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Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2021

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2021

Features

Programme

19 films · 19 reviews

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Absolute Denial

Review preview for Absolute Denial

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

Andrew Robertson · 2 out of 5
Science fiction animation sees a programmer building a super computer off the grid runs into trouble as the AI he's created grows in strength.

(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Ryan Braund; Writer: Ryan Braund; Stars: Nick Eriksen, Jeremy J. Smith-Sebasto, Harry Dyer, Heather Gonzalez, Jef Leeson, Nick Eriksen, Jeremy J Smith-Sebasto, Harry Dyer, Heather Gonzalez, Jef Leeson)

Full review

UK premiere

Annette

Review preview for Annette

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.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
A stand-up comedian and his opera singer wife have a daughter with a surprising gift.

(Country: France, Mexico, US, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan, Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Leos Carax; Writer: Ron Mael, Russell Mael; Stars: Marion Cotillard, Adam Driver, Simon Helberg, Ron Mael, Russel Mael, Devyn McDowell)

Full review See: Interview with Marion Cotillard about Annette

UK premiere

Ballad Of A White Cow (Ghasideyeh gave sefid)

Review preview for Ballad Of A White Cow

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

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A single mum, whose husband has been executed, struggles for justice.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2020; Director: Maryam Moghadam, Behtash Sanaeeha; Writer: Mehrdad Kouroshniya, Maryam Moghadam, Behtash Sanaeeha; Stars: Maryam Moghadam, Alireza Sani Far, Pouria Rahimi, Avin Poor Raoufi, Mohammad Heidari, Maryam Moghadam, Alireza Sani Far, Pouria Rahimi, Avin Poor Raoufi, Mohammad Heidari)

Full review

UK premiere

The Beta Test

Review preview for The Beta Test

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

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A man's life starts to fracture after he receives an unusual invitation.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2021; Director: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe; Writer: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe; Stars: Jim Cummings, Virginia Newcomb, PJ McCabe, Kevin Changaris, Olivia Grace Applegate, Jessie Barr, Christian Hillborg, Malin Barr, Jacqueline Doke, Wilky Lau, Grant Rosenmeyer, Keith Powell, Monroe Cline, Laura Coover, Boni Mata)

Full review

UK premiere

The Bright Side

Review preview for The Bright Side

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.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Cynical stand-up, Kate, has lost her way, but she gains friends and a new perspective on life when she goes through cancer treatment with an unlikely band of companions.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2020; Director: Ruth Meehan; Writer: Ruth Meehan, Jean Pasley; Stars: Gemma-Leah Devereux, Siobhán Cullen, Karen Egan, Barbara Brennan, Derbhle Crotty, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Kevin McGahern, Claire O'Donovan, Elizabeth Moynihan, Barry McKiernan, Gemma-Leah Devereux, Siobhán Cullen, Karen Egan, Barbara Brennan, Derbhle Crotty)

Full review

UK premiere

The Deer King (Shika No Ou)

Review preview for The Deer King

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

Andrew Robertson · 3 out of 5
When a pack of dogs race through a Zol-controlled mine, Van, an enslaved former soldier, and a young girl named Yuna are both bitten, but manage to escape as the sole survivors of the attack. They seek out a simple, peaceful existence in the countryside but the deadly Black Wolf Fever complicates everything.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Masashi Ando, Masayuki Miyaji; Writer: Taku Kishimoto, Nahoko Uehashi)

Full review

UK premiere

Europa

Review preview for Europa

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

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Kamal, an Iraqi man trying to enter Europe on foot through the border between Turkey and Bulgaria, is relentlessly pursued through a forest by a group of hunters.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2021; Director: Haider Rashid; Writer: Sonia Giannetto, Haider Rashid; Stars: Adam Ali, Svetlana Yancheva, Mohamed Zouaoui)

Full review

UK premiere

Even Mice Belong In Heaven

Review preview for Even Mice Belong In Heaven

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.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A mouse and a fox meet in animal heaven and forge an unexpected friendship.

(Country: Czech Republic, France, Slovakia, Poland; Year: 2021; Director: Jan Bubenicek, Denisa Grimmová; Writer: Jeffrey Hylton, Richard Malatinský, Alice Nellis, based on the book by, Iva Procházková)

Full review

UK premiere

Everybody's Talking About Jamie

Review preview for Everybody's Talking About Jamie

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.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A teenager overcomes prejudice to fulfil his ambition of becoming a drag queen.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2021; Director: Jonathan Butterell; Writer: Tom MacRae, Dan Gillespie Sells; Stars: Max Harwood, Lauren Patel, Richard E Grant, Sharon Horgan, Sarah Lancashire, Shobna Gulati, Ralph Ineson, Samuel Bottomley, Ramzan Miah, Zane Alsaroori, Zion Battles, Gareth Joyner, Alex Anstey, Daniel Wallace, Dannie Pye)

Full review

Special preview screening

The Justice Of Bunny King

Review preview for The Justice Of Bunny King

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

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Bunny, a woman at the outskirts of society, fights to be reunited with her children. When her teenage niece needs help, Bunny takes her under her wing, and together, they make a stand against the cards they’ve been dealt.

