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Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2001

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2001

Unnamed Strand

Programme

76 films · 76 reviews

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Amelie (Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amelie Poulain, Amelie from Montmartre)

Review preview for Amelie

Jeunet has such an imaginative approach to film that he creates an atmosphere of magic.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
A girl with an eccentric, repressed childhood grows up attracted to the odd detail in everyday life and to the strangest people.

(Country: France; Year: 2001; Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet; Writer: Guillaume Laurant, Jean-Pierre Jeunet; Stars: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Serge Merlin, Jamel Debbouze, Urbain Cancellier, Dominique Pinon, Yolande Moreau, Isabelle Nanty)

Full review

Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner

Review preview for Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner

Zacharias Kunuk's achievement with his mainly untrained actors is astonishing. Even the sexual chemistry works.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4.5 out of 5
First movie ever made in Inuit, it tells a tale of love, tradition and revenge.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2000; Director: Zacharias Kunuk; Writer: Paul Apak Angilirq; Stars: Natar Ungalaaq, Sylvia Ivalu, Peter Henry Arnatsiaq, Lucy Tulugarjuk, Madeline Ivalu, Pakkak Innuksuk)

Full review

The Anniversary Party

Review preview for The Anniversary Party

Enjoyable and witty, all the more impressive when you discover that it took only 19 days to shoot.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A couple's anniversary proves to be a test of their fidelity as well as of friendship.

(Country: US; Year: 2001; Director: Alan Cumming, Jennifer Jason Leigh; Writer: Alan Cumming, Jennifer Jason Leigh; Stars: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Alan Cumming, Parker Posey, Kevin Kline, Gwyneth Paltrow, John C Reilly)

Full review

Bangkok Dangerous (Krung Thep Antharai)

Review preview for Bangkok Dangerous

The Pang Brothers lay claim to the throne of those other action thriller maestro siblings, the Wachowskis.

Trinity · 4 out of 5
A deaf mute gunman tries to escape the deadly Bangkok underground.

(Country: Thailand,; Year: 2000; Director: Oxide Pang, Danny Pang; Writer: Oxide Pang, Danny Pang; Stars: Pawalit Mongkolpisit, Premsinee Ratanasopha, Patharawin Timkul, Pisek Intrakanchit)

Full review

Battle Royale (Batoru Rowaiaru)

Review preview for Battle Royale

The pornography of violence is a phrase banded about by armchair critics. What does it mean? It means Battle Royale.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 2 out of 5
Futuristic Japanese survival gameshow where school children fight for their lives.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2000; Director: Kinji Fukasaku; Writer: Kenta Fukasaku; Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Taro Yamamoto)

Full review

The Believer

Review preview for The Believer

The intelligence of the writing and the intensity of Ryan Gosling's performance takes it out of the shock horror budget bin.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
An intelligent Jewish boy grows up into an urban terrorist who hates Judaism.

(Country: US; Year: 2001; Director: Henry Bean; Writer: Henry Bean; Stars: Ryan Gosling, Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Isabelle Nanty, Dominique Pinon)

Full review

Boyhood Loves (Amour D'Enfance)

Review preview for Boyhood Loves

Writer-director Yves Caumon notices the small details... and makes them count.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 3.5 out of 5
A young Frenchman returns from the city to the rural home of his youth to visit his dying father in this subtle, effective drama.

(Country: France; Year: 2001; Director: Yves Caumon; Writer: Yves Caumon; Stars: Mathieu Amalric, Lauryl Brossier, Fabrice Cals, Michele Gary, Roger Souza, Bernard Blancan, Nicole Miana, Fredric Bonpart, Paul Crouzet)

Full review

La Ciénaga (The Swamp)

Review preview for La Ciénaga

Lucrecia Martel's debut as writer/director captures the many layered character of the Argentinian upper-class so perfectly that explanatory scenes would appear bourgeois in their desire to tidy the place up a bit.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
A long hot summer on Argentinian estate for dysfunctional extended family.

(Country: Argentina/Spain; Year: 2000; Director: Lucrecia Martel; Writer: Lucrecia Martel; Stars: Graciela Borges, Mercedes Moran, Sofia Bertolotto, Juan Cruz Bordeu, Martin Adjemian, Andrea Lopez, Leonora Balcarce, Diego Baenas, Sebastian Montagna, Silvia Bayle)

Full review

Chain Camera

Review preview for Chain Camera

There's no doubt that this is a well-made documentary, but it feels like there's been outside tampering.

