CINE

THE OFFICIALDAILY GUIDETHURSDAY 24 FEBRUARY

WHAT’S INSIDE?

GFF BOX OFFICEOrder tickets from the box office atwww.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk

or call0141 332 6535

or visitGlasgow Film Theatre12 Rose Street, Glasgow, G3 6RB

info@glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk

2 » PICKS OF THE DAY Highlights of day seven at GFF 2011

2 » INTERVIEW: DAVE GIBBONS The comic book veteran is attending GFF as part of the Superheroes in Glasgow strand 3 » REVIEWS New Low Griff the Invisible Balibo

4 » WHAT’S NEW ONLINE Goblin, GFF Who’s Who, Festival Diary, Mark Millar and Glasgow fashion bloggers

4 » COMPETITIONWin two tickets to see Oranges and Sunshine, the debut by Jim (son of Ken) Loach, by answering a simple question courtesy of the lovely people at Quotables

Produced by The Skinny magazine in association with the Glasgow Film Festival

Editors Jamie Dunn Becky BartlettDesigner Mark TolsonDigital David McGinty

SPONSORS

THE HORROR...THE HORRORThe Glasgow Film Festival has gremlins in its midst as legendary prog-rockers GOBLIN come to town. Words: JAMES KLODA

Goblin are playing on Friday night. Who?, some may ask.

Goblin. The greatest soundtrack artists in the world. Forget about Max Steiner, Bernard Herrmann, Hack Zimmer. This Italian group of musicians actually made the term ‘prog-rock’ cool with their dynamic scores for a slew of classic horror movies.

Originally called Cherry Five (crap name) and producing records influ-enced by Yes and Gentle Giant (crap bands), they seized a golden ticket in 1975 when Dario Argento asked them to collaborate on the music for his new film Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) with composer Giorgio Gaslini. Once Gaslini left due to ‘creative dif-ferences’ with the director, the stage was set for the renamed Goblin to run riot. A fusion of synthetic loose-ness and unrelenting tempo, the soundtrack perfectly complimented Argento’s wild, baroque flourishes strafing his energetic genre script.

They would go on to provide the music for Suspiria (1977), Dario’s ka-leidoscopic fantasy of witchcraft in a dance academy: malevolent lullabies,

rhythmic assault, howling whispers; all in such pounding, repetitive time signature as to induce seizure. As Argento arrested visually, Goblin slaughtered aurally. They would do the same in their proto-techno for the director’s Tenebrae, with its delicious, vocodered refrain of ‘paura’ (fear). To infinity and beyond: Dawn Of The Dead’s electro-dirge, Phenomena’s metallic aria; ribald musicianship bedecked with crystal plumage. It is the balance of mercu-rial electronica and tight, pulsating cadence that really defines Goblin.

Goblin last performed in the UK in Birmingham at the 2009 Supersonic Festival – the gig was loud, immense and I was there. (With my dad. Who was wearing Bermuda shorts. And a green fright wig. He’s not even a fan, but boogied enthusiastically.) But only two of the key players were there – Massimo Morante, guitar; Fa-bio Pignatelli, bass. The appearance in Glasgow marks the reunion with keyboardist Claudio Simonetti.

All together now: “Pau-oo-oo-ra, pau-oo-oo-ra, pau-oo-oo-ra.”

Never has fear been so exciting.

