FREE THURSDAY 20 FEBRUARY THE OFFICIAL GFF DAILY GUIDE
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Wes Cravin’
Wes Anderson’s latest opus draws from a wide array of cinematic ancestors, including some featured elsewhere in Glasgow Film Festival’s 10th edition line-up
A
t the Berlinale press conference for The Grand Budapest Hotel’s world premiere in early February, Wes Anderson named several films that served as major influences on his latest effort. These ranged from classics of the screwball comedy genre prevalent in the 1930s and 40s, a musical comedy (Love Me Tonight), a wartime melodrama (The Mortal Storm), and Ingmar Bergman’s The Silence – considered to be one of the great Swedish director’s most oblique and disturbing psychological dramas. One might also be inclined to suspect Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining informed the production, based on some of the set designs combined with certain aspect ratio choices for the cinematography; the star-studded 1932 ensemble piece Grand Hotel – featuring Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford and John Barrymore – must surely have figured in Anderson’s thinking, too, and not just because of its title. The two screwball comedies Anderson cited are 1940’s The Shop Around the Corner and 1942’s To Be or Not to Be, both directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Like Anderson, the German-American writer-director has preoccupations with lively ensembles, intricate
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staging and elegant artifice, but his films are also infused with a distinct humanism that garnered the moniker of ‘the Lubitsch touch’. Even within the arguably extravagant, minutely decorated frameworks that characterise films such as Moonrise Kingdom, Anderson always gets across his own palpable sincerity and wistfulness that counter accusations of vapidity levelled at his protagonists. In a quite appropriate choice of programming, coincidental or otherwise, one of Lubitsch’s most praised works Ninotchka, starring Greta Garbo, also screens at this year’s Glasgow Film Festival, as part of the Hooray for Hollywood strand that shines a spotlight on 1939’s best picture nominees at the Academy Awards. This range of films from Lubitsch to Bergman is certainly an eclectic selection of cinematic reference points; that Anderson crafts and channels his own unique, coherent voice out of them is a testament to his talents. The writer-director is a figure who is sometimes blindly derided, falling prey to often facile accusations of making the same film over and over again. While there are certainly motifs that recur throughout his films, at least the ones
Words: Josh Slater-Williams post-Rushmore, when his budgets and creative control noticeably increased, each progressive work is a deepening of established themes and an exploration of new ones. As critic David Ehrlich asserts in his Berlin review of the new film for the website Badass Digest, Anderson has no interest at this point in his career in ‘broadening his film universe’ and showing his ‘naysayers that he’s capable of more than they think; Anderson has instead devoted himself to proving the value of what they think he is.’ Ehrlich also suggests that the energetic tableau that is The Grand Budapest Hotel can even be read as being “the first Wes Anderson movie that’s about Wes Anderson movies”. For those who would rather not witness what that looks like, you are welcome to check out of this particular hotel; those who stay will likely receive great service. The Grand Budapest Hotel is the opening gala of the Glasgow Film Festival (20 Feb, GFT 1, 7.30pm) but is sold out. Opens at the GFT 7 Mar
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The Lön Rängers
Jessica Oreck discusses her unique experience making Aatsinki: The Arctic Cowboys
The Skinny: What was it that attracted you to this subject matter? Jessica Oreck: I love old westerns. The character of the cowboy is infinitely appealing to me. I love the idea of a man alone in a great expanse of space, in tune with the weather and the needs of his animals. He knows the stars and the landscape almost innately. He is separate from the driving rush of civilization, his time exists for daylight and moonlight. He doesn’t have a Blackberry. I wanted to find that type of person – the modern equivalent of a Randolph Scott character. The main subjects of my film, brothers Aarne and Lasse Aatsinki, are truly of that type. What was the biggest challenge you faced after you moved to Salla to start filming? How did you overcome it? Over the course of a year and a half, I spent more than nine months with the two brothers and their families. And I had to start from scratch. I knew nothing about living anywhere but a bustling city and I was a stranger that didn’t speak the language. I tried to immerse myself in their lives as fully as possible. I ate dinner with them most nights, babysat their kids, and pretty much stuck to them like glue. They taught me to sew, light a fire, chop
