Father Geek here with Edgard and Champagne 2000 with this week's Euro-AICN Column, lots of coooool stuff. but first this bit from the ol' Edinburgh International Film Festival...

Greig's Round Up Of The 55th Edinburgh International Film Festival

'And in the end' or some such line spring to mind. Unfortunately another Edinburgh Film Festival has come and gone. Trying to cover the event has been daunting even with two of us sharing the workload. Thus we missed out on lots of films that good things have been said about. So to Atanarjuat The Fast Runner, The Believer, Tears of the Black Tiger, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Dogtown and The Z-Boys, Home Movie and Amelie I'm sure I'll see you at some point in the future. Personally, circumstances conspired to make sure I missed Enigma, The Pledge and The Man Who Wasn't There. This is partly the beauty of film festivals. You miss things you want to see but discover gems you never dreamed could exist.

Edinburgh has never been about Hollywood glitz and glamour or pretentious theory driven artistic introspection. Instead it is meant, like the rest of the festival, to be enjoyed by all the performers, artists, journalists and most importantly audiences that descend on Edinburgh at this time of year. That said we still welcomed Roman Coppola, Terry Zwigoff, Billy Connelly, Guillermo Del Toro, Henry Bean, Dougray Scott, Tilda Swinton, Emma Thompson, Danny Boyle, Sean and Robin Wright Penn, Peter Cattaneo, Olivia Williams, Tim Roth and Saffron Burrows among others to the capital this year. The line up was impressively eclectic as artistic director Lizzie Franks bows out to be replaced by Shane Danielson. The showcase for female filmmakers during Franks time at the helm has provided a great platform for new voices in cinema to be heard. Similarly the Mirrorball and Shorts sections at this year festival have allowed young filmmakers to show their work to a wide ranging audience. The inclusion of events such as screenwriting workshops and the involvement of local schools contributes to an international festival with its heart in the community.

But what about the films I hear you ask. Well on the whole I was impressed. In a summer where the blockbusters disappointed (Shrek and Jurassic Park 3 aside) at almost every turn the festival reaffirmed that there are a lot of clever and smart filmmakers working outside of the Hollywood studio system. The mystery movie was a big disappointment as Planet of the Apes had already been on general release for over a week. Personally I found Apes to be a fairly boring movie with great make up and effects. Nothing really happens until the last fifteen minutes and the major plot twists are fairly obvious. It's sad to see Tim Burton making a film like this as his work is stuff I always look forward to. I guess hoping the mystery movie was going to be the print of Lord of The Rings that is supposedly ready was too optimistic.

Many films in Edinburgh had already been shown at Cannes and some came with big reputations. The Deep End was disappointing as was Ghost World (although I have now read the comic and can say the tone of the film preserves the original material very well). I'm still torn as to whether these were genuinely below par films or whether my expectations for them were so high that they were always going to disappoint me. However both have been selected as part of the best of the festival programme. Lift was another American film that didn't do an awful lot for me though it was better than I had anticipated. It was left to Todd Solondz to restore American Indie pride with the deliciously witty and bravely crafted Storytelling. Someone should really give Robert Wisdom more acting work. Solondz may never make a mainstream breakthrough but if his work keeps up his current quality then fans won't care. I also heard a few good things being said about CQ and The Anniversary Party. While the Sleepy Time Gal sounded a bit boring a close friend assured me it was entertaining and that Jacqueline Bisset gave her best performance in years.

As you might expect British films featured heavily and tried to convince the public and industry that the British film industry is not going down the toilet. Enigma has had mixed reviews although most people I have spoken to found something good in the film. Gabriel & Me has garnered very few positives and looks as though it may struggle on its theatrical release. I thought My Brother Tom was terrible but it did ok in the audience award. I genuinely liked Lucky Break and was pleasantly surprised to enjoy The Lawless Heart. Jump Tomorrow seems to have garnered positive press and a best of the fest nod as did the epic The Warrior. Similarly Gas Attack (Silent Killer - Working Title) and Happy Now? suggest that the British film industry has not completely lost its way.

