Skip to main content

Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2017

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2017

American Dreams

Programme

16 films · 8 reviews

Jump to a film

Freak Show

Review preview for Freak Show

A film like this is a costume designer's dream.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A teenager who moves to a small town decides to tackle bullying attitudes by running for homecoming queen.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Trudie Styler; Writer: Patrick J Clifton, Beth Rigazio, James St James; Stars: Alex Lawther, Ian Nelson, Abigail Breslin, AnnaSophia Robb, Laverne Cox, Bette Midler, Willa Fitzgerald, Celia Weston, Mickey Sumner, Doris McCarthy, John McEnroe, Christopher Dylan White, Larry Pine, Michael Park, Eddie Schweighardt)

Full review

UK premiere

In Dubious Battle

Fruit pickers in 1930s California strike against their bosses.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: James Franco; Writer: Matt Rager, John Steinbeck; Stars: Nat Wolff, James Franco, Vincent D'Onofrio, Selena Gomez, Ahna O'Reilly, Analeigh Tipton, Jack Kehler, Scott Haze, Sam Shepard, Joel Marsh Garland, John Savage, Robert Duvall, Ed Harris, Josh Hutcherson, Julian De Niro)

UK premiere

The Last Word

Harriett is a retired businesswoman who tries to control everything around her. When she decides to write her own obituary, a young journalist takes up the task of finding out the truth, resulting in a life-altering friendship.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Mark Pellington; Writer: Stuart Ross Fink; Stars: Shirley MacLaine, Amanda Seyfried, Anne Heche, Thomas Sadoski, Philip Baker Hall, Tom Everett Scott, Ann Jewel, Lee Dixon, Alanna Ubach, Adina Porter, Joel Murray, Sarah Baker, Steven Culp, Marshall Bell, Gedde Watanabe, Joshua Harto)

European premiere

The Little Hours

Review preview for The Little Hours

The piecemeal nature of Giovanni Boccaccio’s source material only adds to the sketch show feel, with as many moments missing the mark as hitting it.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
When a runaway slave takes shelter at a convent, sexual shenanigans ensue.

(Country: US, Italy; Year: 2017; Director: Jeff Baena; Writer: Jeff Baena; Stars: Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Kate Micucci, Aubrey Plaza, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Fred Armisen, Jemima Kirke, Nick Offerman, Jon Gabrus, Adam Pally, Lauren Weedman, Paul Weitz, Paul Reiser)

Full review

UK premiere

Love After Love

The world of a mother and her two adult sons feels emotionally untethered following the death of their family’s patriarch.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Russell Harbaugh; Writer: Russell Harbaugh, Eric Mendelsohn; Stars: Chris O'Dowd, Andie MacDowell, Juliet Rylance, Dree Hemingway, James Adomian, Matt Salinger, Gareth Williams, Francesca Faridany, Michael Devine, Mark C. Fullhardt, Larry Gevirtz, Paige Sciarrino, Tom Galantich, Romy Byrne, Ryan Clark)

International premiere

Maya Dardel

Review preview for Maya Dardel

The most enjoyable aspects of Maya Dardel lie away from its pseudy centre.

Amber Wilkinson · 2 out of 5
A successful writer invites young male authors to compete to be her heir.

(Year: 2016; Director: Zachary Coltler, Magdalena Zyzak; Writer: Magdalena Zyzak, Zachary Coltler; Stars: Lena Olin, Rosanna Arquette, Nathan Keyes, Alexander Koch Jordan Gavaris, Chris Voss)

Full review

International premiere

Menashe

Review preview for Menashe

Rather than pick apart rituals... Weinstein simply lets us see them in action as part of the natural fabric of his life

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A man faces losing custody of his son after the death of his wife.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Joshua Z Weinstein; Writer: Joshua Z Weinstein, Alex Lipschultz, Musa Syeed; Stars: Menashe Lustig, Ruben Niborski, Yoel Weisshaus) , Trailer

Full review See: Menashe co-writer/producer Alex Lipschultz on the challenges of making the film

UK premiere

My Entire High School Sinking Into The Sea

A high school newspaper team try to escape their school as it sinks into the Pacific Ocean.

