Glasgow Film Festival · 2022
63 films · 57 reviews
Director Karen Knox plays with the tropes of romantic comedy in this different kind of dating game
(Year: 2022; Director: Karen Knox; Writer: Ellie Moon; Stars: Ellie Moon, Rebecca Northan, Leah Doz)
Few music documentaries get as close to the mechanics of interactive creative processes as this, and few enjoy such candid input from their subjects.
(Country: Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Thomas Robsahm; Writer: Thomas Robsahm)
The film’s fast flowing current carries a number of character messages we can fish out, as if they were polished by the stream, all shiny and specific.
(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet; Writer: Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet; Stars: Anaïs Demoustier, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Denis Podalydès, Jean-Charles Clichet)
More than half the runtime is spent with groups of men sitting around having boring conversations which provide little exposition and tell us nothing about their characters.
(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Paul Morris; Writer: Paul Morris; Stars: Stephen Arthur, Jude Shedden, Paul Morris, Ty McPhee, David McDonald)
Little details like sipping rather than drinking whole mouthfuls, or marking bottles to keep track of how much one has consumed, are so familiar to the characters that viewers too will quickly start taking them for granted.
(Country: Canada; Year: 2022; Director: Jeremy LaLonde; Writer: Amanda Brugel, Jonas Chernick, Spencer Giese; Stars: Amanda Brugel, Jonas Chernick, Shawn Doyle)
Writer/director Mehdi Hosseinivand knows when to dial back on the big eyes and the soft golden light to remind us that this isn’t a quaint fantasy, it’s a picture of millions of children’s real day to day lives.
(Country: Iran; Year: 2021; Director: Mehdi Hosseinivand; Writer: Mehdi Hosseinivand; Stars: Ebrahim Zarozehi, Hadi Kazemi, Ghazal Shojaei, Ibrahim Zarozehi)
This is a delight. From me it drew outpourings of laughter as sharp and as bright as the splashes of blood from a punctured neck.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Yugo Sakamoto; Writer: Yugo Sakamoto; Stars: Yukina Fukushima, Saori Izawa, Saori Izawa, Masamori Mimoto)
Directing with confidence and misdirecting with grace, Paxton draws us into a world where the absence of apparent solutions becomes compelling in itself.
(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Ruth Paxton; Writer: Justin Bull; Stars: Sienna Guillory, Jessica Alexander, Ruby Stokes, Lindsay Duncan, Kaine Zajaz, Richard Keep, Deka Walmsley, Rina Mahoney, Jonathan Nyati, Walter van Dyk, Andrew Steele, Adam Abbou, Finn Bennett, Dylan Clout, Selena Thompson)
The interplay of the spiritual and the sensual is vital here.
(Country: France, Netherlands; Year: 2021; Director: Paul Verhoeven; Writer: David Birke and Paul Verhoeven, based on he book by Judoth C Brown; Stars: Charlotte Rampling, Lambert Wilson, Virginie Efira, Daphne Patakia, Olivier Rabourdin)
Running alongside the film's more elegiac sweep is a cut-glass wit.
(Country: UK, US; Year: 2021; Director: Terence Davies; Writer: Terence Davies; Stars: Jack Lowden, Peter Capaldi, Jeremy Irvine, Matthew Tennyson, Ben Daniels, Kate Phillips, Geraldine James, Gemma Jones, Anton Lesser, Lia Williams, Simon Russell Beale, Kellie Shirley, Suzanne Bertish, Harry Lawtey, Tom Blyth)
The film unfolds at an easy pace, Hansen-Løve making everything matter of fact and yet beguiling, thereby softening viewers up to accept the fantastic or surreal aspects of the narrative as normal.
(Country: France, Sweden, Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Mia Hansen-Løve; Writer: Mia Hansen-Løve; Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Tim Roth, Vicky Krieps, Anders Danielsen Lie, Joel Spira)
There’s a dryness to this comedic drama which occasionally makes it drag, but Omerzu breaks with it to great effect in places, when he’s ready to present contrasting scenes of highly emotive, character-driven drama.
(Country: Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia; Year: 2021; Director: Olmo Omerzu; Writer: Olmo Omerzu, Petr Pýcha; Stars: Miroslav Donutil, Alena Mihulová, Martin Pechlát, Eliska Krenková, Voytek Kotek)
Nikki has a light touch with a script that is able to see the funny side of things but which doesn't make light of the medical and societal situations that Jaakko and Sirpa are facing.