Films from around the globe were also present and correct. No Man's Land was a Cannes winner and was one of my favourite films of the fortnight. Guillermo Del Toro whetted appetites for Blade 2 and Hellboy with The Devil's Backbone and a lecture. The Devil's Backbone was genuinely creepy and provides more evidence that world cinema talents are becoming more high profile. I've saved the best for last with Battle Royale and Bangkok Dangerous being my favourite films from the festival. Battle Royale has provoked reactions wherever it has been screened but for me it is a work of genius that deserves to be seen. Not all its reviews have felt the same way and it seems to have polarised opinion. If you love it then you love it but if you don't like it then you hate it pretty badly. Bangkok Dangerous was more of a surprise. The Pang brothers will surely make a huge budget mega movie at some point in the future but this $800,000 production is better than you could ever hope. So brilliantly stylish that it exudes cool from every inch of celluloid.

So that was Edinburgh 2001. Plenty of good films, a few stars, a few dud films and hope for the future. Personally I enjoyed the whole experience immensely and look forward to seeing what treats Shane Danielson lines up for next year. A special thanks has to go to everyone on the press desk who put up with us all for two weeks. - Greig Cameron

Father Geek back again. If you want more coverage from this festival, i.e. reviews, features, and a run down of the award winners. The best address is available simply, By Clicking Right Here . Now on to Edgard and crew and their regular report...

EURO AICN

Hi folks... Edgard here with our latest news from Europe... on the menu : the list of the European People's Choice Award (vote for Amelie ! vote for Amelie ! and vote for Amelie !), some Bond news (official news this time... welcome back Aston Martin !), the results of the Edinburgh Festival and the selection of the San Sebastian Festival, our usual news from Show Biz Ireland and 2 reviews of event - but obviously disappointing - French Films (thank you Champagne 2000 & sorry for my translation delay). Summer seems to be over now... probably the most disappointing Summer regarding the blockbusters (otherwise my Summer was great, thank you)... let's hope Fall movies will be better...

EUROPE

* From Screendaily :

Forty eight European directors and actors from Jean-Jacques Annaud to Ray Winstone have been nominated for this year's People's Choice Awards which will be presented during the European Film Awards in Berlin on December 1. Cinemagoers throughout Europe will have the chance to vote in three categories "Best European Director", "Best European Actress" and "Best European Actor" either via voting slips printed in selected European film magazines or by accessing Arthur Andersen's specially dedicated website - www.andersen.com/film_awards between September 1 and October 30. The complete list of nominations is as follows:

Best European Director

• Jean-Jacques Annaud (Enemy At The Gates)
• Patrice Chereau (Intimacy)
• Alex de la Iglesia (La Comunidad)
• Christophe Gans (Brotherhood Of The Wolf)
• Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher)
• Lasse Halstrom (Chocolat)
• Oliver Hirschbiegel (The Experiment)
• Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie)
• Mathieu Kassovitz (The Purple Rivers)
• Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones's Diary)
• Nanni Moretti (La Stanza Del Figlio)
• Lone Scherfig (Italian For Beginners)
• Ridley Scott (Hannibal)
• Santiago Segura (Torrente 2: Mision En Marbella)
• Giuseppe Tornatore (Malena)
• Tom Tykwer (The Princess And The Warrior)

Best European Actress

• Monica Bellucci (Malena)
• Juliette Binoche (Chocolat)
• Margherita Buy (Le Fate Ignoranti)
• Penelope Cruz (Captain Corelli's Mandolin)
• Isabelle Huppert (The Piano Teacher)
• Heike Makatsch (Gripsholm)
• Carmen Maura (La Comunidad)
• Laura Morante (La Stanza Del Figlio)
• Lena Olin (Chocolat)
• Franka Potente (The Princess And The Warrior)
• Charlotte Rampling (Sous Le Sable)
• Rosa Maria Sarda (Anita No Perd El Tren)
• Audrey Tautou (Amelie)
• Rachel Weisz (Enemy At The Gates)