(Year: 2016; Director: Dash Shaw; Writer: Dash Shaw; Stars: Susan Sarandon, Lena Dunham, Maya Rudolph, Jason Schwartzman, John Cameron Mitchell, Reggie Watts, Alex Karpovsky)

UK premiere

Paris Can Wait (Bonjour Anne)

Long married to a successful but inattentive film producer, Anne is at a crossroads in her life. Enter Jacques, a French bon vivant, who offers to drive Anne from Cannes to Paris. What begins as an innocent favour quickly turns into an unexpectedly wandering road trip filled with fine cuisine and looming romance.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Eleanor Coppola; Writer: Eleanor Coppola; Stars: Diane Lane, Alec Baldwin, Arnaud Viard, Cédric Monnet)

UK premiere

Song To Song

Review preview for Song To Song

Some films need to be watched alone. This is one of them.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4.5 out of 5
Modern love story set against the backdrop of the Austin music scene.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Terrence Malick; Writer: Terrence Malick; Stars: Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, Holly Hunter, Bérénice Marlohe, Val Kilmer, Lykke Li, Olivia Grace Applegate, Dana Falconberry, Linda Emond, Louanne Stephens, Christin Sawyer Davis, Tom Sturridge)

Full review

UK premiere

Story Of A Girl

A teenager struggles to cope with the fallout after a sex video goes viral.

(Country: US, Canada; Year: 2017; Director: Kyra Sedgwick; Writer: Laurie Collyer, Laurie Collyer, Emily Bickford Lansbury, Emily Bickford Lansbury, Sara Zarr; Stars: Kevin Bacon, Sosie Bacon, Jon Tenney, Sarah Grey, Tyler Johnston, Ryann Shane, Caroline Cave, Andrew Herr, Maddie Phillips, Alison Wandzura, Naika Toussaint, Katerina Katelieva, Iain Belcher, Michael Maize, Bailey Skodje)

World premiere

Strange Weather

A grieving mum hits the road to settle a score.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Katherine Dieckmann; Writer: Katherine Dieckmann; Stars: Holly Hunter, Carrie Coon, Ransom Ashley, Walker Babington, Craig Boe, Kim Coates, Kim Collins, Turner Crumbley, Lucy Faust, Ted Ferguson, Susan Gallagher, Gloria Gonnillini, Choppy Guillotte, Glenne Headly, Shane Jacobsen)

European premiere

Sweet Virginia

Review preview for Sweet Virginia

Sweet Virginia is a simple story told very, very well.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
A burglary-homicide rattles the residents of a small Alaska town.

(Country: US, Canada; Year: 2017; Director: Jamie M Dagg; Writer: Benjamin China, Paul China; Stars: Jon Bernthal, Rosemarie DeWitt, Imogen Poots, Odessa Young. Christopher Abbot)

Full review

International premiere

Wakefield

Review preview for Wakefield

Jennifer Garner is very good, conveying through her facial expressions what many of the actors around her feel compelled to try and communicate as if they were in a silent film.

Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
A man decides to disappear and live secretly in an outbuilding, observing his family from a distance.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Robin Swicord; Writer: Robin Swicord; Stars: Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Garner, Beverly D'Angelo, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Isaac Leyva)

Full review

UK premiere

Where Is Kyra? (Deceit)

Review preview for Where Is Kyra?

The colours, like that coat, only serve to show Kyra in even paler relief, her invisibility coming to offer a welcoming cloak as she hatches a plan to avoid destitution.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A woman struggles to get by after the death of her mum.

(Year: 2017; Director: Andrew Dosunmu; Writer: Andrew Dosunmu, Darci Picoult; Stars: Michelle Pfeiffer, Kiefer Sutherland, Babs Olusanmokun, Suzanne Shepherd, Marc Menchaca, Celia Au, Anthony Okungbowa, Gabe Fazio, Mauricio Ovalle, Hubert Point-Du Jour, Nimo Gandhi, Elizabeth Evans, Bradley W. Anderson)

Full review

International premiere

The Yellow Birds

Two young men enlist in the army and are deployed to fight in the Gulf War. After an unthinkable tragedy, the surviving soldier struggles to balance his promise of silence with the truth and a mourning mother’s search for peace.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Alexandre Moors; Writer: David Lowery, RFI Porto, Kevin Powers; Stars: Alden Ehrenreich, Jennifer Aniston, Toni Collette, Tye Sheridan, Jack Huston, Jason Patric, Lee Tergesen, Aylin Tezel, Olivia Crocicchia, Rhoda Griffis, Carrie Wampler, Nikolai Kinski, Robert Pralgo, Wilbur Fitzgerald, Renée Willett)

European premiere