CineSkinny - 27 February 2011

THE OFFICIAL DAILY GUIDE SUNDAY 27 FEBRUARY

WHAT’S INSIDE? 2 » PICKS OF THE DAY

Highlights of day ten at

GFF 2011 2 » FEATURE:

15 YEARS OF SIGMA

A profile of the Scottish

production company and

its best films

3 » REVIEWS

Tiny Furniture

Wake Wood

One Thousand Pictures

CINE

A NEW DIMENSION: THE OTHER SIDE Is 3D technology really as revolutionary as it’s made out to be? In response to a previous CINESKINNY feature, we offer a different opinion. Words: BECKY BARTLETT There are always two sides to an argument, and with the re-release of cult Japanese thriller Battle Royale in 3D screening as part of GFF, now seems a good time to offer an alternative view of the new visual technology.

In an earlier issue of The CineSkinny, it was argued that 3D is simply a new artistic medium that should be embraced by the public. Or should it?

In an illuminating and articulate letter in January this year, Oscar winning film editor Walter Murch argued that 3D technology will never work. His reasoning is both technical and emotional, and very persuasive. No matter how advanced our computer graphics and technological capabilities become, he informs us, our eyes will never be capable of adequately converging and focusing on the screen.

Yet it seems the resulting headaches are something audiences will just have to deal with.

A cynical person will argue that the increase in 3D films on release is a two-fold design by the film studios: one, to desperately try to reduce film piracy, and two, to get as much money

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from the cinemagoer as possible.

The latter is a reason that has been subtly echoed by the likes of Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (in 3D), and could explain both George Lucas’ and James Cameron’s planned re-releases of Star Wars and Titanic respectively.

If this sounds overly critical, keep reading. As a gimmick, 3D is great.

It can turn a trashy horror film into a must-see cinematic outing; it can keep restless, hyper children glued to their seats in awe. But by forcing the viewing public to believe that every film benefits from that extra dimension, it diminishes the fun and the novelty of the entire medium. And by forcing us to limit and dull our vision with uncomfortable glasses, rather than immersing us in the film, it constantly reminds us we are watching something unreal.

So we should embrace 3D technology, but not assume it is a vital part of film production. Give the gimmick back to the genre films and the outsiders, not the masses, and remember, 3D is a haphazard enhancement of experience, not a necessity.

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4 » WHAT’S NEW ONLINE

The latest news, comments

and pictures from the

festival 4 » QUOTES OF

THE FESTIVAL Our good friends at Quotables offer up their favourite quotes for the festival

CINE

Produced by The Skinny magazine in association with the Glasgow Film Festival Editors

Designer Digital

Jamie Dunn Becky Bartlett Mark Tolson David McGinty

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

PICKS INTERNATIONAL

TODAY’S

WEST SIDE STORY

13.00 @ GFT A musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set in 1950s New York, the film by hugely versatile director Robert Wise won ten Academy Awards.

THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI

15.00 @ GFT The second Oscar winning film of the day, British director David Lean’s war epic features Alec Guinness in his award-winning role as the senior officer held prisoner in Siam during WWII.

IVORY TOWER

18.15 @ GFT A tale of love and chess, featuring Turbo Recordings founder Tiga and Peaches, a musician and performance artist best known for her explicit lyrics and electronic sound.

Director Chilly Gonzales (a Grammynominated Canadian musician) provides the film’s soundtrack.

CLOSING GALA: THE EAGLE

20.15 @ GFT The latest film by Oscar-winning Glaswegian director Kevin Macdonald, a swords-and-sandals tale starring Channing Tatum and Donald Sutherland, closes the festival.

AFFAIRS

Sigma Films is a vital part of the Scottish film industry. With co-founder David Mackenzie’s You Instead screening at GFF, we discuss the history of the company, the must-see films and the Danish collaborations. Words: NICOLA BALKIND and JAMIE DUNN “One of the guiding philosophies for the festival has always been that we would bring the best of world cinema to Glasgow, and show the best of Scottish cinema to the eyes of the world. And that’s particularly true of one of the special events at this year’s festival. It’s a big home-town world premiere for a film from one of the most prolific and accomplished directors working in Scotland, from a company that in Glasgow, and in Scotland, is pivotal to the filmmaking of this country.”

So said Glasgow Film Festival co-director Allan Hunter at the launch of this year’s festival. The film Allan was referring to is You Instead, the director is David Mackenzie and the company is Sigma Films, a production house that has been creating daring cinema in Scotland and with its international partners for fifteen years.

Founded in 1996 by Mackenzie, his brother, Alastair, and Gillian Berrie, Sigma have produced over 25 features, from their first collaboration, short film Wanting and Getting, to the upcoming Perfect Sense, which stars Scottish favourites Ewan MacGregor and Ewen Bremner, and French beauty Eva Green. Both are set in Glasgow and directed by David Mackenzie, but in between these bookends the company have gained a reputation for its international collaborations.

