Reviews
| 21 June 2011
The hot button topic of our warming planet is tackled in a unique way in Burning Ice, as 45 artists and scientists join forces in an expedition to Greenland. | 21 June 2011
It’s that familiar apocalyptic theme again. An NYC setting? Check. Buildings blow, crash, and burn? Check. An agonising tale of survival? Check. | 20 June 2011
When three students set off to film their investigation of some curious bear killings, they get a lot more than they bargained for. In a very Blair Witch-esque mock doc, Kalle, Thomas and Johana are curious about the oddness of Hans, suspected bear killer, and eventually follow him into the Norweigan woods late night to discover his occupation as a troll hunter.
Yes, that’s right.
| 20 June 2011
Imagine what happens when Lost, with its freakish jumps in time, meets Sleeping with the Enemy, carnival scenes included. The result is nothing short of nonsense.
| 19 June 2011
Showing great skill, writer and director Agnieszka Lukasiak takes only seconds to portray the poverty, seediness and desperation of Belarus and within that landscape, the depressing and abusive life of Marta and her daughter Ania. Unbelievably, things rapidly take a turn for the worse when Ania is abused then threatened with child prostitution, and Marta has to urgently take matters into her own hands to escape, making a return to Belarus impossible under threat of a mafia death.
| 19 June 2011
A documentary about shepherds? I must confess I had low expectations but was pleasantly surprised by the sweet, inspirational and sometimes funny depiction of this tough life.
| 19 June 2011
Pandemic outbreak is certainly not a new subject for film and it would be difficult for a director to bring something new to this theme. To be honest, Phase 7 doesn't bring anything unique in terms of plot ideas, but nonetheless is a superbly acted and gripping film.
| 19 June 2011
Written and directed by Nasrin and Yasemin Samdereli, two Turkish-German sisters, Almanya - Welcome to Germany revolves around the crisis of identity experienced by all generations of the (Turkish born but residing in Germany) Yilmaz family, ranging from the young Cenk, who does not fit in with either the Turkish or German groups at school right up to the patriarch Huseyin, who fears accepting German residency because he think he’ll be required to eat pork twice a week.
| 19 June 2011
If the powers-that-be decided to split the population into two shifts – those who are awake during the day and those who are awake at night – would you rebel? Or, like the residents of By Day and By Night’s ‘Great Metropolis’ would you accept your fate and carry on, never seeing the other half of the population as the enzyme the government had given you sent you into a twelve-hour coma?
| 19 June 2011
A long scar running down the back of a shaved head is our first introduction to Sherman Oliver (Garret Dillahunt), one of the most troubling individuals you’re likely to come across for a while.
| 19 June 2011
Just as actors love playing actors, and Stephen King can’t resist writing about writers, documentary director Steven Silver has taken image-makers as the subject of his first feature film.
The Bang Bang Club is the true story of the titular four photojournalists, who lived and worked in South Africa during the Apartheid years and through the conclusion of Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom. The real-life unofficial club, who were famous for endangering themselves to get to the heart of the hidden conflicts within the townships, witnessed incredible violence, hardship and horror in their pursuit of capturing the perfect shot.
| 21 June 2010
The Kid, based on the best-selling autobiography by Kevin Lewis, is his own horrific account of growing up in a council estate in 1970s London. As a child, Kevin is locked away, friendless save for his drawings on the walls, and beaten by his haggard, chain-smoking mother (Natasha McElhone) while his alcoholic father consistently escapes to the pub. After temporary relief at a foster home, a cursory and gullible social worker mistakenly sends Kevin back home where, as a teenager, he is finally beaten unconscious and sent to a home that saves and forever affects him.
| 21 June 2010
It's such a pity when a lovable and respected cast such as this one chooses to take part in a film that was probably as good and definitely funnier when it was done the first time and called Knocked Up. Who knows who thunk it first, but it's also a shame that whispers of 40-Year Old Virgin sneak in there too, and cause one to leave the cinema feeling that perhaps this film should have been titled Barry Mundane.
| 21 June 2010
Like Thelma and Louise, Thelma, Louise et Chantel is a feminine adventure but with a middle-aged twist a la Mamma Mia!, all wrapped up in hilarious and raunchy French dialogue with a soundtrack that really kills. Three very different old friends come together for a road trip to the south of France, to attend the wedding of Gabrielle's ex, the father of her children. As any escapade will do, this one has its detours, and it unfolds that the other two companions have their own interests in this husband-to-be, along with each of their own insecurities, sadnesses and an urgent need for liberation.
| 21 June 2010
The Kashmere Stage Band formed in a predominantly black high school in Kashmere, Texas in 1969, under the direction of Conrad O. Johnson, known to the kids as 'Prof'. Just as African-Americans had emerged out of the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s, they saw the 70s as their time to shine, to pay homage to the generation that made opportunities possible - like the opportunity to be in a first class band so extraordinary that, although composed of teens, won best stage band in America two years in a row. This is their story, told 35 years later for the purpose of reforming as a tribute to the frail, 92-year-old Prof.
| 21 June 2010
The title Frontier Blues refers to the lonely landscape and the vast isolation of the Steppes, which serves as the barren backdrop for the different lives of four Iranian men. Each story is ordinary, but void of the human connection that they all so obviously need.
Hassan connects with the audience first while showing us his box of license plates, which he collects when he's not combing or cleaning or simply walking about with his other obsession, his pet donkey. Hassan wanders uselessly while claiming to be very busy, and carries a cassette player that plays Francois Hardy's Tous les Garcons et Les Filles, which is indeed so lovely that locals give him free rides in the back of a truck in exchange for hearing the beautiful ballad.
| 21 June 2010
One of the saddest truths of life is that it will go on without us when we die, no matter how hard that fact is for us to believe. This is the central message of the EIFF’s closing film this year, the story of a young man with terminal cancer who is determined to take one last camping trip with his three best friends.
| 21 June 2010
We join Putty Hill just after the accidental death by overdose of Cory, a 24-year-old Baltimore native with a sprawling, white trash family who are all about to come together for his funeral.
Using a cinema verite style, we gradually build up a picture of a well-liked boy claimed by the pervasive drug culture of his home city, for whom a term in prison became a self-imposed death sentence.
| 21 June 2010
Four of the most achingly cool hipster girls you’re ever likely to see take a holiday at the beach – a recipe for crazy hijinks with redneck locals and adventures in recreational drug-taking, one might think. In fact, Vacation! is all this and much more, because one of our heroines is about to end up dead.
| 21 June 2010
In most other films, scrupulous loner George (Michael Piccarilli) would have
turned out to be a serial killer. Thankfully for his love interest, Sophie (Gaynor Howe),
Obselidia isn’t a horror movie. Instead it’s a thoughtful and beautifully-shot
treatise on our increasingly ephemeral society, set amidst the vacuity of Los
Angeles and the wastelands of Death Valley.
