ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies WHEN THE GAME of quadriplegic rugby was first devised it was called Murderball. It’s all too easy to see why. The specially adapted wheelchairs look like something out of ‘Mad Max’. The players hurl themselves across a court, smashing into their opponent and doing everything they can to inflict maximum […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies THE GUILTY LEGACY of the War years continues to provide a rich source of inspiration for contemporary German cinema. The award-winning ‘Downfall’ offered a powerful glimpse into the final days of Adolf Hitler. Now, the more modest ‘Sophie Scholl’ tells the true story of an idealistic young student who represented […]

Stables Gallery, Cromarty, until 22 October 2005

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies AMERICAN DIRECTOR Jim Jarmusch made his reputation in the 1980s as the creator of quirky, deadpan delights like ‘Down By Law’ and ‘Mystery Train’. His career has taken some strange turns of late, but now he’s right back on form with ‘Broken Flowers’, a wonderfully lugubrious, sharply observed comedy with […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies IF YOU ARE a fan of 1970s American films like ‘M*A*S*H’ or ‘Catch-22’, then you should enjoy ‘Guy X’. The second feature from Scottish director Saul Metzstein is a handsome black comedy exploring the madness of the military from the farce of its petty bureaucracy to the horror of its […]

North Edinburgh Arts Centre, on tour 2005

An Lanntair, Stornoway, 30 September 2005

Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, on tour 2005

Maritime Museum, Aberdeen, until 15 October 2005

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 […]