Edinburgh International Film Festival — A–Z of films

It's not that it's not clever, it's that it runs away with itself.

The film is a love letter to the sort of women too often squeezed out of cinema.

Jeunet has such an imaginative approach to film that he creates an atmosphere of magic.

I could not have wished for a more perfect first film to wean me back into the in-cinema press screening world I left behind in March 2020.

There's an elegance to the filmmaking as this story unravels its themes of societal prejudice, justice and remorse that elevates every frame.

It's one where the camera less becomes a fly on the wall than a sleeping dog in front of the fireplace, one where the comfort of the subjects gives us a better insight into them.

Bend It Like Beckham understands the rules of feelgood and will do well for that reason.

Cummings and McCabe want to have it all - and go a fairly long way towards getting it.

This is meditative, melancholy, moving.

Every moment of Bosco carries in it the opportunity to reminisce, to feel.

While Brave may occasionally shy away from darker territory in order to retain its appeal for even the youngest of audiences, there are still plenty of 'big' ideas here for small minds to think about.

The ending is a pastiche of the worst kind of Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks wet hanky job and a sop to the American market.

While we all know there will be, as per the title, a bright side to all this, Kate is satisfyingly complex and Meehan is always looking for ways to take us further in to her headspace.

The kind of film that immediately after watching I find myself trying to determine how I can get it in front of my parents to watch.

Essentially a love story, Casablanca is darker than a camel's eyeball.

Silverstone immerses herself in the character of Cher.

Directed by Masashi Ando, this is absolutely gorgeous... For all its beauty though, it labours.

It showcases Spielberg's gifts for light comedy, spectacle, and fairy tale celuloid sorcery.

Europa is unrelenting, claustrophobic in the camera's closeness to Kamal.

There's an odd dynamic to this animation in that the visually stunning imagery seems to have come from an entirely more rich imagination than the rather perfunctory and, at times, borderline annoying storytelling which accompanies it.

Creative licence has been taken with Jamie's story, of course, but the essence of it - and particularly the emotional beats - have a strong ring of truth.

The two basic tenets of documentary - find something interesting, tell its story in an interesting way. Faceless absolutely achieves the former, to the point that it starts to highlight its difficulties in the latter.

If you're cynical about non-human intelligence and inclined to associate an interest in whale song with sentimental hippies, Fathom will waste no time in setting you right.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a laugh-out-loud fest that makes you wonder how can kids be so intelligent and so stupid at the same time.

The animation is breathtaking and the characters are funny, charming and occasionally scary.

There are several places where statistics are given without context, and the background reading is a gloss of imagery.

Donner's era-defining adventure is at once lighthearted, serious, scary and lots of fun.

The plot is thin... but the highly choreographed songs make up for it big-style.

Hairspray is a sincere, thoroughly entertaining romp; bursting with boundless energy, inventive choreography and performances that quite simply delight.

The central pairing is the beating heart of Crystal's film and he knows it.

Taika Waititi knows growing up isn't child's play but he also respects childhood as a place of adventure, where spontaneity rules and the possibilities are only limited by imagination.

The Illusionist has a sense of humour, a sense of wonder, and a sense of place, and in combination that's enough to make it magical.

Jaws is a well-made, nuanced, gamble of a film that paid off handsomely and assured Spielberg's future.

Davis captures not just the emotional turbulence of Bunny's life but the sheer physicality of it.

There are scores of interviewed figures, all sorts of tall tales, but the line between biography and hagiography can be a slim one.

At first glance, one can feel the enormous amount of work, heart and effort put into the completion of this epic animation.

Mamma Mia! is a roller coaster of emotion, careering colourfully from the blue waters of the Adriatic.

This whole film isn't just about but on the fly, with Dupieux never letting the pace slip for so much as a few seconds of the short running time.

Given that one of the central tenets of Ben Hania's latest film is a debate about form... it's a joy that this extends to almost every frame of the film, many of which are so carefully composed they could hang in a gallery themselves.

An exquisitely crafted piece of work.

The truth is, as much as Disney wants to inspire its young viewers, it also knows what sells.

Ambiguity lurks in the shadows and there's a doubling up and a doubling down.

Like last year's Baby Done and 2019's Saint Frances this is a thoroughly modern consideration of impending motherhood that doesn't shy away from subjects like casual sex and allows the mother not to be consumed by sudden maternal instinct.

Cage fills the screen even when he does not.

Sadness lurks at the edge of the film, not just the grief of family loss but of a passing era that Lawrence is unwilling to let go.

Although an intensely personal document, it's possible to see inside it, the bones of wider tensions in society.

A piece that is deeply personal, punk in its aesthetic, and all the more powerful for both.

The first half an hour of this rattles along with plenty of good humour, injected with further energy by the Big Country soundtrack, which is as dyed in the wool Scottish as a fine Highland kilt.

I'm trying hard not to spoil a film which has plot beats that are so obvious and familiar it might as well be blasting them out on bagpipes.

Possibly the best musical ever written.

Bogarde, proving not for the first time that he was a whole lot more than just a pretty face, brings a real subtlety and edge to Barratt, letting just enough of the Machiavellian glint through to let us know there's more to this than first appears.

Russell-Martin - whose background is on stage, featuring in productions with Glasgow's Citizens Theatre among others - makes an impact in her film debut.

Singin' in the Rain remains one of the most enduring, effervescent and exuberant of films.

A period piece, shot in Cyprus, it's full of detail that shows care and consideration.

Few can deny the great storytelling of Lucas' true first episode of his space-opera.

It is a spectacular, brilliantly realised piece of moviemaking

The best-looking and orchestrated space battle ever committed to film.

Gornostai avoids obvious narrative arcs in favour of just letting us hang out and observe the everyday challenges and small dramas that pepper the lives of these 16-year-olds.

Brings home the fact that one person's tourism may be adding to another person's trauma.

Remains unbeaten in terms of influence and iconic moments.

What raises Cameron's creation above costumed action spectacle is the quality of the writing and the chemistry of its juve leads.

With a largely amateur cast there is a roughness to a lot of the performance, but it works.

The Wizard Of Oz has something fresh and intangibly pure for me every time I see it.

Jeremaiah Marobyane is a guide on the winding roads of broken memory – courageously entering the heart of darkness deeper and deeper in a search of a girl who went missing a few years ago.

Quite possibly the best of its kind.

Deftly avoiding cliches, it interweaves traditional and modern elements so smoothly that one scarcely notices the contrast.

Commentators have dismissed Mackendrick's comedy about the islanders of Todday as stereotypical, patronising and tame, but it is outrageously funny and highly subversive.