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Glasgow Film Festival · 2015

Glasgow Film Festival 2015

Cinemasters

Programme

19 films · 11 reviews

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1001 Grams

Marie likes things to be safe and quantifiable. But can you measure happiness or even the weight of a life?

(Country: Norway; Year: 2014; Director: Bent Hamer; Writer: Bent Hamer; Stars: Ane Dahl Torp, Peter Hudson, Per Christian Ellefsen, Laurent Stocker, Stein Winge, Hildegun Riise)

Clouds Of Sils Maria

Review preview for Clouds Of Sils Maria

There is much irony on the theme of generational gulfs, internet obsessions and the nature of creativity and culture. Unfortunately none of it rings true.

Richard Mowe · 2 out of 5
A reclusive actress on the brink of divorce is asked to take on a challenging role - that of a doomed woman whose betrayer she made her name as.

(Country: France, Switzerland, Germany; Year: 2014; Director: Olivier Assayas; Writer: Olivier Assayas; Stars: Chloë Grace Moretz, Kristen Stewart, Juliette Binoche, Brady Corbet, Claire Tran, Johnny Flynn) , Trailer

Full review See: Interview with Olivier Assayas about Clouds Of Sils Maria

Coming Home

Review preview for Coming Home

Gong Li is magnificent as always.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Returning home after 20 years in a labour camp, a loving husband finds that his ailing wife can no longer recognise him.

(Country: China; Year: 2014; Director: Zhang Yimou; Writer: Jingshi Zou, based on the book by Yan Geling; Stars: Gong Li, Chen Daoming)

Full review

Dearest (Qin Ai De Xiao Hai)

Review preview for Dearest

Hard to forget.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A Chinese couple face turmoil after their child is abducted.

(Country: China, Hong Kong; Year: 2014; Director: Peter Chan; Writer: Zhang Ji; Stars: Zhao Wei, Huang Bo, Tong Dawei, Hao Lei)

Full review

Fires On The Plain

A writer enlisted in the Japanese army descends into Hell during the Allied liberation of the Philippines.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2014; Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto; Stars: Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Rirî Furankî, Yûko Nakamura)

From What Is Before (Mula Sa Kung Ano Ang Noon)

The Philippines, 1972. Mysterious things are happening in a remote barrio.

(Country: Philippines; Year: 2014; Director: Lav Diaz; Writer: Lav Diaz; Stars: Perry Dizon, Roeder, Hazel Orencio, Karenina Haniel, Reynan Abcede, Mailes Kanapi, Ian Lomongo, Joel Saracho, Evelyn Vargas, Noel Sto. Domingo, Teng Mangansakan, Ching Valdes-Aran, Bambi Beltran, Dea Formacil, Kristian Chua)

Girlhood (Bande de filles)

Review preview for Girlhood

Transformation is coming, although as with Sciamma's previous films this is not a simple, one-way manoeuvre, completed in double-quick time

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Oppressed by her family setting, dead-end school prospects and the boys law in the neighborhood, Marieme starts a new life after meeting a group of free-spirited girls.

(Country: France; Year: 2014; Director: Céline Sciamma; Writer: Céline Sciamma; Stars: Diabate Idrissa, Rabah Nait Oufella, Tatiana Rojo, Karidja Touré)

Full review See: Girlhood director Celine Sciamma interview about sex, desire and friendship

The Golden Era (Huang Jin Shi Dai)

A biopic of Xiao Hong, who broke away from traditional expectations to become one of China's most important female writers.

(Country: China; Year: 2014; Director: Ann Hui; Stars: Tang Wei, Feng Shaofeng, Wang Zhiwen)

Good For Nothing (Buoni A Nulla)

A man on the verge of retirement discovers a legal change means he has to work for three more years. He is determined to avoid having to do a full day's work.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2014; Director: Gianni Di Gregorio; Stars: Gianni Di Gregorio, Marco Marzocca, Valentina Lodovini)

Li'l Quinquin (P'tit Quinquin)

Review preview for Li'l Quinquin

Dumont - for all the outlandishness of the film in other aspects - prioritises a messy realism over straightforward likeability in relation to his protagonists.

Rebecca Naughten · 4 out of 5
A blackly comic murder mystery develops in a small town in northern France.

(Country: France; Year: 2014; Director: Bruno Dumont; Writer: Bruno Dumont; Stars: Alane Delhaye, Lucy Caron, Bernard Pruvost, Philippe Jore, Philippe Peuvion, Lisa Hartmann, Jason Cirot, Julien Bodard, Corentin Carpentier, Pascal Fresch, Baptiste Anquez, Stéphane Boutillier, Frédéric Castagno, Andrée Peuvion, Lucien Chaussoy, Cindy Louguet, Céline Sauvage, Bruno Darras, Sébastien Liss, Yacine Kellal, Didier Hennuyer, Cédric Lemaire, Stéphane Gallais, Raphaël Mourgues)

Full review

Mommy

Review preview for Mommy

The energy and sheer visual bravura carry it along.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
A widowed single mother, raising her violent son alone, finds new hope when a mysterious neighbor insinuates herself into their household.

