Amsterdam Weekly: Vol 5 Issue 14, 3-9 April 2008 Blocked

Page 19

3-9 April 2008

www.amsterdamweekly.nl/forsale

ore ne or m o g in y u kly by b am Wee hanks!! The Hunting Party Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead d r e t s ted Am .nl/forsale. T suppor kly le p o e iller p amwee eseDirty the erdold ne T. M a lecture than an overwhelming t thrent s m Alljust that will flock to this would otherwise family’s dynamics, which involve manic tics, interesting .a Lorrai audiovisual w str n w o o w B t t cks a(LvH) Dancing for the 30th time instead. b Inlo Dutch. substance cinematographic Ewoud ediaexperience. & Z.O. (MM) 135 min. Kriterion, week. abuse and sexualMescapades. t iewicz But soon x M lk e l a n ta i g m i adphysical baggage e r Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt both the emotional and the starts to The Movies D n h o t m y C Join oss nness bout.co

l Fe & Film-maker WesieAnderson fall away. (Rushmore, The Lisa R msterdam.a a semi-superhero flick by the talented yet Jumper Inothis http://g eze E la ie ev Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr and inscrutable Doug adapted by Christopher Hampton andDydirected by D -H c -A r n a k M This delicious curry comedy Nic tells tchfound his grown-up voice. P. Tjo rinosof twenty-somethings have the Mrs Smith), Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice), Atonement Cahigroup ox Silvia a lrich plate for M film-goers, l for Du iisne.n arcus C entertaining and Schooconseability to teleport at will. Now they just have to avoid the story of a single tragic lie with horrendous z e a k g zoete oma poignant, just as it should min. irisbe. (MB) 108 w.g er Kriterion wwin rrea agents who are after them. With the bad-ass quences. This genre-melding film opens 1935, Cosecret ie coop win n d a a o e h B G p l n ste New York Ravyaccus-ges Definitely, Maybe A divorced na.kra filled the bad-ass by Samuel L Jackson, and when 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis edusaad man (Ryan christirole being nstein ava i Lamp nkert i S e d e W h n T a Reynolds) gives his insufferably precocious 10-yearwith Hayden Christensen and es her older sister’s boyfriend of a crime he didn’t la th e a B k n n k o o o Jamie Bell (Hallam Foe) J oe to JerMiss m Co golomb LiaSecond old (Abigail Breslin of Little as the m jumpers, commit. Five years later, at the start of the ne Nisa acolengthy try riSunshine) ichael theucasting n is pretty solid, and the te e n i to u th h h a g W C t an tro and Big Benprison ttonaccount of his early love life. Thisrhighly comeColosseum, World War, the young man is released from zen are colourful locaaelSphinx hthe - eleguneven c i huiBen e u g m ld L g e i a V d in1999, e vitanisn’t enough for the film to rise 's be easier to z by writer-director AdamtrBrooks dy might tions indeed. on the condition that he joins the army.LIn inBut a fo r to o G n m e A i ef fanto er Stehas lmlocuteness. iberif it were less infatuatedta withnits above the level. (LvH) 88 min. Briony as a dying novelist that still feels she a Aown ra Mullentertaining Kletake Kymildly t Ka ri ardner ornelia r(JR) chomin. s112 Dress n la u Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt Pathé De Munt atone for bearing false witness. Starring KeiraCKnightG e g B ld n a n A a n v o D d k e Re ley, James McAvoy and Vanessa Redgrave, ke a Kruli ll Juno is full of life and Ilse (Ellen LPage) GehrEarth This full-length documentary of the ise16. Barbar version Juno Juno yon B Eugen ooiman Atonement is one beautiful film. (GR) Cinecenter sh u L n enniisferpregnant. Oops. She gives up the i a r r a i k British TV Planet Earth K follows K a polar bear famisarcasm. JJuno sseries w o Tama s a -l n AG on wald ly, a herd of elephants and two thought ofjoabortion <>Thumpback The Band’s Visit In this year’s art-house hit, ita in ia hearing that her baby has simthe edafter anwhales sett ieuwe by Alastair Gaapmfingernails Bastheir n e n d daily struggle for survival. Directed already developed and instead starts lookAlexandria Ceremonial Police Band, a small combo n le rner G e B ff o n w Ge parents. Plan B (Deep Blue) and Mark Linfield. 96 min. ing for adoptive specialising in traditional Arab repertoire, flies Ifrom enShe finds the perfect couple an Bro Fothergill r e z a r k C o li o a n C T eo in Mark and LVanessa. Egypt to Israel to play at the opening of a culturalScenajoschaPathé Tuschinski, De Uitkijk Liam arada rval wealthy, nice and Mark eThey’re Isabel S own sar h ink e s c s might even qualify as cool, since he shares Juno’s tre. When their guide fails to meet them at the airport, a g Ian Br Empties W z o t o it quits y B le out grocalls a Talir Josef, a teacher, burnsTh Salland ijsand taste in music splatter movies. Ellen Page is they take the wrong bus and end up in the wrong city. Sajoschat age 65. But he’s not ready to give irl ky life s g r b e u up his working ll D o Eoin beyond perfectR as the wisecracking but friendly Juno, To their rescue comes beautiful Dina (Israeli superstar a Noortjealtogether. d a r o l a a n So he takes a job as a bottle collector in a nuyoung andscnaïve ieg hut enough to think that sky cesar h ce.com who’s bright, yet Ronit Elkabetz), the owner of the only café in town, Nina Ssupermarket, acovwhich wild allows him itognchitchat henink spending atzmi with the ore Kov