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On a Clear Day may not be the best film in the world, but by God, it's hard not to like it. The story centres around Frank, a 55-year-old shipbuilder who has recently been made redundant. Lacking focus, his life begins to disintegrate as he finds it increasingly difficult to deal with people. His interpersonal relationships begin to crumble, until an offhand comment from a friend provides him with a new sense of purpose: swimming the English Channel. Frank's back-story is played out with subtlety. We discover that one of his sons drowned at a young age, and the other has long since become estranged. More history is revealed through Frank's interactions with his wife, and with his close group of friends. Set (and filmed) largely in Glasgow, On a Clear Day effortlessly captures the spirit of the city. It's nicely shot, and the characterisation is nothing short of excellent. This sort of one-man-against-the-odds tale runs the risk of being twee, or trite, or just plain dull,...

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Lars von Trier has a knack for writing beautiful, intelligent films, serving up plenty of style while always keeping the focus on substance. Dear Wendy is no exception. The film paints a fairly bleak picture of life in a small, crap mining town somewhere in the American Midwest. Dick (Jamie Bell) is a hopeless loser, drifting through life until a chance encounter leads him to develop an affinity for handguns. A small group of like-minded teenaged loners from the town are quickly sucked into his world, and they take to an abandoned mine building, there to practice their love of shooting. The group name themselves “The Dandies”. Pledging never to reveal their guns in public, but to carry them for moral support, they describe themselves as armed pacifists, all the while honing their skills, naming and talking to their guns, dressing in ridiculous clothes and striking equally ridiculous poses. Of course, their idyllic (if somewhat mental) lifestyle can’t go on forever, and when...

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Million Dollar Baby is Clint Eastwood's follow up to the fantastic Mystic River, only this time the man himself is in front of the camera as well as in the director's chair. He plays a retired "cut-man" who has taken up the task of training a thirty one year old female - much to his initial reluctance. He is supported by Morgan Freeman as a retired fighter known as Scrap, who delivers a narrative throughout. The film itself seemed very much to me to be in two distinct parts. The first half shows Eastwood building a relationship with his unlikely protegé Maggie, played by Hilary Swank, whom I expect to get some serious recognition for her performance. She was utterly convincing. At this point it was humourous, it was entertaining, and quite exciting. We saw the pair grow closer, and we saw the characters develop as the film periodically delved into their background. I knew before watching it that there was a twist of some sort - an event that threw the pace of the movie...

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This new film starring Jet Li takes place in our very own sunny Glasgow (the opening scenes take place in the Barrowlands, and everyone from said city will spot the Argyle Arcade, Bath St, Botanic Gardens and numerous other landmarks easily). The story follows 'Danny' (Jet Li) who has been raised and trained as a fighting dog by his 'Uncle Bart' (played by a rather manic Bob Hoskins), who, when he isn't paid money owed to him unleashes Danny by removing the dog-collar from around his neck, turning him into a rabid animal killing machine. During the course of the film Danny is befriended by a blind piano fixer (played by Morgan Freeman) and his daughter (Kerry Condon). Here he learns to appreciate music and the benefits of friendship and family. Thinking his uncle killed in a gangland-style killing he begins to be 'tamed' and come out of his shell, until his uncle returns to take him back to what he used to be. Li is astounding in this film, barely speaking a word until...

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This film really isn’t going to be to everyone’s taste, so let’s get a few things out of the way right up front. It’s in Korean. The main character doesn’t speak a single line throughout. While not as brutal as most of Kim Ki-duk’s work, there are a few scenes that’ll have you wincing in your seat and occasionally curling up into a wee ball. Still interested? Good, because you’re in for a treat. 3 Iron is a beautiful film. Every shot is just perfectly arranged; the cinematography really is breathtaking. The film follows the story of a young man who spends his time breaking into houses. He eats peoples’ food, wears their clothes, sleeps in their beds, then before he leaves he tidies the place up, does the laundry, and carries out minor repairs. The way it’s done is utterly believable, and seems pretty reasonable, too. The character may not speak, but it’s impossible not to like him. While an interesting premise in its own right, and a great way to examine the lives of a lot...

