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Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2009

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009

Director's Showcase

This is the place to go if you want to check out films by directors with an existing track record, described in the programme as "classics of the future, from the established auteurs of our time".


Programme

21 films · 20 reviews

Jump to a film

35 Shots Of Rhum (35 rhums, 35 Shots Of Rum)

Review preview for 35 Shots Of Rhum

Denis declines to make concessions, she’s willing to show, refuses to tell.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
The shifting relationship between a single dad and his teenage daughter.

(Country: France, Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Claire Denis; Writer: Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau; Stars: Alex Descas, Mati Diop, Nicole Dogue, Grégoire Colin, Jean-Christophe Folly, Djédjé Apali, Eriq Ebouaney, Ingrid Caven, Stéphane Pocrain, Julieth Mars Toussaint, Adèle Ado, Mary Pie, Cheikh Toure, David Saada, Mario Canonge)

Full review See: Claire Denis interview about 35 Shots Of Rum

UK Premiere

Adventureland

Review preview for Adventureland

At its core, Adventureland is a surprisingly sweet and tender coming-of-age romance.

Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
A recent graduate takes a nowhere job at his local amusement park and discovers it's perfect preparation for the real world.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Greg Mottola; Writer: Greg Mottola; Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Bill Hader, Martin Starr, Margerita Levieva, Matt Bush, Kristen Wiig, Jack Gilpin) , Official site , Trailer

Full review

UK Premiere

All That She Wants (Elle Veut Le Chaos)

Review preview for All That She Wants

The black and white film perfectly evokes the sense of a place caught in aspic.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A woman dreams of escape from her remote Canadian town.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2008; Director: Denis Côté; Writer: Denis Côté; Stars: Eve Duranceau, Nicolas Canuel, Laurent Lucas, Rejean Lefrancois, Olivier Aubin)

Full review

UK Premiere

Fear Me Not (Den du frygter)

A man finds his life spiralling out of control after he enlists in a drug trial.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2008; Director: Kristian Levring; Writer: Anders Thomas Jensen, Kristian Levring; Stars: Ulrich Thomsen, Lars Brygmann, Bjarne Henriksen, Emma Sehested Høeg, Paprika Steen, Stine Stengade, Bodil Udsen)

UK Premiere

The Girlfriend Experience

Review preview for The Girlfriend Experience

There’s nothing particularly radical about what Soderbergh is doing here.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 3.5 out of 5
Pornography is made subject to philosophy in this speculative art film.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Steven Soderbergh; Writer: Brian Koppelman, David Levien; Stars: Sasha Grey, Christopher Santos, Peter Zizzo, Jeff Grossman, Timothy J. Cox, Bridget Storm, Kimberly Magness, Ken Myers, Timothy Davis, Ted Jessup) , Official site

Full review

International Premiere

Gulabi Talkies

Review preview for Gulabi Talkies

Kasaravalli's complex layering of shifting friendships and allegiances is admirable and yet by trying to cram in so much comment on society, the narrative becomes confusing.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A fiftysomething exile becomes the hub of her local community after coming into possession of a telly.

(Country: India; Year: 2008; Director: Girish Kasaravalli; Stars: Umashree, KG Krishnamurthy, MD Pallavi, Praveera, Poornima Mohan, Ashok Sandip)

Full review

European Premiere

High Life

Review preview for High Life

Olyphant has a great seductive charm and impeccable comic timing.

Darren Amner · 4 out of 5
Drug-addicted petty criminals try to pull off a major heist.

(Country: USA, Canada; Year: 2008; Director: Gary Yates; Writer: Lee MacDougall, Gary Yates; Stars: Timothy Olyphant, Stephen Eric McIntyre, Rossif Sutherland, Joe Anderson, Mike Bell, Sarah Constible, Leigh Enns, Aaron Hughes, Susan Kelso, Tracy McMahon)

Full review

UK Premiere

The Hurt Locker

Review preview for The Hurt Locker

An unrelenting, absolutely riveting and often unflattering portrait of frontline action through the eyes of brave people doing their best to survive.

Trinity · 4.5 out of 5
An elite bomb disposal unit struggles to function in the heart of the Iraq war.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Kathryn Bigelow; Writer: Mark Boal; Stars: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Evangeline Lilly, Christian Camargo, Suhail Aldabbach, Christopher Sayegh, Nabil Koni, Sam Spruell, Sam Redford, Feisal Sadoun, Barrie Rice) , Official site

Full review

UK Premiere

Humpday

Review preview for Humpday

A mumblecore masterpiece.

George Williamson · 5 out of 5
Two old friends take male bonding a little too far.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Lynn Shelton; Writer: Lynn Shelton; Stars: Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, Alycia Delmore, Lynn Shelton, Trina Willard) , Official site

Full review

UK Premiere

I'm Gonna Explode (Voy A Explotar, I'm Going To Explode)

Review preview for I'm Gonna Explode

The issue of sex is carefully handled and the trajectory the pair take has a fumbling, teenage quality that makes it easy to believe.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A romance develops between two rebels without a cause.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2008; Director: Gerardo Naranjo; Writer: Gerardo Naranjo; Stars: Maria Deschamps, Juan Pablo de Santiago, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Rebecca Jones, Martha Claudia Moreno) , Official site

Full review

UK Premiere

Jerichow

Review preview for Jerichow

There is no question that Petzold is his own film-maker.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 4 out of 5
Three misbegotten strangers stumble into a fateful encounter.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Christian Petzold; Writer: Christian Petzold; Stars: Benno Fürmann, Nina Hoss, Hilmi Sözer, André Hennicke, Claudia Geisler, Marie Gruber, Knut Berger)

Full review

UK Premiere

Jermal

Review preview for Jermal

When it comes to the acting, the fact that the children are all non-professionals, fuels the sense of reality that underpins the action.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
After his mother dies a young boy is forced to work for his estranged dad, facing bullying and rejection in the process.