Trinity · 3 out of 5
High school life seen through the eyes of 16 student videologues.

(Country: USA,; Year: 2001; Director: Kirby Dick; Stars: The students of John Marshall High School)

Full review

The Chateau

Review preview for The Chateau

At its best early on as it plays the culture clashes.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 3 out of 5
Decent culture clash comedy in which two very different American brothers inherit a dilapidated French chateau.

(Country: USA; Year: 2001; Director: Jesse Peretz; Writer: Jesse Peretz, Thomas Bidegain; Stars: Paul Rudd, Sylvie Testud, Romany Malco, Didier Flamand, Donal Loguem, Philippe Nahon)

Full review

The Chimp (Maimal, Le Singe)

Review preview for The Chimp

Abdkalykov's attention to detail, from watching bugs crawl across floors, to the endless blue of the open sky mark out the qualities of a true visual artist.

Trinity · 3 out of 5
A teenage boy confronts adulthood as he waits to join the army.

(Country: Kirghizstan,; Year: 2001; Director: Aktan Abdykalykov; Writer: Aktan Abdykalykov; Stars: Mirlan Abdykalykov, Sergej Golovkin, Alexandra Mitrokhina, Dzylkycy Dzakypov)

Full review

Chop Suey

Review preview for Chop Suey

Weber's discretion smothers gossip and edits anecdote.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3 out of 5
Cinematic scrapbook.

(Country: US; Year: 2000; Director: Bruce Weber; Writer: Bruce Weber; Stars: Peter Johnson, Teri Shepherd, Frances Faye, miscellaneous celebs, male models)

Full review

The Circle (Dayereh)

Review preview for The Circle

Despite, or because of, the appalling nature of these women's lives, the film has a raw edge.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3 out of 5
Women from prison try to stay clean and out of trouble in a country where they are not respected.

(Country: Iran/Italy; Year: 2000; Director: Jafar Panahi; Writer: Kambozia Partovi; Stars: Fereshteh Sadr Orafai, Fatemeh Naghavi, Nargess Mamizadeh, Maryam Parvin Almani, Elham Saboktakin)

Full review

Cool And Crazy (Heftig Og Begeistret, Cool & Crazy)

Review preview for Cool And Crazy

The good humour of all those involved, including the wives, is infectious.

Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
Norwegian documentary telling the tale of a male voice choir and its members in the remote fishing village of Berlevag.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2001; Director: Knut Erik Jensen; Stars: Berlevag Male Choir)

Full review

CQ

Review preview for CQ

Sadly the main story... is pretty dull, uninspired stuff

Keith Hennessey Brown · 2.5 out of 5
Idealistic young film maker must decide where his loyalties lie as the 1970s approach.

(Country: USA/Luxembourg/France/Italy; Year: 2001; Director: Roman Coppola; Writer: Roman Coppola; Stars: Jeremy Davies, Angela Lindvall, Elodie Bouchez, Gerard Depardieu, Giancarlo Giannini, Massimo Ghini, Billy Zane, Jason Schwartzman, John Philip Law, Dean Stockwell)

Full review

Cry For Bobo

Review preview for Cry For Bobo

Brilliantly funny, rather bizarre.

Nicola Osborne · 4.5 out of 5
Tartan short: a hilarious, old-fashioned slapstick comedy about a criminal clown.

(Country: UK; Year: 2001; Director: David Cairns; Writer: David Cairns; Stars: Mark McDonnell, Steven McNicoll, Tracey Roberts)

Full review

The Devil's Backbone (El Espinazo del Diablo)

Review preview for The Devil's Backbone

The film takes standard ingredients of a good horror movie - the sinister setting, the horrible crime, the ghostly presence, the newcomer - and uses a surprisingly gore-free, old-fashioned way of scaring the audience.

Trinity · 4 out of 5
Ghosts haunt an isolated orphanage during the last year of the Spanish Civil War.

(Country: Mexico / Spain; Year: 2001; Director: Guillermo del Toro; Writer: Guillermo del Toro; Stars: Marisa Paredes, Frederico Luppi, Eduardo Noreiga, Fernando Tielve, Inigo Garces, Irene Visedo.)

Full review

The Deep End

Review preview for The Deep End

Suture, have avoided every cliche of film noir.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
A mother tries to protect her son from suspicion after his lover is found dead.

