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Glasgow Film Festival · 2021

Glasgow Film Festival 2021

International Selection

Programme

19 films · 16 reviews

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Apples (Mila)

Review preview for Apples

There’s sadness here for isolation and a grief that goes beyond the loss of a single life once lived. There’s also a heightened sense of the smaller absurdities of existence.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A man caught up in an amnesia pandemic tries to construct a new life for himself.

(Country: Greece, Poland, Slovenia; Year: 2020; Director: Christos Nikou; Writer: Christos Nikou, Stavros Raptis; Stars: Aris Servetalis, Sofia Georgovassili, Anna Kalaitzidou, Argyris Bakirtzis, Kostas Laskos, Babis Makridis, Kimon Fioretos, Costas Xikominos, Alexandra Aidini, Nota Tserniafski, Konstantinos Papatheodorou, Electra Sarri, Natalie Chavez, Akis Benardis, Simos Vogiatzoglou)

Full review See: A snapshot of memory: Christos Nikou on Apples and his upcoming film with Carey Mulligan

Black Bear

Review preview for Black Bear

Black Bear is a tremendously pretentious film but Plaza feels real and keeps it interesting, delivering one of 2020's most impressive performances.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
At a remote lake house, a filmmaker plays a calculated game of desire and jealousy in the pursuit of a work of art that blurs the boundaries between autobiography and invention.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Lawrence Michael Levine; Writer: Lawrence Michael Levine; Stars: Aubrey Plaza, Sarah Gadon, Christopher Abbott, Lindsay Burdge, Alexander Koch, Grantham Coleman, Paola Lázaro, Jennifer Kim, Shannon O'Neill, Lou Gonzalez, Aubrey Plaza, Sarah Gadon, Christopher Abbott, Lindsay Burdge, Alexander Koch)

Full review

Father (Otac)

Review preview for Father

Golubovic wants us to feel the weight of all this, and we certainly do, as cinematographer Aleksandar Ilic not only captures the countryside of Serbia but also a sense of dilapidation.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Nikola’s children are taken away from him after social services decide that he is too poor to provide them with a decent living environment. He sets off on foot to lodge a complaint in Belgrade.

(Country: Serbia, France, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Year: 2020; Director: Srdan Golubovic; Writer: Srdan Golubovic, Ognjen Svilicic; Stars: Goran Bogdan, Ajla Santic, Muharem Hamzic, Boris Isakovic, Nada Sargin, Milica Janevski, Vahid Dzankovic, Jovo Maksic, Nikola Rakocevic, Milan Maric, Ljubomir Bandovic, Mirko Vlahovic, Goran Bogdan, Ajla Santic, Muharem Hamzic)

Full review

Gagarine

Review preview for Gagarine

Bathily is superb, approaching his role with confidence but capturing the freshness and naivety essential to the character.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Youri fights to save his home - which is also named after Yuri Gagarin - from demolition.

(Country: France; Year: 2020; Director: Fanny Liatard, Jérémy Trouilh; Writer: Benjamin Charbit, Fanny Liatard; Stars: Alseni Bathily, Lyna Khoudri, Jamil McCraven, Farida Rahouadj)

Full review See: Gagarine directors Fanny Liotard and Jérémie Trouilh talk about their debut

In The Shadows

A dystopian drama with sci-fi elements.

(Country: Turkey; Year: 2020; Director: Erdem Tepegoz; Writer: Erdem Tepegoz; Stars: Numan Acar, Vedat Erincin, Ahmet Melih Yilmaz, Emrullah Cacay)

Jumbo

Review preview for Jumbo

It's a far from perfect film, but it's a lot better than the critical consensus suggests, and at the heart of it is a fascinating character study.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Jeanne, a shy young woman, works in an amusement park. Fascinated by carousels, she still lives at home with her mother. That’s when Jeanne meets Jumbo, the park’s new flagship attraction...

(Country: France, Luxembourg, Belgium; Year: 2020; Director: Zoé Wittock; Writer: Zoé Wittock; Stars: Noémie Merlant, Emmanuelle Bercot, Sam Louwyck)

Full review

The Last Ones (Viimeise)

Review preview for The Last Ones

The whole place feels dislocated, not just in its sense of place but also of time.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A struggling mine owner supplies his workers with drugs so they'll forget a tough existence. Nearby, a small community of reindeer breeders also struggles.