(Country: Indonesia; Year: 2008; Director: Ravi L Bharwani, Rayya Makarim, Utawa Tresno; Writer: Rayya Makarim, Orlow Seunke, Ravi L Bharwani; Stars: Iqbal S Manurung, Didi Petet, Yayu AW Unru, Chairil A Dalimunthe)

Full review

UK Premiere

Little Soldier (Lille Soldat)

Review preview for Little Soldier

Little Soldier makes us face some of the hardest questions we may never want to answer.

Chris · 4 out of 5
A psychologically damaged soldier returns from war and becomes a chauffeur for her father's prostitutes, finding frienship in an unlikely place.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2008; Director: Annette K. Olesen; Writer: Kim Fupz Aakeson; Stars: Trine Dyrholm, Finn Nielsen, Lorna Brown, Rasmus Botoft, Jens Jørgen Spottag)

Full review

UK Premiere

Milk (Süt)

Review preview for Milk

There are many rich images on offer here.

Sarah Artt · 5 out of 5
Coming-of-age drama about a young boy struggling to get by in a rural economy.

(Country: Turkey, France, Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Semih Kaplanoglu; Writer: Semih Kaplanoglu; Stars: Basak Koklukaya, Melih Selcuk)

Full review

UK Premiere

The Missing Person

Review preview for The Missing Person

There may not be much beyond the surface, but it's a fine surface

Scott Macdonald · 3 out of 5
Neonoir about a private eye charged with following a man presumed dead after 9/11.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Noah Buschel; Writer: Noah Buschel; Stars: Michael Shannon, Amy Ryan, Frank Wood, Linda Emond, Paul Sparks, Margaret Colin, John Ventimiglia, Yul Vazquez, Merritt Wever, Daniel Franzese)

Full review

International Premiere

Paper Soldier (Bumazhnyy Soldat)

Review preview for Paper Soldier

Visually startling and constantly surprising, Paper Soldier is a major work of modern cinema.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4.5 out of 5
Russian cosmonauts train for the Sputnik launch in a frozen wilderness in Kazakhstan.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2008; Director: Aleksei German Jnr; Writer: Aleksei German Jnr, Vladimir Arkusha; Stars: Merab Ninidze, Chulpan Khamatova, Anastasiya Sheveleva)

Full review

UK Premiere

Pardon My French (Un Chat Un Chat)

Review preview for Pardon My French

This is a charming first feature-length offering from writer/director Fillières.

Sarah Artt · 4 out of 5
A black comedy about the relationship between a woman and a female stalker.

(Country: France; Year: 2009; Director: Sophie Fillières; Stars: Chiara Mastroianni, Agathe Bonitzer, Malik Zidi, Dominique Valadié, Sophie Guillemin)

Full review

UK Premiere

Scratch (Rysa)

Review preview for Scratch

Since much of the marital battle is a 'war of silence', the film hinges on Jankowska-Cieslak's performance and she rises masterfully to the challenge.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A revelation threatens to tear apart a 40-year-old marriage.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2008; Director: Michal Rosa; Writer: Michal Rosa; Stars: Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieslak, Krzysztof Stroinski, Ewa Telega, Miroslawa Marcheluk, Teresa Marczewska, Ryszard Filipski, Stanislaw Radwan, Jerzy Schejbal, Jerzy Nowak, Kinga Preis, Alicja Bienicewicz, Slawomir Pacek, Jakub Bohosiewicz, Damian Hryniewicz, Zdzislaw Bromek)

Full review See: Diary article about the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009

UK Premiere

Stella

Review preview for Stella

This is about the life-changing little things that happen to us all, which makes it all the more affecting.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Snapshot of a year in the life of an 11-year-old.

(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Sylvie Verheyde; Writer: Sylvie Verheyde; Stars: Léora Barbara, Melissa Rodriguez, Letitia Guerard, Karole Rocher, Benjamin Biolay, Guillaume Depardieu, Johan Libéreau, Jeannick Gravelines, Valerie Stroh, Thierry Neuvic, Anne Benoit, Christophe Bourseiller, Nicolas Janny, Christel Dewynter, Yolaine-Anne Gliott)

Full review

UK Premiere

Surrogate

Review preview for Surrogate

There are sensitive and alluring performances from both Etinger and Wolf.

Sarah Artt · 5 out of 5
The relationship between a troubled man and the woman who gives him sexual therapy.

(Country: Israel; Year: 2008; Director: Tali Shalom-Ezer; Writer: Tali Shalom-Ezer; Stars: Amir Wolf, Lana Ettinger, Rosina Kambus, Yonatan Swirski, Liat Glick, Lascha Shimshoni)

Full review

International Premiere

Terribly Happy (Frygtelig lykkelig)

Review preview for Terribly Happy

An effective and well-made entertainment which slowly gets its hooks into you.

Scott Macdonald · 4 out of 5
When a town cop is reassigned to a provincial beat, he finds that rather than inflicting order on the locals, they have a disturbing affect on him.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2008; Director: Henrik Ruben Genz; Writer: Henrik Ruben Genz, Dunja Gry Jensen, Erling Jepsen; Stars: Jakob Cedergren, Lene Maria Christensen, Kim Bodnia, Lars Brygmann, Anders Hove, Henrik Lykkegaard)

Full review

UK Premiere