All articles by Allan Hunter – Page 58
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Reviews
An Unfinished Life
Dir: Lasse Hallstrom.US. 2005. 107mins.An Unfinished Life is the kind of film where you can predicteverything that will happen within moments of the story starting to unfold. Allthat remains is a simple matter of dutifully filling in the blanks.This Lasse Hallstromventure had been sitting on the shelf for some time ...
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Reviews
Serenity
Dir/scr: Joss Whedon. US.2005. 117mins.Nine successful StarTrek movies and one X-Files outing on the big screen are ampletestimony to the enduring attraction of cult sci-fi television. That factoralone should be enough to ensure muscular box-office for Serenity, afeature spin-off from the short-lived Joss (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)Whedon sci-fi western series ...
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Reviews
Tsotsi
Dir: Gavin Hood. UK-S Af.2005. 94mins.Touched by the kind ofdynamism that also marked City Of God, Tsotsi brings a fresh energy tofamiliar themes of crime and redemption. Based on a novel by Athol Fugard, itoffers an unflinching portrait of post-apartheid South Africa; the lawlessshanty towns and lives bereft of hope. ...
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Reviews
Kinky Boots
Dir: Julian Jarrold. UK.2005. 106mins.Ealing-style comedy meetsAlmodovar-style extravagance in Kinky Boots, a likable triumph of theunderdog comedy celebrating tolerance, drag queens and fabulous footwear. Thefilm has a good number of marketable elements from the intriguing premise tothe slinky soundtrack and the star performance of Chiwetel Ejiofor but it lacksthose special ...
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Reviews
Wah-Wah
Dir/scr: Richard E Grant.UK-Fr-S Afr. 2005. 97minsAdd the name of Richard EGrant to the roster of actors who have made a successful transition to thedirector's chair. His feature debut Wah-Wah is an affectionate, keenly-observedportrait of a family's life set against the dying days of the British Empire.Working from autobiographical material, ...
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News
Edinburgh celebrates British cinema with major premieres
British cinema is alive andwell and flourishing in Edinburgh. That's the message from theprogramme of the 59th Edinburgh International Film Festival, launched thismorning. The fourth Festival under artisticdirector Shane Danielsen has one of the event's strongest line-ups of worldpremieres and star guests in recent years with British cinema stronglyfeatured. The ...
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Reviews
The King
Dir: James Marsh. US.2005. 105mins.Last year Gael GarciaBernal was the face of Cannes, with his contrasting performances in BadEducation and The Motorcycle Diaries. This year, he extends hisrange even further, smouldering with bad boy sex appeal as a prodigal son in TheKing, an English-language Gothic drama set in the American ...
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Reviews
Northeast (Nordeste)
Dir/scr: Juan Solanas.Fr-Sp-Bel-Arg. 2005. 104mins.A woman's selfish questto adopt a baby becomes an eye-opening journey into the heart of Argentina in Northeast,a first feature from director Juan Solanas that contrasts the beauty of thecountry with the ugliness of what happens there.The personal story is thekey to a political statement as ...
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Reviews
Down In The Valley
Dir/scr: David Jacobson.US. 2005. 125mins.Hailed as the De Niro ofhis generation, Edward Norton finally has a chance to remind us why in DownIn The Valley. After a string of supporting roles and odd career choices (TheItalian Job, The Score, Kingdom Of Heaven etc), he once againtakes centre stage with a ...
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Reviews
Merry Christmas (Joyeux Noel)
Dir/scr: Christian Carion.France. 2005. 115minsThe miracle of aChristmas truce in the trenches of World War One is transformed into apolished, pan-European heartwarmer in Merry Christmas. Refreshinglytraditional in comparison with many competition titles, it places its faith inthe virtues of straightforward storytelling, handsome production values and atouching real life incident. It ...
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Reviews
The Great Ecstasy Of Robert Carmichael
Dir: Thomas Clay. UK.2005. 96minsThomas Clay announceshimself as a provocative new British talent with the disturbing state of thenation wake up call The Great Ecstasy Of Robert Carmichael. The 24year-old's ambitious debut feature carries echoes of such uncompromisingEuropean auteurs as Michael Haneke and Gaspar Noe before taking a turn intovideo ...
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Reviews
Three Times
Dir: Hou Hsiao-Hsien Taiwan.2005. 120minsTaiwanese director HouHsiao-Hsien is in the mood for love with Three Times, a tryptich ofromantic stories in which the same actors (Shu Qi and Chang Chen) playdifferent characters in 1966, 1911 and the present day. An ambitious notionresults in a slight, wisp of a film that ...
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Reviews
Don't Come Knocking
Dir: Wim Wenders. US.2005. 122mins.Reunited for the first timein 20 years, Wim Wenders and Sam Shepard fail to rekindle the magic of theircollaboration on Palme D'Or winner Paris, Texas. Don't Come Knockingis a film of striking compositions and telling moments that never achieves thetender depths of emotion that distinguished its ...
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Reviews
The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada
Dir: Tommy Lee Jones. US.2005. 120mins.A lone quest for justice becomes an ode to friendship andthe common ground between different cultures in The Three Burials OfMelquiades Estrada, a thoroughly respectable feature-length directorialdebut from Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones.An actor who believes thatless is more, Jones brings the same approach to ...
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News
Haneke's Hidden leads the race for Palme d'Or
Nobody has stumbled across a Brown Bunny. Nobody has discovered amasterpiece. That seemed to sum up the feeling about this year's competitionfilms as Cannes heads towards its last days. A sluggish edition thus far hasn't stirred the passions of some yearsand the decision to support veteran filmmakers has brought mixed ...
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News
Mackenzie recruits Jamie Bell for Foe
Director David Mackenzie's next film will be Hallam Foe, a £4madaptation of the Peter Jinks novel, to star Jamie Bell. Mackenzie's breakthrough film Young Adam screened in Un CertainRegard two years ago and he was back in Cannes this week seeking finance for HallamFoe,which is scheduled to shoot in Scotland ...
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Reviews
Broken Flowers
Dir/scr: Jim Jarmusch.US. 2005. 106minsAfter diversions into genre-subversion like mysticalwestern Dead Man and modern day samurai saga Ghost Dog, Jim Jarmusch makes afull scale return to the kind of lugubrious, meticulously observed comedy thatfirst made his reputation in the 1980s.Commercial prospects arevery robust for Broken Flowers, a film that fans ...
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Reviews
Manderlay
Dir/scr: Lars Von Trier. Den-Swe-Fr-UK-Ger-Neth.2005. 139mins.The road to hell is pavedwith the noblest of intentions in Manderlay, the stunning second film inLars Von Trier's American trilogy. A philosophical debate on slavery, equality,oppression, free will and racism, it will inevitably be read as anti-Americanin general and a specific response to the ...
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Reviews
Match Point
Dir/scr: Woody Allen. US.2005. 124mins.Match Point would seem to prove the theory that youcan't teach new tricks to old dogs. Quintessential New York filmmaker WoodyAllen may have relocated to London but his eternal preoccupations with love,death, broken hearts and guilty minds remain central to the story. However, MatchPoint does show ...