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Festival coverage

Glasgow Film Festival

2011

Boy
Boy

Combining a fascinating film selection with a collection of fashion, music and art based events bound to thrill visitors of all tastes, the 7th Glasgow Film Festival looks was what is known in local parlance as a stonker. Running fron 17 to 27 February, opened with the gala premiere of Gallic charmer Potiche, starring Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu, while its closing gala was swords and sandals spectacular The Eagle. Its retrospectives featured the wonderful Meryl Streep and dance sweetheart Ginger Rogers, with some fabulous treats from the archives.

There was also another great weekender from the popular Frightfest team, an exciting comics strand curated by star graphic novelist Mark Millar, and a series of workshops in which attendees could find out more about how the film industry works, or even try your hand at filmmaking themselves. All this plus an amazing shorts programme at the CCA and, in the run-up to the main festival, the Glasgow Youth Film Festival (6 to 16 February), which was packed with delights for children of all ages. Plus the inevitable parties.

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Latest reviews

  • West Side Story
    Review preview for West Side Story

    It still does things that surprise.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    Musical transposes the story of Romeo and Juliet to the gang-ridden streets of New York.
  • Boy
    Review preview for Boy

    This is an upbeat, often hilarious, but never mawkish, celebration of love.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
    A Boy and his brother find their fantasy version of their dad is somewhat different to the real deal.
  • Lord Of The Flies
    Review preview for Lord Of The Flies

    For all that time has changed the way it fits into the world, Lord Of The Flies remains as important today as it was in 1963.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A group a schoolboys stranded on an island quickly turn to savagery and fiercely hierarchical behaviour in this adaptation of William Golding's classic tale.
  • Poetry
    Review preview for Poetry

    Veteran actress Yun Jeong-hie, who came out of a 15-year retirement to take on the role of Mija brings a fragile beauty and strength to the part, lending her character an air of inscrutability that is intriguing rather than frustrating.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    A grandmother discovers poetry and begins to reassess the world around her.
  • Danger: Diabolik
    Review preview for Danger: Diabolik

    John Phillip Law is a bit wooden in the central role, though, like Roger Moore as Bond, he compensates by doing one particular expression really well.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    An audacious, costumed thief seeks out new challenges despite knowing the authorities are out to capture him.
  • Tiny Furniture
    Review preview for Tiny Furniture

    It is Dunham's fearlessness in showing Aura warts and all that becomes endearing.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    A recent graduate returning to her hometown struggles to find direction in a family where everybody else seems brilliantly talented.
  • The Shrine
    Review preview for The Shrine

    A mirthless hybrid of different subgenre elements that, though merged with a twist, remain resolutely bland to the end.

    Anton Bitel · 2 out of 5
    Three journalists find themselves in danger when on the trail of a cult which just might be practising human sacrifice.
  • Life, Above All
    Review preview for Life, Above All

    Director Oliver Shmitz does a good job of balancing the immediate, visible tragedy of the characters we follow with a wider, national problem.

    James Benefield · 3.5 out of 5
    A 12-year-old girl struggles to protect her family as her stepfather descends into alcoholism and her mother becomes increasingly ill, in a small town full of prejudice and hostility.
  • First Night
    Review preview for First Night

    Its structure aims for Shakespeare, but is little more than shaky, its dialogue is dire and there is enough ham and wood in the performances to make a perfectly good barbecue.

    Amber Wilkinson · 1 out of 5
    A wealthy industrialist commissions a private production of Cosi Fan Tutte with an amateur cast whose complicated relationships mirror the themes of the opera itself.
  • 13 Assassins
    Review preview for 13 Assassins

    Ultimately, what you see is what you get in 13 Assassins. Lots of blood and death and despicable cruelty.

    Robert Munro · 4 out of 5
    A retired samurai has to assemble a squad of assassins and set a town-sized trap.

A–Z of Glasgow Film Festival 2011 reviews

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