unexplored and establishing subplots and
characters that go either nowhere or somewhere so obvious, it's a waste of
time that they were ever opened up at all. And it's never entirely clear
whether it's attempting to portray Glass as troubled, manipulative, both or
neither.
dir: Billy Ray
cast: Hayden Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, Chloë
Sevigny, Steve Zahn, Rosario Dawson, Melanie Lynskey, Hank Azaria
SINCE OTAR LEFT...
****½
France/Belgium
Three generations of a family of Georgian women is affected by a relative who
has left to work in Paris.
A touching, intimate, beautifully observed, superbly acted drama from the
rarely explored perspective of the family left behind by an immigrant.
dir: Julie Bertucelli
wr: Julie Bertucelli, Bernard Renucci
cast: Esther Gorintin, Nino Khomasuridze, Dinara
Drukarova, Temour Kalandadze, Roussoudan Bolkvadze, Sacha
Sarichvili, Duta Skhirtladze, Mzia Eristavi
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE
**
USA
A 63-year-old play-boy falls for the mother of his much younger lover.
A thin, rarely convincing or enlightening take on December-December
romancing. The female lead is unnecessarily, insufferably shrill.
dir: Nancy Meyers
cast: Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Frances McDormand, Keanu
Reeves, Amanda Peet, Jon Favreau
SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER... AND
SPRING
****
South
Korea
A young monk comes of age learns about life at an isolated Buddhist
monastery.
A wise, contemplative meditation on spirituality, guilt and redemption. It
never abandons its serene setting as it portrays four major stages of a man's
life in season-themed chapters.
wr/dir/ed: Kim Ki-duk
ph: Baek Song-hyeon
cast: Young-soo Oh, Kim Ki-duk, Young-min Kim, Jae-kyeong
Seo, Jong-ho Kim, Yeo-jin Ha, Jung-young Kim, Dae-han Ji, Min Choi
THE STATION AGENT
****
USA
A dwarf inherits an abandoned railway station in rural New Jersey and is
befriended by local eccentrics.
Warm, laidback, relaxing and intoxicating tale of three outsiders sharing a
common bond in their respective struggles. The whole movie drifts by
pleasantly to the point where you lose sense of running time and the ending
comes as a shock.
wr/dir: Tom McCarthy
cast: Peter Dinklage, Bobby Cannavale, Patricia
Clarkson, Michelle Williams, Raven Goodwin
THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL
***
Germany/Mongolia
A documentary about a nomadic Mongolian family and their camel, which rejects
her newborn colt. It's at least partly staged since the characters often
engage in mechanical, plot-advancing exchanges without acknowledging the
filmmakers and, as is the common case with these things, some of the ethnic
rituals portrayed here haven't actually been performed for a long time in the
absence of a camera. The picture's real problem however, is that its crafting
is very much pedestrian and the story needlessly drawn-out, even if the life
it depicts is indeed fascinating.
dir: Byambasuren
Davaa, Luigi Falorni
SWIMMING POOL
***½
France/UK
An uptight British crime novelist rediscovers creativity at her boss' home in
the South of France until his reckless daughter arrives.
A cunning study of the creative process, seething with sex and impending
menace. Ozon has a nonchalant way of setting up and discarding thriller
elements that will either frustrate or delight you.
dir: François Ozon
cast: Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier, Charles Dance,
Marc Fayolle
TAIS-TOI
***
France
A French take on the buddy-action-comedy genre. Initially warm and amusing,
it gradually gets bogged down in tired convention.
dir: Francis Veber
cast: Gérard Depardieu, Jean Reno, Richard Berry, André
Dussollier, Jean-Pierre Malo
A TALE OF TWO SISTERS
**½
South
Korea
After receiving treatment for a mysterious condition, two teenage sisters
return to their home and their estranged stepmother.
Occasionally intense but generally clichéd, convoluted and anemic horror,
based on a Korean folk tale.
wr/dir: Kim Ji-woon
ph: Lee Mo-gae
ed: Lee Hyeon-mi
m: Lee Byung-woo
cast: Yum Jung-ah, Lim Su-jeong, Kim Kap-su, Mun Geun-yeong
TARNATION
***½
USA
A documentary essay of Jonathan Caouette's life, largely concentrating on his
relationship with his unstable mother.
Obviously a deeply personal project and inevitably a self-indulgent one - the
early scenes with Caouette sobbing in his NYC pad ring particularly false.
But the boy has a gripping story to tell thereafter and he's adept at putting
it together. His editing is remarkable. Originally produced for $218 and
principally cut on iMovie, the picture went on to become a massive festival
hit. Beware of imitations sure to pop up in underground scenes worldwide.
dir/ed: Jonathan Caouette
THIRTEEN
***
USA
The thirteen-year-old daughter of a recovering alcoholic single mom spirals
out of control upon befriending the popular girl at school.
