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Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2016

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016

European Perspectives

Programme

24 films · 15 reviews

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24 Weeks

A woman who is already six months pregnant learns that her unborn child will have Down's syndrome as well as a serious heart defect.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2016; Director: Anne Zohra Berrached; Writer: Carl Gerber, Anne Zohra Berrached; Stars: Julia Jentsch, Bjarne Mädel, Johanna Gastdorf)

Aloys

Review preview for Aloys

Nölle's greatest achievement is to keep the magic realist realm firmly anchored to the real so that reality feels touched by imagination rather than smothered by it.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A private investigator is drawn into a mind game by a mysterious woman.

(Country: Switzerland, France; Year: 2016; Director: Tobias Nölle; Writer: Tobias Nölle; Stars: Georg Friedrich, Tilde von Overbeck, Kamil Krejcí, Yufei Li, Koi Lee, Sebastian Krähenbühl, Karl Friedrich, Peter Zumstein, Agnes Lampkin, Rahel Hubacher, Haroldo Simao, Tobias Bienz, Aaron Hitz, Barblin Leggio-Hänseler, Benjamin Merz)

Full review

Black

Review preview for Black

This energetic film has a lot to recommend it, not least the way music is juxtaposed with action.

Rebecca Naughten · 3.5 out of 5
A Romeo and Juliet-style tale of love between members of rival street gangs and immigrant communities in contemporary Belgium.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2015; Director: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah; Writer: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah, Hans Herbots, Nele Meirhaeghe, based on the books by Dirk Bracke; Stars: Martha Canga Antonio, Aboubakr Bensaïhi, Sanaa Bourrasse, Soufiane Chilah, Emmanuel Tahon, Théo Kabeya, Ashley Ntangu, Laetitia Nouhhaïdi, Marine Scandiuzzi, Natascha Boyamba, Glody Lombi, Axel Masudi, Brandon Masudi, Jérémie Zagba, Brahim El Abdouni, Simon Frey, Faysel Ichakarene, Kobe Van Steenberghe)

Full review

The Childhood Of A Leader

Review preview for The Childhood Of A Leader

After all, what’s so sinister about reading Aesop’s Fables? Everything and nothing, Corbet suggests.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Fable about the rise of fascism set in post-First World War Europe.

(Country: France; Year: 2015; Director: Brady Corbet; Writer: Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold; Stars: Robert Pattinson, Liam Cunningham, Stacy Martin, Bérénice Bejo, Caroline Boulton, Sophie Curtis, Rebecca Dayan, Luca Bercovici, Michael Epp, Jeremy Wheeler, Scott Alexander Young, Roderick Hill, Patrick McCullough, Andrew Osterreicher)

Full review See: Brady Corbet on making audiences think, Christianity and Robert Pattinson and the culture of celebrity , Brady Corbet on history repeating itself and the look and sound of The Childhood Of A Leader , Venice Festival report: Looking For Grace, The Daughter, Equals, The Childhood Of A Leader

The Colony

Review preview for The Colony

The film does entertain, even excite at times, but it never creates a sustained atmosphere of dread.

Andrew Robertson · 3 out of 5
A woman's search for her abducted boyfriend finds herself drawn into an infamous sect.

(Country: Germany, Luxembourg, France; Year: 2015; Director: Florian Gallenberger; Writer: Torsten Wenzel, Florian Gallenberger; Stars: Emma Watson, Daniel Brühl, Michael Nyqvist, Richenda Carey, Vicky Krieps, Jeanne Werner, Julian Ovenden, August Zirner, Martin Wuttke, Nicolás Barsoff, Steve Karier, Stefan Merki, Lucila Gandolfo, Johannes Allmayer, Gilles Soeder)

Full review

Fast Convoy (Le convoi)

Review preview for Fast Convoy

It's worth noting that making a genre film is no excuse for crafting a female character this depressingly weak.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
Drug runners face trouble as they cross the Spanish border.