The most famous of these partnerships is the one forged with Danish maverick Lars Von Trier, and his production company Zentropa. Together the two created the Scottish-Danish Advance Party project. A proposed trilogy, the series began with the release of Andrea Arnold’s Dogme 95-inspired Red Road, which blended Danish film-making zeitgeist with gritty Glasgow locations. The project aims for each film in the trilogy to be made by a first-time director,

filmed and set in Scotland using the same characters and cast. Red Road was followed up late last year with Morag McKinnon’s black comedy Donkeys, which also premiered here in Scotland.

To celebrate Sigmas considerable achievements, The CineSkinny chose their three favourite Sigma collaborations.

Dogville (2003) - Out goes the realism of Dogme 95 and in comes the alienating artifice of Brecht as Lars Von Trier strips back his set design (the film is shot on an empty soundstage with chalk outlines for buildings and props) to expose mankind’s capacity for cruelty. Grace, a young, seemingly fragile woman (played

by Nicole Kidman at her brittle best) seeks refuge in a Rocky Mountain township, only to be subjected to horrible abuses. It’s Von Trier’s audacious and electrifying masterpiece.

Red Road (2006) - Debuting director Andrea Arnold imagines the titular North Glasgow estate as a litter strewn dystopia, where the inhabitants are as feral as the fetid foxes that roam the area. Blending British social realism with the voyeuristic thrill of Hitchcock, it’s as tense and unsettling as cinema gets. Kate Dickie is a revelation as the film’s troubled CCTV operator protagonist, Jackie.

Hallam Foe (2007) - A delightful oddity from Sigma founder David Mackenzie. Hallam Foe is a peeping Tom with an Odipus complex. In any other film he’d be the villain but it’s hard not to root for the little perv, who’s charmingly played by Jamie Bell. The city of Edinburgh has never look better as Foe scampers across its rickety rooftops to get a peek at the woman / substitute mother he’s fallen for. Like Mackenzie’s previous films, it’s a masterclass in mood, but we give Foe the edge for its effortless footloose verve.

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REVIEWS TINY FURNITURE

Director: Lena Dunham Starring: Lena Dunham, Laurie Simmons & Grace Dunham

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After graduating from her film studies degree, Aura ( Le n a D u n h am) retu r n s to h e r m o t h e r ’s h o m e w i t h a lack of both professional and personal direction. The bubble of student life is yet to pop and, fresh from be ing dumped by her hippie boy friend, Aura seems happy to kick back and wait until an oppor tunit y falls into her lap.

The only problem is, there are no job prospects on the horizon and no one feels as s o r r y f o r h e r a s s h e ’d l i k e them to. E xploring the nuanc -

es of family life whilst acting alongside her real mother ( L au r i e S i m m o n s) an d s i s te r ( G r a c e D u n h a m) m u s t h a v e been quite an odd feat for first time director Lena Dunham. Comparisons to Woody A llen and Wes A nderson are perhaps a little premature, but their influences cer tainly play a par t. T iny Furniture has been crafted in minute detail by a young filmmake r clearly bursting with ideas, quite the opposite of the f i l m ’s m a i n p r o t a g o n i s t .

[Mat thew Stanger]

WAKE WOOD

Director: David Keating Starring: Aiden Gillen, Ella Connolly & Timothy Spall

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R e c e nt l y r e s u r r e c te d B r iti s h s tu d i o H am m e r ’s l ate s t f i l m i s a n e w a d d iti o n to t h e fo l k h o rro r g e n r e, i n w h i c h a c o u p l e m ove to r u r a l (f i c ti o n a l ) I r i s h tow n Wake Wo o d fo l l ow i n g th e fat a l d o g - m au l i n g of t h e i r o n l y c h i l d , A l i c e. D e s p e r ate to s e e t h e i r d au g hte r ag a i n , t h e y p art ake i n a r itu a l l e d by A r thu r (a p e r fe c t l y c a s t T i m ot hy S p a l l ), w h o c an r e v i ve t h e d e ad fo r t h r e e d ay s s o t h at g r i e v i n g l ove d o n e s c an p ro p e r l y s ay g o o d bye, b ut t h e r e u n io n t ake s an i n e v it ab l y s i n i s te r tu r n. D e s p ite v i s c e r a l an i m a l m uti l ati o n s an d o n e p ar tic u l ar l y e f fe c ti ve s p i ke -t h ro u g h t h e - n e c k , t h e 18 - r ati n g s e e m s a t a d exc e s s i ve – d i r e c to r D av i d Ke ati n g p r e d o m i n ant l y s h ow s o n l y b r i e f fl a s h e s of g o r e b e fo r e tu r n i n g t h e c am e r a away, l e av i n g t h e au d i e n c e to i m ag i n e t h e r e s t . A s t h e re s u rr e c te d A l i c e, E l l a C o n n o l l y i s s u it ab l y c r e e py, b ut Wake Woo d o pt s fo r a s ati s f y i n g l y s i m p l e ex p l an ati o n r at h e r th an a s h o c k i n g t w i s t , i n ke e p i n g w it h t h e c o m b i n e d t h e m e s of g r i e f, d e s p e r ati o n an d fe ar.