(Country: US; Year: 2001; Director: Scott McGehee, David Siegel; Writer: Scott McGehee, David Siegel; Stars: Tilda Swinton, Goran Visnjic, Johnathan Tucker, Peter Donat, Josh Lucas)

Full review

Dogtown And Z-Boys

Review preview for Dogtown And Z-Boys

An exhilarating insight into a moment in Californian history when some underprivileged kids broke the rules and did things on skateboards that had never been seen before.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
Absorbing documentary about the birth of modern skateboarding, told by those who were there.

(Country: USA; Year: 2000; Director: Stacy Peralta; Writer: Craig Steyck; Stars: Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva, Bob Biniak, Jay Adams, Shogo Kubo, Jim Muir, Peggy Oki, Glen E Friedman, Ian MacKaye, Henry Rollins)

Full review

Down From The Mountain

Review preview for Down From The Mountain

A great deal more than an end-of-shoot wrap party.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
Nashville concert for those who played on the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou.

(Country: US; Year: 2000; Director: D A Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus, Nick Doob; Stars: Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, John Hartford, David Rawlings,. Ralph Stanley, The Fairfield Four, The Cox Family, Chris Thomas KIng)

Full review

Enigma

Review preview for Enigma

toppard and director Michael Apted weave a web of intrigue, suspicion and, for God's sake, romance into what might have been as incomprehensible as a computer hacker's notebook.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
A complex World War Two tale of intrigue, romance and code-breaking.

(Country: US; Year: 2001; Director: Michael Apted; Writer: Tom Stoppard, based on the novel by Robert Harris; Stars: Dougray Scott, kate Winslet, Jeremy Northam, Saffron Burrows)

Full review

Eureka (Yûreka)

Review preview for Eureka

Beautiful in its simplicity and utterly moving.

Trinity · 4 out of 5
All aboard the magical mystery bus.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2000; Director: Shinji Aoyoma; Writer: Shinji Aoyoma; Stars: Koji Yakusho, Aoi Miyazaki, Masuri Miyazaki, Yochiro Saitoh.)

Full review

Fat Girl (A Ma Soeur!)

Review preview for Fat Girl

Reboux and Mesquida bring a natural intelligence to demanding roles.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
Two teenage sisters at French holiday resort respond to agony and ecstasy of first time sex.

(Country: France; Year: 2000; Director: Catherine Breillat; Writer: Catherine Breillat; Stars: Anais Reboux, Roxane Mesquida, Libero de Rienzo, Arsinee Khanjian, Roman Goupil, Laura Betti)

Full review

Freaks

Review preview for Freaks

Worth a look for those with interested in the history of exploitation cinema.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 2.5 out of 5
Infamous exploitation shocker with real-life barnyard oddities.

(Country: US; Year: 1932; Director: Tod Browning; Writer: Willis Goldbeck, Leon Gordon, Edgar Allan Woolf, Al Boasberg, based on the story Spurs by Tod Robbins; Stars: Olga Baclanova, Harry Earles, Daisy Earles, Prince Randian, Johnny Eck, Roscoe Ates, Angelo Rossito, Daisy Hilton, Violet Hilton, Zip, Pip, Elvira Snow, Jennie Lee Snow, Schlitzie, Pete Robinson, Henry Victor)

Full review

Friends Have Reasons (Las Razones de mis Amigos)

Review preview for Friends Have Reasons

The dialogue-driven, yet simplistic structure means the film appears too long for its subject.

Trinity · 3 out of 5
A loan undermines three friends relationship.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2000; Director: Gerardo Herrero; Writer: Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde; Stars: Marta Belaustegui, Joel Joan, Sergi Calleja)

Full review

Gabriel And Me (Gabriel & Me)

Review preview for Gabriel And Me

There is a word for this. Icky.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 1.5 out of 5
A boy tries to become an angel so he can save his dad from dying.

(Country: UK; Year: 2001; Director: Udayan Prasad; Writer: Lee Hall; Stars: Iain Glen, David Bradley, Sean Landless, Rosie Rowell, Billy Connolly, Ian Cullen, Sean Foley, Trevor Fox, Bridie Hales, Nicky Hayer, Jacqueline King)

Full review

Gas Attack (The Silent Killer)

Review preview for Gas Attack

A powerful piece of drama, which is all too close to real life.

