Tagged EIFF 2017

This film was previously reviewed in June 2017 as part of our EIFF coverage. The Last Photograph is a unique, gently experimental film which offers two distinct yet equally well considered and touching...

There shouldn’t be so much to like about this film. A pitiable misanthrope, Daphne is a hedonistic thirty-something just about getting away with still passing for a twenty-something. Navigating its way...

This virtuoso display of editing weaves together a staggering volume of footage of contemporary London, addressing a wide spread of themes and geography with knife-sharp monochrome cinematography. Though...

Like Hope Dickson Leach’s The Levelling, God’s Own Country offers visceral insight into the life of an isolated farming family. Both films contain frank visuals of the necessary brutalities of farming and...

Although it’s hardly the most eagerly anticipated Pixar film of recent years, Cars 3 is great fun. While elements of the plot are nonsensical or just not adequately thought through, both the screenplay and...

The Last Word is a rare and unusual treat which ignores the obsessive boundaries of Hollywood genre filmmaking, and is all the richer for it. It takes a while to find its groove, however; the opening,...

Romans tells a mostly gripping and urgent story, but the film’s underwhelming and sometimes misjudged decisions keep it from rising above superior fare that tackles similar issues, namely Spotlight and...

In This Corner of the World starts in media res, offering early indication of the fragmentary structure it never quite overcomes. Though the soft-hued pastel palette is gorgeous to look at – particularly...

Pigs make for effective publicity stunts. While filmmakers, artists and activists have purposely exploited the porcine for its political worth, some politicians have found themselves at the centre of a media...

Like Xavier Dolan’s Mommy, Satan Said Dance is shot in 1:1 aspect ratio, amplifying the sense that the main character finds her life entrapping. Though Katarzyna Roslaniec’s film has flashy style and...

The 2016 Edinburgh International Film Festival featured a film called My Name is Emily, by Simon Fitzmaurice. This year, It’s Not Yet Dark is billed as the story behind Fitzmaurice’s film. It both is and...

Appearing on screen above its English translation, the Swedish title of Amanda Kernell’s debut feature Sameblod might provoke some interesting thoughts in the minds of its English-speaking audiences. A film...

In this council estate-set psychological thriller, Toby Jones must confront his Oedipal complex after a date that goes badly wrong. During the title sequence, Carl looks through the kaleidoscope he was...

From the synopsis, Modern Life is Rubbish could be accused of rehashing High Fidelity, yet it more than justifies its existence. It’s a wonderfully evocative period drama of the past ten(ish) years, littered...

Jungle-set political satire from Amit V. Masurkar picks on the Indian electoral process as the butt of its 104-minute-long joke. Much like politics, Newton is a comedy in which two ridiculous male egos make...