(Country: France; Year: 2016; Director: Frédéric Schoendoerffer; Writer: Yann Brion, Frédéric Schoendoerffer; Stars: Benoît Magimel, Reem Kherici, Tewfik Jallab, Mahdi Belemlih, Amir El Kacem, Leon Garel, Sofian Khammes, Foëd Amara, Alain Figlarz, Karine Martin-Prevel, Fanny Guidecoq, Yacine Ben Moussa, Olivier Audibert, Alain Martin, Blandine Ruiz) , Trailer

Full review

Go Home

Review preview for Go Home

A film that is confident in visiting the past not only as flashbacks but as repercussions, relations, revelations.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A woman returns to Lebanon and realises she has become a stranger in her own country.

(Country: France, Switzerland, Belgium; Year: 2015; Director: Jihane Chouaib; Writer: Jihane Chouaib; Stars: Golshifteh Farahani, Wissam Fares, Julia Kassar, Mireille Maalouf, François Nour, Maximilien Seweryn)

Full review

History's Future

Review preview for History's Future

Unfolds as an epic poem in which the fiction alternates with documentary inserts and strange, dreamlike hallucinations.

Leo Bankersen · 4 out of 5
An amnesiac man tries to piece his life back together.

(Country: Germany, Netherlands, Ireland; Year: 2016; Director: Fiona Tan; Writer: Fiona Tan, Jonathan Romney; Stars: Mark O'Halloran, Denis Lavant, Anne Consigny, Hristos Passalis, Manjinder Virk, Rifka Lodeizen, Brian Gleeson, Johanna ter Steege, Selen Savas, Jappe Claes, Michael Pempelforth, Lisa Mies, Jakop Ahlbom, Sillke Hundertmarkt, Gwen Langenberg)

Full review

The Homecoming (Blóðberg)

Comedy drama about a father who realises his son's new girlfriend is his daughter from a previous relationship.

(Country: Iceland; Year: 2015; Director: Björn Hlynur Haraldsson; Writer: Björn Hlynur Haraldsson; Stars: Harpa Arnardóttir, Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson, Margrét Guðmundsdóttir, Hilmir Jensson, Hilmar Jonsson, Jóhanna Jónas, Þórunn Arna Kristjánsdóttir, María Heba Þorkelsdóttir)

Irreplaceable (Médecin de campagne)

Review preview for Irreplaceable

This is a much more confident and relaxed film than Lilti's previous, showing more faith in characters and less need for dramatic incident.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A country doctor finds himself forced to train up a second doctor for his practice after being diagnosed with a tumour.

(Country: France; Year: 2016; Director: Thomas Lilti; Writer: Baya Kasmi, Thomas Lilti; Stars: François Cluzet, Marianne Denicourt, Christophe Odent, Patrick Descamps, Guy Faucher, Margaux Fabre, Julien Lucas, Yohann Goetzmann, Josée Laprun, Philippe Bertin, Géraldine Schitter, Isabelle Sadoyan, Félix Moati, Sylvie Lachat, Régis Iacono)

Full review

Kalinka

The true story of a man's attempts to get justice for his daughter, who died in disturbing circumstances.

(Country: France, Germany; Year: 2016; Director: Vincent Garenq; Writer: Vincent Garenq, Julien Rappeneau; Stars: Daniel Auteuil, Sebastian Koch, Marie-Josée Croze, Christelle Cornil, Lila-Rose Gilberti, Emma Besson, Christian Kmiotek, Serge Feuillard, Fred Personne, Thérèse Roussel, Tom Hudson, Antoine Milhaud, Timéo Bolland, Samira Hchaika, Natalie Beder)

The Lure

Review preview for The Lure

At the midway point, the screenplay begins to flap about all over the place but Smoczynska's firm, high-energy directing - including an extras-laden shopping centre extravaganza - doesn't stop to let you consider them for too long.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A pair of mermaid sisters run into trouble when one of them falls for a human.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2016; Director: Agnieszka Smoczynska; Writer: Robert Bolesto; Stars: Marta Mazurek, Michalina Olszanska, Jakub Gierszal, Kinga Preis, Andrzej Konopka, Zygmunt Malanowicz)

Full review

Mammal

Review preview for Mammal

The film has an intensity that creates its own tension.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3 out of 5
After Margaret, a divorcée living in Dublin, loses her teenage son, she develops an unorthodox relationship with Joe, a homeless youth.