Trinity · 3.5 out of 5
Something unthinkable happens in Glasgow.

(Country: UK; Year: 2001; Director: Kenny Glennan; Writer: Rowan Joffe; Stars: Sherko Zen-Aloush, Benae hassan, Robina Qureshi, Laurie Ventry, Morag Caulder.)

Full review

Ghost World

Review preview for Ghost World

Buscemi gives one of his finest performances.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
Teenage rebel makes friends with middle-aged jazz collector and discovers alienation.

(Country: US; Year: 2001; Director: Terry Zwigoff; Writer: Dan Clowes, Terry Zwigoff; Stars: Thora Birch, Scarlett Johanssen, Steve Buscemi, Brad Renfro, Stacey Travis, Illeana Douglas, Bob Balaban, Teri Garr)

Full review

Here To Where (From Here To Where)

Review preview for Here To Where

As a documentary, the film has to be rated a failure. As an exercise in storytelling, it is more successful.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 3 out of 5
Documentary (or mockumentary) about one man's life in an airport.

(Country: France; Year: 2001; Director: Glen Luchford; Writer: Glen Luchford; Stars: Abbas Baktiari, Paul Berczeller, Christine Bergstrom, Merhan Nasseri, Mai Pexton)

Full review

Her Father's Daughter (La Fille de Son Pere)

Review preview for Her Father's Daughter

A tense exploration of relationships and human frailty, helped enormously by Beatrice Thiriet's wonderfully evocative score.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A man decides to pose as his friend and claim to be the father of a child that isn't his.

(Country: France/UK; Year: 2000; Director: Jacques Deschamps; Writer: Jacques Deschamps, Olivier Lorelle; Stars: Cast: Natacha Regnier, Francois Berleand, Fanny Cottencon, Frederic Pierrot)

Full review

Hedwig And The Angry Inch

Review preview for Hedwig And The Angry Inch

It is a triumph of the imagination over a plot that is not really a plot, more an emotional car crash.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4.5 out of 5
Musical, in which a transsexual punk rocker recounts her life story.

(Country: US; Year: 2000; Director: John Cameron Mitchell; Writer: John Cameron Mitchell; Stars: John Cameron Mitchell, Michael Pitt, Miriam Shor, Stephen Trask, Theodore Liscinski, Rob Campbell, Michael Aronov, Andrea Martin, Ben Mayer-Goodman, Alberta Watson, Gene Pyrz)

Full review

The Icelandic Dream (Islenski Draumurinn)

Review preview for The Icelandic Dream

Remarkably assured debut feature.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 4 out of 5
Likeable Icelandic comedy.

(Country: Iceland; Year: 2000; Director: Robert I Douglas; Writer: Robert I Douglas; Stars: Thor Sverisson, Jon Gnarr, Hafdis Huld, Matt Keeslar, Laufey Bra Jonsdottir)

Full review

The Inner Tour

Review preview for The Inner Tour

A valuable document in the the history of Israel and Palestine.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 3.5 out of 5
Documentary sees a busload of Palestinian tourists visit Israel.

(Country: Israel / Palestine; Year: 2001; Director: Ra'anan Alexandrowicz)

Full review

In July (Im Juli)

Review preview for In July

Not an essential film by any means, but possibly a welcome distraction from more self-consciously serious fare.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 3 out of 5
Quirky German romantic comedy road movie that should raise a few smiles.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2000; Director: Fatih Akin; Writer: Fatih Akin; Stars: Moritz Bleibtreu, Christiane Paul, Mehmet Kurtulus, Idil Uner, Branka Katic, Sandra Borgmann)

Full review

Jump Tomorrow

Review preview for Jump Tomorrow

This unpretentious, entertaining little comedy of culture clashes marks a solid feature debut for British writer/director Joel Hopkins

Keith Hennessey Brown · 3.5 out of 5
Unpretentious, entertaining romantic comedy of culture clashes.

(Country: USA/UK; Year: 2000; Director: Joel Hopkins; Writer: Joel Hopkins; Stars: Tunde Adebimpe, Hippolyte Girardot, Natalia Verbeke, James Wilby)

Full review

Kandahar (Safar E Ghandehar)

Review preview for Kandahar

This is a film that sidesteps convention. There is no ending, no beginning. There is the journey.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
A woman returns to Afghanistan to save her suicidal sister.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2001; Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf; Writer: Mohsen Makhmalbaf; Stars: Niloufar Pazira, Hassan Tantai, Sadou Teymouri, Hayatala Hakimi)

Full review

Lawless Heart

Review preview for Lawless Heart

Writer-directors Neil Hunter and Tom Hunsinger... have made a film which successfully manages to dramatise the subtleties of modern relationships

Trinity · 4 out of 5
Relationship ensemble drama, as lives intersect following a death.

