THE OFFICIAL DAILY GUIDE
WEDNESDAY 23 FEBRUARY
WHAT’S INSIDE? 2 » PICKS OF THE DAY Highlights of day seven at GFF 2011 2 » INTERVIEW: MARK MILLAR We talk to the GFF Ambassador about bringing superheroes to Glasgow 3 » REVIEWS Meek’s Cutoff Animal Kingdom Route Irish
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QUITE(LY) INTERESTING For comic book fans, he needs no introduction, but for everyone else, we profile acclaimed Glaswegian graphic novelist FRANK QUITELY prior to his
4 » WHAT’S NEW ONLINE GSFF awards, Total Film’s Top 20 GFF screenings, and Filmi Girl takes a potshot at The CineSkinny 4 » COMPETITION Win two tickets to see Essential Killing, a film by Polish artist Jerzy Skolimowski starring Vincent Gallo, by answering a simple question courtesy of the lovely people at Quotables
special workshop at GFF. Words: THOM ATKINSON Since the 1990s comic books have re-emerged into modern day sensibilities; empowered by the rise of the graphic novel format, the premise that comics are only for teenage boys is long deceased. Two dimensional characters have been revitalised by transforming flat storytelling with complex arcs, psychological choices and engaging situations. Within this time of change inside an evolving industry a key strand of DNA emerged from Scotland. Writers such as Mark Millar, Grant Morrison and a certain young artist who used the proverbial pen to put power to the comic book renaissance. You see, Frank Quitely my dear you should give a damn about this Glasgow born artist, aka Vincent Deighan. Since using the spoonerism of ‘quite frankly’ as a pseudonym to hide his early work on Broons parody The Greens from his family, the name has endured, as has his place as one of the foremost artistic talents within the comic
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book industry. Whilst cutting his teeth on underground titles such as Electric Soup in the 1990s, Quitely was quickly brought to the attention of the industry and his break came stateside in a collaboration with fellow Glaswegian Morrison on Flex Metallo for DC in 1996. The rest, as they say, isn’t quite history, as Quitely is still at the forefront of the medium. His collaborations with Morrison have been some of the most groundbreaking of the past decade, including New X-Men for Marvel and All Star Superman for DC. As the latter receives the adaptation treatment from Warner Brothers into a feature length animation, Quitely will be at the GFF to give a workshop on his original take on visual storytelling. Having also collaborated with Mark Millar on The Authority, his unique aesthetic style is in great demand and to have an insight into this man’s creative process would be invaluable for anyone interested in the art of the graphic novel.
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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
SUPERHEROES PICKS INVADE
TODAY’S
FRANK QUITELY WORKSHOP
16.30 @ CCA The graphic novelist will be hosting a workshop examining approaches to visual storytelling – a perfect afternoon for aspiring comic book creators.
ROUTE IRISH
18.00 @ GFT The latest collaboration from acclaimed director Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty, about an ex-SAS man trying to discover what happened to his friend in Iraq. Loach and the film’s producer Rebecca O’Brien will be in attendance for a special Q&A.
ZOMBIE ZOMBIE
19.30 @ ARCHES After the success of last year’s GFF performance of the music of John Carpenter’s films, the Parisian duo recreate the score to Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin.
THE LIST SURPRISE FILM
20.45 @ GFT Previous years’ choices have included Greenberg, Son of Rambow and Inland Empire; the only way to find out what was picked this year is to go and see for yourself.
MARK MILLAR, the comic book writer behind The Ultimates and Kick-Ass, tells us about bringing superheroes to the festival crowd, his Weegie superhero movie and the Italian Batman. Interview: JAMIE DUNN How times have changed. Geek is now chic. First comic book adaptations took over the multiplex, now the genre has invaded the art house. Well, it will invade one, for a short time at least, as the Glasgow Film Festival celebrates Scotland’s considerable influence to the medium with its new strand, Superheroes in Glasgow. The CineSkinny caught up with the strand’s curator, and GFF Ambassador, Mark Millar. If this was suggested several years ago – doing a superhero strand at an established film festival – I’m sure there would have been a few raised eyebrows. Now it seems the most natural thing in the world. What’s changed? Up until very recently you’d be lucky to find anyone into this stuff. Until about ten years ago even Hollywood would scoff at the idea of a superhero movie. Periodically you’d get a Batman or a Superman IV or whatever, but they always seemed to have one good one, three duds, and then they would disappear. But things kind of got reinvented, really; probably just over a decade ago. You had A-list directors suddenly coming along. That changed the entire game. It got cool, it got respectable, and now it’s in the film festival. It’s brilliant. There’s quite an eclectic mix of older films in the strand. How did you go about choosing the programme? Well the easiest thing to do, if you wanted a successful run of superhero movies, would have been to pick the obvious ones – your Dark Knights, your Iron Mans, Spider-man and so on. It really struck me, though, that most people would have bought those movies in the last six to twenty-four
months. Would people really come to see them in the cinema again so soon? So I wanted to make sure with the Superman II movie, for example, that it was an obscure cut of Superman II , so hardcore fans would be desperate to see it in the cinema as it’s never been shown in the UK before. Instead of showing a Batman movie I thought I’d show the Italian Batman, which is Danger Diabolik . Ultimately these are films I’d pay to go and see, where as I wouldn’t pay to go and see Spiderman for the fifth time. One of the films in your programme, Griff The Invisible, sounds remarkably similar to Kick-Ass – a kind of Australian take on it. How does it feel seeing your work’s inspiring others? It’s nice, I guess. Imitation is the sincerest form of plagiarism, you know. But it’s great that someone was into Kick-Ass and has done their, sort of, Australian version. I’d be annoyed if they’d managed to get their movie out before me, though.