(Country: Ireland, Netherlands, Luxembourg; Year: 2016; Director: Rebecca Daly; Writer: Rebecca Daly, Glenn Montgomery; Stars: Rachel Griffiths, Michael McElhatton, Barry Keoghan, Nika McGuigan, Johnny Ward, Joanne Crawford, Aoife King, Annabell Rickerby, Annette Tierney, Rachel O'Byrne)

Full review

A Man Called Ove (En man som heter Ove)

Review preview for A Man Called Ove

There's little that's really unusual about this tale, but it's beautifully put together.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A stubborn old man is won over by a new neighbour.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2015; Director: Hannes Holm; Writer: Hannes Holm, based on the novel by Fredrik Backman; Stars: Rolf Lassgård, Zozan Akgün, Tobias Almborg, Viktor Baagøe, Filip Berg, Anna-Lena Bergelin, Lasse Carlsson, Karin de Frumerie, Simon Edenroth, Ida Engvoll, Fredrik Evers, Jerker Fahlström, Johan Friberg, Anna Granath, Sofie Gällerspång)

Full review

The Man Who Was Thursday

Existential thriller about a shamed clergyman who is asked to go underground to track the leader of an anarchist group.

(Country: US, Italy, Hungary, Romania; Year: 2015; Director: Balazs Juszt; Writer: Balazs Juszt, based on the novel by GK Chesterton; Stars: François Arnaud, Jordi Mollà, Ana Ularu, Mark Ivanir, Linc Hand, Theo Alexander, Emanuela Postacchini, Isabel García Lorca, Attila Árpa, Federico Galavis, Péter Fancsikai, András Faragó, László Konter, Krisztián Kolovratnik, István Kovács)

The Model (A modell)

An up-and-coming model develops a dangerous obsession with a fashion photographer.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2016; Director: Mads Matthiesen; Writer: Anders Frithiof August, Mads Matthiesen, Martin Zandvliet; Stars: Maria Palm, Ed Skrein, Yvonnick Muller, Christian Abart, Dominic Allburn, Virgile Bramly, Alexia Chicot, Thierry Hancisse, Marco Ilsø, Leonardo Lacaria, Elise Lissague, David L. Price, Mehdi Senoussi, Charlotte Tomaszewska, Claire Tran)

Mother (Ema)

This darkly comic, crime mystery set in small-town Estonia centers on Elsa, the full time caretaker of her comatose son, Lauri, and the locals, who are abuzz with rumours about who shot Lauri and why. But in this tight-knit town, where everyone seems to know everyone and everything except for what’s right under their nose, the world’s clumsiest crime may go unsolved.

(Country: Estonia; Year: 2016; Director: Kadri Kõusaar; Writer: Leana Jalukse, Al Wallcat; Stars: Endla Härm, Kalju Johannes Härm, Katrin Kalma, Merle Kiivet, Liis Laigna, Rea Lest, Siim Maaten, Märten Matsu, Getter Meresmaa, Margus Mikomägi, Marin Mägi, Tiina Mälberg, Andres Noormets, Jaan Pehk, Jaak Prints)

My Name Is Emily

A teenage girl and boy embark on a road trip to find the girl's dad.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2015; Director: Simon Fitzmaurice; Writer: Simon Fitzmaurice; Stars: Evanna Lynch, Michael Smiley, Martin McCann, Cathy Belton, Deirdre Mullins, George Webster, Barry McGovern, Laura Matassa, Stella McCusker, Declan Conlon, Dónall Ó Héalai, Ali White, Sarah Minto, Ally Ni Chiarain, Peter Robbie)