(Country: UK; Year: 2002; Director: Neil Hunter, Tom Hunsinger; Writer: Neil Hunter, Tom Hunsinger; Stars: Douglas Henshall, Tom Hollander, Bill Nighy, Clementine Celarie, Josephine Butler, Ellie Haddington, Stuart Laing, Sukie Smith)

Full review

Left Turn

Review preview for Left Turn

Beautifully choreographed and exceptionally well acted.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
A woman gets more than she bargains for when she picks up an old lady hitchhiker.

(Country: UK; Year: 2001; Director: Sean Ellis; Writer: Sean Ellis; Stars: Lucy Russell, Andy Tiernan, Heather Jay Jones, Una Brandon-Jones)

Full review

L.I.E.

Review preview for L.I.E.

The film is intelligent and honest, without being, in any way, entertaining.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
A disaffected youth on Long Island becomes involved with a rich paedophile, after his father has been arrested for fraud.

(Country: US; Year: 2001; Director: Michael Cuesta; Writer: Stephen M. Ryder, Michael Cuesta, Gerald Cuesta; Stars: Brian Cox, Paul Dano, Billy Kay, Bruce Altman, James Costa, Tony Donnelly, B Constance Barry)

Full review

Lifetime Guarantee: Phranc's Adventures in Plastic

Review preview for Lifetime Guarantee: Phranc's Adventures in Plastic

By picking such a fantastic heroine, all director Udelson needs to do is let the cameras roll, which is pretty much what she does.

Nicola Osborne · 4 out of 5
Documentary about a Jewish lesbian folk singer who switches career to sell Tupperware.

(Country: USA,; Year: 2001; Director: Lisa Udelson)

Full review

Little Dieter Needs To Fly

Review preview for Little Dieter Needs To Fly

This is one of Herzog's best documentaries, possibly because his subject matter strays close to the boundaries of fiction.

Trinity · 3.5 out of 5
The life of an extraordinary Vietnam war hero.

(Country: US; Year: 1997; Director: Werner Herzog; Stars: Dieter Dengler)

Full review

Little Otik (Otesanek)

Review preview for Little Otik

Severely patience-trying.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 2 out of 5
Grotesque take on the story of the little wooden boy.

(Country: Czech Republic; Year: 2000; Director: Jan Svankmajer; Writer: Jan Svankmajer; Stars: Veronika Zilkova, Jan Hartl, Jaroslava Kretschmerova, Pavel Novy, Kristina Adamcova, Jiri Labus, Dagmar Strirna, Zdenek Kozak, Jitka Smutka)

Full review

Lucky Break

Review preview for Lucky Break

A good, solid British comedy.

Trinity · 3.5 out of 5
British cons plan an escape by staging a prison musical.

(Country: UK; Year: 2001; Director: Peter Cattaneo; Writer: Ronan Bennett; Stars: James Nesbitt, Olivia Williams, Timothy Spall, Bill Nighy, Christopher Plummer, Lennie James, Ron Cook, Frank Harper, Raymond Waring)

Full review

Maids (Domesticas, O Filme)

Review preview for Maids

The acting is superb, breathing life and vitality into the script, which still betrays its theatrical origins.

Trinity · 3.5 out of 5
A look at the lives of five maids in Sao Paulo.

(Country: Brazil,; Year: 2001; Director: Fernando Meirelles, Nando Olival; Writer: Cecelia Homem de Mello, Fernando Meirelles.; Stars: Claudia Missura, Graziella Moretto, Lena Roque, Olivia Araujo, Renata Melo, Robson Nunes, Tiago Moraes.)

Full review

Manji

Review preview for Manji

Some picturesque moments in the film hint at good ideas.

Nicola Osborne · 3 out of 5
A widowed garage owner deals with his wife's death while trying to patch up his relationship with his son.