(Country: Finland; Year: 2021; Director: Teemu Nikki; Writer: Teemu Nikki; Stars: Petri Poikolainen, Samuli Jaskio, Marjaana Maijala, Hannamaija Nikander, Matti Onnismaa, Rami Rusinen)
Chitu gives a quietly dignified performance, gradually letting us see Irina’s strength through her resilience.
(Country: Romania; Year: 2021; Director: Alina Grigore; Writer: Alina Grigore; Stars: Ioana Chitu, Ioana Flora, Vlad Ivanov, Emil Mandanac, Ioana Ilinca Neacsu, Mircea Postelnicu, Mircea Silaghi, Robi Urs, Ioana Chitu, Ioana Flora, Vlad Ivanov, Emil Mandanac, Ioana Ilinca Neacsu, Mircea Postelnicu, Mircea Silaghi)
The actors make grieving palpable, as sure and solid as the colours caught by Ivan Gierasinchuk.
(Country: Dominican Republic; Year: 2021; Director: Ulises Porra, Silvina Schnicer; Writer: Ulises Porra, Ulla Prida, Ulla Prida, Silvina Schnicer; Stars: Cecile van Welie, Magnolia Nunez, Richard Douglas, Adelanny Padilla, Mario Cersósimo, Eduardo Martinez Sturla, Clara Luz Lozano, Yuberbi de la Rosa, Javier Hermida, Génesis Buret,)
It’s astonishing to realise that this is Reis’ first screen role.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Josef Kubota Wladyka; Writer: Kali Reis, Josef Kubota Wladyka, Josef Kubota Wladyka; Stars: Kevin Dunn, Kimberly Guerrero, Lisa Emery, Daniel Henshall, Michael Drayer, Jonathan Kowalsky, Gerald Webb, Isabelle Chester, Tiffany Chu, Peter Johnson, Samantha Stack, Bill Smith, Jonathan Wilde, Christine Lauer, Elisabeth Manente)
This is a considered film, a triumph, there are few like it and more's the pity.
(Country: Belgium, Romania, Mexico; Year: 2021; Director: Teodora Mihai; Writer: Habacuc Antonio De Rosario, Teodora Mihai; Stars: Arcelia Ramírez, Álvaro Guerrero, Jorge A Jimenez, Ayelén Muzo, Daniel Garcia)
Dreaming Walls is less a documentary than an attempt at a sense memory.
(Country: Belgium, France, Netherlands, Sweden; Year: 2022; Director: Maya Duverdier, Amélie van Elmbt; Writer: Maya Duverdier, Amélie van Elmbt)
François Ozon makes what could have been an impossibly painful subject more palatable but nonetheless affecting.
(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: François Ozon; Writer: François Ozon, based on the book by Emmanuèle Bernheim; Stars: Sophie Marceau, Charlotte Rampling, Hanna Schygulla, André Dussollier)
Jah is superb.
(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Ekwa Msangi; Writer: Ekwa Msangi; Stars: Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Zainab Jah, Jayme Lawson, Joie Lee, Marcus Scribner, Nana Mensah)
The reflections and insights are many.
(Country: Italy; Year: 2021; Director: Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi, Alice Rohrwacher; Writer: Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi, Alice Rohrwacher)
The Zürchers carefully construct their web of relationships, showing how a small vibration somewhere can lead to unexpected consequences elsewhere.
(Country: Switzerland; Year: 2021; Director: Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher; Writer: Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher; Stars: Henriette Confurius, André Hennicke, Sabine Timoteo, Ursina Lardi, Liliane Amuat, Birte Schnöink, Dorian Heiniger, Dagna Litzenberger-Vinet, Flurin Giger, Ivan Georgiev, Lea Draeger, Margherita Schoch, Ella Gfeller, Yuna Andres, Philippe Schuler)
Jenna Cato Bass’ tight, unnerving thriller creates a landscape of small signals.
(Country: South Africa; Year: 2021; Director: Jenna Cato Bass; Writer: Babalwa Baartman, Jenna Cato Bass, Chumisa Cosa; Stars: Chumisa Cosa, Nosipho Mtebe, Kamvalethu Jonas Raziya, Sanda Shandu, Khanyiso Kenqa)
MacKenzie scores her film with traditional highland melodies, but often there is nothing to be heard beyond nature’s soundscape, wind over water and through trees.