The Olive Tree (El olivo)

Review preview for The Olive Tree

What the film lacks in allegorical subtlety it makes up for in depth of emotion.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A woman sets out to recover her grandfather's tree from the company who bought it.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2016; Director: Icíar Bollaín; Writer: Paul Laverty; Stars: Anna Castillo, Javier Gutiérrez, Pep Ambròs, Manuel Cucala, Miguel Angel Aladren, Carme Pla, Ana Isabel Mena, María Romero, Paula Usero, Janina Agnes Schröder, Cris Blanco, Paco Manzanedo, Inés Ruiz, Aina Requena, Pia Stutzenstein)

Full review

Saint Amour

A father and son reconnect as they travel through the wine growing regions of France

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2016; Director: Gustave Kervern, Benoît Delépine; Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Benoît Poelvoorde, Vincent Lacoste, Céline Sallette, Gustave Kervern)

A Serious Game (Den allvarsamma leken)

Costume drama about forbidden love.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2016; Director: Pernilla August; Writer: Lone Scherfig, based on the novel by Hjalmar Söderberg; Stars: Michael Nyqvist, Sverrir Gudnason, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Karin Franz Körlof, Liv Mjönes, Sven Nordin, Göran Ragnerstam, Richard Forsgren, Petronella Barker, Ia Langhammer, Alba August, Eva Millberg, Sofia Rönnegård, Staffan Göthe, Sophie Tolstoy)

Sparrows

Review preview for Sparrows

What marks Rúnarsson's film out from so many similar coming-of-age films, however, is its strong sense of place and the inner strength of his central character.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A coming-of-age story about the 16-year old boy Ari, who has been living with his mother in Reykjavik and is suddenly sent back to the remote Westfjords to live with his father Gunnar.

(Country: Iceland, Denmark, Croatia; Year: 2015; Director: Rúnar Rúnarsson; Writer: Rúnar Rúnarsson; Stars: Rade Serbedzija, Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, Atli Oskar Fjalarsson, Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir, Arnoddur Magnus Danks, Kristbjörg Kjeld, Eva Sigurdardottir, Pálmi Gestsson, Víkingur Kristjánsson, Elín Árnadóttir, Benedikt Benediktson, Jarkko Lahti, Júlíus Þorfinnsson, Rakel Björk Björnsdóttir, Katla M. Þorgeirsdóttir)

Full review

Suntan

Review preview for Suntan

Mid-life crisis has rarely felt so queasy as it does in Argyris Papadimitropoulos' character study, which features humour so dark you can feel it closing in around you.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A doctor becomes obsessed with a much younger tourist.

(Country: Germany, Greece; Year: 2016; Director: Argyris Papadimitropoulos; Writer: Argyris Papadimitropoulos, Syllas Tzoumerkas; Stars: Makis Papadimitriou, Elli Tringou, Dimi Hart, Hara Kotsali, Milou Van Groesen, Marcus Collen, Yannis Tsortekis, Pavlos Orkopoulos, Maria Kallimani, Marissa Triandafyllidou, Syllas Tzoumerkas, Achilleas Kyriakidis, Kostas Gouzelis, Konstantinos Melitas, Yannis Economides)

Full review

To Steal From A Thief (Cien años de perdón)

Review preview for To Steal From A Thief

This film does much well but little new.

Andrew Robertson · 3 out of 5
Crime thriller set against the backdrop of Spain's economic collapse.

(Country: Spain, France, Argentina; Year: 2016; Director: Daniel Calparsoro; Writer: Jorge Guerricaechevarría; Stars: Luis Tosar, Rodrigo De la Serna, Raúl Arévalo, José Coronado, Patricia Vico, Joaquín Furriel, Luciano Cáceres, Marian Álvarez, Luis Callejo, Miquel Fernández, Diego Starosta, Pablo Andrés Pinto, Joaquín Climent, Vicente Ayala, Maria Molins)

Full review