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Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2022

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2022

Heartbreakers

Programme

14 films · 8 reviews

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Calendar Girls

Review preview for Calendar Girls

Without the soft focus common in representations of female subjects, we get to see their faces in all their lived-in three dimensionality.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A coming-of-golden-age look at Florida's most dedicated dance team for women over 60, shaking up the outdated image of "the little old lady," and calling for everyone to dance their hearts out, while they still can.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2022; Director: Maria Loohufvud, Love Martinsen; Writer: Maria Loohufvud, Love Martinsen)

Full review

The Cloud & The Man (Manikbabur Megh)

A meteorological love story set in Kolkata.

(Country: India; Year: 2021; Director: Abhinandan Banerjee; Writer: Abhinandan Banerjee, Bauddhayan Mukherji; Stars: Bratya Basu, Debesh Roy Chowdhury, Nimai Ghosh, Arun Guhatharkurta, Chandan Sen)

Full Time (A Plein Temps)

Review preview for Full Time

Gravel cleverly works the tempo, so we feel the occasional moments when Julie almost gets to relax, but that keep being snatched from her, more acutely.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Julie goes to great lengths to raise her two children in the countryside while keeping her job in a Parisian luxury hotel. When she finally gets a job interview for a position she had long been hoping for, a national strike breaks out, leading to a race against time.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Eric Gravel; Writer: Eric Gravel; Stars: Laure Calamy, Olivier Faliez, Lucie Gallo, Cyril Masson, Romain Ogerau, Laure Calamy, Olivier Faliez, Lucie Gallo, Cyril Masson, Romain Ogerau)

Full review See: Eric Gravel on Full Time

Goodbye, Don Glees! (Gubbai, Don Gurîzu!, Goodbye Donglees)

Review preview for Goodbye, Don Glees!

Storywise, there’s not a great deal here which hasn’t been done before, but it will be new to the young audience it’s really aimed at, and it’s beautifully told.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
When three boys get lost together in the forest, the adventure they share will change them forever.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Atsuko Ishizuka; Writer: Atsuko Ishizuka; Stars: Natsuki Hanae, Kana Hanazawa, Yûki Kaji, Ayumu Murase)

Full review See: Interview with Ishizuka Atsuko about Goodbye Don Glees!

Juniper

When 17-year-old Sam is thrown out of boarding school, he could have never imagined his days would soon be filled with an even more laborious task: caring for Ruth, his estranged alcoholic grandmother who has become temporarily immobilised after a domestic accident.

(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2021; Director: Matthew J Saville; Writer: Matthew J Saville; Stars: Charlotte Rampling, Marton Csokas, George Ferrier, Edith Poor, Cameron Carter-Chan, Carlos Muller, Tane Rolfe, Alexander Sharman)

See: Matthew J Saville on his debut film Juniper

Mars One (Marte Um)

Review preview for Mars One

Essentially an old fashioned tale in which the pursuit of dreams needs to be balanced by learning to appreciate what one has.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
In Brazil, a lower-middle-class Black family of four tries to keep their spirits up and their dreams going in the months that follow the election of a right-wing president, a man who represents everything they are not.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2022; Director: Gabriel Martins; Writer: Gabriel Martins; Stars: Rejane Faria, Carlos Francisco, Camilla Souza, Cícero Lucas)

Full review See: Interview with Gabriel Martins about Mars One

Millie Lies Low

Review preview for Millie Lies Low

The entire tenor of the film is downbeat.

Jane Fae · 2.5 out of 5
Anxious architecture graduate Millie is about to fly from Wellington to New York for a prestigious internship but has a panic attack before departure and gets off the plane. Unable to afford another flight, she hides out in her hometown, posting fake Big Apple updates to Instagram while trying to raise the money for a replacement ticket.

(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2021; Director: Michelle Savill; Writer: Eli Kent, Michelle Savill; Stars: Ana Scotney, Chris Alosio, Alice May Connolly, Sam Cotton, Cohen Holloway, Jillian Nguyen)

Full review

My Small Land

Review preview for My Small Land

Arashi is a model with Middle Eastern roots, making her screen début, which is difficult to belief given the quality of her performance in this complex, multifaceted role.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A Kurdish girl in Japan finds her life turned upside down when her family loses its refugee status.

(Country: France, Japan; Year: 2022; Director: Emma Kawawada; Writer: Emma Kawawada; Stars: Lina Arashi, Takashi Fujii, Sei Hiraizumi, Chizuru Ikewaki)

Full review

The Narrow Road

In the early days of the pandemic, chemistry develops between a single mum and the man who has hired her.

(Country: Hong Kong; Year: 2022; Director: Lam Sum; Stars: Louis Cheung, Angela Yuen)

Nelly & Nadine

Review preview for Nelly & Nadine

The love story is remarkable in its own right but the film also shows the way these sorts of histories could be hidden in plain sight.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The story of two women who fell in love whilst imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp.

(Country: Sweden, Belgium, Norway; Year: 2022; Director: Magnus Gertten; Writer: Magnus Gertten)

Full review

Plaza Catedral

Review preview for Plaza Catedral

This is a film which might sound cloying sentimental, yet is anything but.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Architect Alicia, a Mexican in Panama, can’t quite seem to fit in anywhere. The only constant in her life is the 14-year-old boy Alexis, who looks after the cars parked on her street... but tragedy is about to strike.

(Country: Panama, Mexico, Colombia; Year: 2021; Director: Abner Benaim; Writer: Abner Benaim; Stars: Ilse Salas, Fernando Xavier De Casta, Manolo Cardona, Marcos Bernal Lopez, Luan Sampo Valdés, Elsa Fajardo, Abner Benaim, Nick Romano, Oris Mayte Nicholson, Yohanys Brown Torres, Eduardo de Gracia Rangel, Alberto Arauz López, Galo Lasso, Giselle González, Andrea Pérez Meana)

Full review

Return To Dust

In a rural Chinese village, reticent farmer Ma and a disabled woman named Guiying lead lives that are similarly sheltered and difficult. Their arranged marriage seems destined to make things worse, but instead they discover a shared purpose.

(Country: China; Year: 2022; Director: Li Ruijun; Writer: Li Ruijun; Stars: Wu Renlin, Hai-Qing)

The Sacred Family (La Sagrada Familia)

Carmen and Sergio are ordinary parents juggling the pressures of family and work. Living in the Sacred Valley of the Incas in Peru, their business is based around the local ayahuasca ceremonies. Concerned about their family’s compulsive use of modern technologies, they take their three kids on a campervan road trip.

(Country: Peru; Year: 2022; Director: Borja Alcalde)

Yanagawa

Two brothers take a trip to Yanagawa, Japan, to find the woman they both loved in their youth.

(Country: China; Year: 2021; Director: Lu Zhang; Writer: Lu Zhang; Stars: Sôsuke Ikematsu, Ryôko Nakano, Ni Ni, Bai Qing Xin, Luyi Zhang)