Mia Madre (15)
four stars
Dir: Nanni Moretti
With: Margherita Buy, John Turturro
Runtime: 107 minutes
WITH her mother dying in hospital and a movie to make, Margherita does not have her troubles to seek, and that’s before American star Barry Huggins (John Turturro) and his enlarged ego arrive in Rome. Nanni Moretti’s drama, in which he also stars, is a moving portrait of a woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown who refuses to give up just yet. Margherita Buy is terrific in the lead, possessing a face one never tires of watching in close up, and Turturro delivers a wickedly funny portrait of an actor who cannot get enough of himself.
Glasgow Film Theatre, from tomorrow
Palio (12A)
four stars
Dir: Cosima Spender
Runtime: 91 minutes
FROM Rome to Siena and a documentary about the Palio horse race, a contest begun in medieval times that draws crowds in their thousands today. Homing in on a young contender’s fight to take the champion’s crown, Cosima Spender’s film is a gripping, sensual riot of colour and passions.
Glasgow Film Theatre and Filmhouse, Edinburgh, from tomorrow
Captive (12A)
two stars
Dir: Jerry Jameson
With: Kate Mara, Michael K Williams
Runtime: 97 minutes
JERRY Jameson’s Atlanta-set drama, based on a true story, begins with an almighty plug for a Christian self-help book and grows ever more obvious from there as we follow the story of desperate Ashley (Kate Mara), a former addict trying to stay clean, as her life collides with that of a killer on the run (played by David Oyelow). An odd, and not in a good way, preachy piece.
Lessons in Love (15)
two stars
Dir: Tom Vaughn
With: Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek
Runtime: 95 minutes
PIERCE Brosnan plays Richard, a lecturer on the romantic poets who likes to take his work home with him. Enter sisters Kate and Olivia (Jessica Alba and Salma Hayek), plus good old fate, to teach him some lessons about lurve and fidelity. Contrived and ridiculous, and that is before Malcolm McDowell, 72, turns up as 62-year-old Brosnan’s father, but the ever charming former 007 offers some compensation as the silliness mounts.
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