(Country: UK; Year: 2001; Director: Rene Mohandas; Writer: Rene Mohandas; Stars: Amrie Singh, Durdana Bedi, Mandeep Sandhu, Laxmi Kathuria)

Full review

The Man Who Wasn't There

Review preview for The Man Who Wasn't There

Even the Coen Bros cannot stimulate interest in a guy who has switched the lights off inside his head.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
An introspective barber in a small Californian town in the Forties initiates a blackmail that goes wrong.

(Country: US; Year: 2001; Director: Joel Coen; Writer: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen; Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, James Gandolfini, Tony Shalhoub, John Polito, Scarlett Johanssen)

Full review

Mullet

Review preview for Mullet

None of the events hold the slightest iota of interest.

Gator MacReady · 2 out of 5
A man returns to his hometown... and regrets it.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2001; Director: David Caesar; Writer: David Caesar; Stars: Ben Mendelson, Susie Porter, Andrew S. Gilbert, Belinda McClory, Tony Barry, Kris McQuade, Peta Brady, Wayne Blair, Paul Kelman)

Full review

My Brother Tom

Review preview for My Brother Tom

The young actors, making their first movie, take risks beyond the call of duty.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
Two school loners fall in love.

(Country: UK; Year: 2001; Director: Don Rotheroe; Writer: Alison Beeton-Hilder, Dom Rotheroe; Stars: Jenna Harrison, Ben Whishaw, Honeysuckle Weeks, Michael Erskine, Adrian Rawlins, Judith Scott)

Full review

Night Shift (Trois Huit)

Review preview for Night Shift

Fine acting, camera work free of frills and a plot that will keep you guessing.

Trinity · 3.5 out of 5
Would you be friends with this guy?

(Country: France; Year: 2000; Director: Philippe Le Guay; Writer: Philippe Le Guay; Stars: Gerald Laroche, Marc Barbe, Luce Moucel, Bastien Le Roy)

Full review

The Natural History of the Chicken

Review preview for The Natural History of the Chicken

Lewis handles the documentary with a lightness of touch.

Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
Homage to hens.

(Country: US; Year: 2000; Director: Mark Lewis)

Full review

No Man's Land

Review preview for No Man's Land

A film of astonishing maturity and compassion.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4.5 out of 5
Black comedy about the Bosnian conflict told from the viewpoint of a trench between warring factions.

(Country: Belgium/Bosnia/France/Italy/Slovenia/UK; Year: 2001; Director: Danis Tanovic; Writer: Danis Tanovic; Stars: Branko Djuric, Rene Bitorajac, Filip Sovagovic, Georges Siatidis, Simon Callow, Katrin Cartlidge)

Full review

The Orphan Of Anyang (L'orphelin d'Anyang, Anyangde Guer)

Review preview for The Orphan Of Anyang

Simplicity can be an art form. Wang Chao, with his debut film, takes it to the extreme. He makes no concessions to the audience.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 2.5 out of 5
Drama about a man who decides to protect a baby, whatever the cost.

(Country: China; Year: 2001; Director: Wang Chao; Writer: Wang Chao, based on his novel; Stars: Zhu Jie, Sun Guilin, Yue Sengyi, Liu Tianhao, Miao Fuwen)

Full review

Possible Loves (Amores Possiveis)

Review preview for Possible Loves

Engaging and likeable.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The effect of a single twist of fate on a lifetime of love.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2000; Director: Sandra Werneck; Writer: Paulo Halm; Stars: Carolina Ferraz, Murilo Benicio, Irene Ravache, Emilio de Mello, Beth Goulart, Alberto Szafran, Luiza Mariani, Drica Moraes, Christine Fernandes)

Full review

Princesa

Review preview for Princesa

Goldman spins a moving story and allows the audience to empathise with the characters.

Trinity · 4 out of 5
Do girls have more fun?

(Country: Italy/Germany/UK; Year: 2001; Director: Henrique Goldman; Writer: Ellis Freeman, Henrique Goldman, Fernanda Farias de Albuquerque, Maurizio Jannelli.; Stars: Ingrid de Souza, Cesare Bocci, Lulu Pecorari, Mauro Pirovano, Biba Lerhue)

Full review

Promises

Review preview for Promises

Illuminating documentary transcends our preconceived vision of the Holy Land and its inhabitants, revealing the human complexities beneath.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 4 out of 5
Illuminating documentary showing the realities of the Arab-Israeli conflict through the eyes of seven children.

