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Glasgow Film Festival · 2014

Glasgow Film Festival 2014

It's A Wonderful World

Programme

21 films · 12 reviews

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Bad Hair (Pelo Malo)

Junior is a 9 year-old with "bad hair". His efforts to smooth it down for the school picture incur the wrath of his mother Marta. His grandfather suggests that the boy stay with him on a permanent basis. He doesn't care if he's effeminate; he only wants to secure someone to look after him in his old age. Marta refuses and sets out to "re-educate" her son. Junior wants to live with his mother and for her to love him.

(Country: Venezuela; Year: 2013; Director: Mariana Rondón; Writer: Mariana Rondón; Stars: Beto Benites, Samantha Castillo, Nelly Ramos, María Emilia Sulbarán)

Beyond The Edge

Review preview for Beyond The Edge

Pooley and cinematographer Richard Bluck bring the story to life - along with the vivid possibility of death - and the big screen is the place to see it.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A docudrama about Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary's historic ascent of Everest.

(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2013; Director: Leanne Pooley; Writer: Matthew Metcalfe, Leanne Pooley; Stars: Chad Moffitt, Sonam Sherpa, John Wraight)

Full review

B For Boy

Review preview for B For Boy

To begrudge this film its faults would be to ignore the way it cuts to the very heart of the contradictions and hypocrisies of a nation that still regards women as vessels for male bloodlines.

Anton Bitel · 3.5 out of 5
A woman resorts to desperate measures after she has a stillbirth.

(Country: Nigeria; Year: 2013; Director: Chika Anadu; Writer: Chika Anadu, Chika Anadu; Stars: Uche Nwadili, Nonso Odogwu, Ngozi Nwaneto, Frances Okeke)

Full review

Capturing Dad

Two sisters attend the funeral of the father who left their family so long ago thatthey barely remember him.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2012; Director: Ryota Nakano; Stars: Makiko Watanabe, Erisa Yanagi, Nanoka Matsubara, Kenichi Takito, Satoshi Nikaido)

The Congress (Le congrès)

An ageing actress gets more than she bargains for when she accepts one last job.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Ari Folman; Writer: Ari Folman, Stanislaw Lem; Stars: Robin Wright, Paul Giamatti, Harvey Keitel, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Frances Fisher, Danny Huston, Sami Gayle, Michael Landes, Michael Stahl-David, Don McManus, Christopher B. Duncan, Cooper Thornton, Ed Corbin, Kevin Thompson, Matthew Wolf)

The Golden Dream (La Jaula De Oro)

Review preview for The Golden Dream

A flowing, lyrical film, at times startlingly beautiful, The Golden Dream hypnotises the viewer with its constant movement, its unceasing rhythm.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A group of Guatemalan teenagers tries to make it to the US.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2013; Director: Diego Quemada-Diez; Writer: Diego Quemada-Diez, Lucia Carreras, Gibrán Portela; Stars: Carlos Chajon, Rodolfo Domínguez, Brandon López, Karen Martínez)

Full review

The Great Passage

Review preview for The Great Passage

Matsuda is excellent in the demanding central role.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A charming geek finds spiritual fulfilment – and true love – while compiling a new Japanese dictionary.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2013; Director: Yûya Ishii; Writer: Kensaku Watanabe based on the novel by Shiwon Miura; Stars: Ryûhei Matsuda, Kumiko Asô, Chizuru Ikewaki, Hiroko Isayama, Kaoru Kobayashi, Haru Kuroki, Naoki Matayoshi, Aoi Miyazaki, Ryû Morioka, Kazuki Namioka, Jô Odagiri, Yoshiki Saitô, Shingo Tsurumi, Shôhei Uno, Misako Watanabe)

Full review

Harmony Lessons (Uroki Garmonii)

A brutally bullied teenager struggles to avoid getting drawn into a cycle of violence.

(Country: Kazakhstan, Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Emir Baigazin; Writer: Emir Baigazin; Stars: Timur Aidarbekov)

Heli

A man's search for his missing father sees him drawn into a world of drugs and crime.

(Year: 2013; Director: Amat Escalante; Writer: Amat Escalante, Gabriel Reyes)

Ilo Ilo

Review preview for Ilo Ilo

Ilo Ilo is a quietly assured first feature that marks the director out as a bright new talent.

Owen Van Spall · 4.5 out of 5
A family struggles to deal with the impact of the financial crisis.

