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All articles by Lee Marshall – Page 49
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Reviews
Obaba
Dir: Montxo Armendariz.Sp-Ger. 2005. 109mins.There are strange thingsgoing on down in Obaba, a tale of isolated village life set in thePyrenean hinterland of San Sebastian - which is why, presumably, it was chosento open the 53rd edition of Spain's A-list film festival.But although it got a warmreaction from the gala ...
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Reviews
Fragile (Fragiles)
Dir: Jaume Balaguero.Sp-UK. 2005. 98mins.Fragile's the word.Spanish horror specialist Jaume Balaguero fails to impress with his follow-upto the psycho-thriller Darkness, which grossed over $22m at the US boxoffice, despite downbeat reviews. A stale spooky-hospital yarn, Fragilesuffers from poor suspense management and the gelid obnoxiousness of thecentral nurse character, played by ...
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Reviews
Initial D (Taumanchi D)
Dirs: Andrew Lau, AlanMak. HK. 2005. 107mins.After the InfernalAffairs trilogy, directing duo Andrew Lau and Alan Mak seem to have theMidas touch. This year's summer blockbuster in Hong Kong, Initial D nudged a$5m gross at home - more than War Of The Worlds and Batman Beginsput together.Loosely working from ShiuchiShigeno's ...
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Reviews
Perhaps Love (Ruguo Ai)
Dir: Peter Ho-sun Chan.HK-Ch-Malay. 2005. 108mins.The seeming Chineseanswer to Moulin Rouge, Perhaps Love is a lavish butinsubstantial musical love story with pan-Asian cinema and music stars Zhou Xun(Suzhou River, The Little Chinese Seamstress) and TakeshiKaneshiro (Chungking Express, House Of Flying Daggers) in theNicole and Ewan roles.It's an odd mix: arthouse ...
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Reviews
Don't Tell
Dir:Cristina Comencini. It-UK-Sp-Fr. 2005. 120mins.Thestrongest of the three Italian films in competition at Venice this year, Don'tTell will nevertheless struggle to extend worthy local director CristinaComenicini's limited international appeal.GiovannaMezzogiorno's gritty performance as a soon-to-be-mother forced to deal for thefirst time with the ghosts of child abuse in her childhood netted ...
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Reviews
Sympathy For Lady Vengeance
Dir: Park Chan-wook. SKor. 2005. 113mins.Few contemporarydirectors are able to mix genres and moods as confidently as Park Chan-wook -and get away with it. The third and final part of the Korean director'sJacobean revenge trilogy, after Sympathy For Mr Vengeance and Oldboy,is the most daring of the lot in the ...
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Reviews
Edmond
Dir: Stuart Gordon. US.2005. 81mins.You never know how aDavid Mamet adaptation is going to turn out. The best of the last 10 years, Oleanna,was the one that stayed closest to its stage original in the college settingand the claustrophobic one-to-one stand-off of the two main characters.William H Macy starred thereand ...
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Reviews
Mary
Dir: Abel Ferrara.It-Fr-US. 2005. 83mins.Watching Abel Ferrara's Maryis like watching an odd religious ritual taking place in a language we onlyhalf understand. We recognise the power of the ceremony, and the commitment ofthose involved - but as for what the hell is going on, and what it all means,and whether ...
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News
...as 'American' Venice wraps on a high
MostLido regulars agreed that it was the strongest Venice in years, if one lookedbeyond the merely average competition to consider the festival as a whole. But it was also one of the most front-loaded festivalsanyone could remember. In the first four days, Ang Lee, George Clooney and ParkChan-wook led the ...
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Reviews
Elizabethtown
Dir/scr:Cameron Crowe. US. 2005. 138mins.Aromantic comedy for the MTV generation with some of that old Kentucky magicthrown in for the oldies, Elizabethtown illustrates the dangers of goingstraight for the feelgood jugular. Feelgood has to be earned. So do the last 48minutes of a 138-minute film. And the overlong Elizabethtown has ...
