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Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2004

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2004

Rosebud

The EIFF programme says: "The brave, the bold, the new - the very best debuts and second films from the newest talents to surface all over the globe."

Programme

22 films · 18 reviews

Jump to a film

Bitter Dream (Khab-e Talkh)

A man who prepares bodies for burial is forced to consider his own mortality.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2004; Director: Mohsen Amiryoussefi; Writer: Mohsen Amiryoussefi; Stars: Yadollah Anvari, Abbas Esfandiari, Delbar Ghasri, Mohsen Rahimi, Safar-Ali Safari, , , , , , )

UK Premiere

Buena Vida Delivery

Review preview for Buena Vida Delivery

Straightforward, unflashy direction... is counterbalanced by well-observed and nuanced performances.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 3.5 out of 5
A guy moves in with a girl, only to find she comes with a family - and business - attached.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2003; Director: Leonardo Di Cesare; Writer: Leonardo Di Cesare, Hans Garrino, Asteban Perincioli; Stars: Ignacio Toselli, Moro Anghileri, Oscar Nunez, Alicia Palmes, Sofia da Silva, Ariel Staltari, Oscar Alegre)

Full review

UK Premiere

Control (Kontroll)

Review preview for Control

Control is a highly eclectic tableaux of darkness and humour, life and death, characters and incidents, supernatural and commonplace.

David Stanners · 3.5 out of 5
A bizarre fictional insight into the idiosyncratic lives of Budapest’s underground train inspectors.

(Country: Hungary; Year: 2003; Director: Nimród Antal; Writer: Jim Adler, Nimród Antal; Stars: Sándor Csányi, Csaba Pindroch, Zsolt Nagy, Gyözö Szabó, Eszter Balla, Lajos Kovács)

Full review

UK Premiere

Dear Pillow

Review preview for Dear Pillow

Darkly, grimly funny in places.

Gator MacReady · 3 out of 5
The adventures of a sex starved 17-year-old porn mag abuser.

(Country: US; Year: 2004; Director: Bryan Poyser; Writer: Bryan Poyser; Stars: Rusty Kelley, Gary Chason, Viviane Vives, Cory Criswell, John Erler, Isabel Martin, Brian McGuire, Karen Skloss, Alex Holdridge, Elle Klein)

Full review

International Premiere

Demi-Tarif (1/2 Price)

Review preview for Demi-Tarif

Isild Le Besco lets this film meander in repetitive and unrealistic ways.

Gator MacReady · 2 out of 5
Abandoned kids scam a life of shoplifting, scamming restaurants and eating junk.

(Country: France; Year: 2003; Director: Isild Le Besco; Writer: Isild Le Besco; Stars: Kolia Litscher, Cindy David, Lila Salet)

Full review

UK Premiere

Duck Season (Temporada De Patos)

Life is not as peachy as it first appears for two teenage rich-kids.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2004; Director: Fernando Eimbcke; Writer: Fernando Eimbcke, Paula Markovitch; Stars: Carolina Politi, Daniel Miranda, Diego Cataño, Danny Perea, Enrique Arreola, Antonio Zúñiga, Alfredo Escobar, Sara Castro, , , )

UK Premiere

The Gift (Il Dono)

Review preview for The Gift

The ambiguity of the characters's motives makes for annoying false mystery in a soup of suburban corruption.

Scott Macdonald · 2 out of 5
The old man, the prostitute and the dog that dies.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2003; Director: Michelangelo Frammartino; Writer: Michelangelo Frammartino; Stars: Michelangelo Frammartino, Gabriella Maiolo, Valentino Audino, Pasquale Umbaca, Romilda Macri, Cesare Calipari, Maria Vozzo, Vincenzo Sangregorio, Francesco Fammartino, Angelina Alvino)

Full review

UK Premiere

The Green Hat (Lu Mao Tze, Lu Mao Zi)

Review preview for The Green Hat

Debut director Liu Fendou has done a magnificent job.

David Stanners · 4.5 out of 5
A hard-edged drama about dysfunctional relationships and man’s need for acceptance and love.

(Country: Hong Kong; Year: 2003; Director: Liu Fendou; Writer: Liu Fendou; Stars: Fan Liao, Haibin Li, Lifan Dong, Congxi Li, Mei Li)

Full review

European Premiere

Incident At Loch Ness

Mockumentary about a search for Nessie.

(Country: UK; Year: 2004; Director: Zak Penn; Writer: Werner Herzog, Zak Penn; Stars: Werner Herzog, Kitana Baker, Gabriel Beristain, Russell Williams II, David A Davidson, Michael Karnow, Robert O'Meara, Zak Penn, Steven Gardner, John Bailey, Matthew Nicolay)

UK Premiere

The Last Train (Posledniy Poezd)

Review preview for The Last Train

Much of the impact of the film comes from cues, visual and aural, away from the action.

Trinity · 4 out of 5
All quiet on the Eastern Front.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2003; Director: Alexey A German; Writer: Alexey A German; Stars: Pavel Romanov, Peter Merkuriev, Alexey Devotchenko, Irina Rakshina, Alexander Tyurin, Marina Radzhiyeva, Natalya Lvova)

Full review

UK Premiere

Little Men (Malenkie lyudi)

Comedy about two male flatmates who have an unspoken rivalry about everything life has to offer.

(Country: Kazakhstan, France; Year: 2003; Director: Nariman Turebayev; Writer: Nariman Turebayev; Stars: Erjan Bekmuratov, Oleg Kerimov, Mira Abdulina, Lyazat Dautova, Anna Kolesnikova, Anna Krasnova, Sevik Nurebokov, Ilias Turmanov, , , )

Scottish Premiere

Los Muertos (The Dead)

Review preview for Los Muertos

Los Muertos has a certain cold beauty.

