Skip to main content

Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2018

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2018

American Dreams

Programme

13 films · 7 reviews

Jump to a film

Hearts Beat Loud

Review preview for Hearts Beat Loud

Despite, or perhaps because of this general air of ephemerality, you want to hold on to the moment and particularly to that sweet spot of youth, so deftly portrayed by Clemons, when everything is blossoming with possibility.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
In Red Hook, Brooklyn, a father and daughter become an unlikely songwriting duo in the last summer before she leaves for college.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Brett Haley; Writer: Brett Haley, Marc Basch; Stars: Nick Offerman, Kiersey Clemons, Ted Danson, Toni Collette, Sasha Lane, Blythe Danner, Quincy Dunn-Baker, Alex Reznik, Andrea Morales, Michael Abbott Jr., Harrison Chad)

Full review

UK premiere

Humor Me

A once-acclaimed playwright has to move in with his eccentric widower dad.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Sam Hoffman; Writer: Sam Hoffman; Stars: Jemaine Clement, Elliott Gould, Ingrid Michaelson, Maria Dizzia, Priscilla Lopez, Joey Slotnick, Willie C. Carpenter, Le Clanché du Rand, Rosemary Prinz, Annie Potts, Erich Bergen, Bebe Neuwirth, Cade Lappin, Ray Iannicelli, Mike Hodge)

UK premiere

Ideal Home

Review preview for Ideal Home

Ideal Home isn't perfect, but 'lovely' doesn't do it justice.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A bickering gay couple find their lives turn upside down when a young boy arrives on their doorstep saying he is the grandson of one of them.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Andrew Fleming; Writer: Andrew Fleming; Stars: Paul Rudd, Kate Walsh, Alison Pill, Jake McDorman, Steve Coogan, Sarah Minnich, Jesse Luken, Stafford Douglas, Lora Martinez-Cunningham, Jenny Gabrielle, Frances Lee McCain, Marie Wagenman, Monique Candelaria, Jack Gore, Cassandra Rochelle Fetters)

Full review

European premiere

Locating Silver Lake

A would-be writer is drawn to a charamsatic but dangerous man.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Eric Bilitch; Writer: Eric Bilitch; Stars: Tate Birchmore, Valerie Cruz, Ross Everett, Americo Galli, Alexia Hall, Grant Harling, Terence Jay, Gilland Jones, Robbie Kay, Connor Kelly-Eiding, Dan Lauria, Jake McDermott, Jason Mesches, Dion Mucciacito, James Nitti)

International premiere

My Name Is Myeisha

Imagines a teenager's thoughts in the moments after she is shot.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Gus Krieger; Writer: Rickerby Hinds, Gus Krieger; Stars: Rhaechyl Walker, John Merchant, Dominique Toney, Dee Dee Stephens, Rickerby Alexander Brown-Hinds, Warren Burke, Gregg Daniel, Elaine Lockhart, Trevor Williams, Rhaechyl Walker, John Merchant, Dominique Toney, Dee Dee Stephens, Rickerby Alexander Brown-Hinds, Warren Burke)

UK premiere

The Negotiator (Beirut)

Review preview for The Negotiator

The plotting, though not without cliche, retains a satisfyingly robust quality - dense enough to keep you intrigued without becoming overwrought.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A US diplomat flees Lebanon in 1972 after a tragic incident at his home. Ten years later, he is called back to war-torn Beirut by CIA operatives to negotiate for the life of a friend he left behind.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Brad Anderson; Writer: Tony Gilroy; Stars: Jon Hamm, Rosamund Pike, Idir Chender, Shea Whigham, Mark Pellegrino, Dean Norris, Leïla Bekhti, Kate Fleetwood, Douglas Hodge, Jonny Coyne, Alon Aboutboul, Larry Pine, Sonia Okacha, Anton Obeid, Jay Potter,)

Full review

UK premiere

Papillon

Review preview for Papillon

The violence is backed up with solitary confinement and mental deprivation

Angus Wolfe Murray · 1 out of 5
Adaptation of the classic novel about prisoners in a French penal colony.