The reason I programmed it is that I thought it would be nice to see a non-American superhero movie. An Australian take on superheroes is something I quite fancy seeing. Speaking of which, you mentioned last year at your GFF “in person” that you’d plans to make a Scottish superhero movie – how’s it coming along? I’ve actually shot about a third of it. I juggle about five different jobs and I’ve been shooting a bit every time I’ve had a spare week and a half. It should be all completed by about Easter. And it’s set in Scotland, partly out of laziness on my part because I like the idea of walking out my of house and into work, but mostly because I love the international thing. I love the fact that District 9 is an alien invasion movie in South Africa, not LA like all the rest of them. I’d love to see what an African superhero film would be like, what a Polish one would be like, you know, because they’re all going to bring their own identities to it.
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REVIEWS MEEK’S CUTOFF
Director: Kelly Reichardt Starring: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano & Shirley Henderson
In the stark, arid landscape of the Oregon Trail, a small group of people wander aimlessly towards an uncertain destination. Kelly Reichardt’s remarkable Meek’s Cutoff follows the three families who have followed their guide Stephen Meek (an unrecognisable Bruce Greenwood) into the wilderness, and examines the critical decisions they are faced with as they realise they are hopelessly lost. Do they stick with this increasingly unreliable and mysterious blowhard? Or do they follow a different path, one that could lead them to either salvation or damnation? Simultaneously
a compelling allegory and a hallucinatory fable, Meek’s Cutoff is the most ambitious and accomplished film Reichardt has yet made. Thanks to her rigorous and richly atmospheric direction, her impressive use of sound (and, just as potently, silence) and her brilliant work with the cast, Meek’s Cutoff feels like a distinctive and precious American masterwork. The film’s vivid sense of place and unsettling ambiguity lend it a timeless, dreamlike quality, making it both the strangest and finest revisionist western since Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man. [Philip Concannon]
ANIMAL KINGDON
Director: David Machôd Starring: Guy Pearce, Jacki Weaver & Ben Mendelsohn
Detached, monosyllabic teen Joshua’s ( James Frecheville) mum has, as he puts it, “gone and OD’d and she’s dead”, so he turns to estranged grandmother (Golden Globe nominee Jacki Weaver) and her criminally inclined offspring for shelter, suppor t and advice with funeral arrangements. Joshua is comfor table with life in a family of armed robbers and drug dealers, enjoying the guidance of father-figure Baz ( Joel Edger ton). However, the return of Granny ’s prodigal son, ‘Pope’ (Mendelsohn), and an attack on one of the clan lead things to go swiftly and devas tatingly awr y. Joshua’s loyalties are tested by his kin and a sympathetic detective, Leckie (Pearce), as he’s slowly re vealed to be brighter and more resourceful than he initially appears. Debut writer/director David Michôd has fashioned a taut, understated, elegiac drama full of surprising t wists and well - rounded, plausible characters. In an excellent cast, Weaver and Mendelsohn stand out as the monstrous matriarch and unhinged ‘Pope’ – one of the most manipulative, nuanced and terrif ying of recent screen lunatics. [Chris Fy vie]
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ROUTE IRISH
Director: Ken Loach Starring: Mark Womack, Andrea Lowe & John Bishop
In Route Irish , an ambush on the road of the same name, connecting Baghdad airport with the Green Zone, puts a licensed mercenar y in a body-bag and leaves many unanswered questions. “He was a protector, a force for good,” eulogises the firm’s director, but ex-soldier Fergus (Mark Womack) has reason to doubt the rosy portrait painted of private militar y con-
tractors, and starts investigating the circumstances surrounding his friend’s death. The casting of Liverpudlian stand-up John Bishop as the deceased Frankie is smart: he’s not onscreen much, so his limited thesping (previous credits amount to cameos and Skins ) isn’t an issue. But the comic’s affable persona amplifies the emotional impact of the character’s death, lending
credibility to Fergus’s grief and guilt-driven quest. Not ever y performance is as successful: Loach’s habit of filling out his cast with unknown faces result in some unconvincing scenes. But they don’t detract from the righteous anger of regular collaborator Paul Laverty’s script, which culminates not in bullets and explosions, but quiet de spair. [Chris Buckle]
WEDNESDAY 23 FEBRUARY THE CINESKINNY 3
GSFF AWARD WINNERS The award for Best Short Film was picked up by Adrian Sitaru for The Cage, and Stuart Elliott won the inaugural GSFF Audience Award for The Pedestrian.
