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—<br />
EDINBURGH<br />
Angel Gabriel himself shows up (played<br />
with typical charm by "Mrs. Brown's" Billy<br />
Connolly) he gets to work learning the<br />
angel's trade. Before long he is running<br />
around town in a feathery homemade outfit,<br />
using the school trumpet as a substitute<br />
harp and looking for people to save.<br />
Adapted by "Billy Elliot" screenwriter<br />
Ice Hall (from his own award-winning<br />
radio play "I Luv You Jimmy Spud"),<br />
"Gabriel & Me" does boast a certain offbeat<br />
appeal at times. Newcomer Sean<br />
Landless tackles the main role with considerable<br />
confidence and there are some<br />
amusing fantastical sequences and a couple<br />
of standout comic scenes involving<br />
Jordan Routledge, last seen in "East Is<br />
East." Hard as it may try. however.<br />
"Gabriel & Me" fails to steer clear of<br />
mawkish sentimentality. We never get to<br />
know Jimmy's family sufficiently and the<br />
relationship between the boy and his father<br />
is unconvincing, which renders the film's<br />
ending strangely unaffecting. One is left<br />
wondering how many more sub-TV-standard<br />
British films with the same grim setting<br />
will make their way onto cinema<br />
screens. Chris H iegand<br />
*•*<br />
MUTANT ALIENS<br />
Voiced by Dan McComas, Francine<br />
l.ohis and George Casden. Directed, written<br />
and produced by Bill Plympton. So distributor<br />
set. Animated. Not yet rated. Running<br />
time: 79 min.<br />
There can't be too many films that<br />
boast a credit for "pornographic sound<br />
advisor." Or that contain lines like "The<br />
president's being eaten alive by a nose" and<br />
songs such as "Can't Drag Race With<br />
Jesus." But we've come to expect such<br />
things from Portland-born animator Bill<br />
Plympton. Fans of the prodigious, Oscarnominated<br />
independent will not be disappointed<br />
by his "Mutant Aliens." which is<br />
ever)<br />
bit as schlocky. shocking and silly as<br />
its title suggests.<br />
When his ship loses fuel and ground<br />
control leaves him stranded in space, a distraught<br />
astronaut is left plotting his<br />
revenge. Twenty years after his launch he<br />
returns to Earth, desperate for a trip to the<br />
toilet and determined to get back at the<br />
powers that be. To help him out. he brings<br />
some of his new acquaintances with him<br />
a bunch of loyal mutant aliens.<br />
And that's about it. in terms of the<br />
film's plot. As you may well have already<br />
guessed, this isn't exactly Fellini. From its<br />
opening, which sees a news reporter mercilessly<br />
chewed apart, to its delightfully OTr<br />
conclusion, "Mutant Aliens" bears<br />
Plympton's unique trademarks satirical<br />
stabs at religion, politics and the media, an<br />
OVer-healthy interest in internal anil sexu.il<br />
organs, and scene after scene of startlingly<br />
original animation. One of these sees a<br />
L'l.inl tongue on legs giving a man a (quite<br />
literal) licking, another shows ,1 bored secretary<br />
acting out scenes of gratuitous fornication<br />
with her fingers.<br />
While "Mutant Aliens" scores high in<br />
terms of invention, it sadly struggles to<br />
justify its status as a full-length feature<br />
film. Rather than run out of steam—as is<br />
often the case with expansive animations—the<br />
film only really comes alive<br />
halfway through, with the arrival of the<br />
sympathetically drawn aliens themselves.<br />
Despite this slow start. Plympton's film is a<br />
great deal of fun and worth a look for<br />
those seeking an offbeat adventure.<br />
Wiegahd<br />
—<br />
Chris<br />
FRIENDS HAVE REASONS (LAS<br />
RAZONES DE MIS AMIGOS) * *i/2<br />
Starring Marta Belaustegui, Joel Joan<br />
and Sergi Callcja. Directed by Gerardo<br />
Herrero. Written by Angeles Gonzdlez-<br />
Sinde. Produeed by Gerardo Herrero and<br />
Javier Lopez Blanco. So distributor set.<br />
Drama. Spanish-language; subtitled. Sot<br />
yet rated. Running time: 104 min.<br />
A film about friendship and finance,<br />
"Friends Have Reasons" is a rare treat.<br />
Startling in its simplicity, ultimately devastating<br />
in its honesty, it is an intelligent and<br />
astute portrait of a group of three characters<br />
who are gradually torn apart from<br />
each other when two of them offer financial<br />
assistance to the third, whose computer<br />
business is faltering.<br />
Friends for almost two decades,<br />
Santiago (Joel Joan), Marta (Marta<br />
Belaustegui) and Carlos (Sergi Calleja) still<br />
manage to stay in touch, meeting once a<br />
month to remember their days at university<br />
together and to catch up on current<br />
news. The crux of the film is swiftly set up<br />
in the first scene, when—at one of these<br />
meals—Carlos asks the others for a hefty<br />
short-term loan to aid his struggling company.<br />
Marta immediately agrees and<br />
Santiago acquiesces a little nervously.<br />
Carlos promises to repay the money soon<br />
but his problems at work increase.<br />
Meanwhile. Marta and Santiago find that<br />
the loan has put them both in an awkward<br />
position. Marta's husband is pressing to<br />
buy a new house and start a family, while<br />
Santiago crashes his car and needs to<br />
replace it. This series of incidents places all<br />
three in an impossible position.<br />
Based on an original novel by Belen<br />
Gopegui. adapted by Angeles Gonzalez-<br />
Sinde I "Second Skin"), accomplished producer<br />
Gerardo llerrcro's film has a measured<br />
pace, moving month by month<br />
through the characters' lives, assisted by<br />
Lucio Godoy's soft, understated score<br />
Herrero does well to not onlj present three<br />
thoroughly believable central characters<br />
but also a crop of equally well-drawn supports<br />
in the shape of their partners \ son<br />
of Spanish " I hirtvsomelhing." "Friends<br />
Have Reasons" convincingly displays the<br />
key, I veryman issues at stake including<br />
love lives, employment and the othei<br />
marks bj winch we measure success. ,is<br />
well as presenting the ultimate, iinconilott<br />
able cost of friendship.—Chris Wiegand<br />
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