wood, cook, train reindeer, and feed sheep. They became my adopted family and my best friends. Working in the arctic isn’t easy. I had nibbles of frostbite, and when my gear would break, there was nowhere to go to replace it. My batteries would die really quickly in the cold, so I kept them in my bra to try to keep them warm after they had been charged. The lenses would also ice and fog when we would move between inside and outside. Because I didn’t speak the language, I usually had no clue what was happening and had to be prepared for anything. But for the most part, I loved it. I was always much, much colder than any of the herders (which they thought was quite comical), but they always took care of me and lent me gear to keep me dry or toasty. And Finns know how to get warm. Taking sauna was the best part of each day. I think, if I ever retire, it will be some place like that... The slaughter sequence is true to life but it is also hard to watch. How did the reindeer herders (“poromies”) feel about you including this particular sequence in the film? This is why they raise the reindeer – to eat them, to sell them, to use their fur to make clothes and for decoration, to use their antlers and hooves for
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Interview: Gareth Rice
jewellery. To have excluded that part would be more than a light glossing over – it would be a downright lie. I think many Americans have a really backwards idea of food production. Every piece of meat you put into your mouth comes from an animal that was once alive. If you can’t admit that, then you shouldn’t be eating it. It’s strange to me that we allow our children to watch excessive violence being done to humans and yet we won’t talk to them about where their food comes from. What’s humane, what’s authentic, and how we define violence are all intensely complex and deeply cultural questions. But the herders would never have wanted me to leave this out. What did the experience of directing Arctic Cowboys most change in you? Impossible to pick just one piece – it was an incredible year. I think I will treasure my friendship with the family for my lifetime. But I also learned so much about living life with intention – that’s a lesson I never want to unlearn. And living with the family forced me to reframe my basic ideas about the way we think about and use nature. While making the film, I was able to see first hand just how complicated the issues facing the herders are (like climate change and predator management laws). These are challenges that
aren’t limited to reindeer herders but that affect modern, independent farmers around the world. And they were issues that, growing up in a city, I had only ever heard one side of. So we built an online interactive companion to the film that addresses a lot of said challenges. The interactive allows the film to stay intact in the way I originally envisioned it – as a really pure, atmospheric experience – while getting into the nitty-gritty of some of the impossibly large problems that the herders face. If your Arctic cowboys were to switch environments and ways of life with American cowboys, which group do you think would adapt the easiest and why? I think the Arctic cowboys would win. Took me a minute to decide, but I think, in the end, it would be the cold that would do the Americans in. The Aatsinkis are made of something different. Their blood has anti-freeze in it. My eyelids would be freezing shut and Aarne wouldn’t even be wearing mittens. Jessica Oreck will attend a Q&A after the screening on Fri 21 Feb 21 Feb, GFT 2, 1.30pm 22 Feb, GFT 2, 1.30pm
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Heads Up Go see this stuff! Compiled by: The CineSkinny team
Thu 20 Feb
Fri 21 Feb
Wes Anderson has got his compass and set square out to bring us The Grand Budapest Hotel, another fastidious comedy. Quirkier than an owl on a penny farthing. GFT, 7.30pm
David Mackenzie is one of Scotland’s most consistently interesting directors, and his latest film, Starred Up, has attracted rave reviews from around the world. Watch it to witness the birth of a new star in Jack O’Connell – who will be attending the screening – and for proof that gritty British cinema doesn’t need Danny Dyer. GFT, 8.30pm (also screens 22 Feb)
Sat 22 Feb Blue Ruin is a darkly comic tale of mystery, vengeance and family ties: all the ingredients for gripping viewing. GFT, 11pm (also screens 21 Feb)
Starred Up
Sun 23 Feb
Mon 24 Feb
George Sluizer started shooting desert-bound horror Dark Blood in 1993, but it remained incomplete after its 23-year-old star River Phoenix died from an overdose 11 days before the end of the shoot. Two decades on, Sluizer has pieced together a final edit and will present its UK premiere at GFF. GFT, 8.30pm
Part of GFF’s gamers strand Game Cats Go Miaow! Robert Florence hosts Rab’s Video Empty, a range of events based around video games and films. Following on from a popular event last festival, this instalment promises live music, audience participation and special guests. CineSkinny editor Jamie hasn’t played a game since 1992, though he claims to be an expert at Sonic the Hedgehog. GFT, 8.30pm
Robert Florence
Dark Blood
Tue 25 Feb
Wed 26 Feb
Illiterate (Las analfabetas) is one of the highlights of the Cinechile strand at GFF14, telling the story of Ximena, a woman in her 50s who guards her illiteracy as a secret. She befriends a young, unemployed elementary school teacher who teaches her to read, in this charming tale of friendship and life-long learning. GFT, 6.30pm (also on 26 Feb)
