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Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival · 2013

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2013

Selected Titles

Films by directors who have been at the festival more than twice before.

Programme

17 films · 10 reviews

Jump to a film

8-Ball (8-Pallo)

A single mum ex-con tries to keep on the straight and narrow with the help of an ageing detective.

(Country: Finland; Year: 2013; Director: Aku Louhimies; Writer: Marko Kilpi, Jari Rantala; Stars: Jessica Grabowsky, Eero Aho, Pirkka-Pekka Petelius, Mikko Leppilampi, Kirsi Enberg, Angelina Iikkanen, Manna Jäntti, Kari Karjalainen, Kari Ketonen, Tea Khalifa, Mikko Kouki, Lenna Kuurmaa, Anssi Lindström, Max Ovaska, Kaija Pakarinen)

An Episode In The Life Of An Iron Picker (Epizoda U Zivotu Beraca Zeljeza)

Review preview for An Episode In The Life Of An Iron Picker

Drawing from real life events, Tanic's docudrama gains its power from the emotionally stirring scenario and all-round naturalistic performances, which feel infused with greater honesty given that a version of this nightmare has been played out in real lif

Owen Van Spall · 3 out of 5
Life becomes desperate for a scrap merchant when his pregnant wife needs medical help they can't afford.

(Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Slovenia, Italy; Year: 2013; Director: Danis Tanovic; Writer: Danis Tanovic; Stars: Nazif Mujic, Senada Alimanovic, Semsa Mujic)

Full review

Closed Curtain (Pardé)

Review preview for Closed Curtain

The more problematic aspects of the film stem from a narrative that cannot sustain the inventiveness of the central conceit and which peters out before the end.

Rebecca Naughten · 3 out of 5
A writer and his dog retreat to a coastal villa only to have their peace disturbed by two siblings fleeing the police.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2013; Director: Jafar Panahi, Kambuzia Partovi; Writer: Jafar Panahi; Stars: Kambuzia Partovi, Maryam Moqadam, Jafar Panahi, Hadi Saeedi, Azadeh Torabi, Abolghasem Sobhani, Mahyar Jafaripour, Ramin Akhariani, Sina Mashyekhi, Siamak Abedinpour, Zeynab Kanoum)

Full review

Dallas Buyers Club (Dallas Buyers' Club)

Review preview for Dallas Buyers Club

McConaughey's performance is a tour de force.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
When a fast-living heterosexual redneck develops AIDS, he refuses to take it lying down, and in his struggle makes some unlikely friends.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Jean-Marc Vallée; Writer: Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack; Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, Steve Zahn, Dallas Roberts, Kevin Rankin, Denis O'Hare, Juliet Reeves, Griffin Dunne, Jane McNeill, Steffie Grote, Jeanine Hill, Lily Virginia Filson, James DuMont, Jency Griffin)

Full review

Elelwani

A student arrives home to discover she has been betrothed to her tribal chief.

(Country: South Africa; Year: 2012; Director: Ntshavheni Wa Luruli; Stars: Florence Masebe, Ashifashabba Muleya, Vusi Kunene)

Eternal Homecoming (Vechnoye vozvrashcheniye)

A woman is paid a surprise visit by her long-forgotten classmate, who needs her advice: should he choose a wife or a lover?

(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2012; Director: Kira Muratova; Stars: Oleg Tabakov, Alla Demidova, Renata Litvinova, Sergey Makovetskiy, Georgiy Deliev)

The Grandmaster (Yi dai zong shi)

Review preview for The Grandmaster

Wong Kar Wai knows how to frame faces like no other, with embroidered collars, white straw fedoras, a rowdy monkey, cotton flowers and words escaping lips that are like song.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
The story of Ip Man, the martial arts master who trained Bruce Lee.

(Country: Hong Kong, China, US; Year: 2013; Director: Wong Kar Wai; Writer: Wong Kar Wai, Xu Haofeng, Zou Jingzhi; Stars: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Zhang Ziyi, Zhang Jin, Song Hye-kyo, Chang Chen, Wang Qingxiang, Cung Le, Lo Hoi-pang, Liu Xun, Leung Siu Lung, Julian Cheung Chi-lam)

Full review See: Wong Kar Wai in conversation about The Grandmaster , Martin Scorsese supports The Grandmaster

Grisgris

A partially paralysed man who dreams of becoming a dancer is drawn into crime after his uncle becomes seriously ill.

(Country: Chad; Year: 2013; Director: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun; Stars: Soulémane Démé, Mariam Monory, Cyril Guei, Anaïs Monory, Marius Yelolo)

Jin

A teenage rebel finds herself caught between the guerillas and the army in Turkish Kurdistan's civil war.

