All articles by Allan Hunter – Page 67
-
Reviews
Angela
Dir: Roberta Torre. Italy. 2002. 95mins. Dispensing with the musical numbers that peppered her first two films, but remaining true to her fascination with the character and people of Palermo, Roberta Torre still adds little new to the well-worn themes of Angela. Based on true events from the mid-1980s, the ...
-
News
Edinburgh's new director reveals first festival titles
Gary Winick's Sundance prize-winner Tadpole, Roger Michell's Summer box-office hit Changing Lanes with Ben Affleck and Samuel L Jackson and Mike Leigh's much admired Cannes contender All Or Nothing are among the first titles confirmed for this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival. Leigh is expected to attend what will ...
-
-
Reviews
Once Upon A Time In The Midlands
Dir: Shane Meadows. UK. 2002. 104 mins. Director's FortnightExtensive critical acclaim has failed to generate great audience enthusiasm for the previous films of British hyphenate Shane Meadows. A broad, bittersweet comedy, his third feature Once Upon A Time In The Midlands should tip the balance in the opposite direction. A ...
-
Reviews
Sex Is Comedy
Dir: Catherine Breillat. France. 2002. 92 mins. A welcome reprieve from the joyless intensity of such recent succes de scandale as Romance and A Ma Soeur, Sex Is Comedy allows Catherine Breillat to reveal the kind of light touch and easy humour that some critics may have thought was beyond ...
-
Reviews
The Pianist
Director: Roman Polanski. 2002. 148 mins. In Competition Working from material close to his own childhood experiences in war ravaged Poland, Roman Polanski has created his most satisfying film in twenty years. Old-fashioned, stately and a little uneven, The Pianist recovers from a disappointing start to mature into a restrained ...
-
News
Cannes 2002: tough choices for Palme readers
Constantly improving after far from auspicious beginnings, Cannes 2002 should finally settle in the memory as a robust and rewarding vintage. Filled with uncompromising auteurist statements, exciting discoveries and tender explorations of the human condition, it was a Festival to restore anyone's faith in the health and vigour of world ...
-
Reviews
Sweet Sixteen
Director: Ken Loach. UK. 2002. 106mins. Screened in Competition.Continuing the rich collaboration between director Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty, Sweet Sixteen puts a very human face on the plight of the socially disadvantaged in modern Britain. The heartrending tragedy of a Scottish teenager struggling for his small share of ...
-
Reviews
Morvern Callar
Dir: Lynne Ramsay. UK. 2002. 97mins. Screened in Director's FortnightA mesmerising journey through the hidden depths of a woman's soul, Morvern Callar confirms writer-director Lynne Ramsay as one of the most audacious and uncompromising British filmmakers of her generation. Poetic, stunningly beautifully and untainted by crass commercial concerns, it is ...
-
Reviews
REVIEW: Sex Is Comedy
Dir: Catherine Breillat. France. 2002. 92 mins.Director's FortnightA welcome reprieve from the joyless intensity of such recent succes de scandale as Romance and A Ma Soeur, Sex Is Comedy allows Catherine Breillat to reveal the kind of light touch and easy humour that some critics may have thought was beyond ...
-
Reviews
REVIEW: Bowling For Columbine
Dir: Michael Moore. US. 2002. 120 minsThose convinced that America is the home of the crazed and the land of the trigger happy will find ample support for their views in Bowling For Columbine. Michael Moore's emotive exploration of the constitutional right to bear arms is a wide-ranging, often shockingly ...
-
Reviews
REVIEW: Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress
Dir: Dai Sijie. France. 2002. 116 mins.Un Certain Regard (Opening Film)The French connection makes Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress, a gentle, partly autobiographical coming-of-age tale from the Paris-based Chinese director Dai Sijie, a natural choice to open Un Certain Regard although, in the event, it emerges as on the ...
-
News
Sean Connery closes his LA-based Fountainbridge Films
Sean Connery has shut down his Los Angeles-based production company Fountainbridge Films, throwing into doubt plans for a Scottish studio facility as well as threatening the future of period epic Mary, Queen Of Scots.Established in 1992, the company had produced such films as Just Cause and Entrapment with Catherine Zeta ...
-
Reviews
The Warrior
Dir: Asif Kapadia. UK/India. 2001. 86minsA poised and confident first feature, The Warrior is an ambitious mixture of morality tale and sweeping adventure set against the spectacular scenery and burning light of Rajasthan and the Himalayas. The absorbing story of one man's renunciation of violence and his quest for peace ...
-
News
Scotland's Smuji pushes video compression
Scottish based production company Smuji Films is pioneering a revolutionary video compression system for broadcasting moving images over the internet. The Essential Viewing software plays images into a web browser without the need for plug-ins or players. The result is files a fraction of the size of conventional formats meaning ...
-
Reviews
Dog Soldiers
Dir: Neil Marshall. UK. 2001. 105minsA zestful, unpretentious slab of prime British horror movie, Dog Soldiers delivers enough guts and gore to please most genre fans. Cheerfully acknowledging its limitations and influences without toppling into post-modern parody, it also has the chance of reaching a wider general audience. The mixture ...
-
News
Edinburgh film festival to honour Kon Ichikawa
The first Edinburgh International Film Festival under new artistic director Shane Danielsen will pay tribute to the Japanese director Kon Ichikawa with a retrospective of 11 of his films spanning the decade 1953 to 1963. Now 86 years old, Ichikawa originally studied animation and made his cinema debut with the ...
-
News
Scottish shorts scheme expands to features
The New Found Land short film scheme is to expand its remit and fund two features. The joint initiative between Scottish Screen, Scottish TV and Grampian TV is now in its third year and annually funds six half-hour dramas shot on digital and intended for television transmission and Festival exposure. ...
-
Reviews
The 51st State
Dir: Ronny Yu. UK/Canada. 2001. 92minsA lurid, laddish, bad ass romp, 51st State is so primed and pumped up that It's almost laughable. A wild-eyed enthusiasm for the delights of bloodshed, body fluids and expletive-filled banter should hit the mark with a target audience of young males who like their ...
-
Reviews
Betty Fisher And Other Stories
Dir: Claude Miller. France-Canada. 2001. 102minsVeteran director Claude Miller brings a calm control and authority to the elaborately plotted Betty Fisher Et Autres Histoires, a demanding blend of psychological thriller and ensemble melodrama. Slow-burning but always absorbing, the film ambitiously attempts to cover a wide range of characters and developments ...