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REVIEWS


Wasteland Reviewed by Allan Hunter


A heist thriller with a distinctly British sensibility, Waste- land marks an assured and engaging first feature from writer/director Rowan Athale. Appealing characters, clever plotting and smart dialogue make for a winning combina- tion that should have commercial heft for a UK theatrical release and beyond. Wasteland begins, like Magnus Martens’ Jackpot, with a bloodied and battered figure facing interrogation from a sceptical police officer. The similarities mostly end there as Athale eschews the wilder excesses of Nordic noir and equally shows little desire to compete with the slick polish of Hollywood studio fare. Wasteland is set against the backdrop of a Britain that has


Twice Born Reviewed by Tim Grierson


The overwrought romance Twice Born might appeal to audi- ences who prefer their love stories soapy, but even they may have to acknowledge the film’s leads, Penelope Cruz and Emile Hirsch, are oddly lacking in the fiery chemistry that is necessary to sell this unabashedly ludicrous melodrama. Chronicling a couple torn apart by war and betrayal, director Sergio Castellitto’s adaptation of Margaret Mazzantini’s novel leaves no cliché unturned, yearning for big emotions that are consistently flattened by the lumbering storytelling. Twice Born will benefit from Cruz’s marquee value, and


the film’s sweeping, tragic romance could spark interest in discriminating date-night crowds. But the question remains whether a love story set during the siege of Sarajevo will prove too bleak for most viewers, who may decide to spend their entertainment dollars elsewhere. In the present day, middle-aged Gemma (Cruz) and her


teenage son Pietro (Castellitto) travel from Italy to Sarajevo to visit her long-time friend Gojko (Haskovic). But the reun- ion proves bittersweet for Gemma, who flashes back to her relationship with a US photographer, Diego (Hirsch), whom she met in Sarajevo in 1984 and married soon after. As the flashbacks flesh out their time together, Gemma comes to terms with how their love affair ended. From its earliest moments, Twice Born shows its hand as


an old-fashioned romantic tearjerker in which litanies of buried secrets will come tumbling out at a steady clip. Sub- tlety is not exactly a valued commodity in this genre, but what is important is a sense the film’s central lovers are con- sumed by their passion for one another. Unfortunately, though Cruz and Hirsch have strong indi-


vidual moments in Twice Born, their onscreen courtship never fully convinces. When they first meet, Gemma jokes about their age difference, and one cannot help but feel Diego’s boyish impetuousness seems lightweight stacked up against Gemma’s sophistication. As a result, it is difficult to see precisely why she falls for him. The two actors have a decent rapport without ever feeling like lovers, even though they share a few sex scenes. The use of the wars in the former Yugoslavia feel more like


a device to add a sufficiently dramatic backdrop to the love story than an organic complication in the couple’s relation- ship. Nonetheless, their problems conceiving and the blood- shed in Sarajevo prove essential to a series of twists, misunderstandings and reconciliations that conclude the film, none of which is particularly moving since Twice Born has not earned the tragedy it tries to mine.


September 11, 2012 Screen International at Toronto 11 n GALA


It-Sp. 2012. 129mins Director Sergio Castellitto Production companies Picomedia, Alien Produzioni, Medusa Film, Telecinco, Mod Producciones International sales Wild Bunch, www.wildbunch.biz Producers Sergio Castellitto, Roberto Sessa Screenplay Margaret Mazzantini and Sergio Castellitto, based on the novel by Mazzantini Cinematography Gianfilippo Corticelli Editor Patrizio Marone Production designer Francesco Frigeri Music Eduardo Cruz Main cast Penelope Cruz, Emile Hirsch, Adnan Haskovic, Saadet Aksoy, Pietro Castellitto, Luca De Filippo, Jane Birkin, Sergio Castellitto, Mira Furlan, Jovan Diviak


nothing to offer a younger generation beyond minimum- wage jobs and unrealistic hopes. The skies are as grey as the lives in empty streets with broken windows. This is noir with a social conscience. Released after a short prison sentence, Harvey (Treadaway) is only too aware he has been con- signed to the bottom of the heap. He wants a second chance with girlfriend Nathalie (Kirby), he wants revenge on the local crime boss Roper (Maskell) who framed him and he wants to enlist the help of his mates for a robbery that might allow him to achieve all those goals. Dempsey (Rheon), Charlie (Kearns) and Dodd (Lewis)


display various degrees of reluctance to participate but even- tually they sign on for an attempt to rob a safe at a working men’s club that contains the ill-gotten gains of Roper. Har- vey relates what happens next as he makes his statement to detective inspector West (Spall). There may be nods to The Usual Suspects and the Ocean’s


franchise along the way but Wasteland is very much its own film. The pleasures lie as much in the banter and blokey chemistry of the four leads as in the mechanics of the twisted revenge plot. There is something of the young Michael Caine in Luke Treadaway as he assembles his team and plans his move in a manner that would not have seemed out of place in The Italian Job. He is ably supported by a strong ensemble cast with Iwan Rheon a standout as Harvey’s wise, loyal and eternally positive best friend and Vanessa Kirby lending some depth to the role of girlfriend Nathalie, who combines wariness and warmth in her dealings with Harvey. Rowan Athale clearly knows how to bring out the best in


his actors and Wasteland is also nicely paced, snappily edited by Kim Gaster and lays down a marker for what should be a promising future career.


DISCOVERY


UK. 2012. 106mins Director/screenplay Rowan Athale Production company Moli-Mischief Ltd International sales Bankside Films, www.bankside-films.com Producers Gareth Pritchard, Ed Barratt, Mark Foligno Executive producers Compton Ross, Phil Hunt, Norman Merry, Peter Hampden, Brad Moore, Iain Richardson Cinematography Stuart Bentley Editor Kim Gaster Production designer Chris Richmond Music Neil Athale Main cast Luke Treadaway, Iwan Rheon, Gerard Kearns, Matthew Lewis, Timothy Spall, Vanessa Kirby, Neil Maskell


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