CINE

2 THE CINESKINNY THURSDAY 24 FEBRUARY WWW.THESKINNY.CO.UK

FUNKY GIBBONS

Comics and mov ies go to -gether l ike horse and car r iage in a modern day marr iage of convenience, but l ike any pai r in wedlock the nupt ia ls don’t a lways run so smooth ly. When i t came to adapt ing Watchmen for the b ig screen, co -creator A lan Moore was so enraged with the debac les that were made of h is prev ious works (From He l l , V For Vendet ta) that he removed h is name ent i re ly f rom the pro ject . Luck i ly for Warner Brothers they had an ace in the ho le: the far more wi l l ing i l lust rator and co -creator Dave Gibbons. The ar t is t , however, bears no i l l w i l l towards h is co l labora -tor : “A l though Watchmen was a jo int product of A lan and myse l f, we are two d i f fe rent , independent people and I complete ly understood A lan’s reasons for not want ing to be invo lved,” muses the i l lust ra -tor. “Ever yone work ing on the mov ie was work ing at a rea l l y h igh leve l of commitment and enthus iasm and I had a ver y n ice t ime for a couple of years be ing f lown around the wor ld meet ing a lot of inte rest ing people.”

Though he may be most embedded in the publ ic’s consc iousness f rom h is work on Watchmen, what e lse can we expect f rom Dave Gibbons in Conversat ion? “I was or ig i -na l l y going to do the ‘s tor y so far ’, but I ’m over fami l iar w i th my career deta i ls and I suspect people who know of me a lso are, so I ’m going to go of f on a b i t of a tangent and show a few th ings that people haven’t seen before. A sect ion of i t i s spec i f ica l l y going to be about the Watch -men adaptat ion and about f i lms in genera l . Hopefu l l y i t ’s not qu i te what people have

come to expect f rom me, but there wi l l be a comprehens ive s l ideshow of my work to ac -company i t .”

Patrons of the event wi l l be set t l ing in for a showcase by an industr y legend: f rom h is humble beginn ings work ing on 20 0 0AD he has gone on to br ing h is own inte rpreta -t ions of Dan Dare, Superman, Green Lantern, The Hulk and Capta in Amer ica, as we l l as br ing ing to l i fe new characters such as Mar tha Washington in Give Me L iber t y. Nex t on the hor izon is h is top secret pro ject with GFF curator Mark Mi l lar, br ing ing two of the b iggest names in the bus iness together. Gibbons remains t ight l ipped about h is upcom-ing venture but speaks h igh ly

about h is fe l low a lumni: “I have the greatest admirat ion for Mark ’s ta lents f rom h is run on The U lt imates and the Mi l lar wor ld books [a publ ish -ing l ine that inc ludes Wanted and K ick-Ass]. I t ’s a great joy to work with h im.” The fee l ing seems mutual . Not on ly d id Mi l lar ask Gibbons to at tend th is year ’s event , but the ad-mirat ion has a l i t t le h is tor y : “I know he’s sa id he wrote me a let te r back when he was sev-enteen and I was cons iderably o lder, apparent ly. I have no recol lect ion of that! [A l though I ’m to ld] I d id send h im a gra -c ious note and a sketch as we l l ,” says Gibbons. “I ’m re -a l l y look ing for ward to get t ing stuck into work ing with h im, i t ’s just as we l l I t reated h im n ice ly back then!”

AMRUTA PATIL INTERVIEW WITH PAUL GRAVETT 12.00 @ CCA India’s first female graphic novelist discusses the current comic book scene in the country, as well as ex-hibiting her specially commissioned graphic short story for Tramway.

GLOBAL MANGA, THE WORLDWIDE IMPACT OF JAPANESE COMICS 13.00 @ CCA A book signing and event with Paul Gravett, author of Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics, Japanese illus-trator Chie Kutsuwada and Scottish writer Sean Michael Wilson. Includes an exploration of manga and its global popularity.

TREACLE JR 20.45 @ GFTA heart-warming tale of unconven-tional friendship, this low-budget independent film will be introduced by actor Aidan Gillen and director Jamie Thraves, who will also both be attending a Q&A session afterwards.

BATTLE ROYALE 3D 21.00 @ CINEWORLD A re-release of the Japanese contem-porary cult classic in which a class of students are forced to kill each other. Being shown with an extra dimen-sion to celebrate the film’s theatrical release in America in 3D.

