Glasgow Film Festival Cine Skinny 13 February 09

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DAily Guide friday 13 February

What’s insIde? 2 » Tomorrow’s picks Our highlights of tomorrow’s films and events 2 » MIRANDA JULY A rare chance to see the early works of this funny and exciting talent.

Going Loopy for Iannucci

Gail Tolley sat down with In the Loop director, Armando Iannucci and actors Peter Capaldi and Chris Addison to chat about TV series The Thick of It, the need for political satire and sneaking out of maths class to visit the GFT. Armando Iannucci describes his new film as “a cousin” or perhaps a “brother-in-law” of his successful television series The Thick of It and, whilst there are many similarities (most notably Peter Capaldi’s hilariously foul-mouthed character, Malcolm Tucker), it’s certainly not prerequisite viewing for this thoroughly enjoyable film, which is crammed full of one-liners and witticisms. This acerbic political satire, about US and British politics in the build-up to a Middle Eastern conflict, brings some light relief to a subject matter that has been dealt with in a pretty serious manner in films up until now (think Oliver Stone’s W or Stephen Gaghan’s Syriana). As Chris Addison, who plays the fresh-faced Toby says “it’s the laughter of relief, and I think there’s something really appealing about that to audiences”. It is this which Iannucci attributes to the fantastic reaction that the film received when it was shown at Sundance last month, “ I think it was to do with the fact that they [the audience] just wanted to get it out

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of their system, they were relieved to see it up in front of them and dealt with”. Yet far from existing merely as a post-event commentary Iannucci stresses that “there was this sense that it could happen again, because it’s not all about evil, nasty people it’s about slightly fragile people occasionally making the wrong decision. I think it’s quite important we see how these things happen, it’s not one person pushing a button, it’s to do with a collective atmosphere.” For both Iannucci and Capaldi there’s the added enjoyment of bringing the film to their home city. And the Glasgow Film Theatre, where the opening gala was held holds some fond memories for them both. For Capaldi it was seeing the Disney classic Dumbo when the place was still called The Cosmo and Iannucci recalls “sneaking out of maths class because Felicity Kendall was in a one-to-one interview, and saying it was for English but really it was to sit in the front row and stare [at her]!”

3 » reviews Burn the Bridges  Not Quite Hollywood  Nosferatu  3 » Your festival You tell us what you think about GFF 4 » what’s new online Check out our online blog as well as exciting reviews, club coverage and fun stuff 4 » guest column Comedian Liam Speirs revisits a memorable cinema experience 4 » Quiz You can win 2 tickets to Paris 36

the cineskinny Produced by The Skinny magazine in association with the Glasgow Film Festival editors Gail Tolley

Layout Images

Michael Gillespie Eve McConnachie Alasdair McMaster

GFF Box Office Order tickets from the box office at www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk or call 0141 332 6535 or visit Glasgow Film Theatre 12 Rose Street, Glasgow, G3 6RB info@glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk


tomorrow’s

Picks

July In February Marjorie Gallagher looks at the multitalented film-maker Miranda July

Two Lovers

21:00 @ CINEWORLD

Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow star in this poignant story of loss and yearning in Brooklyn.

Subculture

23:00 @ SUB CLUB

Audio and visual combine for a night of House at the Sub Club.

Blue Eyelids

18.15 @ GFT

A winner at the Sundance Film Festival, this is an affecting tale of loneliness in Mexico.

Take 2: The Adventures of Robin Hood

11.30 @ GFT/cineworld

It’s not cupid’s bow and arrow but Erroll Flynn’s in this, the original Robin Hood.

Cherry Blossoms

20.30 @ GFT

Inspired by the Japanese master, Ozu, this is an unassuming story set in Japan.

