Edinburgh
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EIFF 2013: ‘The Last Time I Saw Macao’
★★★☆☆ The critical success last year of Miguel Gomes’ Tabu (2012) and fresh appreciation for the works of Pedro Costa and Raoul Ruiz has seen Portuguese cinema quietly re-introducing itself on the festival circuit. Continuing this trend, João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata’s The Last Time I Saw Macao (2012) opens with…
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EIFF 2013: ‘Mister John’ review
★★★★☆ An exotic thriller ensnared within a Lynchian nightmare of confused identities, Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy’s follow-up to Helen (2008), Mister John (2013), is a physically and emotionally draining tale of grief, rejection and the yearning to reinvent oneself. When Gerry Devine (Aidan Gillen) hears of the tragic news of his brother’s death, he…
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EIFF 2013: ‘What Maisie Knew’ review
★★☆☆☆ Screening in Europe for the first time at this year’s Edinburgh Film Festival, Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s What Maisie Knew (2012) is a twee tale of divorce told through the eyes of a seven-year-old child. Maisie (Onata Aprile) is the precocious yet lovable daughter of faded rocker Susanna (Julianne Moore) and English-born art…
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EIFF 2013: ‘Consequence’ review
★★★☆☆ Chronicling the daily rigmarole within a German crematorium, Thomas Heise’s Consequence (Gegenwart, 2012) is a muted observation of a process many of us know very little about. Considerate, yet in no way eulogising of the dead, Heise’s clinical documentary often manages to evoke a rather confusing sense of joie de vivre. The monotony of…
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EIFF 2013: ‘Leviathan’ review
★★★★★ An often overwhelming oceanic opus, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel’s Leviathan (2012) is a sublimely sensory experience like no other. One of the most unique, demanding and hypnotic films to feature at this year’s Edinburgh Film Festival, this exceptional maritime mood-piece (documentary is too small a box by far) serves as an eye-opening, viscerally…
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EIFF 2013: ‘Sofia’s Last Ambulance’ review
★★★☆☆ The Bulgarian capital of Sofia has an estimated population of just over two million – yet has only thirteen operational ambulances. At a time when the value of our own healthcare system is being constantly debated, and NHS watchdogs such as the Quality Care Commission are finding themselves under constant press and government scrutiny,…
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EIFF 2013: ‘Hawking’ review
★★★★☆ Stephen Hawking’s first wife, Jane, once explained that as the years passed and her husband made new discoveries, their relationship evolved two faces. The public image was that of Stephen travelling around from lecture to lecture, picking up science awards and honours all over the place. But internally, their home life was being damaged.…
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EIFF 2013: ‘The Conjuring’ review
★★★★☆ From director James Wan (Saw, Insidious) comes The Conjuring (2013), a 1970s-inflected haunted house movie that throws every trick in the book at it audience – with surprisingly successful results. Wan’s latest is chock-full of kitsch class and effective scares that, whilst never attempting to reinvent the wheel, offers up one of those rare…
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EIFF 2013: ‘Before You Know It’ review
★★★☆☆ After focusing predominantly on short film projects, director PJ Raval returns with only his second feature, Before You Know It (2013), a thoughtful documentary on growing old in the gay community. The film hooks between three elderly men in the US – Dennis from Florida, Ty from New York and Robert from Texas –…
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EIFF 2013: ‘Sanctuary’ (‘Faro’) review
★★★☆☆ Examining the powerful bond shared between a father and daughter, Fredrik Edfeldt’s Sanctuary (Faro, 2013) is a nostalgic, innocent and handsomely presented drama that sadly, in its attempts to transcend its simple tale, dilutes the powerful emotional undercurrent that initially whisks you away. We open upon the rural Swedish home of Pappan (Jakob Cedergren)…