Glasgow Film Festival — A–Z of films

Sends an icy blast of fresh air into the moribund genre.

Patient, observational, 80 Million generates tension from small glances and elicits sympathy wih its depiction of everyday lives.

With each director having only four minutes there is really little time for the viewer to get engrossed in the material, barring some kind of sharp shock, superb central twist, gag or sharp social commentary, and some of writers and directors struggle wit

Though it doesn't really go anywhere new, this film provides a solid document of a series of interesting lives, and succeeds in showing that being good looking doesn't equal being stupid or having nothing to say.

After Lucia is an uncomfortable and disturbing experience with a vengeful sting in the tail.

To think that Ridley Scott provoked so much tension and dread from just one is strange. When they are all over you, it makes for a superior sequel.

Richard Gere is getting better with age. The lived-in look suits him and he holds this film tight.

There isn't much to this wee film, but that doesn't mean it doesn't shine.

Stephenson's eye picks up all kinds of telling detail to build a life-affirming picture of these individuals' heroic foolhardiness.

More sedate than scintillating, it is nevertheless impressively shot by newcomer Daniel Vilar - a name to look out for - and beautifully acted.

This documentary attempts to piece together what happened - to solve the mystery, but also to speak up for Banaz as a person, since pretty much nobody did so when she was alive.

There's some fun to be had among the commotion of the outbreak, but it all seems too stretched to really bite deep as either satire or schlock.

Like the man after whom it is named, is joyously camp and colourful, and not a little eccentric – even unhinged.

There's scarcely a scene in this film that doesn't deserve to be a poster.

Although much of the action is played for dark comedy, Berger undercuts his pastiche with unexpected poignancy at key moments.

What comes out in the film seems like the very essence of a rock life, though Baker demands to be called a jazz, as opposed to a rock, musician.

If the way Alina cries and hugs her friend hello, in between train tracks, does not trigger your empathy, you are possibly already dead.

There simply isn't anything here that will surprise anyone who is a veteran of cop films, with characters' actions, plot twists, misdirections and revelations quite easy to see coming.

As courtships go Bond is somewhat unconventional.

The cinematic equivalent of being stuck next to a drunken self-proclaimed intellectual on a night bus.

Underneath the sound and fury is a subtle, poignant and often very funny take on growing up.

Neil Jordan skilfully examines the nature of time and the theme that he surveys like no other filmmaker - what it means to physically be in two places at once.

Visceral stuff this, back-woods and isolated, gory and horrifying.

It's appropriate that the film should have an intellectual focus but there's too little focus on theory or technique to really satisfy those attracted to it for this reason.

It feels like you're watching the trailer for the much better movie you wish they'd made.

This is a film that will be enjoyed most by people who haven't seen many other films.

The bottom falls out of sanity in a way that, despite being based on real events, feels deeply unsatisfactory.

Anchored by a sincerely anguished turn from talented young Welsh star Aneurin Barnard.

It's easy to charm an audience with warm-hearted stuff like this. Where Spurlock really succeeds is in cramming so much meaningful information into his deceptively lightweight film.

Complex and immersive, funny but with a sense of danger lurking in its darker moments, this is the sort of film that children and adults will watch to the end and then want to watch again.

Delivers all-out adventure with refreshingly little messing about.

Phillip Noyce directs a tense thriller from the skeleton of old ideas.

Pete Travis works hard to bring John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra's apocalyptic vision to life.

Possessed of a compelling, folkloric intensity, Tom Chick's film is a morbid gem.

With astute social commentary interwoven in these personal dramas, this is a film whose cruellest joke is on its title character.

When those metal monsters take to the screen, it's non-stop fun and extermination.

There's a good amount of self-awareness within the film, and well-portrayed self-realisation for the characters.

Dormant Beauty expands beyond the central case to look at myriad issues around coma, caring, bereavement, euthanasia, suicide and choice.

With its considered compositions and emphasis upon real-life re-enactment, East Hastings Pharmacy has a vague resemblance to Soderbergh’s Bubble.

This is at once a densely interlocking slice of Scandi-crime, an intense set of character pieces, and a poly-lingual indictment of a variety of shades of greed.

