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WHAT’S INSIDE? 2 — TODAY’S PICKS This is the last time we will tell you what to do, we promise. But seriously, go and see Robot & Frank
2 — SHAKESPEARE To read, or not to read, that is
not the question. Read it, you lazy sods
3 — THE CINESKINNY AWARDS Better than the Oscars, but
BIG STAR: NOTHING CAN HURT ME
GL A SGO W K IZ Z
Tonight’s closing gala party will feature a tribute to BIG STAR, with DJ sets from Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite and the good folks at Monorail. We take a look at some of the ways Big Star and Glasgow have connected over the years
a whole lot shorter and less ridiculous. Also comes with the added bonus of not being presented by Seth MacFarlane
3 — MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING 4 — PICS OF THE FESTIVAL
The GFF photographers have been at every event, making the ugly look sexy and capturing some classic gala moments. Here are five of the best, so you can cut them out and make half a calendar
WORDS: CHRIS BUCKLE OVER 4000 miles of Dixie and ocean separate Memphis, Tennessee from Glasgow, Scotland, but influence travels far without fatigue. As tonight’s closing gala tribute will underscore, the music of Big Star has had a pronounced impact on many of our city’s musicians, with the mercurial Alex Chilton particularly cherished thanks to time spent here and friendships made before his sad passing in 2010, aged just 59. Through a handful of songs, we consider some of the ways in which Glasgow has shown Big Star love over the years, and been shown it back. TEENAGE FANCLUB – RET LIV DEAD The Fannies have never been shy about showing their indebtedness to Chilton and co, going as far as to name fourth album Thirteen after #1 Record’s wistful paean to adolescent romance. While Thirteen occupies a relatively lowly position in the band’s radiant discography, the fuzzy beauty of Ret Liv Dead pins down the influence: blissful melodies, vibrant guitar lines and a frequent, almost tangible melancholia.
V-TWIN – DERAILED V-Twin’s Jason McPhail was a close friend of Chilton’s, putting him up on his visits to Glasgow and spearheading the Mono tribute concert held in mid-2010. This gently abrasive ballad combines a simple vocal-plus-guitar melody with creaking strings and pockets of feedback – a rough-with-the-smooth aesthetic suggestive of Big Star’s opus work Third/Sister Lovers. 1990S – TAKE ME HOME AND MAKE ME LIKE IT V-Twin’s other core member Michael McGaughrin went on to drum with zesty rock and rollers 1990s, who have been known to perform this ramshackle slice of honkytonk sleaze-pop live. First appearing on Chilton’s Bach’s Bottom LP, the track constitutes one of the more accessible moments in a sprawling solo career known to split Big Star devotees down the middle. PRIMAL SCREAM – STAR According to Bobby Gillespie, Big Star influenced Primal Scream in ways “too many to mention”
(with Chilton’s early tutelage of The Cramps also notably formative). We’ve singled out Vanishing Point’s oasis of calm Star –not because its title constitutes 50% of the act in question, but because its woozy lullaby reportedly found a fan in Chilton himself. TEENAGE FANCLUB & ALEX CHILTON – I’VE NEVER FOUND A GIRL (TO LOVE ME LIKE YOU DO) A second Teenage Fanclub appearance brings this mini mix-tape full circle. The Belshill band collaborated with their idol-cum-cohort on several occasions, with this soulful take on I’ve Never Found a Girl – recorded for mid-nineties Scottish arts show Don’t Look Down – particularly worth tracking down on your online video sharing site of choice. 24 FEB – GFT 2 @ 20.00 GLASGOWFILM.ORG/FESTIVAL/WHATS_ ON/4650_BIG_STAR_NOTHING_CAN_HURT_ ME_PLUS_CLOSING_GALA_PARTY
Produced by The Skinny magazine in association with the Glasgow Film Festival Editors Designer Digital Deputy Editor
Lewis Porteous Jamie Dunn Marianne Wilson Nathanael Smith Josh Slater-Williams
Big thanks to the team at GFF as they made us all very welcome when we invaded GFT towers.
GFF BOX OFFICE Order tickets from the box office at www.glasgowfilm.org/festival or call 0141 332 6535 or visit Glasgow Film Theatre 12 Rose Street, Glasgow, G3 6RB boxoffice@glasgowfilm.org
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SUNDAY 24 FEBRUARY THE CINESKINNY 1
TODAY’S PICKS SHELL 11.00 @ GFT 1
Here’s another plug for this hypnotising debut film from Scottish director Scott Graham, a poignant drama set in the howling highlands. Rest assured, ticket prices are not dependent on rising petrol costs.