bokwith the adoptive m en lo there is no harm time who sees the band’s arrival as both a business opporo g jm Eva-Ficustomers l li e e V ild amont all day. While his wifeLefeels michachild.erAdd r van na Wabandoned, beargsolid y r father of her unborn script and a tunity and a chance to escape the local boredom. a JonmaJosefM s ll m k e work. o r k tg c a n m o flourishes—until a machine takes over his e n m and thereLL ERhave it: this year’s kevi great soundtrack Directed with a firm hand by Eran Kolirin, who alsoGabriell vliet A you n(KolT e S z e C s I Charming and bittersweet, this film by Jan Sverák n n ER belda independent American Directed by wrote the original screenplay, The Band’s Visit gentlyhelen va & co. lsh rt masterpiece. ja) deals with old age and its many moste92 ane Wa dIt’s inando Dialienations. a Jason Reitman. (MP) min. Kriterion, lets you inside its unique sense of humour. Thejpeg n F o n fr o erd Cinecenter, e n k o la m r o i hard enough for a man if he can no longer pee in a e e o i S n C m a d Pathé De Munt, Studio & K mrs. ca moment when the band is finally allowed to play its Liam ers evnotha W r i r r. L nice, forceful curve, but what if he feels he has u m o Arth repertoire is the cherry on top of an appealing cine- Rogeri er in r uta teoffer mosslow ing left to the world? Emptiesm isaaxlittle The Kite Runner After poignant Monster’s Ball, his euto Danhis matic dessert. (MB) 87 min. Rialto, Studio K karen h mpany Bokern rt.nl in nneke and stafinalé o but makes up for it with a fantastic the middle pensive Finding Neverland the daringly different A C lm l u i g a o r F i n e b etr Ca Hollen a hot air balloon. (MP) 100 min. Cinecenter Stranger than Fiction—unreleased here—director CH Dem Marco Kaska lk a a B tok and visually g Marc Foster offers usMaesolid chard ditisarresting but iand a R v Hardien nuvole i L KGiorni Elsa (Margherita Buy) Michele e s Hodg aggeli of Khaled Hosseini’s emotionally drained Vadaptation rna docouple nthony Albanese) A(Antonio are a middle-aged who allace ne w ecilyAfghan-born n Huet i C a r novel. The main character, en Amir (played V a k m u u to haveeyit all: a beautiful house, a 20-year-old Lseem e Menn n loortj y la p e F by Scottish-Egyptian actor Khalid doesn’t p D lo a rom a F H teAbdalla), or g l r o N e daughter and good friends. Elsa gently restores an ta D ld n s e o i ! H es R Flor any other evoke sympathy—or When nt aemotion. ndrewmuch Katie Out A m a y Starbikfresco a C ancient and long-hidden angels appear. of c d i Birth Boba M s he was young, he shared closeSfriendship with serne Cho Hie e o v ú m s i i e S w the blue, TMichele his job two The Banishment Me udia of thelictitle, jon A tells her that he lost F Clarunner a but later lorian on boy Hassan, the kite rrvant Wendyago, whereupon months the couple’s situation rapidly na baja about his miseveconflicted n McCa fell out with him. Still heavily pier e o N v C l te i S u tt n e Aq r le r e worsens. They have to sell their apartment; they start a i a d B m ne Jon to Afghanistan oots -sjoe to ‘be conduct as a youth, he returns The Banishment A chilling domestic drama from Russer evely(Pane Nico L about Tjong-a quarelling anhuy Director Silvio Soldini teinle amoney. Jefrey good with sia, directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev (The Return). The olker S gem n again’. In English/Dari/Pashtu/Urdu/Russian el Schw all V r r a e e g n M i s e Tulipani) ashows us a strong woman again: after the te W chle The Movies, Pathé JSmin. enno S reDutch v n de lle subtitles. (BS) 128 film opens with a shady urban character (Alexander M e la s i n a i M v e first shock, Elsa makes lets nvi the best of it while Michele And Tuschinski, Studio K Jane L Baluev) seeking his younger brother’s help in sewing y McCo eridan Johan Kellgo. himself But Sh fine performances by Albanese Alette AO ydespite r te M a o zar o m up his bleeding arm. When the brother (Konstantin e G s anLady Chatterley Ro and a nice rhythm, this sober drama stays flatKarm na SalaFerran, and and Buy In the hands CaroofliPascale Lavronenko) vacations with his kids and troubled wife la Rannie Onno s u g n a n a i P v m n and unsurprising. InmItalian with Dutch subtitles. (GR) vi in French, va DH Lawrence’s classic novel becomes an at the family’s country place, she suddenly blurts out hael Cu ler dr. Gar MicPathé Penche 115 min. Rialto eche LTuschinski, islava almost spiritual film about the transforming power of s e e i that the child she’s carrying isn’t his. Spare dialogue h D p o S love and ssex. The first time Constance Chatterley (MariWoo NBeat and long takes add to the sense of foreboding, with Schwietert’s documentary Heimatklänge erus i and her gamekeeper Parkin (Jean-Louis Sandra cStefan heler runonaGHands) e B L e r. i s h M k Lavronenko (who won the best actor prize at Cannes) opens with the Swiss musical cliché: man on a mounSop endri do it, things HCoullo’ch) ood are a bit clumsy—and they both issink jkThis enduring ‘Heidiland’ Patrick Viviene Hayw keeping his character so buttoned-up you could burst taintop, exuberantly Geert W yodeling. ndi e g a remain fully clothed. Their growing intimacy is shown by n h s a i L e hel My from anxiety watching him consider his revenge, while image keeps back to haunt this film about three Miccoming lack of garments, until, by the end of pseycouldn’t