(Country: Singapore; Year: 2013; Director: Anthony Chen; Stars: Yeo Yann Yann, Chen Tianwen, Angeli Bayani, Koh Jia Ler)

Full review

The Lunchbox (Dabba)

Review preview for The Lunchbox

Sheer unadulterated pleasure often comes from the most unexpected quarters.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A mistakenly delivered lunchbox sparks romance between two lonely people.

(Country: India; Year: 2013; Director: Ritesh Batra; Writer: Ritesh Batra; Stars: Irrfan Khan, Bharati Achrekar, Nimrat Kaur, Denzil Smith)

Full review

Mystery Road

Review preview for Mystery Road

Sen has crafted a tense thrill ride without ever forgetting his roots.

Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
An Aboriginal cop returns to his home town to investigate the murder of a teenage girl.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2013; Director: Ivan Sen; Writer: Ivan Sen; Stars: Aaron Pederson, Hugo Weaving, Jack Thompson, Ryan Kwanten, Tony Barry, David Field, Damian Walshe-Howling, Tasma Walton, Zoe Carides, Robert Mammone, Samara Weaving, Daniel Roberts, Bruce Spence)

Full review

The Past (Le Passé)

Review preview for The Past

Farhadi peels away the layers with simplicity, revealing the complicated and detailed emotions which lurk very close to the surface.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A couple meeting to finalise their divorce find themselves in difficult emotional terrain.

(Country: France; Year: 2013; Director: Asghar Farhadi; Writer: Asghar Farhadi; Stars: Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Sabrina Ouazani)

Full review

The Tale of Iya

A epic tale of mountain people and the clash between the ancient and the modern.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2013; Director: Tetsuichiro Tsuta; Stars: Rina Takeda, Shima Ohnishi, Min Tanaka)

Tom At The Farm

Review preview for Tom At The Farm

A complex portrait of grief, Tom At The Farm is Dolan's strongest work to date, not least because of the performance he gives in the lead.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A young man finds himself embroiled in a dangerous game of deception.

(Country: Canada, France; Year: 2013; Director: Xavier Dolan; Writer: Michel Marc Bouchard, Xavier Dolan; Stars: Xavier Dolan, Pierre-Yves Cardinal, Lise Roy, Evelyne Brochu, Manuel Tadros, Jacques Lavallée, Anne Caron, Caleb Landry Jones, Mélodie Simard)

Full review

A Touch Of Sin (Tian Zhu Ding)

Four characters represent different areas of China and different strata of contemporary society.

(Country: China; Year: 2013; Director: Jia Zhangke)

Tracks

Review preview for Tracks

Visually the film has emotional qualities that contribute to the feeling of admiration for Robyn's quest

Angus Wolfe Murray · 5 out of 5
Based on the true story of Robyn Davidson who in 1977 undertook an extraordinary solo trek across the harsh Australian outback.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2013; Director: John Curran; Writer: Marion Nelson; Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Adam Driver, Emma Booth, Jessica Tovey, Rainer Bock, Melanie Zanetti, Robert Coleby, Lily Pearl)

Full review

Unforgiven (Yurusarezaru Mono)

A remake of the US western, with a former mercenary tempted out of retirement when a group of sex workers offer a large bounty for revenge on the men who left one of them mutilated.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2013; Director: Lee Sang-il ; Stars: Ken Watanabe, Akira Emoto, Kôichi Satô)

The Voice Of The Voiceless (La Voz De Los Silenciados)

A young deaf woman sent to New York to teach sign language is exploited by a gang.

(Country: Guatemala, US; Year: 2013; Director: Maximón Monihan; Stars: Janeva Adena Calderon Zentz, Kevin Tamayo, Ricky Powell)

Wakolda (Wakolda: The German Doctor)

Review preview for Wakolda

Àlex Brendemühl is superb as the doctor, by turns avuncular and ruthless, somebody on whom the family find themselves increasingly dependent even as they come to distrust him.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
An Argentinian family setting up a guest house grows suspicious of a friendly German doctor who seems to command unusual respect in the local German community.

(Country: Argentina, France, Spain, Norway; Year: 2013; Director: Lucía Puenzo; Stars: Àlex Brendemühl, Natalia Oreiro, Diego Peretti)

Full review

Workers

Review preview for Workers

Valle’s deadpan comedy demonstrates a master image-maker at work.

Michael Pattison · 4 out of 5
A loyal factory cleaner is refused a pension whilst a maid finds herself employed by the dog who inherited the house where she works.

(Country: Mexico, Germany; Year: 2013; Director: José Luis Valle; Stars: Susana Salazar, Jesús Padilla)

Full review