Edinburgh International Film Festival — A–Z of films

A wonderful black comedy.

Although absurd and gruesome, this Thai film has a wicked sense of humour.

It is the journey, not the arrival, that matters.

The quality of the filming is not always superb but the scale and emptiness of the landscape is stunning all the same and the personal interviews remain compulsive viewing.

This film is - sorry, but it has to be said - the dog's bollocks.

Scenes of torture may turn the stomach, but underlying them is a greater psychological horror.

Lee Hall's multi-faceted script manages to open up the story behind the strike, touches on sexuality and expression through art while appearing to be just telling a damn good story.

The film-makers deserve credit for even getting the film made at all.

A fun and enjoyable kids' romp which will certainly keep both youngsters and their parents amused.

A funny and attention grabbing portrait of a unique filmmaker.

The film is a kind of torture.

As usual, Haneke never lets us forget the artifice of what we are watching.

So knowingly bad that it transcends naffness and instead attains a perverse brilliance.

Singer's documentary is more a tribute to his friends.

Bjork demonstrates an intuitive talent for acting that breaks your heart.

A fascinating meditation on the fantastique.

In dwelling on the incidentals, we do get a sense of walking in Van Der Keuken's footsteps; but it also weakens the film.

An effective, worthwhile film.

A modest, unpretentious film whose heartfelt humanism shines through.

Road movies are about roads and roads can be long and tiring.

The earrings are an infuriatingly over-used plot device, with each reappearance becoming increasingly predictable.

An intriguing film, right up to the end.

A laugh a minute

As a short history of a relationship, it has an honesty that cuts through convention.

The music, a sensitive combination of upbeat local music and a subtle score, helps keep a lively pulse to the slow, sympathetic and non-invasive camerawork.

Unremarkable star-vehicle.

Gloriously dark.

Bergman's understanding of women has always been his forte, never more so than here.

Many questions about the school and the women's wrestling scene remain unanswered.

This is a film that is made like a documentary, intentionally spontaneous and unformed.

A journey to places you'd never go, to see things you'd never expect to find.

Rodriguez has an intensity Method actors flaunted in the Fifties.

Neither scandalous, nor inspiring.

An immensely likeable and enjoyable film.

As usual with big budget sci-fi movies, what is missing are characters that live and breathe.

This is a long, slow and supremely well-written film.

Laurent Cantet's low-key documentary-style adds an artless naturalism that offers little in the way of entertainment.

Arresting and contemplative.

Entertaining as blackly comic drama.

The film is so subtle and slow and internalised that it crystalises into a thing of beauty.

This New Zealand shocker keeps you guessing.

Strange but intriguing.

Completely compelling viewing.

A well done if inconsequential film driven by well-written, interesting and realistic characters.

Norton and Stiller are fine with their buddy banter and Stuart Blumberg's script has its moments.

The script, which was partly improvised, is unsentimental and fierce.

Although the bright, snow-covered world is far removed from classic noir, it is the perfect setting to express the cold heart of Hawazaki's wife.

Debut director Cesc Gay avoids American Pie stupidity and the over-sensitive gay pride approach.

Surprisingly upbeat.

A classic three-tissue melodrama.

The experiences are achingly real and, thanks mostly to the remarkable performances, acutely touching.

A charming little piece of magical realist whimsy.

Jonathan Lipnicki is atypical of child stars in the sense that he can be quite annoying.

Pawlkowski has retained the qualities that made Eastern European movies so memorable in the old days.

Max Ophuls' most controversial, if not his greatest work.

Equivalent to easy listening.

The writing is sharp and the characterisations of Victor and Anja winning.

The characters and story need more depth and pace.

One of the best British films of the year.

A very funny and sweet little picture.

Despite the strong personalities chosen, this documentary doesn't seem to possess the same spark which drives its subjects.

The sex scene, like so much else in this film, is faintly ludicrous.

A lyrical and tender film.

A romantic comedy that cuts up cliches and scatters them across the mid West.

Insightful and conveys his respect and admiration for Tarkovsky.

As a debut feature, it is to be applauded.

Comic invention rides shotgun on a screenplay that runs wild.

Shot in an unobtrusive style, the camera lets the girls tell their story themselves.

Boasting the sort of edgy, quirky slant usually only maintained in short film, it never compromises it's oddness which is a joy.

The Ken Loach influence does not mix with the wacky scams and the wacky scams do not appear remotely possible.

Norio Tsuruta, a new director at the helm, retains the elements that made Ring 0's predecessors so popular, from the piercing music to the eerily scary deaths.

An effective, atmospheric, stylish, very well-made chiller.

A strangely old-fashioned affair.

This is an extraordinary film, not least because it is Japanese and yet feels universal.

As a curiously modern but not particularly emotionally charged curio.

From a Western viewpoint, this is a vibrant feminist movie, and yet writer/director Moufida Tlatli is telling a story, rather than preaching a gospel.

This is the best looking spy flick you will ever see.

The clever touches Ophuls brings to his later work barely feature.

The acting performances, without exception, are excellent.

Simon Cellan Jones's first feature is an interesting TV drama. Cinematically, however, it leaves much to be desired.

The story keeps you engaged and guessing right to the end.

Newcomer Lewis McKenzie plays Jimmy with an energy and fire which propels everything.

Every frame is exquisitely constructed, every breath measured.

Within the confines of this technically complex idea, Figgis has created a work of considerable artistic merit.

Beautifully shot, in a near documentary style, by Bahman Ghobaadi, it really draws the viewer into the plight of the many Kurdish families without a homeland.

Though the film had its moments - mostly in the deliciously playful nature of Shakespeare's dialogue - it's hard to see it matching the success of other recent adaptations of the Bard.

At over two hours the film is able to be rather slow-paced, though this irritates in the first half especially.

Ozon punctuates the film with some carefully studied compositions.

It avoids sentimentality and explores layers of damage beneath the surface of family relations.