Glasgow Film News: April

Four highlights to seek out this month.

Feature by Paul Gallagher | 16 Apr 2006

Easter is here again, and while it's generally regarded as yet another excuse to take a break and eat lots of chocolate, Gilmorehill are this year taking the opportunity to remind us where it all started. They are screening Mel Gibson's contraversial 2004 box office juggernaut 'The Passion Of The Christ' which, although excessively graphic in its depiction of the crucifixion, is notable for its uncompromising focus on Jesus, who is not generally taken seriously, or considered at all, by contemporary Hollywood. Christ's example of sacrifice still shocks and provokes in our self-centred society, and though 'The Passion' is a far-from perfect film, its determination to foreground this message and this man make it unique in an industry famous for playing it safe.

From one type of extreme cinema to another: the GFT plays host to the Cult! Season this month, a selection of six films that, like January's Psychotronic Cinema season (and organised by the same people), push the medium to its boundaries and beyond. Showing a film every week for six weeks on a Tuesday night slot, the series begins on April 11 with 'Arrebato', a lost classic of the extreme genre. Weird and (if you like that sort of thing) wonderful too.

Also this month, 'V For Vendetta' is showing on the biggest screen in town at the IMAX, until April 30th. Original and unpredictable, it's a highly enjoyable piece of blockbuster cinema, and well worth catching in such gigantic dimensions. Watch out for the glare off Natalie Portman's bald bonce and you'll have a great time.

Final recommendation for April is 'Pucker Up: The Fine Art Of Whistling', our pick of the Sheffield Documentary Festival on tour. Exploring the history of whistling, as practiced through the ages, this sounds like just the thing to counter all that serious cinema we've had to put up with these past few months. You know how to whistle, don't you?

The Passion of the Christ, GilmorehillG12, April 13
Cult! Season, GFT, April 11, 18, 25
V For Vendetta, IMAX @ Science Centre, All month
Pucker Up: The Fine Art Of Whistling, GFT, April 20 http://www.gft.org.uk,http://www.gilmorehillg12.co.uk/index.html