(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Lizzie MacKenzie; Stars: Ken Smith)
It's not an easy watch, but it is a good one.
(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Cécile Ducrocq; Writer: Cécile Ducrocq; Stars: Laure Calamy, Nissim Renard, Denis Simonetta)
Writer/director Basholli directs with a deceptively simple handheld aesthetic, emphasising the bleak reality of the setting.
(Country: Kosovo, Switzerland, Macedonia, Albania; Year: 2021; Director: Blerta Basholli; Writer: Blerta Basholli; Stars: Yllka Gashi, Çun Lajçi, Aurita Agushi, Kumrije Hoxha, Adriana Matoshi, Kaona Sylejmani)
This is a tragedy at any level. There's not just the siege but the associated mentality, a mixture of recursion, remorse, and regret.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Stefan Forbes; Writer: Stefan Forbes; Stars: Shuaib Raheem)
(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Shin Su-won; Stars: Lee Jeong-eun, Kwon Hae-hyoTang Joon-sang)
Julia is a film about food and about the change in attitude towards cooking one woman could spark.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Julie Cohen, Betsy West; Stars: José Andrés, Julia Child, André Cointreau, Susy Davidson, Barbara Fairchild, Jane Friedman, Ina Garten, Charles Gibson, Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch, Russell Morash, Sara Moulton, Jacques Pepin, Alex Pirie, Alex Prud'homme, Ruth Reichl)
This film bears strange and delightful fruit without affecting its sweetness, its surprise.
(Country: Cambodia, US; Year: 2021; Director: Jake Wachtel; Writer: Jake Wachtel, Christopher Larsen; Stars: Srey Leak Chhith, Leng Heng Prak, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Cindy Sirinya Bishop, Rous Mony, Sveng Socheata, Sokvan So, Sreng Chear, Samneang Chea, No Mo, Ty Li, Tommy Henderson, Rando Henderson, Savern Oum, Pisey Pen)
Not only are there goldfish emblems absolutely everywhere, but the lives of fish and humans sometimes blur.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Yukinori Makabe; Writer: Asumi Tsuchi, based on the manga by Noriko Otani; Stars: Nicole Ishida, Hayato Kakizawa, Naoki Kawano, Masuyasu Kitayana)
The juxtaposition of showing a woman who so carefully and artfully constructs every aspect of her life with the totally natural performances of the children, especially little Ninon, adds great dimension.
(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Antoine Barraud; Writer: Antoine Barraud, Héléna Klotz; Stars: Virginie Efira, Quim Gutiérrez, Bruno Salomone, Jacqueline Bisset, François Rostain, Loïse Benguerel, Thomas Gioria, Valérie Donzelli, Nadav Lapid, Nathalie Boutefeu, Mona Walravens, Anne Lepla, Assouma Sow, Lorette Dugardin, Sofiane Felouki)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Icíar Bollaín; Writer: Icíar Bollaín, Isa Campo; Stars: Blanca Portillo, Luis Tosar, María Cerezuela, Urko Olazabal)
(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Denis Delestrac; Stars: Paul Theroux, Sharbat Gula, Anthony Bannon, Bruce Duffy, Robert Dannin)
An astonishing arrival.
(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Ainhoa Rodríguez; Writer: Ainhoa Rodríguez; Stars: Guadalupe Gutiérrez, Carmen Valverde, Isabel María Mendoza, Guadalupe Gutiérrez, Carmen Valverde, Isabel María Mendoza)
This is impressionistic filmmaking and the young director handles it with extraordinary confidence.
(Country: Greece, France; Year: 2020; Director: Jacqueline Lentzou; Writer: Jacqueline Lentzou; Stars: Lazaros Georgakopoulos, Sofia Kokkali, Peter Rundle, Nikitas Tsakiroglou, Lazaros Georgakopoulos, Sofia Kokkali, Peter Rundle, Nikitas Tsakiroglou)
McLeod teases out the tale as we see how much of this has exited the realm of fact and entered the realm of collective myth and storytelling in the years that have passed.
(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Jono McLeod; Stars: Alan Cumming)
Jones has been turning in consistently good work for years now and it’s high time he had a role like this. The art of it lies in how he keeps us alert to his character’s dangerous potential without ever letting us lose sight of his humanity.
