12th Annual European Union Film Festival
United Kingdom
ANGEL
2007, François Ozon, UK/Belgium/France, 119 min.
With Romola Garai, Sam Neill, Charlotte Rampling
The always unpredictable Ozon (SWIMMING POOL, 8 WOMEN) skates a slippery line between irony and sincerity in this juicy costume drama based on a 1957 novel by cult British author Elizabeth Taylor (not the actress). Angel Deverell (Garai), a provincial girl with more gall than talent, sets out to become a famous novelist and astonishingly succeeds, until World War I and unrequited love darken her storybook life. The scenes of the headstrong Angel storming the London literary world are especially fun, and the visual style, drawing on Hollywood melodrama masters Minnelli and Sirk, is eye-poppingly lush. In English. Preview courtesy of IFC Films. 35mm. (MR)
Sunday, March 22, 2:45 pm
Monday, March 23, 8:00 pm
THE BAKER
2007, Gareth Lewis, UK, 86 min.
With Damian Lewis, Kate Ashfield
When things get too hot for a London hit man (Lewis of Band of Brothers), his handler (Michael Gambon) sends him to a sleepy Welsh village where he happily takes up a new career as a baker. But the media-savvy locals quickly discover his past and would much rather purchase contracts than crumpets--”Is there anyone in this village who doesn’t want someone dead?” the exasperated patissier complains at one point. Directed by the star’s brother, this often hilarious Britcom combines the violent humor of IN BRUGES with the rustic satire of COLD COMFORT FARM. And watch out for the exploding sheep! In English. Preview courtesy of Panorama Entertainment. DigiBeta video. (MR)
Saturday, March 21, 5:30 pm
Monday, March 23, 6:00 pm
PUFFBALL
2007, Nicolas Roeg, UK/Ireland, 120 min.
With Kelly Reilly, Miranda Richardson, Rita Tushingham
“Only a true and uncompromising artist could ever make such a vivid mess.”--Adam Nayman, Eye Weekly
Nicolas Roeg’s first film in over ten years is admittedly flawed but much more than a misfire--with its densely layered imagery and gleefully perverse characterizations, it provides much to reward the loyal Roegophile. Rough sex, witchcraft, gynecological horror (“It’s all about the interior”), Norse mythology, and a suave walk-on by Donald Sutherland all figure into this defiantly uncategorizable whatsis, as a British architect (Reilly) acquires a fixer-upper in the Irish boondocks, where her fecundity incites the envy of a malevolent neighbor (Richardson). In English. Preview courtesy of IFC Films. DigiBeta video. (MR)
Saturday, March 14, 9:30 pm
Tuesday, March 17, 8:00 pm
SOMERS TOWN
2008, Shane Meadows, UK, 75 min.
With Thomas Turgoose, Piotr Jagiello
“By no means a ‘minor’ Meadows. Indeed, in terms of tonal consistency, concision and cumulative emotional wallop, it’s in several ways a more satisfying enterprise than THIS IS ENGLAND.”--Neil Young, Jigsaw Lounge
This buoyantly comic, deceptively casual tale, limned in beautifully gray-toned black-and-white, confirms Shane Meadows as one of Britain’s best recent directors. Thomas Turgoose, the remarkable young actor introduced in Meadows’s THIS IS ENGLAND, here plays a pugnacious Midlands lad who heads for the glitter of London, only to be waylaid by thugs soon after his arrival. He crosses paths with a quiet Polish photography buff (Jagiello), and the bulk of the film traces the two boys’ developing friendship as they vie for the affections of a sexy French waitress and explore the scruffy Somers Town area behind the shiny new St. Pancras railroad station. In English. Preview courtesy of Film Movement. 35mm. (MR)