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Glasgow Film Festival · 2018

Glasgow Film Festival 2018

Local Heroes

Programme

14 films · 9 reviews

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Arcadia

Review preview for Arcadia

You don’t need to be English – or even British – to appreciate this brilliantly constructed film.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Archive study of Britain's relationship to the land.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Paul Wright)

Full review

Apostasy

A Jehovah's Witness is forced to shun her own sister.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Dan Kokotajlo; Writer: Dan Kokotajlo; Stars: Siobhan Finneran, Robert Emms, Sacha Parkinson, Steve Evets, Aqib Khan, Jessica Baglow, James Quinn, Molly Wright, Wasim Zakir, James Puddephatt, Poppy Jhakra, Lewis Fletcher, Peter Slater)

Beast

Review preview for Beast

The feeling of exposure to evil never fades

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
A teenager finds herself torn between the control of her family and an outsider who is suspected of murder.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Michael Pearce; Writer: Michael Pearce; Stars: Jessie Buckley, Johnny Flynn, Geraldine James, Trystan Gravelle, Emily Taaffe, Charley Palmer Rothwell, Hattie Gotobed, Shannon Tarbet, Olwen Fouere, Tim Woodward)

Full review

The Escape

A dutiful wife and mother struggles to cope with her increasing frustration.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Dominic Savage; Stars: Gemma Arterton, Dominic Cooper, Frances Barber)

How To Talk To Girls At Parties

Review preview for How To Talk To Girls At Parties

The energy is electric

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
Three teenage punks gatecrash a party on the Queen's jubilee night in London and have an unexpected experience that feels out of this world

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2017; Director: John Cameron Mitchell; Writer: Philippa Goslett, John Cameron Mitchell, based on a short story by Neil Gaiman; Stars: Alex Sharp, Elle Fanning, Ethan Lawrence, Abraham Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Ruth Wilson, Matt Lucas, Joanna Scanlan, Tom Brooke, Stephen Campbell Moore)

Full review

Ice Cold In Alex

In the wake of the Siege of Tobruk, an ambulance crew makes a perilous trek across a desert.

(Country: UK; Year: 1958; Director: J Lee Thompson; Stars: John Mills, Anthony Quayle, Sylvia Syms)

Lean On Pete

A homeless teenager, whose only friend is a failing racehorse, sets out on a trek to find his only known relative.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Andrew Haigh; Writer: Andrew Haigh, Willy Vlautin; Stars: Travis Fimmel, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Steve Zahn, Thomas Mann, Amy Seimetz, Charlie Plummer, Rachael Perrell Fosket, Justin Rain, Ayanna Berkshire, Lewis Pullman, Dana Millican, Curtis McGann, Frank Gallegos, Craig Kennedy)

See: Venice 2017: Three Billboards, Victoria And Abdul, Lean On Pete and The Third Murder

Orphans

Review preview for Orphans

This is Catholic working class life beyond the limits of restraint where the concept of social order collapses and acts of individual kindness come as a surprise.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4.5 out of 5
Jet black comedy about family tribulations in the run up to a funeral.

(Country: UK; Year: 1997; Director: Peter Mullan; Writer: Peter Mullan; Stars: Douglas Henshall, Gary Lewis, Rosemarie Stevenson, Stephen McCole, Ann Swan, Gilbert Martin, Jan Wilson, Lenny Mullan, Malcolm Shields, June Brogan, Paul Doonan, Linda Cuthbert, Lex Keith, Hugh Ferris, Joel Strachan)

Full review

Pin Cushion

Review preview for Pin Cushion

With a keen eye for absurdity and the hypocrisies of suburban life, Haywood finds comedy in the bleakest situations.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Trouble brews after the unusually close bond between a mother and daughter is disrupted when they move to a new town.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Deborah Haywood; Writer: Deborah Haywood; Stars: Lily Newmark, Joanna Scanlan, Loris Scarpa, Sacha Cordy-Nice, Bethany Antonia, Saskia Paige Martin, Sophia Tuckey, John Henshaw, Lennon Bradley, Aury Wayne, Charlie Frances, Isy Suttie)

Full review

The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie

The story of an unconventional teacher working at a private girls' school in Edinburgh.

(Country: UK; Year: 1969; Director: Ronald Neame; Stars: Maggie Smith, Celia Johnson, Gordon Jackson)

Super November

Review preview for Super November

This is so well observed that I feel fair expressing concerns about the choices of font in certain official publications.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
A happy couple find their lives turned upside down by political chaos and civil unrest.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Douglas King; Writer: Josie Long; Stars: Josie Long, Sean Biggerstaff, Darren Osborne)

Full review See: Super November première report with Douglas King

Voyageuse

Review preview for Voyageuse

The sobriety of her narrative and her attention to detail, mirrored in Thomas’ choice of illustration, gives her a good deal of credibility.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
The director investigates her Hungarian mother-in-law's story and, through it, the story of the 20th century.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: May Miles Thomas; Stars: Siân Phillips)

Full review

Which Way Up

Review preview for Which Way Up

On closer viewing, complex textures emerge.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A documentary about the artist John McLean and his experience of Parkinson's disease.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Michael Proudfoot; Stars: John McLean)

Full review

You, Me And Him

Review preview for You, Me And Him

The sun shines, friends are endlessly patient (if not always very understanding), and even during its bleak moments, there’s always the promise of a happy ending.

Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
A lawyer is anxious to have a baby but her artist girlfriend keeps putting it off. Then her neighbour gets involved.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Daisy Aitkens; Writer: Daisy Aitkens; Stars: David Tennant, Faye Marsay, Lucy Punch, Sarah Parish, David Warner, Sally Phillips)

Full review