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| It’s Logan’s Run,
but with a much better looking cast |
THE ISLAND - Directed by Michael Bay
Certificate 12A
THIS must rate as one of the best stories of the year –
a fusion of Logan’s Run and THX1138 with a beautiful cast (Ewan
McGregor and Scarlett Johansson) and a production designer and director
of photography given full rein to run loose with the visuals. With
all that, you have a film of eye-slapping beauty. Director Michael
Bay (Pearl Harbor, Armageddon, Bad Boys II) doesn’t worry too
much about slow exposition, preferring this flashy tale of a colony
of survivors – two of whom discover the real story behind their
existence – to unfold as it will.
At first, it seems as if Earth as we know it has suffered an insurmountable
apocalypse, forcing all its inhabitants to occupy a world where
everything is controlled and clean; even sex is not allowed, with
‘proximity’ police watching the crowds through CCTV cameras.
The Island, then, is said to be the only unpolluted place left on
earth and anyone who wins the lottery gets to go there – the
only exciting thing that happens in this clean, cool world.
Things start to unravel – although no one ever questions the
fact that their names are made up of call signs – when Lincoln
Six Echo (McGregor) begins to question the whole quarantined world
after finding a moth in an outside chamber.
The gritty outside world is the perfect place for McCord (Steve
Buscemi), one of the people who keep the quarantine going.
Without giving too much more away, we’re treated to a lot of,
‘Run!’ dialogue, a lot of predictable ‘oh-he’ll-die-next’
spotting and an ending that had to be.
The Island is great fun – beautiful, exciting, and futuristic
and a heck of a story. Don’t expect a lot of deeper meanings.
Just sit back and enjoy the set design.
Fear and loathing in Los Angeles
CRASH - Directed by Paul Haggis
Certificate 15
IT is easy to slot writer and director Paul Haggis’s debut
feature as one of those films that brings together different strands
of American culture and ultimately shows how dependent they are
on each other.
Gathering together high calibre actors such as Matt Dillon, Brendan
Fraser, Thandie Newton and Don Cheadle as well as putting in the
spicy addition of rapper Ludacris, Haggis – best known for
his TV writing (Due South) and the script of Million Dollar Baby
– brings a new force to the film genre where disparate races
come together in horror and joy.
Built with more emotional boldness and less tongue-in-cheek cleverness
than, say, Short Cuts, Crash enlists the every day fears of all
creeds in LA.
The white folks are afraid of losing their wealth and stature; the
black folks think everyone thinks they are a criminal; the brown
folks want to get somewhere in the Anglo world while the yellow
folks are just trying to keep their heads above water.
All of the characters and nationalities must intermingle, so we
have Don Cheadle’s character, detective Graham, with a Latina
partner (in both senses of the word) played by Jennifer Esposito.
An Iranian store owner takes umbrage at being called Osama; a black
woman (Thandie Newton) gets assaulted by a policeman (Matt Dillon)
(pictured), angered that her husband won’t stand up for her.
But it is all soon turned on its head: the victors becoming victims
and vice versa. How each of the scenarios turns out may be somewhat
predictable, who and what they happen to isn’t – and there
are more surprises and shocks in Crash than in most films released
in an entire year.
The characters here are fully-fledged and, unlike real life, they
do things unexpected of them, both good and bad. With that kind
of set-up, and in a town like LA where unexpected badness and goodness
is around every corner, you get a story that unfolds lyrically and
smoothly.
All told, Crash is compelling and exciting – the kind of film
that makes viewers feel better about the world but wary too.
Also showing
The Perfect Catch
An American take on the Nick Hornby book Fever Pitch, this romantic
comedy swaps football for baseball as Drew Barrymore falls for cute
baseball fanatic Jimmy Fallon. A gentle and interesting tale of
love and a losing team by the Farrelly Brothers (There’s Something
About Mary).
Eugenio
Awarded the Italian Academy Award for Best Actor, Giancarlo Gianni
stars in this heartwarming story of a man with Down’s Syndrome.
Told in flashbacks, Eugenio’s early life involved a woman who
mysteriously had to go away. Many years later, she returns, seeking
Eugenio with her news. A touching tale of the depth and warmth any
life can have, not matter what the circumstances.
Football Days
A comedy about what happens when a handful of completely skill-free
friends decide to form a local football team and call it, of all
things, Brasil. Director David Serrano loads a simple story with
motivational twists to make what is commonly called a fresh comedy
– one that is genuine perky and unexpectedly amusing.
The Rising
This epic tale of the revolt by Indian soldiers under British command
in 1857 – referred to by historians as The Mutiny – is
modern Bollywood at its best.
Spirit Trap
Billie Piper (pictured above) stars in this homegrown horror film
about a house that literally likes its guests to stay. Piper is
one of the five north London students who find their new digs –
a fully-functioning mansion – to be weirdly perfect. And surprise!
It’s not. Director David Smith puts great production design
into this teenage thriller and treats us to a nice performance from
Sam Troughton.
Pick of the indies
The Secret Lives of Dentists
Apparently, dentists have personal lives! Who would have thought
it? Overlook this baffling title and enjoy director Alan Rudolph
as he takes Campbell Scott through his paces in this new and unusual
comedy which does what it says on the tin. As dentist Dave Hurst,
Scott bitches and moans about his work while his wife Dana (Hope
Davis) lives a fabulous life at his expense. In fact, it seems that
everyone else is having a wonderful life except the one who works
the hardest to make it possible.
Dave, our hero, becomes more and more neurotic, transforming himself
into a diva of angst.
Although not as fresh and lively as one may want in an ideal world,
The Secret Lives of Dentists is deft and funny – one which
just gets better when you see that Denis Leary plays the snide musician
who brings out the worst in his dentist, our hero. Scott does a
fantastic job of being cold-cocked, buttoned-down and trying to
thrive in a life of quietly hilarious desperation.
• ICA. Call 020 7930 3647 |
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