(Country: Turkey; Year: 2013; Director: Reha Erdem; Stars: Deniz Hasgüler, Onur Ünsal, Sabahattin Yakut)

Like Father, Like Son (Soshite Chichi Ni Naru)

Review preview for Like Father, Like Son

Shuttling back and forth between the families, Like Father, Like Son scrutinises words, deeds, allegiances.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
When he discovers his baby boy was accidentally swapped with another at birth, whom he has raised and loved, a wealthy businessman must decide which one he truly feels is his son.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2013; Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda; Writer: Hirokazu Kore-eda; Stars: Masaharu Fukuyama, Yôko Maki, Jun Kunimura)

Full review See: Interview with Hirokazu Kore-eda about Like Father, Like Son , San Sebastian diary: Futbolin, Enemy The Zero Theorem and Like Father, Like Son

The Look Of Love

Review preview for The Look Of Love

This is a serious and entertaining character study - stripping down the lives of Soho and Raymond - that has the looks and acting talent to win over a crowd.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Biopic of porn king Paul Raymond.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Michael Winterbottom; Writer: Matt Greenhalgh; Stars: Steve Coogan, Anna Friel, Imogen Poots, Tamsin Egerton, Chris Addison, David Walliams)

Full review See: Michael Winterbottom interview about The Look Of Love , Sundance Film Festival 2013: Austenland, Look Of Love premiere and The Spectacular Now

Moebius

Review preview for Moebius

Intensely erotic throughout, even in the absence of what most people would think of as sexual, this feels like the culmination of a number of threads that have run throughout Kim's work.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A single act of vengeful violence dramatically changes four lives.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2013; Director: Kim Ki-duk; Writer: Kim Ki-duk; Stars: Jo Jae-hyeon, Lee Eun-woo, Seo Young Ju)

Full review

Only Lovers Left Alive

Review preview for Only Lovers Left Alive

What is so disarming about Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive is a scarce sense of appreciation - of the vampire couple for each other and the appreciation by both of them for what is great in the world.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
A vampire couple contemplate a changing world.

(Country: Germany, US, UK, France, Cyprus; Year: 2013; Director: Jim Jarmusch; Writer: Jim Jarmusch; Stars: Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt, Anton Yelchin, Slimane Dazi, Wayne Brinston, Aurelie Thepaut)

Full review See: New York Film Festival diary one: Captain Phillips, The Invisible Woman, Only Lovers Left Alive

Papusza

Review preview for Papusza

Managing for the most part to avoid the clichés of portraying the gypsy milieu, it has the stamp of authenticity.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
The story of the famous Romany poet.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2013; Director: Joanna Kos-Krauze, Krzysztof Krauze; Writer: Joanna Kos-Krauze, Krzysztof Krauze; Stars: Jowita Budnik, Joanna Niemirska, Antoni Pawlicki)

Full review

A Touch Of Sin (Tian Zhu Ding)

Four characters represent different areas of China and different strata of contemporary society.

(Country: China; Year: 2013; Director: Jia Zhangke)

Wakolda (The German Doctor)

The true story of an Argentinian family who lived with one of the biggest criminals in history without realising his true identity.

(Country: Argentina, France, Spain, Norway; Year: 2013; Director: Lucía Puenzo; Writer: Lucía Puenzo; Stars: Natalia Oreiro, Diego Peretti, Àlex Brendemühl, Elena Roger, Guillermo Pfening, Ana Pauls, Alan Daicz, Florencia Bado, Juani Martínez, Abril Braunstein)

The Zero Theorem

Review preview for The Zero Theorem

The Zero Theorem is a messy mélange of broad pratfalls, challenged idealism, dark satire, and expansive, indeed cosmic allegory - but it also .cannot escape being seen as a kind of Brazil vers. 2.0.

Anton Bitel · 3.5 out of 5
A reclusive computer genius, plagued with existential angst, works on a mysterious project aimed at discovering the meaning of life.

(Country: UK, Romania; Year: 2013; Director: Terry Gilliam; Writer: Pat Rushin; Stars: Christoph Waltz, Matt Damon, Mélanie Thierry, David Thewlis, Lucas Hedges, Ben Whishaw, Tilda Swinton, Peter Stormare, Dana Rogoz, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Emil Hostina, Naomi Everson, Tudor Istodor, George Remes, Olivia Nita)

Full review See: San Sebastian diary: Futbolin, Enemy The Zero Theorem and Like Father, Like Son