be less like the stereoB their increasing mwork e & D A the verdant landscape devolves from pastoral to sinisperformers whose n r e J ninge we see them not only completely naked but p Joe Clo theelsfilm, an ter in the space of a phone call. In Russian with Dutch type. Avant-garde Erika Stucky, Noldi Alder and fieldtrivocalists F hmaround in the rain, and feel we have gotten to eague dancing y T e e r ll ff e e h J subtitles. (AG) 150 min. Rialto Christian Zehnder r Mic have oallskinostheir own way managed to uknow s Cate them. In Hands’ brilliantly natural, César-winning M Seam take back yodeling for artoand Andrew n soul. Schwietert has a tal- monperformance, urner T tt De Bloedbruiloft This documentary by Hans Fels Lady Chatterley is both funny and movu L da explainwhow Si ent for letting artists ky and where they find Lin ancan’t help feeling for her. Hands has moved Leem chronicles the staging of the opera Blood Wedding in you Loso s aing: n w e n r A d n inspiration; he follows the three musicians to key sites, e A arlan novel past auschk je Haiti. 93 min. Het Ketelhuis Lawrence’s Samthe pornographic and the femia Htheir a their art. A highlyTori M Cowan and where they reflect lives and Verenon ta Meyer-F nist to the human level. (MM) Rialto r n e b n o a watchable music gorgeous and engag-R y Tilmdocumentary, The Bucket List Jack Nicholson is a billionaire lady Critchle ughlin r lle(BP) u first Dutch -B a ing. In German subtitles. 82 min. n the with L Scrooge with terminal cancer, sharing a room in his a Lars and the Real Girl If someone had told me this G. Mc aplani John Filmmuseum Lynn K uerby the guy who did Mr. Woodcock and e own hospital with auto mechanic Morgan Freeman— was directed r s B th a c riffi Rebec Karl G e a family man endowed with all the kind, redemptive a sex doll, I wouldn’t have gone near Horton Hears a Who oxonFor once, a Dr Seuss Fakrevolved e Bylinaround nne Cr A wisdom Freeman can bring to this piece of Hollywood it.thBut lusséand the Real Girl is both hilarious and BLars e adaptation that stays true to the nonconformist r i M poignant, Nick nen claptrap. Class barriers vanish as the two become best spirit and open-minded a moral of the book. Even E.v an Zoo with a Capraesque humanity that caught Svetlan e ert off guard. An awkward young man in a friends and Nicholson bankrolls a spree in which they me completely ld o H the CGI, though itlyloses Seuss’ primary colours, k a ra Jasmall po ph evaart haffertown (Ryan Gosling) invites his older indulge their deepest romantic whims: parachuting, Minnesota c S captures the feelinglfofSchis ho curvy, loopy forms. (JP) areth Kbrother Ro n car racing and flying across the globe while sampling (goofy li i skiPaul Schneider) and sister-in-law (Emi86 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé ointDe Munt Greg B Pink P ott the emblems of the good life found in TV commerly Mortimer) fiancée, but to their t n ays to meetulshisuinew n H e e S v ita Ste I’m Not There Todd ambitious and daring BonHaynes’ argje H s i cials. I don’t know if Rob Reiner is the one to blame for horror and embarrassment she turns out to be made M e r & P k e ni sense that it depicts the Hen new film is a biopic st psychiatrist advises them to play Steinfathe horlocal this atrocity, but he directed and coproduced. (JR) 97 of rubber. din StapThe elife W k r p main events in Bob Dylan’s and career. But they a M m e nmin. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski along withe K hislodelusion, andeeventually the close-knit ie Nolt and Haynes uses Simon immelp are not told in chronological Tamm order, religious community, by concern for the brothque Sch moved stert i o je r i é M O d n é r r e F d the singer. The Darjeeling Limited Sometimes you travel six different actors to Tplay rista vannot i different perinThe ck I’m ers, joins sure there’s still that much ninin. ea Car ng formers (including Cate Heath Ledger, through life with some extra baggage. In the case of AndrBlanchett, ittiworld, D a compassion in the but in keeping with the spirit c i n Vero r e iP black actor Christian Bale and Pthe Marcus Carl the Whitman brothers, it’s a luxury Louis Vuitton set s is willing to pretend. Craig Gillespie of theamovie, on ara IVwas D b r m e B ll a Franklin) and the constant back that looks colourful and flashy even in India. A year Wi moving tonSix Feet Under writer Nancy Oliver. oostrand forth in hnsby directed a script mieke with any of the Tom Jo neidentify time don’t make it easy after their father’s funeral, Francis (Owen Wilson), janto (JJ) 106 min. Kriterion, The Movies t g a r a Dylans. But simple identification Peter (Adrien Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) Els D is probably lkering not what tje foDylan aarabout Das Leben der Anderen This Oscar winner by Florian Haynes is after. His film ismnot himself, but meet aboard a train for a journey of spiritual healing. Henckel von Donnersmarck mostly deserves all the about the mythmaking around a pop star. I’m Not The fact that they have not spoken to each other in a praise and admiration it has received. A study in the There has its moments, but in the end it’s more an year doesn’t prevent them from getting straight into Dan ackie se Atonement Based on the novel by Ian McEwan, cca, JRoyal Grohis Tenenbaums), much characters, has rwin like n, Rebe