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name Miranda July? Performance artist? Author, maybe? How about musician? She is one and all of these things. But it’s the artistic polymath’s filmmaking that we’re interested in here as a retrospective of her short film works is being screened as part of the Shorts Film Festival. Before earning the “indie-darling” tag after winning the Special Jury Prize at Sundance and the Camera d’Or at Cannes with her feature debut Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005), July was already making her mark with videos. In her short film Atlanta (1996, 10 mins) she recreates a press conference where a teenage Olympic swimmer and her mother (July playing both roles) talk to journalists about her goal to win gold. But who’s goal is it? In The Amateurist (1998, 14 mins) July again plays two parts, that of the “amateur” woman who is under constant surveillance from the “professional” woman. The longest of her short films, at 27 minutes, is Nest of Tens (1999). Three alternating stories involving an abandoned sexual flirtation between a babysitter and an older man; an airport encounter between a businesswoman and a young girl; and a young boy performing a bizarre ritual with a baby are all connected by a lecture on fears and phobias. And finally Getting Stronger Every Day (2001, 6 mins) is about the sense of being lost and then found again. Her eccentric and quirky films have been shown at such prestigious institutions as the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim and so it will be a real treat to view these shorts in the CCA, regarded as one of Europe’s leading contemporary galleries and of course, as we all know, one of Glasgow’s hippest venues. The CCA is where it’s at on the opening weekend. Highlights of the Shorts Festival include a two-hour seminar Screen Academy Scotland: From Shorts to Features. Speakers, including Douglas McKinnon, who directed The Flying Scotsman, and Eleanor Yule, discuss how they made their way from short film to feature film. The world renowned

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Oberhausen Film Festival (where Miranda July won the main prize for Nest of Tens) pays a visit to showcase seven works that are caught somewhere between art and film in Oberhausen on Tour 2009: Best of Artist Film and Video. Of course what would a film festival be if it didn’t big-up some of its home-grown talent. GMAC presents the Scottish Short Film Showcase, eight new works from exciting and original film makers

from all over Scotland. And if you’re a struggling artist yourself and are looking for a wee boost up the ladder, you would do well to pop along to the CCA Bar, have a pint and indulge in some hobnobbing with the folks at Shooting People and Screen Academy Scotland and find out how you can get your film made and seen.

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Reviews burn the bridges

Director: Francisco Franco

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Burn the Bridges’ opening gambit arrives in a flurry of discarded papers, scuffles, and overdramatic glares that wouldn’t look out of place in a Mexican telenovela (soap opera). It’s this eagerness to slap the audience into attention that consistently undermines what is an occasionally powerful drama about the destructiveness of obsessive love. Irene Azuela, who’s performance is the highlight of the film, is Helena, who’s devotion to her bedridden mother threatens to suffocate all of her other relationships, including that of her quiet

NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD

Director: Mark Hartley

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and sensitive brother Sebastian, portrayed with a glassy-eyed intensity by Angel Onesimo Nevares. Much like Helena’s descent into isolation and madness, the film disintegrates in the last half hour, lunging salaciously to infer as much as possible in a fairly aimless manner. To his credit, director Francisco Franco sews some deftly poetic subtext into the film, but these moments are all too rare amidst a glut of meretricious diversions. Ray Philp

nosferatu

Director: F.W. Murnau

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The history of Australian films is the history of girls walking around rocks, dingoes stealing babies and Jenny Agutter in a pool of water. At least it is if you stick to the mainstream history. Not Quite Hollywood rips away the respectable façade of Antipodean cinema to reveal the genre known as Ozploitation: gore, girls, guns and a belief that anything is possible if you just have a camera, some fake blood and a stuntman handy. Quentin Tarantino is a welcome talking head alongside many of the directors and stars of the films discussed, their time spent on cinema’s fringes giving their anecdotes added punch. Although coming across at times like a glorified trailer, the film is so jam packed with great scenes and witty one-liners that you’ll soon be on the internet trying to track down Patrick on DVD to see if they really did make them like that. Jonathan Melville

A sad truth about certain films is that it is easier to comprehend their influence on modern cinema than it is to appreciate their startling originality and initial impact. Widely hailed as the first horror film, it is possible to view Murnau’s Nosferatu in this light: Max Schreck’s deeply unsettling portrayal of the vampire, and

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the pestilence he brings to the fictional German town of Wisborg played a key role in forming expectations and conventions of the genre still identifiable nearly a century after its release. Yet Murnau’s striking visual style elevates the film above the majority of its successors: beautifully rendered mountain landscapes

and medieval small towns are picturesque settings for the iconic shadows of Nosferatu, that retain their chilling power amidst a glut of derivative filmic retellings of the vampire myth. Nosferatu is not merely a basis for an entire cinematic genre, it is also one of the finest moments in the history of European film. Stephen Mitchell