(Country: USA/Palestine/Israel; Year: 2000; Director: Justine Shapiro, B Z Goldberg, Carlos Bolado)

Full review

Rain

Review preview for Rain

Startlingly original.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 3.5 out of 5
Coming-of-age tale set against the backdrop of a family holiday.

(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2000; Director: Christine Jeffs; Writer: Christine Jeffs, from the novel by Kirsty Gunn; Stars: Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki, Sarah Peirse, Marton Csokas, Alistair Browning, Aaron Murphy)

Full review

Raw Deal - A Question of Consent

Review preview for Raw Deal - A Question of Consent

A harrowing and unnerving experience.

Trinity · 3.5 out of 5
A disturbing investigation of an alleged rape at a frat house.

(Country: USA; Year: 2000; Director: Billy Corben)

Full review

Rivers And Tides

Review preview for Rivers And Tides

Riedelsheimer's camerawork and editing is supremely confident and richly perfect.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4.5 out of 5
A portrait of Scottish artist Andy Goldsworthy whose fleeting natural artworks have earned him international renown.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2001; Director: Thomas Riedelsheimer; Stars: Andy Goldsworthy)

Full review

Runaway

Review preview for Runaway

An honest and open account, which leaves us to draw our own conclusions.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Documentary about the plight of Iranian girls who run away from home.

(Country: UK; Year: 2001; Director: Kim Longinotto, Ziba Mir-Hosseini)

Full review

Samia

Review preview for Samia

Phillippe Faucon deals with its potentially difficult subject seriously, honestly and even handedly.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 3 out of 5
Straightforward, honest drama about culture and generational clashes in a French-Algerian family.

(Country: France; Year: 2000; Director: Philippe Faucon; Writer: Philippe Faucon, Soraya Nini; Stars: Lynda Benahouda, Mohamed Chaoch, Kheira Oualhaci, Lakhdar Smati, Nadia El Koutei, Yamina Amri, Farida Abdallah Hadj, Aicha Abdelhamid, Amel Sahnoune, Marie Riviere)

Full review

Southern Comfort

Review preview for Southern Comfort

Davis's skill comes, not just from choosing wonderful subjects, but by becoming accepted into this strange extended family.

Trinity · 3.5 out of 5
A female-to-male transsexual "hillbilly" is diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

(Country: US; Year: 2000; Director: Kate Davis; Stars: Robert Eads)

Full review

Startup.com

Review preview for Startup.com

A very well crafted fly-on-the-wall style documentary.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Documentary charting the rise and fall of a dotcom company.

(Country: US; Year: 2001; Director: Chris Hedegus, Jehane Noujaim; Stars: Tom Herman, Kaleil Tuzman)

Full review

The State I'm In (Die Innere Sicherheit)

Review preview for The State I'm In

Deserves your attention, marking its director and lead as talents to watch.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 3.5 out of 5
Old revolutionaries still on the run flee from Portugal to Germany with their teenage daughter.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2000; Director: Christian Petzold; Writer: Christian Petzold, Harun Farocki; Stars: Julia Hummer, Barbara Auer, Richy Muller, Bilge Bingul, Gunther Maria Halmer, Katharina Schuttler)

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Station Jim

Review preview for Station Jim

Nauseatingly saccharine.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 1.5 out of 5
Whimsical tale about a station porter.

(Country: UK; Year: 2001; Director: John Roberts; Writer: Mark Wallington; Stars: George Cole, Charlie Creed-Miles, Prunella Scales, Celia Imrie, Nadia Sawalha, Timothy West, Laura Fraser, Thomas Sangster, Martin Savage, John Thompson)

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Storytelling

Review preview for Storytelling

Solondz's humour remains dark. His dialogue is always brilliant.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3 out of 5
Dual storyline explores suburban hypocrisy.

(Country: US; Year: 2001; Director: Todd Solondz; Writer: Gary Mitchell; Stars: Robert Wisdom, Leo Fitzpatrick, Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Julie Hagerty)

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Tangerine

Review preview for Tangerine

A pleasant, low-key, quietly romantic piece.

Nicola Osborne · 3.5 out of 5
A painter on a large rail bridge finds the life-change of retirement difficult.