(Country: Finland, Estonia, Netherlands; Year: 2020; Director: Veiko Õunpuu; Writer: Heikki Huttu-Hiltunen, Eero Tammi; Stars: Pääru Oja, Laura Birn, Tommi Korpela, Elmer Bäck, Sulevi Peltoli)

Full review

Mekong 2030

Review preview for Mekong 2030

An eclectic but, generally, engaging mix.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
An anthology film comprising five short stories that envision the future of the Mekong River from different cultural perspectives.

(Country: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam; Year: 2020; Director: Anysay Keola, Sai Naw Kham, Pham Ngoc Lan, Kulikar Sotho, Anocha Suwichakornpong; Writer: Paul Charbonneau, Anysay Keola, Pham Ngoc Lan, Ian Masters, Kulikar Sotho, Anocha Suwichakornpong, Shunn Lei Swee Yee; Stars: Minh Chau, Hoang Ha, Rous Mony, Khamhou Phanludeth, Khamly Philavong, Ma Rynet)

Full review

Murmur

Review preview for Murmur

By keeping the secondary cast to a minimum, Young allows us to share Donna's loneliness.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
When an elderly dog is scheduled to be euthanized, Donna decides to take the dog home to fill the emptiness she feels, Donna begins to take home more and more animals and she is soon in over her head.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2019; Director: Heather Young; Writer: Heather Young; Stars: Andria Edwards, Shan MacDonald)

Full review

My Wonderful Wanda (Wanda, mein Wunder)

Review preview for My Wonderful Wanda

My Wonderful Wanda picks just the right moments to introduce real emotion into the mix.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Wanda nurses the patriarch of the wealthy Wegmeister-Gloor family. When an unexpected complication arises, family secrets come to light.

(Country: Switzerland; Year: 2020; Director: Bettina Oberli; Writer: Bettina Oberli, Cooky Ziesche; Stars: Marthe Keller, Anatole Taubman, Birgit Minichmayr, Jacob Matschenz, Agnieszka Grochowska, André Jung, Gottfried Breitfuss, Iwo Rajski, Bruno Rajski, Marthe Keller, Anatole Taubman, Birgit Minichmayr, Jacob Matschenz, Agnieszka Grochowska, André Jung)

Full review

Poppy Field

Review preview for Poppy Field

Merricoffer's performance will keep you rivetted.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
The struggle of a closeted young genderme.

(Country: Romania; Year: 2020; Director: Eugen Jebeleanu; Writer: Ioana Moraru; Stars: Conrad Mericoffer, Alexandru Potocean, Radouan Leflahi, Cendana Trifan, Ionut Niculae, Alex Calin, Rolando Matsangos, George Pistereanu, Florin Caracala, Ela Ionescu, Mihaela Sirbu, Valentina Zaharia, Gabriel Rauta, Stefan Huluba, Bogdan Nechifor)

Full review See: Interview with Eugen Jebeleanu about Poppy Field

Preparations To Be Together For An Unknown Period Of Time

Review preview for Preparations To Be Together For An Unknown Period Of Time

Calling it a plain melodrama would be reductive for such a thrilling piece of cinema.

Georgiana Musat · 4 out of 5
A lonely neurosurgeon falls in love but when she moves to Budapest to be with him, the love of her life says they've never met before.

(Country: Hungary; Year: 2020; Director: Lili Horvát; Writer: Lili Horvát; Stars: Natasa Stork, Viktor Bodó, Benett Vilmányi, Zsolt Nagy, Péter Tóth, Andor Lukáts, Attila Mokos, Linda Moshier, Júlia Ladányi, Réka Pelsöczy, Anna Kis, Ernö Sebö, Viktória Végvári, Ádám Bethlenfalvy, János Nemes)

Full review

Redemption Of A Rogue

Review preview for Redemption Of A Rogue

Mixing very dark comedy with a distinctly Irish quirkiness, Redemption Of A Rogue will be altogether too much for some viewers, but if it works for you then it's likely to entertain you a good deal.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A black comedy about a prodigal son returning to his hometown to seek salvation for his sins.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2020; Director: Philip Doherty; Writer: Philip Doherty; Stars: Aaron Monaghan, Aisling O'Mara, Kieran Roche, Liz Fitzgibbon)