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TODAY’S

PICKSBefore his special appearance at GFF, acclaimed comic book artist and writer DAVE GIBBONS meets The CineSkinny to discuss his extensive career, the Watchmen adaptation, and MARK MILLAR. Words: THOM ATKINSON

THURSDAY 24 FEBRUARY THE CINESKINNY 3 WWW.THESKINNY.CO.UK

REVIEWSNEW LOWDirector: Adam BowersStarring: Adam Bowers, Jayme Ratzer & Valerie Jones

Wende l l (Adam Bowers) , a

neurot ic , indec is i ve t went y -someth ing , s t rugg les to choose bet ween the g i r l he’d prefe r to be in love w i th and the g i r l he i s actua l l y in love w i th . He hopes to redeem h is f lagrant inadequac ies by dat ing a l t ru i s t ic sweethear t Joanna ( Va le r ie Jones) ; the on ly p rob lem i s that pe rhaps he’s bet te r su i ted to burp ing f reegan V ick y ( Jayme Rat ze r). Desp i te some genu ine ly funny moments , the humour in th i s low- budget ind ie romance of ten fee ls fo rced, l i ke a se -

r ies of i l l - conce ived sketches hast i l y l i nked togethe r. By wr i t ing , d i rect ing and s tar-r ing in New Low, 25 -year- o ld Adam Bowers (who bears a resemblance to a young W i l l A rnet t , aka Gob f rom A r rested Deve lopment) has spread h imse l f th inne r than the ha i r on Wende l l ’s head. The re i s a cur ios i t y about the characte rs that cou ld have been deve loped, but the c l i -chéd dose of qu i r k iness and sarcasm u l t imate ly render the f i lm more low than new.

[Mat t Stanger]

GRIFF THE INVISIBLEDirector: Leon FordStarring: Ryan Kwanten, Maeve Dermody & Patrick Brammall

From an unf in ished syn -

ops is , i t fee ls natura l to compare Gr i f f the Inv is ib le to fe l low se l f - s t y led superhero K ick-Ass (p lus the re’s a lso a s l i the r of Wanted, another Mark Mi l la r comic, jux tapos -ing a monotonous of f ice job wi th the secret thr i l l of l i fe as an act ion hero). By day, Gr i f f ( True B lood’s R yan Kwanten) l i ves a lone ly, mundane l i fe ; by n ight , he’s a dar ing Batman-mode l led v ig i lante, complete w i th a red phone that i s a d i rect l ine to the commiss ioner and a Joker- l i ke nemes is . The lat te r scenes mimic the f lat-pane l co lour ing of comic ar t , echoing Dick Tracy ’s product ion des ign on a budget , as Gr i f f s tomps out c r ime and catches the eye of fe l low misf i t Me lody (Maeve Dermody). Yet , w i thout spoi l -ing any th ing , s imi lar i t ies to Mi l la r ’s c reat ions are u l t i -mate ly s l ight . Unfor tunate ly, the f i lm on ly f inds a s tab le tone in the last ha l f hour, c loser to qu i rk y sad -sack ind ies l i ke Garden State than the Dark Kn ight ’s n ight-watch. But in that f ina l th i rd , i t f inds a po ignancy that no amount of s t reet just ice can ef fect .

[Chr is Buck le]

From the outset , Ba l ibo impresses both the t ruth and the ser iousness of the events featured. Three t ime l ines are estab l ished: present day East T imor, where a woman re -counts events that happened dur ing the Indones ian invas ion in 1975; just pr ior to the inva -s ion i tse l f, in which f i ve Aus -t ra l ian journa l is ts are cover ing the news; and three weeks

late r, when o lder journa l is t Roger East (Anthony LaPagl ia) invest igates the i r d isappear-ance. Di rector Rober t Con-nol ly d is t ingu ishes the lat te r two p lots by prov id ing the f i ve’s stor y wi th a washed-out look , but i t then becomes hard to reconc i le how l i t t le t ime separates them, whi le the mult ip le t ime - l ines are in i t ia l l y qu i te confus ing. Ba l ibo makes

no at tempts to conceal i ts po l i t ica l agenda, and, f i lmed in modern day, s t i l l - t roubled East T imor, appears large ly authent ic . I t i s , on occas ion, qu i te power fu l , though one wonders how much creat ive l icence the screenwr i te rs took in recount ing the personal s tor y of the journa l is ts and the i r fate.