(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2021; Director: Gaysorn Thavat; Writer: Sophie Henderson; Stars: Thomasin McKenzie, Essie Davis, Ryan O'Kane, Erroll Shand)

Full review

UK premiere

Mad God

Review preview for Mad God

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

Mateusz Tarwacki · 4 out of 5
An epic journey through all the layers of hell.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Phil Tippett; Writer: Phil Tippett; Stars: Alex Cox, Niketa Roman, Satish Ratakonda, Harper Taylor, Brynn Taylor)

Full review

UK premiere

Mandibles

Review preview for Mandibles

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.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
When friends Jean-Gab and Manu find a giant fly trapped in the boot of a car, they decide to train it in the hope of making a ton of cash.

(Country: France; Year: 2020; Director: Quentin Dupieux; Writer: Quentin Dupieux; Stars: Grégoire Ludig, David Marsais, Adèle Exarchopoulos, India Hair, Roméo Elvis, Coralie Russier, Bruno Lochet, Raphaël Quenard, Gaspard Augé, Thomas Blanchard, Philippe Dusseau, Olivier Blanc, Jean-Paul Solal, Jézabel Marques, Marie Narbonne)

Full review

UK premiere

The Man Who Sold His Skin

Review preview for The Man Who Sold His Skin

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.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Sam Ali, a young sensitive and impulsive Syrian, left his country for Lebanon to escape the war. He finds himself turned into a work of art by a tattoo artist...but at what cost.

(Country: Tunisia, France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden; Year: 2020; Director: Kaouther Ben Hania; Writer: Kaouther Ben Hania; Stars: Monica Bellucci, Koen De Bouw, Rupert Wynne-James, Husam Chadat, Saad Lostan, Najoua Zouhair, Dea Liane, Marc de Panda, Adrienne Mei Irving, Nadim Cheikhrouha, Yahya Mahayni, Jan Dahdoh, Wim Delvoye, Montassar Alaya, Monica Bellucci)

Full review See: Yahya Mahayni on The Man Who Sold His Skin , Kaouther Ben Hania in conversation on Wim Delvoye, casting for The Man Who Sold His Skin, and Shirin Neshat , Kaouther Ben Hania in conversation on the Oscar-nominated The Man Who Sold His Skin, Alfred Hitchcock and François Truffaut

UK premiere

Martyrs Lane

Review preview for Martyrs Lane

An exquisitely crafted piece of work.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A small, nightly visitor brings comfort to a lonely girl growing up in a large vicarage, but soon she will realise that her little visitor offers knowledge that might be very, very dangerous.

(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Ruth Platt; Writer: Ruth Platt; Stars: Denise Gough, Steven Cree, Anastasia Hille, Hannah Ray)

Full review See: Interview with Ruth Platt about Martyrs Lane

UK premiere

The Night House

Review preview for The Night House

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

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A widow struggles with grief as strange things happen in her lake house at night.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: David Bruckner; Writer: Ben Collins, Luke Piotrowski; Stars: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Stacy Martin, Evan Jonigkeit, Allie McCulloch, Samantha Buck, Patrick Klein, Michael Flores, James W. Meagher, Amy Zubieta, Andy Rich, Laura Austin, Dannielle Rose, Crystal Swann)

Full review

UK premiere

Ninjababy

Review preview for Ninjababy

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.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
When a woman discovers she is unexpectedly pregnant her unborn baby proves unexpectedly animated in the conversation department.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2021; Director: Yngvild Sve Flikke; Writer: Johan Fasting, Yngvild Sve Flikke, Inga Sætre; Stars: Kristine Kujath Thorp, Arthur Berning, Nader Khademi, Tora Christine Dietrichson, Silya Nymoen, Herman Tømmeraas, Mathias Kolstad Eriksen, Anita Gulliksen, Frida Øystese Haave, Janne Heltberg, Olivia Voldheim Hernæss, Thorbjørn Hesland, Espen Leite, Kristian Mehlum Lie, Evelyn Rasmussen Osazuwa)

Full review

UK premiere

The Road Dance

Review preview for The Road Dance

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.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
With the world on the brink of war a young woman dreams of a world and a life away from the harsh land and strict religion of her Hebridean island home.

(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Richie Adams; Writer: Richie Adams; Stars: Hermione Corfield, Morven Christie, Sean Gilder, Ian Pirie, Jimmy Yuill, Tom Byrne, Luke Nunn, Jeff Stewart, Alison Peebles, Will Fletcher, Michael Wozniak, Brett Beoubay, Caleb Johnston-Miller, Ali Fumiko Whitney, Scott Miller)

Full review

World premiere

Skies Of Lebanon (Sous Le Ciel D'Alice)

Review preview for Skies Of Lebanon

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

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
A Swiss woman moves to Lebanon where she falls in love with an astrophysicist but their peace is threatened by the civil war.

(Country: France; Year: 2020; Director: Chloé Mazlo; Writer: Yacine Badday, Chloé Mazlo; Stars: Alba Rohrwacher, Wajdi Mouawad, Isabelle Zighondi, Mariah Tannoury, Jade Breidi, Odette Makhlouf, Hany Tamba, John Chelhot, Greta Zighondi, Chloé Zighondi, Charbel Kamel, Ziad Jallad, Cécile Moubarak, Maroun Moubarak, Ishac Diwan)

Full review

UK premiere

Stop-Zemlia

Review preview for Stop-Zemlia

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.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Drama follows a shy teenager and her friend as they navigate their 16th year.

(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2021; Director: Kateryna Gornostai; Writer: Kateryna Gornostai; Stars: Maria Fedorchenko, Arsenii Markov, Yana Isaienko, Oleksandr Ivanov)

Full review

UK premiere