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Reviews
Elizabethtown
Dir/scr:Cameron Crowe. US. 2005. 138mins.Aromantic comedy for the MTV generation with some of that old Kentucky magicthrown in for the oldies, Elizabethtown illustrates the dangers of goingstraight for the feelgood jugular. Feelgood has to be earned. So do the last 48minutes of a 138-minute film. And the overlong Elizabethtown has ...
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Reviews
Romance & Cigarettes
Dir/scr:John Turturro. US. 2005. 106mins.After the first song-and-dance number of John Turturro'sstar-peppered blue collar musical, the Venice press corps broke into loud,spontaneous applause. When the second ended, there was a more subdued ripple.By the time the third came along, the excitement had died down, and thegood-natured, foot-tapping, flawed nature of ...
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Reviews
Romance & Cigarettes
Dir/scr:John Turturro. US. 2005. 106mins.After the first song-and-dance number of John Turturro'sstar-peppered blue collar musical, the Venice press corps broke into loud,spontaneous applause. When the second ended, there was a more subdued ripple.By the time the third came along, the excitement had died down, and thegood-natured, foot-tapping, flawed nature of ...
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Reviews
Romance & Cigarettes
Dir/scr:John Turturro. US. 2005. 106mins.After the first song-and-dance number of John Turturro'sstar-peppered blue collar musical, the Venice press corps broke into loud,spontaneous applause. When the second ended, there was a more subdued ripple.By the time the third came along, the excitement had died down, and thegood-natured, foot-tapping, flawed nature of ...
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Reviews
Bubble
Dir: Steven Soderbergh.US. 2005. 73mins.Soderbergh goes back tobasics. Not in the tricksy, star-stuffed mode of Full Frontal or Schizopolis:in Bubble the basics are the ones that really matter. A strong storylineand good dramatic structure give this quirky tragic love triangle a grip on theaudience; and a certain edgy eccentricity in ...
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Reviews
Corpse Bride
Dirs:Mike Johnson, Tim Burton. UK. 2005. 75mins.Thefirst stop-motion feature directed (in part) by Tim Burton - he produced andwrote The Nightmare Before Christmas - Corpse Bride brings theHollywood fantasist's dark and fertile imagination to bear on a hugelyentertaining macabre love story.Likethe two Shrek movies, the film has a fairytale backbone ...
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Reviews
Proof
Dir:John Madden. US-UK. 2005. 100mins.Anefficient drama, rather than a memorable one, John Madden's Proofbenefits, for once, from its theatrical origins. Madden directed GwynethPaltrow in the main role of David Auburn's stage play at the Donmar Warehousein London, and the familiarity of both director and actress with the materialcomes through in ...
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Reviews
Casanova
Dir: Lasse Hallstrom. US.2005. 112mins.There's somethingold-fashioned about Lasse Hallstrom's take on the 18-century Venetian rake andwomaniser Giacomo Casanova; but also something disarmingly likeable.It's as if the spirit of Richard Lester, circa The Three Musketeers, had takenpossession of the Swedish director.Hallstrom is helped by ascript fizzing with brio and by the ...
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ReviewsTakeshis'
Dir/scr: Takeshi Kitano.Jap. 2005. 108mins.By the morning of thepress screening, pretty much everyone on the Lido knew that the “surprise” filmon the Venice competition roster was the new project by Japanese auteur and TVcelebrity Takeshi Kitano. The real surprise, however, came at the end: thebriefest ripple ...
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Reviews
The Exorcism Of Emily Rose
Dir: Scott Derrickson.US. 2005. 118minsAn interesting but unresolved hybrid of metaphysical horror film andcourtroom drama, The Exorcism Of Emily Rose takes the true story of agirl who died in Germany following an apparent case of demonic possession, andtransplants it to small-town America.Billed as the firstauthentic film treatment of demonic possession, ...