(Country: France, Canada; Year: 2014; Director: Xavier Dolan; Writer: Xavier Dolan; Stars: Anne Dorval, Antoine-Olivier Pilon, Suzanne Clément)

Full review

The New Girlfriend

Review preview for The New Girlfriend

Sexuality, Francois Ozon's latest film declares, can be as complex as desiring another person can be simple.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
When a woman falls seriously ill her friend gets more than she bargained for after pledging to look after her baby and husband.

(Country: France; Year: 2014; Director: François Ozon; Writer: François Ozon; Stars: Romain Duris, Anaïs Demoustier, Raphaël Personnaz, Michèle Raingeval, Jean-Claude Bolle-Reddat, Jonathan Louis, Audrey Quoturi)

Full review See: Actor on a voyage of self-discovery

A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence (En Duva Satt På En Gren Och Funderade På Tillvaron)

Review preview for A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence

Often highly amusing and thought provoking... always gorgeous to look at.

Donald Munro · 4.5 out of 5
Two travelling salesmen undertake a magical mystery tour of suffering, indulgence and melancholy as they attempt to sell novelty items to strangers and bring a little cheer into their lives.

(Country: Sweden, Norway, France, Germany ; Year: 2014; Director: Roy Andersson; Stars: Holger Andersson, Nils Westblom, Charlotta Larsson)

Full review

A Second Chance (En Chance Til)

Review preview for A Second Chance

Everything feels contrived, overblown and - perhaps the worst sin you can lay at the door of a psychological thriller - utterly predictable.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
How far are decent people willing to go, when tragedy blurs the line between just and unjust?

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2014; Director: Susanne Bier; Writer: Anders Thomas Jensen; Stars: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Ulrich Thomsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Thomas Bo Larsen, Maria Bonnevie, Peter Haber, Molly Blixt Egelind, Ewa Fröling, Roland Møller, Charlotte Fich, Bodil Jørgensen, May Andersen, Mille Lehfeldt, Sarah Juel Werner, Frederik Meldal Nørgaard)

Full review

Still The Water (Futatsume No Mado)

A teenage couple investigate after a corpse is found floating in the sea during an island festival.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2014; Director: Naomi Kawase; Writer: Naomi Kawase; Stars: Makiko Watanabe, Hideo Sakaki, Jun Murakami, Miyuki Matsuda, Tetta Sugimoto)

The Tales Of Hoffmann

Review preview for The Tales Of Hoffmann

The passage of time - and a beautiful 4k restoration - have been kind to this reimagining of Jacques Offenbach's opera, with its deliberately operatic gestures and colours and stylised production design feeling sharply avant garde even today.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A poet recalls three doomed romances.

(Country: UK; Year: 1951; Director: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger; Writer: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Dennis Arundell; Stars: Moira Shearer, Ludmilla Tchérina, Anne Ayars, Pamela Brown, Léonide Massine, Robert Helpmann, Frederick Ashton, Mogens Wieth, Robert Rounseville, Lionel Harris, Philip Leaver)

Full review See: George A Romero talks zombies, religion and genocide in Karlovy Vary

Three Hearts (3 coeurs, 3 Hearts)

A woman is caught in a play of love, fate and narrative coincidence.

(Country: France; Year: 2014; Director: Benoît Jacquot; Writer: Julien Boivent, Benoît Jacquot; Stars: Benoît Poelvoorde, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Xavier Briere, Thomas Doret, Yvonne Gradelet, Joshua Heuzard Freche, André Marcon, Patrick Mille, Nicolas Simon, Elina Solomon, Cédric Vieira, Caroline Piette)

White Bird In A Blizzard

Review preview for White Bird In A Blizzard

Araki never digs deep enough, wasting the opportunity to expose her resentments.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
A teenager's life is thrown into turmoil when her mother disappears.

(Country: France; Year: 2014; Director: Gregg Araki; Writer: Gregg Araki, based on the novel by Laura Kasischke; Stars: Shailene Woodley, Eva Green, Angela Bassett, Christopher Meloni, Gabourey Sidibe, Jacob Artist, Shiloh Fernandez, Dale Dickey, Sheryl Lee, Ava Acres, Mark Indelicato, Brenda Koo, Michael Patrick McGill, Colette Stone, Brandy Futch)

Full review

Why Be Good?

A romantic comedy in which a bold young flapper strives to overcome prejudice and maintain her romance with her boss' son.

(Country: US; Year: 1929; Director: William A. Seiter; Stars: Colleen Moore, Neil Hamilton, Bodil Rosing)