Best European Actor

• Stefan Accorsi (Le Fate Ignoranti)
• Moritz Bleibtreu (The Experiment)
• Vincent Cassel (The Purple Rivers)
• Colin Firth (Bridget Jones's Diary)
• Benno Fuermann (The Princess And The Warrior)
• Hugh Grant (Bridget Jones's Diary)
• Mathieu Kassovitz (Amelie)
• Jude Law (Enemy At The Gates)
• Benoit Magimel (The Piano Teacher)
• Nanni Moretti (La Stanza Del Figlio)
• Jean Reno (The Purple Rivers)
• Mark Rylance (Intimacy)
• Santiago Segura (Torrente 2: Mision En Marbella)
• Ondrej Vetchy (Dark Blue World)
• Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast)

UK

I found online that the new car for Bond is the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish. Here's a pic and the report from 'Reuters'.

Sneakers

Britannia rules the roads in the next action film featuring James Bond, the legendary British secret agent known to generations of moviegoers as 007. BOND, WHO LIKES his trademark martinis shaken, not stirred, has driven cars from Germany’s BMW AG in the last three installments of the longest-running movie series in cinema history. But in the next 007 film, which goes into production in January, the debonair agent played by Pierce Brosnan will tool around in a powerful V12 Vanquish from Britain’s Aston Martin luxury carmaker. The announcement was made on Thursday by Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford Motor Co., which owns and operates Aston Martin as part of its Premier Automotive Group, a stable of upscale cars and trucks that includes Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo. The new Bond film, the 20th since “Dr. No” in 1962, will mark something of a homecoming for Aston Martin. Its sporty cars —fitted especially for 007 with ejector seats and rocket launchers — were featured in early installments of the Bond series beginning with “Goldfinger” in 1964. Ford said the recently launched Vanquish will be available to U.S. customers next month at a price of $228,000.

Reported by Reuters - http://www.msnbc.com/news/618476.asp?pne=msn

* From Screendaily :

Topical, highly controversial Scottish production Gas Attack was named Best New British Feature at the Edinburgh International Film Festival closing ceremony on Sunday night. A first feature from former actor and theatre director Kenny Glenaan, it uses a documentary style to tell of a right-wing terrorist attack on the community of Turkish Kurd asylum seekers in Glasgow. It had faced competition from Crush, Lucky Break, The Lawless Heart and Asif Kapadia's much-admired The Warrior. The Studio Award for Best British Short Film was shared between Alicia Duffy's Crow Stone and Brian Percival's About A Girl while the McLaren Award for New British Animation went to Suzie Templeton for Dog. Leading the field from the very first day, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's opening night charmer Amelie was a clear winner of the Standard Life Audience Award, a further boost to distributor Momentum's ambitious plans for its October release in the UK. Other strong public favourites included Hedwig And The Angry Inch and wartime thriller Enigma. Zacharias Kunuk added to his Cannes Camera D'Or prize for the Inuit language epic Atanarjuat The Fast Runner by sharing the Guardian New Directors Award with Michael Cuesta, the director of L.I.E. an accomplished coming of age drama with a towering performance from Scottish actor Brian Cox.

IRELAND

* News from Showbiz Ireland :

- The Irish actor Colm Meaney, is coming home to Ireland at the end of the month to make another feature film. Meaney, who is the star of films such as Into the West and Under Siege, will star in the movie The Seventh Stream which starts shooting in the west of Ireland at the end of the month. Casting for the film is currently going on in Dublin and London for the film but Colm is to take the lead role which is that of man who falls in love in Ireland at the turn of the century. The film will be made over eleven weeks between Galway and Donegal. The actor made his name in LA as one of the lead stars in Star Trek as Chief O’Brian for seven years.

