CineDaily – 22 Feb: Altman, Phoenix, White God, today's reviews and more
Fright Night
“I’ve got a little secret to tell you,” says Glasgow Film Festival co-director Allison Gardner in her introduction to teen werewolf drama When Animals Dream. “I love horror!” As secrets go, this one's up there with “Nic Cage sometimes wears toupees in his movies” or “the Earth revolves around the Sun”. Not only is GFF the Scottish home to scary movie haven FrightFest, but the main programme is bursting at the seams with slashers, shockers and esoteric horrors.
Last night film fans were left with the tantalising dilemma of what genre movie to pick from GFF’s late-night Saturday slot, with It Follows, The Town That Dreaded Sundown and Spring all kicking off just after 11pm. As David Robert Mitchell’s visionary sexually transmitted haunting saga and Alfonso Gomez-Rejon meta rethink of a 70s classic have both been featured in the CineSkinny, we plumped for Spring, which we’d heard spliced the DNA of Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise and Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession. But first, teenage werewolves...
Something strange is going on in a tiny Danish fishing village in Jonas Alexander Arnby’s brooding When Animals Dream. Town beauty Marie is sprouting hair in unusual places and the local doctor is doping up her wheelchair-bound mother before her nightly back-shaving sessions. Not for the first time, supernatural abilities are being used as a metaphor for female sexuality, and young Marie seems happy to let her hair grow, making the local menfolk a tad nervous. At first the film’s mood seems aligned with Marie’s demeanour: as she decides to embrace her inner beast the film lets loose as well. In the end, however, the tone gets rather confused, not knowing whether to be an operatic tragedy, like Brian De Palma’s Carrie, or a sassy parable, like comic-horror Ginger Snaps, the two films from which When Animals Dream riffs. Arnby settles, unfortunately, on a dour and bloodless drama.
Far superior was the similarly-themed Spring. I hadn’t seen directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s earlier work, but I’ll be seeking it out after being spellbound by this lyrical, funny and sexy horror-rom-com. An attractive couple – likeable American backpacker Evan and mysterious genetics student Louise – meet-cute in an ancient Mediterranean village in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. With Louise constantly reaching for her meds as strange lesions begin to pulsate on her body, it’s not just the volcano that seems ready to erupt any day now. For most of the movie Benson and Moorhead keep us unmoored as to Louise's condition, but who cares when it’s this much fun watching romance blossom. When we're told exactly what her Jekyll and Hyde deal is we wish we hadn't been, but they do get plenty of comic mileage from the reveal.
But what really sets the film apart from other genre movies is its intimate mood and loose style. The performances are great too: minor characters who satellite Evan and Louise feel lived-in and immediately recognisable (a rakish farmer who takes Evan in, a pair of Brits he meets on his first night in Italy, his drunk bros from his hometown) while the central pair themselves are totally winning.
Win Tickets to Xavier Dolan's Mommy!
Fancy winning tickets to one of the absolute gems of the festival? We've five pairs of tickets to give away to see Mommy (on 23 Feb, GFT, 8.30pm or 24 Feb, Grosvneor, 3pm), the fifth film from 25-year-old wunderkind director Xavier Dolan (read our 5 star review!). To enter, simply head over to Twitter and tell the world the best film you've seen at Glasgow Film Festival so far and include the hashtages #cineskinny and #mommy. Your answers will be used to help us crown our Readers' Best of GFF award in our annual CineSkinny awards roundup. Send your tweets by midnight on Sun 22 Feb to be in with a chance of winning.
Film of the Day: Phoenix [GFT, 6pm]
What we said: "Phoenix opens like a horror movie. A disfigured woman, her face swaddled in bloody bandages, is crossing the German border following the fall of the Third Reich. But director Christian Petzold’s touchstone isn’t Eyes Without a Face – it’s Vertigo." (Read full review...)
TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
GFT, 2.45pm
How can you resist that title? Roy Andersson concludes his deadpan trilogy about “being a human being” with this knockout tragicomedy. Cinema doesn’t get any droller.
The Fall of the House of Usher with Live Score
Pollokshaws Burgh Hall, 8pm
Jean Epstein's stunning take on Edgar Allan Poe’s classic macabre tale gets the live score treatment from the team who brought you GFF’s The Passion of Joan of Arc event at Glasgow Cathedral a few year’s back.
The Clouds of Sils Maria
GFT, 5.30pm
Skinny favourite Olivier Assayas looks to be back in Irma Vep territory with this study of stardom starring Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart. There are shades of All About Eve, we hear.
#GFF15 Videos and Interviews
Dreaming Bigger, Screaming Louder: Xavier Dolan on Mommy
Quebecois firecracker Xavier Dolan says he sees cinema as revenge against the mundanities of everyday life. With his brilliant new melodrama Mommy, that revenge is served piping hot
"I fucking hate digital. It is lifeless, flat, soulless and a lie" – Xavier Dolan
Saluting Hollywood's Maverick: Ron Mann and Kathryn Reed Altman discuss the Nashville director
Altman director Ron Mann and Kathryn Reed Altman discuss the "Indestructible" filmmaking force of nature, Robert Altman
"I couldn't make a conventional film about an unconventional filmmaker" – Ron Mann
Esoteric Horror at GFF 2015
Are we going through a mini horror renaissance? Upcoming releases, including inventive slasher It Follows and allegorical animal-uprising oddity White God, suggest a resounding yes
“WE WANTED TO SHOW THAT SOCIETY CREATES ITS OWN MONSTERS” – KORNÉL MUNDRUCZÓ
Daniel Wolfe and cast discuss directorial debut Catch Me Daddy
OUR REVIEWS OF TODAY'S FILMS
Still Alice: "Fans of [Julianne] Moore’s brand of damaged women might find traces of her career cornerstones – the likes of Safe – in Still Alice. It’s a mesmerising performance, quietly devastating rather than showy." (Read full review...) | GFT, 3pm
The Town That Dreaded Sundown: "Gomez-Rejon, meanwhile, throws a bag of tricks at the screen: jump-cuts, Dutch angles, dual-focus, dream sequences and at least one belting tracking shot invoke De Palma and other B-movie masters in a film that's way more stylish and thoughtful than one might expect." (Read full review...) | GFT, 10.45am
White God: "White God’s structure is delightfully mad. There’s at least three tonal zigzags: from realist melodrama to Disney-esque creature feature yarn and then, thrillingly, to all-out animal uprising movie." (Read full review...) | GFT, 5.45pm
Twitter Chat
José Enrique's Cat (@bdem_)
No.5 - SPELLBOUND (in 35mm). #GFF15
Because I don't get out of bed this early on a Sunday morning for DCP.
Catherine Bray (@catherinebray)
Having a top time at @glasgowfilmfest with @stephenmcnally - Jodorowsky's Dune, The Little Death, distribution panel - and now a ceilidh!
Corinne (@MissCorinneOh)
'The mind of a woman in love operates on the lowest level of intellect'. Astounded by the sexism in Hitch's Spellbound @glasgowfilmfest !
Nabby (@Nabbtastic)
Wild Tales was spectacular fun! Best opening to a movie in years! Road rage story was personal favourite #GFF15 @glasgowfilmfest #WildTales