(Country: Serbia, Montenegro, Malta, US; Year: 2017; Director: Michael Noer; Writer: Aaron Guzikowski; Stars: Charlie Hunnam, Rami Malek, Tommy Flanagan, Eve Hewson, Roland Møller, Michael Socha, Christopher Fairbank, Brian Vernel, Nina Senicar, Nicholas Asbury, Ian Beattie, Attila C. Arpa, Yorick van Wageningen, Fernanda Diniz, Joel Basman)

Full review

UK premiere

Searching (Search)

Review preview for Searching

The film - co-written by Sev Ohanian - is not just clever in the way that it uses familiar programs and the Windows and Apple Mac environments but also in the way it triggers familiar emotions.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
After his 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a desperate father breaks into her laptop to look for clues to find her. A thriller that unfolds entirely on computer screens.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Aneesh Chaganty; Writer: Aneesh Chaganty, Sev Ohanian; Stars: John Cho, Debra Messing, Joseph Lee, Michelle La, Sara Sohn, Thomas Barbusca, Sean O'Bryan, Ric Sarabia, Colin Woodell, Ashley Edner, Melissa Disney, Dominic Hoffman, Ben J. Pierce, Rene Michelle Aranda, Erica Jenkins)

Full review

UK premiere

Unicorn Store

Review preview for Unicorn Store

There will be someone, many, out there who will love it.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
A unicorn-obsessed woman meets a salesman who claims he can supply her with one of her own if she fulfils a series of chores.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Brie Larson; Writer: Samantha McIntyre; Stars: Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Karan Soni, Bradley Whitford, Joan Cusack, Martha MacIsaac, Hamish Linklater, Ryan Hansen, Susan Park, Annaleigh Ashford, Mary Holland, Emily Robinson, Chris Witaske, Kimia Behpoornia, Ithamar Enriquez)

Full review

European premiere

Weightless

A man with mental health issues finds himself in charge of a son he has never met.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Jaron Albertin; Writer: Jaron Albertin, Enda Walsh; Stars: Julianne Nicholson, K. Todd Freeman, Johnny Knoxville, Alessandro Nivola, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Marc Menchaca, Joey Rippo, Matthew Miniero, Meryl Jones Williams, William Hill, Sean Meehan, Christopher Jon Gombos, Steven Patrick O'Connor, Patrick Klein, Jeremiah Johnson)

UK premiere

We The Animals

Review preview for We The Animals

The story, such as it is, has the dreamy flow of childhood remembered, but though the honeyed tones of the magic hour are often used, there's never a glossing over the toughness of life being faced by these free-range kids.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Manny, Joel and Jonah tear their way through childhood and push against the volatile love of their parents as Jonah embraces a world of imagination.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Jeremiah Zagar; Writer: Daniel Kitrosser, Jeremiah Zagar, based on the book by Justin Torres; Stars: Raúl Castillo, Sheila Vand, Evan Rosado, Isaiah Kristian, Josiah Santiago)

Full review

UK premiere

Who We Are Now

A woman recently released from jail tries to regain custody of her son from her sister and husband.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Matthew Newton; Writer: Matthew Newton; Stars: EJ An, Helen Beyene, Jason Biggs, Ray Bouderau, Carly Brooke, Myrna Cabello, Octavia Chavez-Richmond, Katherine Dickson, Katie Eichler, Christy Escobar, Bruce Faulk, Mark C. Fullhardt, Olli Haaskivi, Samantha Hill, Sarah Ito)

UK premiere

Wild Nights With Emily

The story of Emily Dickinson's off-hours.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Madeleine Olnek; Writer: Madeleine Olnek; Stars: Molly Shannon, Amy Seimetz, Susan Ziegler, Brett Gelman, Jackie Monahan, Kevin Seal, Dana Melanie, Sasha Frolova, Lisa Haas, Marc Alan Austen, Darren Lee Campbell, Stacey Alyse Cohen, Lee Eaton, Elizabeth Everett, Nick Fisher)

International premiere