DIRECTED BY: ANDY & LARRY WACHOWSKI
STARRING: EMILE HIRSCH, CHRISTINA RICCI, SUSAN SARANDON, JOHN GOODMANIMAGINE being strapped into a centrifugal G-force flight simulator after ingesting some LSD-spiked Kool-Aid and forced to
watch a blurry montage of Tron, Cars, Dick Tracy and Wacky Races and you might get some sense of the over-stimulated, candy-coloured, Dayglo visual nightmare that is Speed Racer. With the first instalment of The Matrix looking increasingly like a fluke, this latest manga-inspired effort from the Wachowski brothers seems to be aimed squarely at ADHD-afflicted seven-year-olds.
God bless Emile Hirsch, then, for at least making his titular hero seem like a vaguely real person in the loopy cartoon world his super-talented race car driver inhabits. Determined to fight corruption and restore the purity of the sport, he does the best he can with a plot that flips between infantile slapstick, saccharine family drama and hokey attempts at psychological depth and menace.
Action-wise, the film has its moments, but indulgent flash-backs and dull subplots drag this out to a punishing 130 minutes. I saw it on an IMAX screen, which was like being zapped into Grand Theft Auto. Take that as a recommendation, if you will.
MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES (U) ****
DIRECTED BY: JENNIFER BAICHWALIT'S difficult to make an intimate documentary about a contemporary artist without succumbing to hero worship, but with Manufactured Landscapes, filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal does a fine job of exploring the work of Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky while subtly interrogating its value.
Burtynsky specialises in depicting landscapes showing the impact of industry on the natural world, something that has helped him acquire a reputation as an artist with a strong environmentalist agenda, even if he'd rather his large-scale prints were not presented in such a crusading context. That might be down to how acutely aware he is of his own personal dependence on the products whose manufacture has resulted in the very scarring he's documenting.
Yet in locating the beauty of mankind's destruction of the world (he makes toxic rivers look exotic, turns abandoned oil tankers into magisterial works of art and makes quarries and coal-mines look mystical and other-worldly) the film raises difficult questions about the way his images tread a fine line between art and exploitation. Following him on a trip to a rapidly industrialising China, it's not a confrontational film; rather – like Burtynsky's photographs – it trusts us to make up our own minds about what we see.
THE LAST MISTRESS (15) ****
DIRECTED BY: CATHERINE BREILLAT
STARRING: ASIA ARGENTO, FU'AD AIT AATTOU, ROXANE MESQUIDACATHERINE Breillat's frank and provocative dissections of modern sexual mores have always offered up plenty of food for thought, but her latest is something different: an audacious, masterfully controlled and beautifully composed costume drama. That it will probably prove just as divisive as previous efforts such as Romance or Fat Girl is almost a given, though this time out that will probably have more to do with the severe style rather than the explicitness of the material.
Not that there isn't any sex – this 19th century-set story is practically dripping with it. However, Briellat seems less interested in shattering taboos here than she is in shattering emotions. Set in Parisian high society, a perfectly cast Asia Argento is the fiery Spanish courtesan who comes between impoverished aristocrat, Ryno (Fu'ad Ait Aattou), and the rich, uptight virgin (Roxane Mesquida) who he now wants to marry, ending their ten-year affair.
Breillat makes no concessions to anyone unwilling to fully engage with the story, but she rewards with a scandal-soaked tale that carefully shows how love, lust and tragedy conspire to destroy her protagonists' lives.
XXY (15) ***
DIRECTED BY: LUCÍA PUENZO
STARRING: RICARDO DARÍN, INÉS EFRON, MARTÍN PIROYANSKYALL credit to Argentinean XXY writer-director Lucía Puenzo: this film about a hermaphrodite teen could have gone off in so many mawkish directions it's a minor miracle it has ended up as such a considered coming-of-age film.
Inés Efron plays Alex, a 15-year-old who lives in a remote coastal town in Uruguay where she passes for a girl, even though the locals suspect something is different about her. Born with both male and female body parts, this teen's dominant gender traits are the result of medical treatments and hormone therapy, but with Alex nearing puberty, the tricky prospect of definitive gender assignment is an increasingly pressing issue.
Her sensitive marine biologist father (Ricardo Darín) wants Alex to make the decision for herself, but her mother, who just wants to have a daughter, invites a surgeon friend to stay, and his arrival (with confused teenage son in tow) starts bringing matters to a head.
Puenzo serves up a sensitive, non-judgemental portrait of Alex's plight here, and though her fondness for clunky visual metaphors (carrots being chopped, flipper-less sea turtles) are a little intrusive, Efron's remarkable portrayal of Alex – a mix of brash self-confidence and aching vulnerability – gives it distinction.
The full article contains 861 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