A PENTAMETRIC GLANCE AT SHAKESPEARE FILMS Shall I compare thee to another film? WORDS: KIRSTY LECKIE-PALMER
ROBOT & FRANK
ROBOT & FRANK 15.00 @ GFT1
Assigned a robot carer, cranky retired cat burglar Frank (Frank Langella) plots one last robbery with the assistance of his new metal friend. The best buddy crime movie with a robotic lead since Point Break.
MUSEUM HOURS 12.45 @ CINEWORLD 17
This acclaimed character study with non-professional actors has two people wandering around Vienna, seeing the sights. In that sense it’s kind of like Before Sunrise, so expect two sequels with the male lead’s hair increasingly receding.
BREAKING THE FRAME
BREAKING THE FRAME 17.50 @ GFT 2
This intimate, textured portrait of New York artist Carolee Schneemann includes footage from her avant-garde cinema. GFF’s presentation of the film will apparently not involve breaking the projector.
THE KING OF MARVIN GARDENS 15.15 @ CINEWORLD 17
A last minute replacement for 70s drama Scarecrow, Park Circus’ restoration of another 70s film is a drama starring Jack Nicholson as the king of a haven for the likes of Lee Marvin, Marvin Gaye and Marvin the Martian. On a completely unrelated note, we’ve been told programme descriptions may not all be accurate at time of going to press.
ROMEO + JULIET
TITUS (JULIE TAYMOR, 1999) The Players: Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Alan Cumming, Jonathan Rhys Meyers
THRONE OF BLOOD (AKIRA KUROSAWA, 1957) The Players: Toshirô Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Akira Kubo, Takashi Shimura
A wearied Hopkins masked in azure glaze Becomes the shattered Hannibal of Rome As Taymor weaves a rare, eclectic maze Of violent red, cool black and gilded chrome. When Lavinia, ravished, cannot name the beast That did the deed; two Goths are named to die Then served to Tamora in a deadly feasts For they’ve been baked as sumptuous mortal pie. Time stratifies and shreds, frames fall away And glorious retribution finds its part. When seeking adaptations of this play Refer to Taymor’s Titus for film art.
From shadows Kurosawa crafts Macbeth As Washizu, a warrior samurai. A film of thunder, fog and creeping death All captured in Mifune’s fearsome eye. Commanded at his creepy wife’s behest, She whispers, “Kill”, kimono white, hands red. In one fell swoop Washizu strikes his guest, Betrayal done; he falls, he sighs, he’s dead. And so, by this, the general earns his keep, A Cobweb Castle, and a retinue. But they desert and leave him there to reap The thousand arrows that his crimes are due.
ROMEO + JULIET (BAZ LUHRMANN, 1996) The Players: Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, John Leguizamo, Miriam Margolyes
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (SAM TAYLOR, 1929) The Players: Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks
Baz Luhrmann takes the bard’s most angsty play To cast a fresh DiCaprio and Danes, Postmodern, edgy; hence the R+J. They’re love’s young doom; he cries, she howls, it rains. Injections of baroque exuberance Exhilarate this well-worn tragedy As angel and her armoured soldier dance To (of all things) a Des’ree melody. Quick thrills, sleek guns, Hawaiian shirts in throng A drag queen shimmies as she’s tanning E; Baz only knows young folks love hard, not long And young hearts ever will try to run free.
Petruchio is Fairbanks with an earring, Pickford plays a turbo-bitch called Kate. They’re married forcibly with ample sneering, He chastises her with force (this shows its date). Domestic violence seen as quite the stricture, All cavort with little tact or wit, And no-one’s used to acting in a picture In which there’s sound; that’s why they all sound shit. Although this entry’s poor and now forsaken, A relic of those times with its detractors, There’s merit in this monster, if it’s taken As lesson to would-be Shakespeare adaptors. 24 FEB – GFT 1 @ 20.15 24 FEB – CINEWORLD 18 @ 20.45 GLASGOWFILM.ORG/FESTIVAL/WHATS_ON/4848_ MUCH_ADO_ABOUT_NOTHING
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CINESKINNY AWARDS
REVIEW MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
DIRECTOR: JOSS WHEDON STARRING: FRAN KRANZ, JILLIAN MORGESE, ALEXIS DENISOF, AMY ACKER, NATHAN FILLION, SEAN MAHER, CLARK GREGG, TOM LENK, SPENCER TREAT CLARK
WADJDA
The most important awards of the weekend, the CineSkinny’ GFF awards... CINE TEAM’S FILMS OF THE FESTIVAL Jamie Dunn – Après mai (Olivier Assayas): It’s Dazed and Confused meets Ted. Josh Slater-Willaims – Neighbouring Sounds (Kleber Mendonça Filho): It’s Short Cuts meets Ted. Nathanael Smith – Wadjda (Haifaa alMansour): It’s Pee-wee’s Big Adventure meets Ted. Marianne Wilson - The Legend of Kaspar Hauser (Davide Manuli): It’s The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser meets Ted. Lewis Porteous – Songs for Amy (Konrad Begg): It’s The Hangover meets Ted. HONOURABLE MENTIONS Beyond the Hills (Cristian Mungiu), The We and the I (Michel Gondry), From Up on Poppy Hill (Goro Miyazaki), Caesar Must Die (Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani), Wolf Children (Mamoru Hosoda), Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine) DOC OF THE FEST Village at the End of the World (Sarah Gavron): A study of isolation that feels like a kinder version of Werner Herzog’s docs, this finds real warmth in the coldest of locations. Recommended for everyone except PETA activists. Runners-up: Indie Game: The Movie, Vito.