FRIDAY 13 FEBRUARY THE CINESKINNY 3


HOLY MUSTARD

BATMAN! In 1997 I went to see the cinematic masterpiece Batman & Robin starring the always understated Arnold Schwarzenegger. Before the film started I purchased a hotdog and had been very generous with my helping of mustard spread atop the sausage like a thick yellow blanket of Old English goodness. Observing my condiment drenched snack, the concerned stall attendant warned me, ‘’you know that’s English mustard, it’s VERY hot’’. Being just 19-years-old and a little inexperienced in the culinary delights of this traditional English fayre I replied with great bravado, ‘’Pah! I can handle it.’’ Taking my seat in the auditorium beside a respectable looking family with young children, the lights went down and the commercials began to play. I took a bite from my hotdog and all seemed well, I could taste the condiment swirling in my mouth. ‘’That hotdog seller underestimated the super human tastebuds of the Speirsmeister’’ I thought to myself. It was at this point that a commercial for body spray began involving a model stripping off in a lift. I then casually took a second bite of my hotdog. Unbeknownst to me the first bite I had taken had only contained ketchup. This second bite on the other hand contained a very large dollop of the aforementioned mustard. If you can imagine Krakatoa and Vesuvius had been out for a few beers and began playing ‘see who can pee the highest’ in your mouth then you are halfway there to understanding the searing heat of molten mustard that was now melting my tastebuds. I began to groan and drool at the mouth from the white hot heat of the dressing. It then occurred to me how this must have looked to the family beside me. The model in the commercial was now stripped to her underwear and there was a strange young man moaning and dribbling in the darkness. The horrified parents called for an usher. I tried to explain myself but my mouth was now so numb I could only muster a low pitched gargling noise to make any pervert on any register in the land proud. The usher had no choice but to call the Manager and punishment was swift and severe: I was instantly moved to the best seat in the house, guaranteed not to miss a single frame of Joel Schumacher’ s Batman & Robin. A more horrific punishment in this life I cannot even begin to imagine. Liam Speirs

What’s new online? Comment online at the GFF site, MySpace, Facebook & on The Skinny’s web forums. FACEBOOK

Charlott Susanna Hill

“We would love to come to the Gala! Wearing tux and all (that would be my lovely hubby)... looking forward to seeing lots of good films :,) Yipppeeeeeeeee!”. Always good to hear!

CINEMA WINDOWS

There’s more info on our Cinema City project, so head to www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk/windows for updates. We’ve got info on our venues, what’s to see and why Glasgow is undeniably the City of Cinema!

CLUBS

Our intrepid Clubs Editor, Chris Duncan, has been bigging up our clubs presence to the Glasgow massive (sorry about that). Check out his article at www.theskinny.co.uk for an overview of all the events.

Pic of the day

CINESKINNY ONLINE

We’ll be uploading all of our reviews, interviews and features to The Skinny’s website so if you miss a Cine Skinny you won’t be sad. You can also flick through them all online at www.glasgowfilmfestival. org.uk/cineskinny

gala photography

A team of snap-happy photographers were prowling the opening gala last night. You can see the results on the festival website and the festival flickr group at www.flickr.com

ALASDAIR MCMASTER

GFF volunteers form a goodybag-filling production line in preparation for yesterday’s opening gala.

Quiz Time We have two tickets for Paris 36 to give away (Sat 14 Feb 20.15, GFT). From the director of the Oscar nominated The Chorus comes another heartwarming tale, this time of love and the serious business of the stage. Trying to fend off gangsters from his venue in a time of unrest, a theatre impresario is soon packing them with a singer whose voice is to swoon for. We’re sure you’ll feel the same.

The film 36 starred Daniel Autieul and who else as rival cops? email michael@theskinny.co.uk by 10am on Saturday to enter.

What did you think?

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We asked 6 people coming out of Roman Holiday for their verdict

MARIE Sad. I thought it would have ended differently but I enjoyed it.

MICHELLE I love her jewellery. I make it myself and think the stuff she wore was gorgeous.

CHRISTINE My brother said that if there was anyone alive or dead he could have a date with, it would be her!

NOREEN I thought she looked great, even without makeup or surgery or what they all get now.

ANNE I was there when it first came out and I think most people there were the same.

ROS She was a real icon for our generation, the skirts and the waists, all that.

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