Full review

Riders Of Justice (Retfærdighedens Ryttere)

Review preview for Riders Of Justice

Mikkelsen anchors this movie with a performance that allows emotional turmoil to glint through Markus' regimented facade, playing off the impressive combination of anger and grief that Gaderberg brings to Mathilde.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Markus has to go home to his teenage daughter, Mathilde, when his wife dies in a tragic train accident - or so it seems until a mathematics geek, who was also a fellow passenger on the train, and his two colleagues show up.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2020; Director: Anders Thomas Jensen; Writer: Nikolaj Arcel, Anders Thomas Jensen; Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Lars Brygmann, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Andrea Heick Gadeberg, Nicolas Bro, Gustav Lindh, Roland Møller, Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt, Anne Birgitte Lind, Omar Shargawi, Jacob Lohmann, Henrik Noël Olesen, Gustav Dyekjær Giese, Klaus Hjuler, Peder Holm Johansen)

Full review

Rosa's Wedding

Review preview for Rosa's Wedding

With beautifully drawn characters and superb performances all round, Icíar Bollaín's enchanting comedy draws viewers into a world where romance is not dependent on a committed relationship and love takes many different forms.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Rosa, about to turn 45, realises that she has always lived for others, so she decides to press the nuclear button, shake things up, leave it all and grab hold of the reins of her life.

(Country: Spain, France; Year: 2020; Director: Icíar Bollaín; Writer: Icíar Bollaín, Alicia Luna; Stars: Candela Peña, Sergi López, Nathalie Poza, Ramón Barea, Paula Usero, Xavo Giménez, Paloma Vidal, Lucín Poveda, María José Hipólito, María Maroto, Eric Francés, Ana Ulloa, José Arnau, Lucía Oca, Esther Ramos)

Full review

Shorta

After a teenager dies in police custody, a pair of cops find themselves in trouble in the ghetto.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2020; Director: Frederik Louis Hviid, Anders Ølholm; Writer: Anders Ølholm, Frederik Louis Hviid, Anders Ølholm; Stars: Jacob Lohmann, Simon Sears, Tarek Zayat, Issa Khattab, Özlem Saglanmak, Arian Kashef, Josephine Park, Dulfi Al-Jabouri, Michael Brostrup, Abdelmalik Dhaflaoui, Imad Abul-Foul, Anne Plauborg, Morten Brovn Jørgensen, Ibrahim Asmaa Ahmad, Hanin Georgis)

There Is No Evil (Sheytan vojud nadarad)

Review preview for There Is No Evil

Rasoulof schools us in the ins and outs of a judicial system in which not only those who are directly sentenced to death can find themselves condemned as a result.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Four stories that are variations on the crucial themes of moral strength and the death penalty.

(Year: 2020; Director: Mohammad Rasoulof; Writer: Mohammad Rasoulof; Stars: Baran Rasoulof, Ehsan Mirhosseini, Zhila Shahi, Mohammad Seddighimehr, Mohammad Valizadegan, Kaveh Ahangar, Mahtab Servati, Parvin Maleki, Reza Bahrami, Darya Moghbeli, Shaghayegh Shoorian, Salar Khamseh, Kaveh Ebrahim, Pouya Mehri, Gholamhosein Taseiri)

Full review

Victim(s)

When both the victim's mother and the murderer's mother find out about the unknown sides of their sons, they have some tough decisions to make.

(Country: Malaysia; Year: 2020; Director: Layla Zhuqing; Writer: Layla Zhuqing; Stars: Xianjun Fu, Kahoe Hon, Wilson Hsu, Lu Huang)

Wildland (Kød & Blod)

Review preview for Wildland

Well realised and engaging, with impressive production design.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
After her mother’s death, Ida moves in with her aunt and cousins... whose ethics are dubious.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2020; Director: Jeanette Nordahl; Writer: Ingeborg Topsøe; Stars: Sidse Babett Knudsen, Elliott Crosset Hove, Carla Philip Røder, Sofie Torp, Henrik Vestergaard, Besir Zeciri, Sandra Guldberg Kampp, Joachim Fjelstrup, Rikke Bilde, Omar Shargawi, Benjamin Kitter, Maria Esther Lemvigh, Marie Knudsen Fogh, Frida Sejersen)

Full review