(Country: UK,; Year: 2001; Director: Alison Peebles; Writer: Colin Hough; Stars: James Grant, Ann Scott Jones, Paul Samson)

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Tattoo

Review preview for Tattoo

On the strength of this film, writer/director Robert Schwentke is a talent to watch.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 3.5 out of 5
Stylish German Se7en style thriller.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2002; Director: Robert Schwentke; Writer: Robert Schwentke; Stars: August Diehl, Christian Redl, Nadesha Brennicke, Ilkur Bahadir, Jasmin Schwiers, Monika Bleibtreu, Fatih Cevikkollu, Johan Leysen, Ingo Naujoks, Florian Panzner, Gustav-Peter Wohler)

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Tears Of The Black Tiger (Fa Talai Jone)

Review preview for Tears Of The Black Tiger

It is nice just to sit back and let the day-glo colours wash over you, marvelling at the high-spirited energy.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Tongue-in-cheek Thai tale of love and revenge, in glorious technicolor.

(Country: Thailand; Year: 2001; Director: Wisit Sasanatieng; Writer: Wisit Sasanatieng; Stars: Chartchai Ngamsan, Stella Malucchi, Supakorn Kitsuwon, Arawat Ruangvuth, Sombat Metanee)

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This Filthy Earth

Review preview for This Filthy Earth

The kind of movie that would have been banned 20 years ago.

Gator MacReady · 1.5 out of 5
Two sisters scrape a living farming muddy land, without hope or release.

(Country: UK; Year: 2001; Director: Andrew Kotting; Writer: Andrew Kotting, Sean Lock; Stars: Rebecca R. Palmer, Shane Attwooll, Demelza Randall, Xavier Tchili)

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The Travelling Salesman (Commesso Viagiatore)

Review preview for The Travelling Salesman

The slow pacing isn't helped when sequences like the one that opens the film... go on for so long they almost become self-parodies.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 1.5 out of 5
This weird Italian effort takes far too long to reach its destination.

(Country: Italy; Year: 1999; Director: Francesco Dal Bosco; Writer: Francesco Dal Bosco, Daniele Costantini; Stars: Claudio Bigagli, Maddalena Crippa, Giovanni Visentin, Carlo Croccolo, Martina de Salve, Valentina Emeri, Katia Pietrobelli, Keke Vannoli, Alessandro Zigrossi)

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Trouble Every Day

Review preview for Trouble Every Day

If nastiness was a flower, Trouble Every Day would be a bunch.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 2.5 out of 5
A tale of a depressive American doctor, honeymooning in Paris, and a nymphomaniac who eats men.

(Country: France; Year: 2001; Director: Claire Denis; Writer: Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau; Stars: Vincent Gallo, Tricia Vessey, Beatrice Dalle, Alex Descas, Florence Loiret-Caille)

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Taurus (Telets)

Review preview for Taurus

Sokurov's drama has a haunting quality and moments of poetry found in the simplest of shots.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
The last days of Lenin.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2001; Director: Alexander Sokurov; Writer: Youri Arabov; Stars: Leonid Mozgovoi, Maria Kuznetsova, Sergei Razhuk, Natalia Nikulenko, Lev Yellseyev, Nikolai Ustinov)

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Wit

Review preview for Wit

Well made and with an incredibly powerful central performance.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 4 out of 5
University don fights cancer by treating it as she does the sonnets of John Donne.

(Country: US; Year: 2001; Director: Mike Nichols; Writer: Mike Nichols, Emma Thompson, based on the play by Margaret Edson; Stars: Emma Thompson, Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Atkins, Audra McDonald, Jonathan M. Woodward, Harold Pinter, Rebecca Laurie, Su Lin Looi, Raffaello Degruttola, Miquel Brown, Hari Dhillon)

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The Warrior

Review preview for The Warrior

A unique cinematic experience.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
A repentant murderer is pursued through the mountains.

(Country: India; Year: 2001; Director: Asif Kapadia; Writer: Asif Kapadia, Tim Miller; Stars: Irfan Khan, Puru Chhibber, Sheikh Annuddin, Noor Mani, Damayanti Marfatia, Sunita Sharma)

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You Really Got Me (Amatørene)

Review preview for You Really Got Me

If there are people out there who are nervous of going to see subtitled films, this is the perfect introduction.

Gator MacReady · 3.5 out of 5
A loser gets mixed up in the kidnapping of a rock star.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2001; Director: Pål Sletaune; Writer: Pål Sletaune, Jonny Halberg; Stars: Robert Skjærstad, Andrine Sæther, Trond Høvik, Philip Zandén, Per Schaaning, Bernhard Ramstad, Bjørn Sundquist)

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