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It’s hardly as if I have the time or the influence to go tracking down Jamie Bell. This is a syndicated effort; my questions would have been far less relevant. Here he chats about his latest role (in Dear Wendy), Lars von Trier, and the forthcoming Peter Jackson remake of King Kong. ****** Jamie Bell will remember 2005, for it is the year he escaped from the shadow of playing the dance-crazed miner’s son in Billy Elliot. Now 19, the Billingham-born lad is about to show the world that there’s more to him than ballet steps. Already seen as the elder brother in David Gordon Green’s Undertow, Bell makes a huge impression in the lead in Thomas Vinterberg’s Dear Wendy. Working from a script written by Lars von Trier, Bell plays Dick, a young loner living in an American mining town who happens upon a handgun. Strangely drawn to the piece, despite his pacifist views, he soon forms a club with other outcasts called The Dandies. The result is yet another provocative examination of...

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http://www.alternativenation.net/gallery/files/1/somersault.jpgSomersault is the story of Heidi, (Abbie Cornish) a young Australian girl who makes the mistake of kissing her mother’s boyfriend. Cue instant melodrama, which leads to Heidi running off to an out of season ski-resort to continue to explore her fucked up sexuality. Jumping from guy to guy, using sex as a way to feel some kind of affection from anyone, Heidi befriends Joe (Sam Worthington)— an emotionally stunted local, and Irene (Lynette Curran)—an oddly kind woman who rents her a flat. Somewhere between ignoring her phone calls and getting stoned, Joe finds the time to question his own sexuality while Heidi slowly spirals into destruction, drinking and fucking her way into other people’s lives. Irene, on the other hand, replaces her mother as a distant source of comfort. The main appeal of the film to me was the absolutely stunning cinematography. Set in Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains, Australia, the scenes...

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http://www.alternativenation.net/gallery/files/4/7/9/descent3.jpgTitled The Cave in the States, this is a fairly low budget Brit horror from the creator of Dog Soldiers. Everything about the movie screams traditional, from the fairly shonky effects shots right down to the John Carpenter-style font used in the promotional campaign, and after Rob Zombie gave old-school horror a fresh lick of clown paint with 1000 Corpses there were pretty high hopes for this new take on terror. The good news is that in most regards it really doesn't disappoint. The tale of a group of young women going pot-holing in some mighty deep but claustrophobic caves, the setting lends itself brilliantly to horror, all shadow and tight enclosed spaces. I probably don't need to use a spoiler warning to let on that it all goes tits up, but even before any real threat appears the screen is dripping with menace. It actually holds off for an admirable length of time before all hell breaks loose, with the...

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http://www.alternativenation.net/gallery/files/1/dig.jpg DiG! is a dizzying documentary which follows the rise of one band (The Dandy Warhols), juxtaposed with the fall of another (The Brian Jonestown Massacre). Taking place over the course of seven years, the movie begins with the bands as good friends with mutual admiration, and goes on to show the crumbling of those friendships as the problems wrought by egos and bitterness escalate. The movie mainly focuses on Jonestown, and in particular frontman Anton, a man so full of ego and self-importance that it comes across as a messianic complex. From physically attacking bandmates onstage (for making mistakes, apparently), to raging against the Warhols (for no real reason other than his own jealousy), it's hilarious and occasionally disturbing to watch the man in action. The Jonestown Massacre are a train wreck of a band, a team of junkies, weirdos and nutjobs who can't seem to complete a single show without some form of...

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http://www.alternativenation.net/gallery/files/1/brownbunny.gifVincent Gallo is a legend, it has to be said. Not only is he an award winning filmmaker, he was a celebrated pioneer and highly successful artist in the New York art scene in the ‘80s, along with Jean-Michel Basquiat. He was also part of the avant-garde art-rock movement with his band, Grey, and one of the first "white homeboys" at the dawn of hip hop, under the name "Prince Vince". Not only that but he also raced motorcycles professionally and modelled for Calvin Klein. He is also a vocal and supportive republican and he also took part in the early punk scene and is at the moment signed to Warp records (home of aphex twin), where he released his critically acclaimed debut album When. This isn't even taking in his career as an actor, which has seen him perform in such films as Abel Ferrera's The Funeral and the celebrated Palookaville. Then he made, according to Roger Ebert, "the worst film in...