(Country: Australia; Year: 2021; Director: Justin Kurzel; Writer: Shaun Grant; Stars: Essie Davis, Caleb Landry Jones, Anthony LaPaglia, Judy Davis)
Lanners has a surprising amount of unexpected turns of events up his sleeve considering the remote setting, although none of them feel unbelievable.
(Country: France, Belgium, UK; Year: 2021; Director: Bouli Lanners; Writer: Bouli Lanners; Stars: Michelle Fairley, Bouli Lanners, Cal MacAninch, Clovis Cornillac, Julian Glover, Andrew Still)
Nicholas Bruckman's film follows Ady long enough that we see not just the impact upon him but the changes wrought in those around him.
(Year: 2020; Director: Nicholas Bruckman; Writer: Nicholas Bruckman, Amanda Roddy)
The first-time director shows an adept grip when it comes to the rhythms of her craft, letting silence or specific sounds break out at unexpected moments, including a gripping scene when all we can hear is the spring and creak of the uneven bars.
(Country: France, Switzerland, Ukraine; Year: 2021; Director: Elie Grappe; Writer: Raphaëlle Desplechin, Elie Grappe; Stars: Stéphanie Chuat, Aleksandr Mavrits, Philippe Schuler, Bernd Würch)
(Country: South Africa; Year: 2021; Director: Lindiwe Matshikiza; Writer: Mothiba Grace Bapela, Lindiwe Matshikiza, Masello Motana; Stars: Mothiba Grace Bapela)
By delving into fiction, Huezo is able to focus on the impact of this crisis on individual human lives.
(Country: Mexico; Year: 2021; Director: Tatiana Huezo; Writer: Tatiana Huezo; Stars: Mayra Batalla, Norma Pablo, Olivia Lagunas)
Everywhere are rules that are absolute unless they aren't.
(Country: Canada, US; Year: 2016; Director: Brett Story; Writer: Brett Story; Stars: Charisse Davidson, Lyndon B Johnson)
(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Maia Kenworthy, Elena Sánchez Bellot)
One of the most satisfying viewing experiences of the year to date.
(Country: UK; Year: 2020; Director: William E Badgley; Writer: William E Badgley; Stars: Don Letts, Jazzie B, Norman Jay, Mick Jones, Jeanette Lee, John Lydon, Grant Marshall)
The grooming of Strawberry may have some moments of levity but that, in many ways, makes it all the more uncomfortable.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Sean Baker; Writer: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch; Stars: Simon Rex, Suzanna Son, Bree Elrod, Brenda Deiss, Ethan Darbone)
It’s beautiful, compelling, helping us to grasp how people become addicted to this.
(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Martyn Robertson; Writer: Martyn Robertson)
The young director not only manages to create a convincing critique of the bourgeoisie in general, but also points out more local, Polish problems.
(Country: Poland, Czech Republic, Italy; Year: 2021; Director: Agnieszka Woszczynska; Writer: Piotr Litwin, Piotr Litwin, Agnieszka Woszczynska; Stars: Dobromir Dymecki, Agnieszka Zulewska, Jean-Marc Barr, Alma Jodorowsky, Marcello Romolo, Claudio Bigagli, Elvis Esposito, Gennaro Iaccarino, Ibrahim Keshk, Cezary Kosinski)
At last, a children's film that is fun!
(Country: US; Year: 2001; Director: Robert Rodriguez; Writer: Robert Rodriguez; Stars: Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alan Cumming, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Tony Shalhoub, Robert Patrick)
We’re all so used to seeing onscreen twins played by the same actor that there’s something disconcerting about seeing them played by two, especially in a film so concerned with the blurring of identities.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Erin Vassilopoulos; Writer: Erin Vassilopoulos, Alessandra Mesa; Stars: Alessandra Mesa, Ani Mesa, Pico Alexander, Jake Hoffman, Stanley Simons)
Laverty's script is so bare of sentiment, it hurts.
(Country: UK; Year: 2002; Director: Ken Loach; Writer: Paul Laverty; Stars: Martin Compston, William Ruane, Annmarie Fulton, Michelle Coulter, Michelle Abercromby, Gary McCormack, Tommy McKee)
The stories might notionally pull together but these feel like a pile of sticks rather than a cohesive nest, a jigsaw that's middling and without edge.