- For Exclusive shots of Alicia Silverstone & Boyfriend + Woody Harrelson in Dublin pulling pints of Guinness in the Gaiety Theatre bar: Just Click Here

SPAIN

* From Screendaily :

The San Sebastian International Film Festival has announced 16 of the films which will compete in the official section of this year's 49th edition, which runs from September 20 to 29. The line-up, which will likely receive at least a couple of last minute additions, has a distinct European flavour. It also features one title each from the US and Australia and two each from Asia and Latin America. The films competing for the festival's top Golden and Silver Shell awards include:

• Butterfly Smile (He Jian Jun, China)
• C'est La Vie (Jean-Pierre Ameris)
• Under Construction (En Construccion) (Jose Luis Guerin, Spain)
• Escape To Paradise (Nino Jacusso, Switzerland)
• La Fuga (Eduardo Mignogna, Argentina-Spain)
• The Grey Zone (Tim Blake Nelson, USA)
• Juana La Loca (Vicente Aranda, Spain)
• Lantana (Ray Lawrence, Australia)
• Last Orders (Fred Schepisi, UK) Magonia (Ineke Smits, Holland)
• Truly Human (Et Rigtigt Menneske) (Ake Sandgren, Denmark)
• Taxi For Three (Taxi Para Tres) (Orlando Lubbert, Chile)
• Ghislain Lambert's Bicycle (Le Velo De Ghislain Lambert) (Philippe Harel, France)
• Visible Secret (Ann Hui, Hong Kong)
• Visionaries (Visionarios) (Manuel Gutierrez Aragon, Spain)
• The Warrior (Asif Kapadia, UK)

Ray Lawrence, Ineke Smits and Asif Kapadia will also compete for the New Director's prize against another 18 films in the festival's Zabaltegi (Open Zone) section. Spain's premiere competitive international film event falls under the new direction this year of Mikel Olaciregui, the festival's former subdirector. Winners of last year's edition included Arturo Ripstein's The Ruination Of Men (La Perdicion De Los Hombres), and Reza Parsa's Before The Storm (Fore Stormen).

REVIEWS by Champagne 2000

VIDOCQ

Champagne 2000 reports... After a quite long absence, here I am, back with something quit nice as it is a review of the much awaited VIDOCQ. Why is it so much awaited ? For several reasons : it is the first film directed by Pitof, great French expert in digital SFX (City of Lost Children; Alien Resurrection). Then this film is the first one shot on digital camera (the same that the bearded guy used for the Episode 2, so you can already have a glimpse on what to expect in May). And finally, with an important budget, VIDOCQ is a period film described as a science-fiction movie in the 19th century, a UFO in the cinema world, from which the first images were amazingly beautiful (BTW it is Marc Caro - Delicatessen, City of Lost Children - who was here in charge of the design creation of the characters).

Without spoiling too much the story of the film, let's say just say VIDOCQ follows the investigation of a young man, in 19th century Paris, trying to break the secret of the Alchimist, a mysterious character responsible of Vidocq's death. First thing I can say is that I went through different feelings during the course of the film (not always positive) but despite the huge failings (VIDOCQ is then really disappointing) there're a few very positive points to remember.

Let's start with the complaints. First of all, watching VIDOCQ leaves you quite doubtful concerning the quality of a shooting with such a digital camera. Some scenes are totally ugly and it feels like watching a TV film made with a Betacam. This already scares me for Episode 2. And if using this not-so-convincing format was not enough to destroy some sequences, Pitof shot several very big close-up's with a little DV's camera : then it's becoming like Blair Witch project. The image is just repulsive and you feel like the director used some plans shot by someone who used a camera for the first time for some making-of. An aesthetic choice quite surprising when you know how Pitof likes to swot his shots. Maybe even too much as we often have the feeling that only the actor is real and the rest is digital (fake sky, fake church, fake grass... is that so expensive to shot a real landscape ?). And beyond this image with a poor video quality, this overuse of constant digital FX gives a very cold feeling to the film : you feel more like watching an artistic creation on video than a movie made to entertain. If Jeunet used the digital FX very well in AMELIE, Pitof totally sacrificed his film on the altar of digital achievement (and worst of all, many FX are totally messed up). And let's just try to forget the soundtrack that doesn't sound like anything (especially the opening theme or one of the fights between Vidocq and the Alchimist where you can even hear some "riffs" from a guitar).