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dehumanising effects of state surveillance, it focuses on two men living in East Germany in 1984: a playwright (Sebastian Koch) who attracts the interest of the state and a Stasi officer (Ulrich Mühe) whose loyalty to the socialist cause is starting to erode. Predictable and slightly distant, but also disturbing and effective. In German with Dutch subtitles. (LvH) 137 min. Rialto Lust, Caution Ang Lee’s latest has been compared to Zwartboek, but it’s actually more akin to the first time you visit a new girlfriend’s parents. Everybody is on their best behaviour, the pleasantries seem to go on forever, you’re forced to watch an endless amount of vacation slides, and it’s only partly made up for by the screwing. Or, to ditch this forced metaphor: solid acting by Tony Leung and debutante Tang Wei, beautiful cinematography and incredible sex scenes can’t compensate for the clunky flashback structure, plodding narrative and absurd length. Could someone get Mr Lee a new editor, please? (LvH) 156 min. Cinema Amstelveen Margot at the Wedding Starting with his latest film’s title, Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale) pays obvious homage to all those Eric Rohmer tales about family, relationships and summer vacations. Add some Chekhovian gloom, a ’70s soundtrack, and enough hysterical East Coast intellectuals for a half dozen Woody Allen films, and you have a pretty good idea what Margot at the Wedding is all about. Margot (Nicole Kidman), a divorced short story writer with an adolescent son in tow, travels to the family summer house where her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is planning to get married to ne’er-dowell Malcolm (Jack Black). Ancient wounds reopen, and the conversation switches to parental abuse, scrotum size and Literature imitating Life. And we get to see Nicole Kidman climbing a tree. The end result is more unsettling than entertaining. (MB) 93 min. Cinecenter, Het Ketelhuis