[Beck y Bar t let t]

BALIBODirector: Robert ConnollyStarring: Anthony La Paglia, Oscar Isaac & Damon Gameau

QUIZ TIME

WHAT’S NEW ONLINE?GOBLIN AT GMFFThe Scotsman’s Fiona Shepard talks to the Italian rock band ahead of their performance at The Arches on Friday (25th Feb).http://bit.ly/Goblinscots

WHO’S WHO?Ever wondered who those people running around the fes-tival with cameras and record-ing equipment are, and what they’re doing here? Check out the GFF blog introducing everyone.http://bit.ly/Whoswho

FEST DIARY 2Sean Welsh, the Official GFF blogger, reviews what he’s seen so far and what he’s looking forward to in the com-ing days. Including reviews of Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, Little White Lies, and Protector.http://bit.ly/festdiary2

DONNER ‘OBSESSION’GFF ambassador Mark Millar talks to Michael MacLennan about the current ‘golden age’ of comic book movies and his obsession with the Richard Donner cut of Superman II.

http://bit.ly/Donnercut

LES GARCONS DE GLASGOWGlaswegian fashion bloggers LesGarconsdeGlasgow.com have a few of photos of ‘inter-esting characters in Glasgow’s art scene’ inspired by the GFF, along with recommendations for Pyuupiru 2001 - 2008 and Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston.http://bit.ly/lesgarcons

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PIC OF THE DAY

4 THE CINESKINNY THURSDAY 24 FEBRUARY WWW.THESKINNY.CO.UK

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GIVEAWAY:

Oranges and Sunshine

Feb 25, 20:30 - Glasgow Film Theatre

Jim Loach makes an immensely impressive, emotionally devas-tating feature debut with Oranges and Sunshine, starring Emily Watson and Hugo Weaving. To win tickets to see it at GFF, simply answer the question following our quotable clue:

“A movie isn’t a political movement, a party or even an article. It’s just a film. At best it can add its voice to public outrage.” — ?

What is the name of the film by Jim Loach’s dad Ken, also screen-ing at GFF this year?

Email jamie@theskinny.co.uk by 10am on Friday 25 Feb to enter.

Harry Shearer discusses The Big Uneasy in the Glasgow Film Theatre.

Here’s the GFF daily

quotable:

“By al l means move at a glacial pace. You know how that thr i l ls me.”

— Miranda Pr iest ly, The Devi l Wears Prada

http://qtbl.es/hlL1ud

Vis it Quotables to see many more GFF quotes as the festival goes on: ht tp://qtbl.es/glasgowfi lm

@HOMERBROONBoing, crash, splat. Battle Royale 3D tomorrow @cineworld , perfect lead in to @glasgowfilmfest ‘s Frightfest. Whoop

@GILCO80Looking forward to hear-ing what the legend that is Ken Loach, has to say tonight at the screening of Route Irish @glasgow-filmfest

WHAT DIDYOU THINK?

We collected six of the best tweets from Twitter❝

❞@PINUPNIGHTSjust been to the GFT to see the creation records film. Great fun. Alan mcgee’s hat was far too small for his head.

@KATEPRINGLEWow Incendies is powerful. Bring on that Oscar for Villeneuve. Heart-breaking and beautiful in near equal measure #glasgowfilm-festival

@GMURRA25#tuesdaytweetfest can’t believe battle royal 3D is fully book on Thursday gutted need to choose another film #Glasgowfilm-festival

@LJHALSALL@mrmarkmillar @glasgow-filmfest please thank donner for all of us. N for u choosing it. Wish reeve could know! #gff #super-man2

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tuart Craw

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