It's the silences that really give Echo its power.

Perfectly contained, the contrast between human concerns and a cultural expression that's at once alien and untranslateable and immediately recognisable is stunning.

Ana Piterbarg attempts the acrobatic and ill-advised feat of presenting the plot of a B movie noir through the prism of arthouse sombreness.

A full life, lived by someone who is highly aware of his contradictions, his wit, charm and the sharpness of his pen, is an extraordinary triumph to watch.

Stéphane Brizé's perfectly balanced two-hander is a breath of fresh air.

A charming bit of stop-motion and well worth seeking out.

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.

Depends on a sense of inevitability, of the weight of impending doom that is as much moral as corporeal.

Observant, informative and very funny, The Final Member is worth watching for far more than the smirk factor.

An immensely involving and engaging experience.

While it's well-made, well-acted, it's trying to draw from a well too often tapped.

Deserving of special mention is the fantastically lush animated vision of Yokohama.

Perhaps not as good as the sum of it’s parts, McGuigan’s second effort is visually impressive, a great comeback for McDowell and a launching pad for Bettany.

Despite its length, the film rarely drags, and its dramatic passages give one a chance to rest between episodes of stomach-churning violence.

And as Moreh probes the men, we, whether we agree with them or not, find ourselves drawn into their moral maze in all of its complexity.

Vibrant, funny and ultimately touching, Leon's loose limbed narrative is an ode to both the tribulations of adolescence and the city in which it's set.

DeRoche has created a documentary that's both heart-warming and illuminating.

Sigríður is the kind of spontaneous interviewee documentarians dream of.

The Happy Lands would work better on television but it is still, in many ways, a strong piece of work.

The sort of film that practically defines the festival experience, but that one could not ever imagine watching in any other context.

Highlander cannot be faulted for its boldness, trying to reinvent the genre by dragging it kicking and screaming into the modern age.

Stark, beautifully observed, genuinely captivating, A Hijacking grabs its audience and does not let go.

This is not just a piece of history, it's a how-to guide with lasting relevance.

This film will reward those who give it the chance with rare delight.

Ozon loves to let his audience's perceptions clash.

Big, dumb, explosive and, most importantly, fun.

Hirokazu Koreeda's childhood adventure is a sweet and subtle tale of friendship, generosity of spirit and the triumph of hope over expectation.

Does nothing extraordinary and contains a fair degree of waffle, but serves as an effective showcase for some powerful music.

Hertzfeldt is inordinately talented. This is a beautiful film.

A confident and assured portrayal of a distinct lack of confidence and assurance.

This is an autobiographical film about someone's love, and love is the right word, a love of film.

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

It may sound like a spurious stream-of-consciousness from someone who’s taken too many drugs in their life, but it’s not.

Having the director's name in the title implies there's another Ghosts Of Mars somewhere. If so, choose it, because this has feathers and won't live to see Christmas.

Sara Ishaq's film is unflinching.

There's a real sense of being there, not only in the same physical spaces but in the same emotional ones.

One of the best social dramas you are likely to see this year.

Once it has established itself it unfolds with an almost metronomic inevitability, but for all that, for all that, it still satisfies.

An uneven film with occasional moments of genius.

This is a serious and entertaining character study - stripping down the lives of Soho and Raymond - that has the looks and acting talent to win over a crowd.

Where it would have been easy to soften Lore, Shortland refuses to get sentimental, keeping us hanging on the edge with her as events grow more traumatic.

Lords Of Salem is probably the director's most (ahem) 'mature' work yet - that being said, maybe next time he should give someone else's script a chance.

While there are plenty of lush gothic flourishes, there are also too many ridiculous horror tropes, but the quality of the acting - especially from child leads Megan Charpenter and Isabelle Nelisse - leads to several genuinely emotional scenes that distin

The effort made to conjure and observe the shifting weather pays off in mounting tension, an atmosphere of expectation and dread.

A must-see film for fans.

There is the air of a dysfunctional family agreeing to get together for Auntie Sheila’s wedding.

Martin McCormick's turn is a good one, Jackson's various interactions as he does his rounds a series of vignettes - life at the sharp end.

Sort of hints at a subsequent romance.

