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Glasgow Film Festival · 2019

Glasgow Film Festival 2019

CineMasters

Programme

16 films · 11 reviews

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At Eternity's Gate

Review preview for At Eternity's Gate

For those who know and love Van Gogh's work, the effect is hypnotic, a translation of his vision into a new medium.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
The last days of Vincent van Gogh.

(Country: UK, France, US; Year: 2018; Director: Julian Schnabel; Writer: Jean-Claude Carrière, Julian Schnabel; Stars: Willem Dafoe, Rupert Friend, Oscar Isaac, Mads Mikkelsen, Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Niels Arestrup, Stella Schnabel, Patrick Chesnais, Victor Pontecorvo, Frank Molinaro, Alan Aubert, Willem Dafoe, Rupert Friend, Oscar Isaac)

Full review See: Jean-Claude Carrière and Julian Schnabel‪ on‬ paintings, movement and the emotions in At Eternity's Gate

Coincoin And The Extra-Humans (Coincoin et les z'inhumains)

Sequel to Lil' Quinquin sees ectoplasmic gunk falls from the sky and identical twins materialise without warning.

(Country: France; Year: 2018; Director: Bruno Dumont; Stars: Alane Delhaye, Bernard Pruvost, Philippe Jore, Lucy Caron)

Everybody Knows (Todos Lo Saben)

Review preview for Everybody Knows

While Farhadi certainly knows how to spin a web of intrigue, deceit and suspicion, the narrative has a tendency to leap from strand to strand, often leaving the audience stumbling in its wake.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
Secrets resurface after a woman returns to her family's village for a wedding.

(Country: Spain, France, Italy; Year: 2018; Director: Asghar Farhadi; Writer: Asghar Farhadi; Stars: Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Bárbara Lennie, Ricardo Darín, Jaime Lorente, Carla Campra, Inma Cuesta, Eduard Fernández, Elvira Mínguez, Sara Sálamo, Roger Casamajor, Ramón Barea, Sergio Castellanos, Marianella Rojas, Penélope Cruz)

Full review See: Interview with Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Asghar Farhadi about Everybody Knows

Galveston

An ex-con who suspects he has been set up rescues a captive woman and goes on the run with her.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Mélanie Laurent; Stars: Ben Foster, Elle Fanning, Beau Bridges)

Happy As Lazzaro (Lazzaro Felice)

Review preview for Happy As Lazzaro

Newcomer Tardiolo is splendid in the lead.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A young nobleman asks a peasant to help fake his own kidnapping.

(Country: Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany; Year: 2018; Director: Alice Rohrwacher; Writer: Alice Rohrwacher; Stars: Nicoletta Braschi, Sergi López, Alba Rohrwacher, Natalino Balasso, Tommaso Ragno, Adriano Tardiolo, Luca Chikovani, Leonardo Nigro, Agnese Graziani, Ettore Scarpa, Carlo Massimino, Gala Othero Winter, Nicoletta Braschi, Sergi López, Alba Rohrwacher)

Full review See: Alice Rohrwacher in conversation on Italo Calvino, Astrid Lindgren, folktale magic and the casting for Happy As Lazzaro (Lazzaro Felice) , Alice Rohrwacher in conversation on Happy as Lazzaro (Lazzaro felice) before The Wonders: Alice and Alba Rohrwacher at the Museum of Modern Art

"I Do Not Care If We Go Down In History As Barbarians" ("Îmi este indiferent dacă în istorie vom intra ca barbari")

A young artist is planning to reconstruct a historical event from 1941, during which the Romanian Army carried out ethnic cleansing on the Eastern Front.

(Country: Czech Republic, France, Bulgaria, Germany; Year: 2018; Director: Radu Jude)

Killing (Zan)

Period drama about a masterless Samurai.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2018; Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto; Writer: Shin'ya Tsukamoto; Stars: Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Yû Aoi, Sôsuke Ikematsu, Tatsuya Nakamura, Ryûsei Maeda, Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Yû Aoi, Sôsuke Ikematsu, Tatsuya Nakamura, Ryûsei Maeda)

Loro

Review preview for Loro

It takes real directorial skill to deliver something so shallow across two and a half hours and keep the audience gripped.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A seedy, ambitious Puglian property developer sets his sights sets on Rome and access to Berlusconi’s inner circle.

(Country: Italy, France; Year: 2018; Director: Paolo Sorrentino; Writer: Paolo Sorrentino, Umberto Contarello; Stars: Toni Servillo, Elena Sofia Ricci, Riccardo Scamarcio)

Full review

Meeting Gorbachev

Review preview for Meeting Gorbachev

Herzog's film does not follow the documentary conventions - would you expect anything different from him?

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
Werner Herzog interviews Mikhail Gorbachev and captures the human side of a world leader as he recalls his relationships with Reagan and Thatcher, his beloved wife Raisa and his dashed dream of lasting change.