Last year’s Surprise Film was shock-merchant Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers, proving that the mischievous festival organisers aren’t messing around with the s-word. Don’t tell anyone, but rumour is that this year we’re getting Star Wars: Episode VII. GFT, 8.15pm
Thu 27 Feb
Fri 28 Feb
The cinephiles over at Sight & Sound who saw Norte, The End of History at festivals last year put it in their top ten films of 2013, making this unmissable cinema. At four hours long, you certainly get your money’s worth from it, too! GFT, 1.45pm (also 26 Feb)
Fans of scares and screams rejoice, for FrightFest, GFF’s ultimate horror event, is upon you once again. With the usual array of serial killers, cults and mysterious diseases, this year could be the best ever. A weekend of blood, sweat and tears – and that’s just the audience. GFT, all day (continues 1 Mar)
Sat 1 Mar
Sun 2 Mar
Fans of Glasgow-based indie band Admiral Fallow will not want to miss this special concert of music and visuals, celebrating both the band and the festival’s tenth anniversary, at the atmospheric venue of Old Fruitmarket. Rumoured support acts are Colonel Roe and Private Elk. Fruitmarket, 8pm, £15 (£12)
The Telegraph gave The Tale of Iya five stars when it premiered at Tokyo Film Festival, and they weren’t the only ones to fall under its spell. The Iya of the title is a baby, adopted after surviving a car crash, growing up in a community in tension between tradition and progress. Michael Bay has bought the remake rights. GFT, 1.45pm
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Admiral Fallow
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What’s new online? The Telegraph boldly go where The Skinny were blocked and interview the idiosyncratic auteur responsible for GFF’s opening film. tinyurl.com/YellowSymmetry
Sean Greenhorn
Festival blogger Sean Welsh poses five questions to the coordinator of GFF, making everyone grateful that they aren’t as busy as him. tinyurl.com/GFFGreenhorn
Camille Rutherford
Eye for Film interview the lead actress of Mary Queen of Scots to ask what it was like to play such an (in)famous historical figure. “I like to think of her as a feminist.” tinyurl.com/CamilleRutherford
The Scotsman
Alistair Harkness gives ten reasons to get excited about GFF, featuring the totally made up word ‘eventertainment’.
GSFF Director Matt Lloyd and Coordinator Morvern Cunningham at the celebrating at Awards Ceremony after a successful festival
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Reviews The Grand Budapest Hotel
Director: Wes Anderson Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Saoirse Ronan, Tilda Swinton, Jude Law, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray Certificate: 15
Wes Anderson’s films often dwell on worlds within worlds: grand houses, fox dens, submarines. So it seems appropriate that he should turn his delicate gaze to a hotel: the ultimate embodiment of secret worlds in public spaces. Inspired by the writings of Stefan Zweig, the story reveals itself like a Russian doll, told in the first instance by an author (Law), interviewing Zero Mustafa, a one-time lobby boy and now proprietor of the crumbling titular establishment. Ralph Fiennes’ Gustave H was the previous owner, whose inheritance of a priceless painting sets the shaggy dog
story in motion. More surprising is the subject matter: behind the predictably whimsical yarn of a hotel concierge on the run lies a darker tale of pre-war Europe, a land of intrigue, disease, love and bubbling violence. Tilda Swinton makes a brief appearance as wealthy dowager Madame D., the name perhaps a nod to Max Ophüls’ The Earrings of Madame de..., a similarly stately and moving story of a world of finery on the edge of extinction. [Sam Lewis] 20 Feb, GFT 1, 7.30pm 21 Feb , GFT 1, 3.45pm
Produced by The Skinny magazine in association with the Glasgow Film Festival Editor Designer Assistant editors Distribution
GFF Box Office Order tickets from the box office at Jamie Dunn www.glasgowfilm.org/festival Ana Hine or call 0141 332 6535 Nathanael Smith or visit Yasmin Ali Glasgow Film Theatre Franchesca Hashemi 12 Rose Street, Glasgow, G3 6RB Graeme Campbell boxoffice@glasgowfilm.org Jennifer Clews
What did you think? Six of the best tweets @potatojunkie
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@Marialeewarren
@SiobhanSynnot
@FilmFan1971
@Ti_West
If you like Wes Anderson, you’ll love @glasgowfilmfest gala The Grand Budapest Hotel. If you don’t like Wes Anderson, stop wasting my oxygen. #GFF14 #CINESKINNY What a smashing and appropriate film Grand Budapest Hotel is to open #GFF14, given our shared love of great swearing and cake. #CINESKINNY
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Officially my 4th consecutive year of attending @ glasgowyouth Film Festival. Excellent from beginning to end. Can’t wait for next year! #GFF14 #CINESKINNY
Cannot WAIT for @glasgowfilmfest on Thursday. Ridiculously excited. #ALLOFTHEFILMS #GFF14 #CINESKINNY
Thank you to everyone @GlasgowSFF, we had a great time and saw so many amazing and inspiring films. #GFF14 #CINESKINNY
SCOTLAND, I will be coming your way next week for the @glasgowfilmfest screening of THE SACRAMENT! #GFF14 #CINESKINNY
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Photo: Eoin Carey
Wes Anderson
Picture of the day