T h e r e s u lt i s an i nvo l v i n g s to r y w it h b e l i e vab l y am b i g u o u s c h ar ac te r s , an d a wo r thy ad d i ti o n to H am m e r ’s c at a l o g u e. [ B e c k y B ar t l e t t]

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ONE THOUSAND PICTURES (screening after NY Export: Opus Jazz) Director: Jennifer Stoddard

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One Thousand Pictures charts the journey of the train carr ying Robert F Kenn e d y ’ s b o d y f r o m N e w Yo r k to Washington following his assassination in 19 6 8, told through photos taken

by Paul Fusco. The tragedy had an immense impact on the people of America, who lined up in their hundreds to watch the train pass, uniting them in a moment

of mourning. Jennifer S t o d d a r t ’s d o c u m e n t a r y c o m b i n e s F u s c o’s p h o t o s with archive footage and new inter views with some of the photos’ subjects to tell stories about the d a y, t h e i n c i d e n t s t h a t o c curred, and the effect both Bobby and his death had to American culture. While the images and accompanying soundtrack are evoca-

tive of the time, the short f i l m (und e r fo r t y m i nute s in l e ngth) lac ks c ine matic presence. Although Fusc o’s w o r k l e a v e s a l a s t i n g impression, One Thousand Pictures itself fails to make much of an impact, displaying the difference between a great documentar y and a documentar y with a great subject.

[B e ck y B ar tlet t]

SUNDAY 27 FEBRUARY THE CINESKINNY 3

WHAT’S NEW ONLINE? CALL IT IN FILM The film blog Call It In Film have some fantastic photos and footage of the festival including a video of the Archipelago Q&A with director Joanna Hogg. http://bit.ly/CallitinFilm QUITELY AND MILLAR CGFF’s You Tube channel has a great feature with Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, two of the biggest names working in comics today, discussing Getting Started in Comics.

http://bit.ly/QuitelyandMillar MILLAR IN ACTION Film festival blogger Sean Welsh reports back from the Mark Millar workshop, calling the GFF ambassador: ‘as ebullient and carefully indiscreet as he was open and forthcoming’. http://bit.ly/MillarAction

A DISTANT NEIGHBOURHOOD Sean Welsh on Sam Garbarski’s new film: ‘a nostalgic but not too sentimental adaptation brave enough to be wistful and crushing in the same breath, proving yet again that comics aren’t all about men in tights.’ http://bit.ly/FrightFestGF Search ‘SkinnyFilm’ to find us on Facebook and tweet us your thoughts @ SkinnyFilm

PIC OF THE FEST

Here’s the GFF daily quotables:

Photo: Ingrid Muir

The team at Quotables have been hot-footing it round the festival this year gathering the choicest nuggets of GFF wit and wisdom for posterity. Here’s a two of our favourites from GFF 2011...

“In a world where films are made with millions of dollars, we made a film about a little girl who wants to buy a fish for less than a dollar - this is what we’re trying to show.” – Jafar Panahi “The thing that I try to impress upon everyone is that some guys do Superman for 3 years to afford to do their own one book, but doing [film], you can fund the stuff you really want to do. Hollywood, in a weird way, is actually our best friend.”

– Mark Millar For many more GFF11 quotes head over to Quotables http://qtbl.es/glasgowfilm

Just a smidgen of the 26,000+ audience members at this year’s GFF. See you next year.

DID ❝ WHAT ❞ YOU THINK?

We collected six of the best tweets from Twitter

@TWISTYK I am SO BEYOND psyched abt Pyuupiru tonight @ glasgowfilmfest! Even wearing big girl shoes today.

Sounds spectacular.

@EDPATTLE Battle Royal 3D = 3D IS SHIT. Wish I could have seen the original in the cinema #frightfest

@ROBOTNIC Griff the Invisible was pretty adorable. A bit like a successful version of Ollie Kesler’s Extraordinary Purple World, but very sweet #gff11

@KARENOUGHTON Is on my way to #GlasgowFilmFestival for #FrightFest. Looking forward to fab films and company.

@JANICEFORSYTH Drained - just watched BALIBO. Film abt murder of 5 journalists, incl Scot Malcolm Rennie, during 1975 Indonesian invasion of E Timor. #gff

@ZYGOTE90 Saw Battleship Potemkin with live music. Still a powerful film. #glasgowfilmfestival

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NOW INCLUDING WHAT’S ON LISTINGS 4 THE CINESKINNY SUNDAY 27 FEBRUARY

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