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THE MOMENT OF THE FESTIVAL Alex Salmond emerging as witty and charming as he introduced John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars as GFF’s Geek Movie Night film. What we learned: he prefers DC Comics to The Dandy (how unpatriotic is that?); he knows the CV of Natasha Henstridge better than the second verse of Flower of Scotland; no Saltires on his Christmas tree, but there is a Seven of Nine doll; he has very bad taste in movies.
thriller. Some declared its beauty, others just fell asleep.
THE WTF MOMENT OF THE FESTIVAL James Franco, dressed as a goldtoothed gangsta rapper, sitting by a swimming pool playing a white baby grand piano and crooning a Britney Spears ballad to three blond air-heads wearing pink, unicorn embroidered balaclavas and brandishing semiautomatic submachine guns in Spring Breakers. Runners-up: Nicole Kidman having a wizz over Zac Efron’s face in The Paperboy; every second of The Legend of Kaspar Hauser.
SOUNDTRACK OF THE FESTIVAL Après mai’s, which features tunes by Nick Drake, Soft Machine, Captain Beefheart, Tangerine Dream and Syd Barrett. The standout musical cue comes in the form of Kevin Ayers’ Decadence. The song gained added poignance at GFF’s 18 Feb screening as the former Soft Machine frontman had passed away that day.
THE MARMITE FILM OF THE FESTIVAL Stoker: The Skinny’s negative review attracted a lot of commenters claiming that ‘we didn’t get it’, but we weren’t the only ones who reacted coldly to Park Chan-wook’s Hitchcockian, gothic-tinged
THE DIRECTOR OF THE FUTURE AWARD Rob Savage, who made his debut feature, Strings, at the ridiculously young age of eighteen, although one suspects the film’s singular, woozy style might have more to do with the fact he was sniffing glue behind the bike sheds during production.
THE SCREENING WE’RE GUTTED WE MISSED Secret Subway: CAAAAANNNN YOUU DIG IT?? Sadly, we didn’t dig it as this sold out straight away. How cool would it have been to see Walter Hill’s cult masterpiece The Warriors in an St Enoch underground station? Runner-up: The Passion of Joan of Arc at Glasgow Cathedral.
Shunning doublet and hose in favour of tastefully tailored suburbia, Joss Whedon’s Much Ado about Nothing is a lithe, wry look at one of Shakespeare’s lesser-visited works, discovering in dreamy monochrome the sensuousness often lost between iambs. As Claudio (Kranz) and Hero (Morgese) struggle with honour, and Benedick (Denisof ) and Beatrice (Acker) clash wits, lines are delivered with a casual insight that transcends posturing. Quirky innovations include a tinkling, jazz piano-led rendition of Hey Nonny Nonny, and the figuring of Riki Linhome as Conrade, Don John’s traditionally male sidekick, as a female lover. Whedon shot in 12 days at his own home, with a cast snatched from pre-film works that will delight alumni of Buffy, Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible ’s Sing-Along Blog . While such conditions could easily feel restrictive or distracting, Whedon’s inventive framing, delicate means of shifting focus and glowing, ethereal use of light make for a stylish and absolutely credible vision, of which much ado would be well-earned. [Kirsty Leckie-Palmer] MUCH ADO IS THE CLOSING GALA FILM
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
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PHOTO: STUART CRAWFORD
SARAMAGO TERRACE BAR, CCA, 350 SAUCHIEHALL STREET
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SHELL ACTOR CHLOE PIRRIE BEFORE THE PREMIERE
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ALEX SALMOND IMPRESSES THE AUDIENCE WITH HIS GEEK KNOWLEDGE
PHOTO: EOIN CAREY
ST ENOCH SUBWAY STATION BECOMES A CINEMA
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