The bravery of immigrants, many of whom had take one-way tickets from the Old World and abandoned everything they knew in pursuit of a dream, is rightly celebrated here, but the film has a streak of naivety that distorts the story.

An emotionally complex and moving tale that more than justifies itself.

This goes on for more than two hours and will bore some viewers to death. Others, though, will find this quiet, complex film a fascinating piece of art in itself.

I struggle to see how the movie will appeal to 'foodies' let alone those for who food is a run-of-the-mill necessity, especially with such unsympathetic leads as our eyes and ears.

With all the slap and grease-paint it's between pan-cake and pandaemonium.

Otelo Burning presents us with a world where a great deal depends on trust and goodwill, making its hero vulnerable.

Joachim LaFosse's film builds, inexorably, to an ending that we know from the start is coming.

A fine tribute and an enchanting piece of cinema.

Written and directed by Dalibor Matanic, with a strong central performance from Leona Paraminski, it's technically adept, haunting.

Populaire benefits from a savvy script with multi-layered humour and from superb work by its stars.

The references are messy, the gestures grand.

Derek Cianfrance's The Place Beyond the Pines, tells stories of fatherhood with a fine-tuned generosity, as haunted men cycle through patterns spinning out of control.

There are some stunning shots, neat personal moments.

A poem of a film, a thing of intense, erotic beauty whose underlying craft is deftly concealed.

There's got to be humour that doesn't feel like pointing and laughing at a PVC-clad strawman.

Jake Schreier and scriptwriter Christopher Ford go well beyond the initial fun of the robot conceit to craft a thoughtful film musing on both the ageing process and our relationship with technology.

Sawney is a fairly accomplished first feature that at least has the good sense to revel in its silliness without resorting to self-indulgent irony.

Very little happens but it does so in a way that feels inevitable, astonishing.

Are there really people out there who didn't know disco had a social impact? Perhaps, but if so it seems unlikely they're the sort of folk who watch documentaries.

Fine model work, excellent production design, an overwhelming sense of menace.

Bergès-Frisbey is extraordinary.

Isolation rules and comfort is cold in Scott Graham's gripping and emotionally tense feature debut.

Soderbergh, just as he did with his 2011 film Contagion shows that the disaster you expected safely elsewhere, is right in front of you.

This is interesting work, and you should look forward to further output from those involved.

Solomon Kane has a respect for its source material and a willingness to balance its money shots with proper story-telling that transcend its genre limitations.

Most real, and at once divine, are the scenes in nature.

While there is much to admire about Spring Breakers in terms of visual aesthetic and directorial style, those aspects are undermined by a run of the mill narrative not nearly as subversive as it appears to want to be.

The heightened sense of India's reality is mimicked by Park's style and Miller's creations, who are pushed into the realm of melodrama and perilously close to caricature in pursuit of gothic thrills.

In Strayed there's a definite sense of finding - a startling, stunning finding.

An opportunity to listen to the voices most often lost in conflict - those of the peaceful people others claim to be fighting for.

Manages the bleat of despair and a bubbly breeziness.

Miller's stance may remain resolutely ambiguous but it's intriguing nonetheless.

If you're looking for something personal, something that dares to explore what is often avoided, this is well worth seeking out.

There are some stunning sequences.

Intimate, engaging and appealingly optimistic, Village At The End Of The World does its simple job well.

A celebration of Vito's life and of the work that long outlives him.

A cracking film by a born filmmaker and I can’t wait to see what all involved in it do next.

Mura is competently made and good to watch.

Now is the time to rediscover The Warriors and be reintroduced to a cult classic.

This fine array of actors is charged with safeguarding a plot as weak and confused as a newborn kitten.

An immersive dive into an offbeat and murky corner of modern Argentine life.

What makes this more interesting than the average little-guy-against-the-system drama is that it's also a compellng character study.

A valuable piece of history.

It's an intriguing subject, with far more depth than one might expect.

Has a real sense of energy and speaks with a distinctive Scottish voice.

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

This as an enchanting film and perfect for family viewing.

The beauty of Wreck-It Ralph is that it makes no difference if you spot any of the references or love videogames, such is the vibrancy of the animation and the humour of the screenplay.