Let's stop now on the few positive facts : the movie is built on flash-back's and we all know how this structure can be dangerous. Here it works perfectly well and it gives some dynamic to the investigation. About the acting, let's forget the one from Ines Sastre who will certainly not receive any award this year, but instead let's remember the one of Andre Dussolier, a French actor you probably don't know, who gives an hallucinating performance. But the biggest success of this film is its bad guy, the mysterious Alchimist, a character with a "mirror-face". His way of moving is absolutely amazing and you can't help but wait with impatience his next apparition (even if the worst critics will say that this character is largely built on Spawn and the Death from "The Frighteners").

Meanwhile this movie, failed in its biggest part for the reasons I mentionned here above, changes totally in its last quarter : as soon as Vidocq enters in the haunt of the Alchimist, the film becomes captivating, entertaining, well made and even surprising in a positive way (great setting, good fights,...). You get out of the film with a very mixed feeling, especially because Pitof showed us during 25 minutes what you were hoping to see during 1h40...

LE PETIT POUCET (Tom Thumb)

Champagne 2000 reports again.... As you know, in France things have been moving lately quite a lot in the movie business and this year was especially rich, exciting and brave in its choices : after Brotherhood of the Wolves, Amelie, Vidocq, and before next year much awaited comedies (Asterix 2, Le Boulet) and promising curiosities (Samouraï : a fight movie shot between Paris & Tokyo with a demon using the video game world to take over the planet !!); the last event movie of 2001 will be LE PETIT POUCET, adapted from the famous tale from Charles Perrault, and directed by Olivier Dahan, a young and promising director ("Deja Mort", many video clips,...).

If you want to know more about this film, check www.bacfilms.com/petitpoucet/

But you know what ? I already have a review... With an important budget, Le Petit Poucet is the exact opposite of Vidocq. Wherever Vidocq uses almost only digital FX, Olivier Dahan wanted to shot Le Petit Poucet in studio's, with real settings, in order to pay homage to a certain type of cinema ( Night of the Hunter, Moonfleet) by adopting clear visual choices (the first images we saw on Internet or in magazines had a "Sleepy Hollow" feeling all over). Unfortunately, after a successful prologue, the film stands still and stays that way until the closing credits. The settings might be beautiful, but the action in each sequence seems to be blocked by the limits of the settings (moreover the incrustations of landscapes to extend the settings are not all great looking). And to add on this physical limit, the director never dares to give width in his direction; which gives you a succesion of large plan with close-ups, and you feel like watching a theatre play on TV (this is even more surprising that this director comes from the video clip world and that DEJA MORT showed a real sense of the frame).

If you understand and accept that the script follows well the tale (it would be difficult to accept that Tom Thumb gets eaten by the ogre at the end), it's harder to understand why the film is so conventional in its aesthetic choices. This tale being very popular in France, I saw many versions of it and I can tell you this one does not bring anything more than the others. What is the interest then ? Why does a director decide to spend time and energy, if it's to make what was done before ?

But let's finish on a positive note : the soundtrack from Jope Hisaishi (I am a big fan of his work !). For those of you who don't know about him, let's remind that he's the appointed composer of Kitano (ahhh Hana-Bi, ahhhh the theme of Kikujiro's Summer ) and that he made the music of the last films from Miyazaki (aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh ! ). You get then a first class soundtrack (especially in the scene - the best of the film - with the wolf attack). In this case, I had the rare feeling that the images were not on the same level of quality that the accompanying music.

So after 2 deceptions (VIDOCQ & this one), I know what I should do : go back and watch for a third time AMELIE in order to wait until the release of Le PETIT POUCET's soundtrack !!

Hope Harry will get better soon... talk to you soon with a big surprise

Ch2000

Well that's about it for this week... keep sending us your reviews, questions, and whatever you want to our warm and sunny Euro offices in Paris at euroaicn@yahoo.com