ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies YOU MAY WONDER if the world really needs another version of the Dickens novel ‘Oliver Twist’.  David Lean directed a masterful adaptation in 1948 with Alec Guinness as Fagin, and the musical in 1968 waltzed off with the Oscar as the year’s Best Film. Roman Polanski is the man who […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. MONSOON WEDDING director Mira Nair brings an unexpected flavour of India to her sprawling adaptation of the William Makepeace Thackeray classic. Sporting an impeccable English accent, Reese Witherspoon uses her doe-eyed charms to keen advantage as Becky Sharp, the scheming social climber who navigates the hidden dangers of the English […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies DAVID CRONENBERG is one of the grand masters of world cinema. His personal signature is visible on every film he makes whether its the controversial ‘Crash’ (1996) or his astonishing version of fantasy classic ‘The Fly’ (1986). His films are all about human frailty and the horrors the lurk within […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies GEORGE A ROMERO is a legendary name among horror fans. Forty years ago he made ‘Night of The Living Dead’, a film that matched full-blooded terror with thought-provoking social commentary. He virtually invented the zombie chiller and encouraged other horror directors to set their sights a little higher. After a […]

ALISTAIR PEEBLES reports on the making of a short film by visual artist Colin Kirkpatrick on Orkney

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies THE HEART is a lonely hunter in ‘Me And You And Everyone We Know’. The first feature film from multimedia artist Miranda July is a wistful, self-conscious tale of longing and heartache set in suburban Los Angeles. A typical American independent feature, it has echoes of the films of David […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies IT IS DIFFICULT to understand why there haven’t been more films inspired by the novels of Jane Austen. She has such a shrewd understanding of human nature that her work is a gift to any filmmaker. This vivid, spirited new version of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is the first cinema adaptation […]

Resolis Hall, 10 September 2005

Village Hall, Rogart, 8 September 2005

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies SCOTS FILMMAKER David Mackenzie is fascinated by people who are trapped by their emotional vulnerability or psychological fragility. In ‘Young Adam’, Ewan McGregor was a victim of his disillusion with the world. In his latest film, ‘Asylum’, Natasha Richardson is crushed by the social conventions and rigid class system of […]