Mio fratello è figlio unico Accio Benassi (Elio

Germano) feels like the least valued member of his family. Perhaps correctly: Accio isn’t his real name, but a nickname meaning ‘pain in the ass’. So Accio does everything possible to live up to his name, including leaving the seminary and joining the Fascist party. Luckily the viewer realises—even if Accio himself does not—that his actions are driven not by idealism but provocation. He is no more a serious fascist than his socialist brother Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio) is a saint. A lighter, less portentous version of La Meglio gioventù—also focusing on two brothers in turbulent Italy. Daniele Luchetti directed. In Italian with Dutch subtitles. (BS) 118 min. Filmhuis Griffioen, Rialto The Mist Forget the two Stephen King adaptations that gave Frank Darabont his Oscar nominations: the humanitarian touch displayed in The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile has become a sucker punch in the gut in the gloriously misanthropic The Mist. When a supermarket in a small rural town becomes enveloped by a mysterious fog, the bargain hunters soon fall prey to mysterious tentacled critters and other assorted nasty pieces of otherworldly fauna. Even more trouble brews when the local Christian fundamentalist starts preaching the Apocalypse. The ending is a bit glib, but the rest is full of nail-biting suspense. (LvH) 127 min. Pathé ArenA

Naissance des pieuvres Céline Sciamma’s ravishing and unnerving debut feature takes us through the teenage agonies of its three female protagonists, the 15-year-olds Anne, Marie and Floriane, as each experiences her own particular sexual awakening one summer in the suburbs of Paris. The focal point is the local swimming pool, where Floriane is the leader of a synchronised swim team. The film tells its story predominantly through close-ups of the girls’ faces as they act out their emotional and physical dramas: Anne and Floriane stand on the threshold of a heterosexual adult world, whereas Marie is in love with Floriane. In French with Dutch subtitles. (AD) 85 min. Cinecenter


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