Translated material
One maniac, two maniac
Watch from July 20 on Moscow screens
“2001 Maniacs” (USA, 2005, Tim Sullivan). A remake of the 1964 super-cult horror film “2000 Maniacs,” directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, a man of high culture, as well as the creator and king of the bloody gore subgenre. The plot has remained virtually unchanged - a group of young idiots, while moving from point A to point B, find themselves in a charming-looking southern town, where a traditional festival with dancing, games and food is taking place. But very soon the holiday with a slight movement of the hand of the local mayor (Robert Englund - “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Python”, “Urban Legends”) turns into a massacre - local residents, descendants of Confederate northerners slaughtered by the army, love to gut the hapless Yankees in every possible way . A specific spectacle intended primarily for connoisseurs and fans of the genre, the producer of which was just such a person - Tarantino’s comrade Eli Roth (Fever, Hostel, the upcoming Mobile based on Stephen King). Also starring Liying Shay, Giuseppe Andrews, Jay Gillespie, Scott Spigel and Peter Stormare.“The Understudy” (France, 2006, Francis Weber). To avoid a divorce, which from an economic point of view is equal to ruin for him, multimillionaire Levasseur (Daniel Auteuil - “Chameleon”, “Quai Orfevre, 36”, “Hidden”) persuades the receptionist Pignon (Gad Elmaleh - “ It’s true that I’m lying”, “Khushu”, “Car Keys”) to pretend to be the boyfriend of a millionaire mistress - a famous supermodel... Despite the overly hackneyed and “no” title, this is a very funny film in the best traditions of old-fashioned French comedy: it seems that this is not a new film by the classic Weber, but his own work from a quarter of a century ago, which only by pure chance did not make it onto Soviet movie screens at that time. And in this case, this is a completely justified and sincere compliment. Also starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Ellis Taglioni and Virginia Ledoyen.
"Ghost of the Red River" (USA, 2006, Courtney Solomon). A mystical thriller based on the famous American legend of a ghost who terrorized a family in the vicinity of Red River, Tennessee, in the 20s of the last century. Perhaps, at that time, stories about strange knocking, flying dishes and possessed voices could make gullible provincials tremble, but in a modern movie the same thing looks quite comical - no matter how the actors tried to prove to the audience and themselves with all their mimic escapades, that they are so terrified!!! The result is a rather ridiculous and boring retro horror film, interesting only to researchers of North American folklore. Starring Donald Sutherland, CeCe Spacek, Rachel Hade-Wood, Matthew Marsh and Sam Alexander.
“The fastest Indian” (USA - New Zealand, 2006, Roger Donaldson). A film based on the real life of the New Zealand eccentric-nugget Burt Munro (Anthony Hopkins), who spent almost his entire life improving and tuning the antediluvian Indian motorcycle he personally assembled and traveled on it all over the planet, and in 1967 installed on his brainchild a world speed record in open spaces during the famous races in the Bonneville Flats salt desert. The picture by the Australian Donaldson (“Dante’s Peak”, “13 Days”, “The Recruit”) would have made socialist realists bite their elbows with envy in the days of Stalin’s small pictures, who inspiredly described the struggle between the good and the best: in Munro’s story there is both good and best, but it is completely absent struggle. Just a good, slightly strange man riding his equally strange motorcycle around the world. And it goes very fast. Nevertheless, despite the absence of the usual dramatic conflicts, the picture looks surprisingly nice and cool. Also starring Bruce Greenwood, Diana Ladd, Paul Rodriguez and Eric Pierpoint.