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Glasgow Film Festival · 2019

Glasgow Film Festival 2019

Gala

Programme

14 films · 10 reviews

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All Creatures Here Below

Review preview for All Creatures Here Below

All Creatures Here Below is remarkable not just in the way that it makes us root for characters who would be treated like monsters in most films, but in the way that it carries us along despite all the bumps in the road.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A desperate young couple go on the run with a stolen baby.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Collin Schiffli; Writer: David Dastmalchian; Stars: David Dastmalchian, Karen Gillan, Jennifer Morrison, Richard Cabral, John Doe)

Full review See: Interview with David Dastmalchian about All Creatures Here Below

Beats

Review preview for Beats

It's a treat, a banger if you will.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Two best friends in a small Scottish town in the summer of '94 head out for one last night together before life takes them in different directions.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Brian Welsh; Writer: Kieran Hurley; Stars: Lorn Macdonald, Cristian Ortega, Laura Fraser, Amy Manson, Gemma McElhinney, Kevin Mains, Rachel Jackson) , Official site

Full review

Eighth Grade

Review preview for Eighth Grade

The movie hangs loose on your bones.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school - the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year - before she begins high school.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Bo Burnham; Writer: Bo Burnham; Stars: Elsie Fisher, Daniel Zolghadri, Frank Deal, Marguerite Stimpson, Greg Crowe, Deborah Unger, Natalie Carter, Jake Ryan, Jalesia Martinez, Catherine Oliviere, Phoebe Amirault, Kevin R. Free, Luke Prael, Faith Kelly, Dylan Vonderhorst)

Full review

Gloria Bell

Review preview for Gloria Bell

At heart (and it has a big one) there's a lot going for Gloria Bell.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
A free-spirited woman in her fifties looks for love in LA dance clubs.

(Country: Chile, US; Year: 2018; Director: Sebastián Lelio; Writer: Alice Johnson Boher, Sebastián Lelio; Stars: Julianne Moore, Sean Astin, Michael Cera. Alanna Ubach)

Full review

Hotel Mumbai

Review preview for Hotel Mumbai

Patel and Kher are worth the price of admission on their own.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A dramatisation of the 2008 terrorist attacks that centred on Mumbai's Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2018; Director: Anthony Maras; Stars: Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi)

Full review

The Merger

A former football star tries to revive the fortunes of his football club in the tiny township of Bodgy Creek. Times are hard, jobs are scarce and civic pride is all they have left. Troy decides to seek out the undiscovered talent at the local refugee support centre.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2018; Director: Mark Grentell)

Mid90s

Review preview for Mid90s

This is astonishing stuff.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
The story of a teenager and his life between domestic violence and the newfound recognition from a group of local skaterboarders.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Jonah Hill; Writer: Jonah Hill; Stars: Sunny Suljic, Katherine Waterston, Lucas Hedges, Na-kel Smith, Olan Prenatt, Gio Galicia, Ryder McLaughlin, Alexa Demie, Fig Camila Abner, Liana Perlich, Ama Elsesser, Judah Estrella Borunda, Mecca Allen, Aramis Hudson, Sonny Greenback) , Trailer

Full review

Papi Chulo

Review preview for Papi Chulo

Beautifully written and sensitively directed.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A TV weatherman in an emotional crisis strikes up a platonic friendship with a married migrant worker.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2018; Director: John Butler; Writer: John Butler; Stars: Matt Bomer, Alejandro Patiño, Elena Campbell-Martinez, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Michael Shepperd, Tommie Earl Jenkins, Shaughn Buchholz, Tom Beyer, Irene White, Caitlin Kimball, Marisa Szczepan, Brandon Kyle Goodman, Blaine Swen, Martin Morales, Nick Bush)

Full review

The Public

On the coldest night of the year, with hostels filled to capacity, the patrons of a library where homeless people are sheltering refuse to leave. A peaceful sit-in escalates to national news, reflecting social divisions, political hypocrisy and a manipulative media.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Emilio Estevez; Stars: Alec Baldwin, Emilio Estevez, Gabrielle Union)

She's Missing

Heidi is a small town waitress whose best friend goes missing after meeting a mysterious man at a rodeo. Determined to find out what happened to her, she sets out across the desert, unveiling astonishing secrets and encountering the unexpected violence of life on the road - and somebody seems to be following her.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Alexandra McGuinness; Stars: Josh Hartnett, Lucy Fry, Eiza Gonzalez)

Tell It To The Bees

When mill worker Lydia is abandoned by her philandering husband, she struggles to pay the rent and feed herself and son Charlie. Local doctor Jean is one of the few to help and a friendship develops that blossoms into a romance that will scandalise the town.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Annabel Jankel; Stars: Anna Paquin, Holliday Grainger, Gregor Selkirk)

The Vanishing (Keepers)

Review preview for The Vanishing

The film takes time to gather pace and discover its true direction. Once there, the story takes hold and won’t let go.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
Three lighthouse keepers arrive on an uninhabited island 20 miles off the Scottish coast. It is the start of a six week shift that is anything but routine as they make a discovery that provokes greed, fear, paranoia and a vicious fight for survival.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Kristoffer Nyholm; Writer: Joe Bone, Celyn Jones; Stars: Gerard Butler, Connor Swindells, Peter Mullan)

Full review

Wild Rose

Review preview for Wild Rose

Nicole Taylor's quickfire script provides great material for the actors to work with .

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A Glasgwegian single mum tries to make it in the world of country music.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Tom Harper; Writer: Nicole Taylor; Stars: Julie Walters, Jessie Buckley, Sophie Okonedo, Jamie Sives, Gemma McElhinney, James Harkness, Ashley Shelton, Daniel Campbell, Vanya Eadie, Tracy Wiles, J. Thomas Bailey, James McElvar, Janey Godley, Robin Daugherty, Jeffrey Wilkerson)

Full review

Yuli

Review preview for Yuli

It's in dance that the film's strength lies, illustrating, through choreography, Acosta's more abstract - and more negative - emotions, including fear, loneliness and lust.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The true story of Carlos Acosta, a black Cuban dancer who rose from an impoverished childhood to find international acclaim as a ballet dancer with London's Royal Ballet.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2018; Director: Icíar Bollaín; Writer: Paul Laverty; Stars: Edison Manuel Olvera, Mario Elias, Carlos Enrique Almirante, Carlos Acosta, Santiago Alfonso, Andrea Doimeadiós, Laura De la Uz, Carlos Acosta, Keyvin Martínez, Cesar Domínguez, Yerlín Pérez, Carlos Enrique Almirante, Andrea Doimeadiós, Laura De la Uz, Keyvin Martínez)

Full review See: Icíar Bollaín and Paul Laverty on adapting Yuli - The Carlos Acosta Story for the big screen , Carlos Acosta on Yuli