(Country: Italy, France; Year: 2021; Director: Nanni Moretti; Writer: Nanni Moretti, Federica Pontremoli and Valia Santella, based on the book by Eshkol Nevo; Stars: Anna Bonaiuto, Riccardo Scamarcio, Alba Rohrwacher, Margherita Buy, Nanni Moretti, Denise Tantucci)
When Martin demonstrates his talent he is celebrated, but what Sandahl is interested in is the weight of all this other experience which fans don’t normally see.
(Country: Sweden; Year: 2020; Director: Ronnie Sandahl; Writer: Ronnie Sandahl, based on the autobiography by Martin Bengtsson; Stars: Erik Enge, Alfred Enoch, Frida Gustavsson, Liv Mjönes, Johannes Kuhnke)
Shot in square format, the film keeps us close, closed-in, forcing viewers into the same overwhelming intimacy that Kate is experiencing.
(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Harry Wootliff; Writer: Deborah Kay Davies, Molly Davies, Harry Wootliff; Stars: Ruth Wilson, Tom Burke, Tom Weston-Jones, Hayley Squires, Elizabeth Rider, Melissa Neal, Robert Goodman, Chris Brazier, Malik Blumenthal, Ram Gupta, Max Bispham, Karol Steele, Jordan John, Nathan Ampofo, Charlie Heptinstall)
The most restrained and yet audacious, unadorned and still intelligent picture the Argentinian auteur has made.
(Country: France, Belgium, Monaco; Year: 2021; Director: Gaspar Noé; Writer: Gaspar Noé; Stars: Dario Argento, Alex Lutz, Françoise Lebrun)
Across the whole of the film, Askew strikes a good balance between historical analysis, political polemic and human interest, drawing out the characters of his interviewees.
(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Joe Corré; Stars: Vivienne Westwood, Joe Corré, Ben Westwood, Jordan)
(Country: Belgium, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Israel; Year: 2021; Director: Ari Folman; Writer: Anne Frank; Stars: Emily Carey, Ruby Stokes, Nell Barlow, Skye Bennett, Sebastian Croft, Stewart Scudamore, Emily Carey, Ruby Stokes, Nell Barlow, Skye Bennett, Sebastian Croft, Stewart Scudamore)
Underscoring this film are potent themes about masculinity, identity and self-expression. There is also a fair bit of action, and not just of the mountain adventure variety.
(Country: Denmark; Year: 2021; Director: Thomas Daneskov; Writer: Thomas Daneskov, Morten Pape; Stars: Rasmus Bjerg, Zaki Youssef, Sofie Gråbøl, Bjørn Sundquist)
Bakalova, who will be familiar to many English-speaking viewers from her multi-award winning turn in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, shows great depth here in a performance which is equally deserving of notice.
(Country: Bulgaria, France; Year: 2021; Director: Vesela Kazakova, Mina Mileva; Writer: Bilyana Kazakova, Vesela Kazakova, Mina Mileva; Stars: Maria Bakalova, Vesela Kazakova, Bilyana Kazakova)
There is a lingering, half blossomed melancholy that lies underneath the often very funny, fast-paced moments of quotidian chaos.
(Country: Norway, France, Sweden; Year: 2021; Director: Joachim Trier; Writer: Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt; Stars: Anders Danielsen Lie, Renate Reinsve, Herbert Nordrum)
Kandini isn’t interested in stories about cruel, powerful men and helpless girls, or girls who are desperate to devote themselves to some other passion. Everybody here is complicated and insecure on some level.
(Country: Indonesia, France, Singapore, Australia; Year: 2021; Director: Kamila Andini; Writer: Kamila Andini, Prima Rusdi; Stars: Arawinda Kirana, Asmara Abigail, Sekar Sari)
Pourfaraj is superb in the lead, his Massoud stiff-backed, primly moustached, yet achingly human.
(Country: Iran; Year: 2021; Director: Arsalan Amiri; Writer: Arsalan Amiri, Tahmineh Bahramalian, Ida Panahandeh; Stars: Navid Pourfaraj, Pouria Rahimi Sam, Baset Rezaei, Hoda Zeinolabedin, Navid Pourfaraj, Pouria Rahimi Sam, Baset Rezaei, Hoda Zeinolabedin)
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
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