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| The Outrun Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute |
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| Between The Temples Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute |
Jeremy Matthews writes: At times spectacularly memorable, at others a bit disjointed, Nathan Silver’s Between the Temples is a quiet, funny, uncomfortably idiosyncratic work that leaves its audience to ponder its characters’ journeys. Jason Schwartzman plays Ben, a cantor suffering a crisis after the death of his wife, and Carol Kane plays his elderly childhood music teachers with whom Ben forges an unlikely friendship. Anchored by two great performances (plus a fun supporting cast including Robert Smigel as the temple’s self-serving rabbi), the movie flows between several tones and moods, opening with an old-hat, sit-com-style misinterpreted conversation before veering from existential and religious meditations to social satire to erotic roleplay, all while weaving in the core tale of friendship.
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| Armand Photo: Film I Vast |
The success of Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel’s debut hinges on the strong performances from its ensemble cast and particularly that of Norwegian star Renate Reinsve, who plays a mother called in to school to discuss the behaviour of her child after he has faced an accusation. Tense from the off, this develops into a whip smart psychodrama as connections between the child and his accusers start to emerge. Ambitiously experimental at times, not everything works all the time but the atmosphere, fuelled by the hot day it is set on, is impressively claustrophobic.
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| A New Kind Of Wilderness Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute |
This gentle documentary follows the lives of British dad Nik and kids Freya, Falk and Ulv as they try to work through their grief after the children’s mother Maria dies. Silje Evensmo Jacobsen captures the tough choices Nik has to make because he can no longer sustain the idyllic off-the-grid lifestyle that he and Maria previously developed. Heartfelt and evenhanded in its presentation of the issues, Jacobsen also deserves credit for finding a way to sustain Maria’s voice through the film with the use of blog entries and photos. The film won Sundance's World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary.
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| Cannes Un Certain Regard winner Black Dog Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival |
There’s shades of a western and the post-apocalypse about this offbeat Chinese drama set in the run up to the Beijing Olympics and which won the Un Certain Regard prize at this year’s Cannes. Eddie Peng stars as Lang, a motorbike buff and former guitarist, who has returned to a remote part of China after a spell in jail. Given a job to help round up stray dogs, he founds an unexpected relationship with the irascible black dog of the title as he starts to reconcile various bits of his past. Shot with an eye for the landscape and filled with plenty of humour as well as intrigue, this is a crowdpleaser with just the right amount of bite. Full review coming soon
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| Bogancloch Photo: Courtesy of Locarno Film Festival |
A sequel of sorts to Ben Rivers in 2011’s Two Years At Sea, the director returns to Bogancloch, the Aberdeenshire home of Jake Williams, who is still living largely off the grid. Rivers follows him through his day-to-day life. It’s a gentle, observational film, shot on hand-processed 16mm that lends it a lived-in look to match its subject. On the one hand this is quiet and intimate but on the other, it invites us to speculate on our own place in the wider world and the universe in general. Full review coming soon.
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| Oddity |
Jennie Kermode writes: Blind women in horror films have traditionally been helpless victims, sometimes empowered to survive and serve as witnesses by way of carefully designed environments or clever tricks. From the moment that psychiatrist Ted walks into Darcy’s antiques shop, however, we know she has a power deserving of real respect. He’s dubious about the supposed supernatural side of it, but her intelligence and force of personality are unmistakable. His wife, her twin, has been killed, and she plans to use the anniversary of the event to find out who did it. With just a handful of actors, minimal locations, a glass eye and a disconcerting life size wooden mannequin, writer/director Damian Mc Carthy will give you some serious chills. It’s a tightly plotted, deliciously satisfying work.