It's difficult to avoid the clumsy exclamation points when you tear a script
out of the diary of a thirteen year old girl and several scenes are more
laughable than confrontational. And yet, via the rawness of her performance,
Evan Rachel Wood excises some kind of truth out of what she's given to work
with and pushes the viewer towards quite a hard-hitting emotional climax.
dir: Catherine Hardwicke
cast: Evan Rachel Wood, Holly Hunter, Nikki Reed,
Jeremy Sisto, Brady Corbet, Deborah Kara Unger, Kip Pardue
TIME OF THE WOLF
***½
France/Austria/Germany
A restrained deliberation over what might happen when something (what it is,
exactly, is never explained) causes the end of the world. It has a tendency
to pay more attention to little sideline events than they warrant; it isn't
as gripping as it should be. But it's absorbing nonetheless, if for no other
reason than for being so completely plausible and single-mindedly sure of
itself.
wr/dir: Michael Haneke
cast: Isabelle Huppert, Béatrice Dalle, Patrice Chéreau, Rona Hartner,
Maurice Bénichou, Olivier Gourmet
TOUCHING THE VOID
***½
A
documentary of Simon Yates and Joe Simpson's catastrophic attempt to climb
the Siula Grande in 1985, with dramatic recreations. More gripping than most
fictional thrillers, it provides fascinating insights into the human
condition when the two discuss what it was like to be faced with almost
certain death.
dir: Kevin Macdonald
THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE
***½
France/Canada/Belgium/UK
A Tour de France bike racer is kidnapped and his mother goes in search of
him.
A dark, eccentric, nearly dialogue-free cartoon feature, which starts to drag
towards the end but in the meantime boasts beautiful, principally hand-drawn
animation, an irresistibly catchy theme tune and a bewitching vision of a
world that resembles a mutated version of every metropolis you know.
dir: Sylvain Chomet
voices of: Michèle Caucheteux, Jean-Claude Donda, Mari-Lou
Gauthier
TUPAC: RESURRECTION
***½
USA
Tupac is a recently deceased cultural icon, so even when he is at his most
self-righteous, pretentious and hypocritical, the makers don't allow
themselves to question his claims. They don't even seem to have considered
the option.
You're not getting more than one side to the story here, but
there are inevitably hints and subtexts that seem to have slipped through the
filters. So, if you're willing, you are ultimately free to struggle and make
what you will of this troubled, troubling and fascinating figure, and you
won't be bored for a second.
dir: Lauren Lazin
21 GRAMS
***½
A
dying professor, an ex-junkie and a reborn ex-con Jesus freak are linked
through a fatal car accident.
It's impossible to excuse the hacksaw assembling, but the film derives a
grueling power from the situation it explores, as well as the haunting music
and cinematography.
dir: Alejandro González Iñárritu
ph: Rodrigo Prieto
m: Gustavo Santolalla
cast: Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio del Toro,
Melissa Leo, Charlotte Gainsbourg
TWIST
**
Canada
Dickens' "Oliver Twist" relocated to modern-day Toronto, with male
prostitutes replacing orphaned pickpockets.
Little creative effort is evident beyond a concept that considers itself
cleverer than it really is.
wr/dir: Jacob Tierney
ph: Gerald Packer
ed: Mitch Lackie
m: Ron Proulx
cast: Nick Stahl, Joshua Close, Gary Farmer, Brigid Tierney, Stephen
McHattie
THE WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL
***
USA
A slight but sweet documentary about a flock of wild parrots in San Francisco
and a homeless musician whose life revolves around them.
dir: Judy Irving
THE YES MEN
***½
USA
A documentary on Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum, two ordinary guys that pose
as WTO representatives at seminars worldwide.
A lot of the time it feels like a mockumentary, a particularly
offbeat one. Yes, it's a one-joke premise, but it's a very funny joke and the
heart is in the right place.
dir: Chris Smith, Sarah Price, Dan Ollman
YOUNG ADAM
**½
UK
A downbeat British drama about a randy, good-looking drifter hired to work on
a barge run by a married couple who don't have sex anymore. The inevitable
happens.
The picture goes down a road that will strike arthouse patrons
as terribly familiar and never arrives anywhere interesting. Ewan McGregor
screws a couple of women he shouldn't, feels a little guilty about the death
of his ex (he's indirectly responsible), screws another woman who should know
better, then feels a little guilty when an innocent man stands trial for a
murder he knows never happened. Then he screws another woman.
There's a sense that director David Mackenzie knows a few things
about McGregor's troubled troubled soul but doesn't want to let you in on the
secret because it will make him look less cool.
wr/dir: David Mackenzie
cast: Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Emily Mortimer, Peter Mullan,
Jack McElhone, Therese Bradley, Ewan Stewart
ZATOICHI
***½
Japan
A blind samurai enters a town ravaged by corrupt rival gangs.
An eclectic, confusing, but always entertaining variation on a
popular Japanese legend, interspersed with broad humour, much blood spurting
and bizarre dance numbers that come out of the blue.
wr/dir: Takeshi Kitano
cast: Takeshi Kitano, Tadanobu Asano, Michiyo Ogusu,
Yui Natsukawa, Guadalcanal Taka, Daigori Tachabana, Yuko Daike
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