JAM JARS AND GINGER BOTTLES Tom Shields has some pretty interesting ideas for admission policy for the GFF. Start saving your recyclable currency now.
FILMI GIRL FLAMES FEST International debate has been sparked by James Kloda’s article on the GFF Beyond Bollwood strand from Tuesday’s CineSkinny.
http://bit.ly/gingerbottles
Tuesday’s edition: http://bit.ly/ cine22feb Filmi Girl’s blog: http://bit.ly/ FilmiGirlBB
http://bit.ly/GSFFawards TOTAL FILM TOP 20 Griff the Invisible tops Total Film’s run down of the screenings that are not to be missed at this year’s festival.
MUSIC & FILM Seonaid Daly talks to STV.tv about the GMFF, a collaboration between GFF and The Arches, and how the event will reflect the city’s ‘vibrant music scene’.
http://bit.ly/totaltop20 http://bit.ly/GMFFSTV
Here’s the GFF daily quotable:
- Mark Millar http://qtbl.es/gff10 Visit Quotables to see many more GFF quotes as the festival goes on: http://qtbl.es/glasgowfilm
What do you think? As ever tweet us your thoughts @ SkinnyFilm Search ‘SkinnyFilm’ to find us on Facebook
QUIZ TIME
PIC OF THE DAY
GIVEAWAY:
Essential Killing
Photo: Stuart Crawford
“Superheroes used to be the preserve of the journeyman director, but in the last ten years, guys like Sam Raimi, Ang Lee and Chris Nolan have really pushed it into the mainstream... It makes sense for a film festival to acknowledge all that, especially if it’s trying to reach out to as many people as possible.”
Photo: Jen Davies
WHAT’S NEW ONLINE?
Feb 24, 18.00 - Cineworld, Renfrew Street Vincent Gallo won the Best Actor award at this year’s Venice Film Festival for his remarkable performance in Jerzy Skolimowski’s stunning new film Essential Killing. To win tickets to see it at GFF, simply answer the question following our quotable clue: “I told you, I’m an extremist. Even in art, if my work wasn’t fifty times more interesting than me and my petty life, it would be useless.” — Vincent Gallo What controversial film did Vincent Gallo direct, write and co-star with Chloë Sevigny? Email jamie@theskinny.co.uk by 10am on Thursday 24 Feb to enter.
DID ❝ WHAT ❞ YOU THINK?
Confessions of a Dog director Gen Takahashi taking a quick break from the bedlam of the Glasgow Film Festival
We collected six of the best tweets from Twitter
@WEEVIC18 Capes at the ready!! Off to see Superman 2 at #gff
@YOUINSTEAD Spotted last night that You instead is 5th best selling ticket at @glasgowfilmfest Don’t miss out. Get your ticket now: http://bit.ly/ e0YqIF
@CLAPPY60 Little White Lies @glasgowfilmfest : the most amount of sobbing I’ve heard at the end of a film since Titanic!
@BETHRUBYTWEETS HEY! DO YOU LIKE GOATS? Well then why don’t you watch a 2 hour Italian documentary about them? With no dialogue! #glasgowfilmfestival
@EL_DUDERINO81 Little White Lies was my first big disappointment of #gff11 - way too long with innate flaws and tonal jumps throughout. Guillaume cannae.
@FENNECFOX17 Little White Lies (the French film Les Petits Mouchoirs) was amazing. An emotional rollercoaster with laughs & tears. Tremendous.
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NOW INCLUDING WHAT’S ON LISTINGS 4 THE CINESKINNY WEDNESDAY 23 FEBRUARY
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