(Country: UK, US, Germany; Year: 2018; Director: Werner Herzog, Andre Singer; Stars: Werner Herzog, Mikhail Gorbachev)

Full review

Not Reconciled

The the history of a German family from the turn of the 20th century, through the rise of Nazism and into the post-war years.

(Country: Germany; Year: 1965; Director: Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub; Stars: Henning Harmssen, Heinrich Hargesheimer, Danièle Straub)

Out Of Blue

Review preview for Out Of Blue

If you see one portrayal of a screwed up female detective with a drink problem this year, make it this one.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Detective thriller based on Martin Amis' Night Train.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2018; Director: Carol Morley; Writer: Carol Morley, based on the book by Martin Amis; Stars: Patricia Clarkson, James Caan, Toby Jones, Jacki Weaver, Mamie Gummer, Aaron Tveit, Jonathan Majors, Alyshia Ochse, Lucy Faust, Gary Grubbs, Yolonda Ross, Brad Mann, Thomas Francis Murphy, Todd Mann, Tenea Intriago)

Full review

The Quietude (La Quietud)

Review preview for The Quietude

The sprawling house provides insight into Mia and Eugenia's personalities before we get to know them directly.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Drama about two sisters after they are reunited following their father's stroke.

(Country: Argentina, France; Year: 2018; Director: Pablo Trapero; Writer: Alberto Rojas Apel, Pablo Trapero; Stars: Edgar Ramírez, Bérénice Bejo, Martina Gusman, Joaquín Furriel, Graciela Borges, Edgar Ramírez, Bérénice Bejo, Martina Gusman, Joaquín Furriel, Graciela Borges)

Full review

The Sisters Brothers

Review preview for The Sisters Brothers

Phoenix gives his character more depth than such men are usually afforded but deliberately takes a back seat, allowing Reilly the dramatic lead role he has long deserved.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Two assassins set out into the wilderness on the trail of a man with a secret.

(Country: France, Spain, Romania, US; Year: 2018; Director: Jacques Audiard; Writer: Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Patrick Dewitt; Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, John C. Reilly, Rutger Hauer, Riz Ahmed, Carol Kane, Creed Bratton, Duncan Lacroix, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Niels Arestrup, Rebecca Root, Aldo Maland, Ian Reddington, Philip Rosch, Lexie Benbow-Hart)

Full review See: Venice 2018: The Sisters Brothers, Sunset, Non-Fiction, The Mountain, Dragged Across Concrete, Charlie Say and Vox Lux

Transit

Review preview for Transit

Time and place hold both no and every meaning in Christian Petzold's latest film.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Georg flees to Marseilles to escape the German army. Assuming a false identity, he tries to obtain passage on a ship bound for Mexico. But then he meets Marie and his plans change.

(Country: Germany, France; Year: 2018; Director: Christian Petzold; Writer: Christian Petzold, baesd on the novel by Anna Seghers; Stars: Franz Rogowski, Paula Beer, Godehard Giese, Lilien Batman, Maryam Zaree, Barbara Auer, Matthias Brandt, Sebastian Hülk, Emilie de Preissac, Antoine Oppenheim, Louison Tresallet, Justus von Dohnányi, Alex Brendemühl, Trystan Pütter, Ronald Kukulies)

Full review See: Franz Rogowski ‪in conversation on‬ controlling his breath, a space for the imagination, the images and colours in Transit, and his work at the Kammerspiele , Christian Petzold ‪in conversation on‬ Franz Rogowski, a memory, an identity and the language in Transit , Christian Petzold ‪in conversation on‬ Alex Brendemühl and George Romero in Transit, author Anna Seghers, Isabelle Huppert and Claude Chabrol , Franz Rogowski ‪in conversation on‬ Christian Petzold's Transit and The State We Are In

Vision

Review preview for Vision

In one shot, in absolute silence, we watch a single leaf fall down from high above; it is a moment so compelling that you will hesitate to interrupt it with a breath.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A Frenchwoman enters a Japanese forest in search of a herb rumoured to be able to cure emotional pain.

(Country: France, Japan; Year: 2018; Director: Naomi Kawase; Writer: Naomi Kawase; Stars: Juliette Binoche, Masatoshi Nagase, Mari Natsuki, Juliette Binoche, Masatoshi Nagase, Mari Natsuki)

Full review

The Wedding Guest

Review preview for The Wedding Guest

Michael Winterbottom’s atmospheric thriller is packed full of twists and turns but to focus on trying to anticipate and resolve them is to miss the point.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
The mysterious Jay leaves England and heads for Karachi, where he rents a car and buys some weapons. He plans to kidnap young Muslim woman Samira but she chooses to go with him willingly to escape an unwanted arranged marriage.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Michael Winterbottom; Writer: Michael Winterbottom; Stars: Dev Patel, Radhika Apte, Jim Sarbh)

Full review