Scott Macdonald · 3 out of 5
An ex-convict's journey up river in deepest Argentina.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2004; Director: Lisandro Alonso; Writer: Lisandro Alonso; Stars: Argentino Vargas)

Full review

UK Premiere

Mamay

Review preview for Mamay

Rather than attempting to dissect the story, it is easier to surrender to the lyrical qualities, the poetry, exquisite cinematography and poignant music.

David Stanners · 3.5 out of 5
A mysterious pastiche of Ukrainian mythology and folklore mixed with a Romeo and Juliet style love story.

(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2003; Director: Oles Sanin; Writer: Oles Sanin; Stars: Viktoriya Spesivtseva, Andrij Bilous, Sergei Romanyuk, Nazl Seytablayeva, Oles Sanin)

Full review

UK Premiere

The Ordeal (Calvaire)

Review preview for The Ordeal

As an example of yuk cinema, this is a serious piece of work. There is no profound message, except that living alone with nature does your head in.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3 out of 5
A passing crooner is kidnapped by a loony in the woods.

(Country: France/Belgium/Luxembourg; Year: 2004; Director: Fabrice Du Welz; Writer: Fabrice Du Welz, Romain Protat; Stars: Laurent Lucas, Jackie Berroyer, Philippe Nahon, Jean-Luc Couchard, Brigitte Lahaie, Gigi Coursigni, Philippe Grand'henry, Jo Prestia, Marc Lefebvre, Alfred David)

Full review

International Premiere

Passages (Lu Cheng)

Review preview for Passages

The pace is slow, and at times lethargic.

David Stanners · 3 out of 5
A young couple, disillusioned with student life, take off on a search for special mushrooms that could land them a fortune.

(Country: China; Year: 2004; Director: Yang Chao; Writer: Yang Chao; Stars: Geng Le, Chang Jieping)

Full review

UK Premiere

Pearls And Pigs (Helmiä ja sikoja)

Review preview for Pearls And Pigs

What should have been a delicate, bittersweet comedy becomes a long-winded caper that fails to capitalise on its raw materials.

David Stanners · 2.5 out of 5
Comedy featuring four heavy-drinking misfit brothers who find a new meaning in their lives when their half sister moves in with them and discovers a lucrative, hidden talent.

(Country: Finland; Year: 2003; Director: Perttu Leppä; Writer: Perttu Leppä; Stars: Mikko Leppilampi, Laura Birn, Amanda Pilke, Timo Lavikainen, Konsta Hiekkanen, Unto Helo)

Full review

UK Premiere

Primer

Review preview for Primer

Made on a budget of $7000, this is an incredible achievement.

George Williamson · 4.5 out of 5
Two garage engineers, working with super conductors, stumble across a side-effect that opens infinite opportunities for time travel.

(Country: US; Year: 2004; Director: Shane Carruth; Writer: Shane Carruth; Stars: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhyaya, Carrie Crawford, Jay Butler, John Carruth)

Full review

International Premiere

Rewind (Videoreul boneun namja, Man Watching Video)

Review preview for Rewind

This is a study in solitude and to say the film is subtle is an understatement.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Nameless Korean video store manager leads an uneventful life, pursued by women.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2003; Director: Kim Hak-soon; Writer: Kim Hak-soon, Lim Young-tae; Stars: Chang Hyun-sung, Pang Eun-jin, Oh Youn-hong, Sa Hyun-jin, Chung Eun-mi, Kim Young-im, Hong Seung-ki, Kim So-hyung, Chung Young-mi, Chung Da-som)

Full review

European Premiere

Somersault

Review preview for Somersault

Almost everything about the film just feels right.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 4 out of 5
Sexually awakened 15-year-old escapes to an Australian ski resort and lives off her wits.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2004; Director: Cate Shortland; Writer: Cate Shortland; Stars: Abbie Cornish, Sam Worthington, Lynette Curran, Nathaniel Dean, Olivia Pigeot, Damien De Montemas)

Full review

UK Premiere

Taipei 21 (Taipei Er Yi)

Review preview for Taipei 21

There's scarcely a moment to fault here.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 4 out of 5
A twenty- something couple struggle with their relationship in modern Taiwan.

(Country: Taiwan; Year: 2004; Director: Alex Yang; Writer: Alex Yang; Stars: Lin Meng-chin, Tsai Hsin-hung, Wang Shui-chuan, Toshimoto Fujii, David Mao, Lang Tsu-yun, Feng Yi-kang, Yao Chi-tong, Hsieh Menh-chu, Hsu Hui-ni)

Full review

European Premiere

United

Review preview for United

A lighthearted, slightly flimsy little film, which is funny and nicely executed.

David Stanners · 3.5 out of 5
Light-hearted comedy, where one man’s obsession with playing for Manchester United threatens to tear up his relationship.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2003; Director: Magnus Martens; Writer: Magnus Martens; Stars: Håvard Lilleheie, Berte Rommetveit, Vegar Hoel, Monika Bjerke, Severin Eskeland, Henrik Mestad, Arne Scheie, Sondre Sørheim)

Full review

Scottish Premiere

Zelary

Review preview for Zelary

The performances have a depth and understanding that surpasses surface glamour.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
A nurse, working for the Resistance in Prague, 1943, escapes to the Moravian mountains.

(Country: Czech Republic/Austria/Slovak Republic; Year: 2003; Director: Ondrej Tojan; Writer: Petr Jarchovsky; Stars: Ana Geislerova, Gyorgy Cserhalmi, Jaroslava Adamova, Miroslav Donutil, Jaroslav Disek, Iva Bittova, Ivan Trojan, Jan Hrusinky, Ondrej Koval, Juraj Hrcka)

Full review

UK Premiere