Glasgow Film Festival — A–Z of films

Cinema presents us with no end of films focused on romantic love. This is a different kind of love story, addressing what, for many people, is an equally deep human need.

The physicality extends past harm to outright comedy.

Smarter than most films of its ilk and refreshingly free of misplaced sentiment.

Whilst it has the potential to be an interesting character study, it never gets that deep.

The combination of Disney-style chasing the dream narrative and gritty realism at work here is a thing to behold.

In long, slow takes, Sorogoyen lets the tension build, one situation after another seeming as if it might spill over into violence.

The way The Birds is shot is the stuff of legend.

This is a film built in the edit, a story which can but understood in linear form only in retrospect.

The sense of flow extends to the narrative, which weaves together a series of stories, connected not so much by plot intersection as by existential questions of purpose and loss.

Set over five years, from his emergence on the national boxing scene in 1959 until the first Sonny Liston fight in 1964, this film tracks key events in his career in relation to his developing political and spiritual consciousness.

This is hardly a bastion of accuracy, but it does cover its ground well.

The comedy banter of the film’s middle stretch gradually gives way to anxiety, aggravation and despair, until we reach one of the darkest endings of any film in recent years.

It’s good to see that Smith is still willing to risk biting off more than he can chew.

Shot in lush black and white with a depth and tonality which makes every frame look worthy of becoming an art print.

Even if this isn’t your thing, you’ll easily understand the appeal.

The landscapes of the film are detailed like [Hoepker's] photographs and one suspects that he had a hand in identifying interesting subjects.

Oddson maintains a melancholy mood and finds ways to shift his narrative from everyday absurdity to full-on surreality and back again.

The Dirties... has two leads who work well with each other and whose naturalism and likeability draws us in

In their quietly devastating manner, Groeningen and Vandermeersch examine the fluid nature of our confusion and confidence over our place in the world.

At once overstuffed and oddly slight, it’s a restrained and sincere work.

As in most successful sex comedies, the key to this film is that it’s not really sex that’s the problem, but rather the great weight of other concerns – about self-esteem, social status and ageing – associated with it.

While it's a road well-travelled, here it's a road travelled well.

This documentary provides a fascinating glimpse into how [UBI] might play out in practice.

Although the issues of trauma and recovery being dealt with here are not exactly easy watching, Onashile shoots the film with a fluidity and grace.

There’s a sense that everyone is struggling to breathe under pressures which nobody is willing to address directly.

In places, dark humour seeps into the film like the rot around the hotel windows.

A cri de cœur on behalf of all those from who hope has been stolen

The focus really seems to be on ensuring that the audience has a good time, whilst the cast and crew are clearly doing so themselves.

Though not one of Lang's best works, ultimately sticking a little too close to the standard outline of thrillers of the period, this is nevertheless a satisfying experience for genre fans.

The action scenes do a good job of playing out the options offered by the location. The story, on the other hand, feels tacked-on and underdeveloped.

A tale that has a textured solidity, a mythological weight.

An interesting portrait of a community in a particular place and time.

Feels like a tribute to the kind of passion for film which it addresses.

The use of a bike that is simultaneously broken and enhanced is a perfect encapsulation of the idea of things being caught between two states in the film.

The relationship between Cian and Grace, whose patience he slowly begins to recognise and appreciate, is beautifully drawn.

A film as interested in the dynamics of romance as it is in romance itself.

The complex relationship between the two brothers is beautifully observed.

Though it’s nicely drawn and the performances are good, especially from Sánchez, this is all fairly familiar stuff.

Nothing in Palermo’s film is sugar-coated, although a sweetness runs through it.

A powerful experience, brimming with raw talent.

Solvej is a wonderfully rich character and Kaasgaard is clearly enjoying herself.

If you haven’t knowingly observed a narcissist before, this may well make for fascinating and, indeed, cautionary viewing.

The truth is, as much as Disney wants to inspire its young viewers, it also knows what sells.

Filled with strong sentiment but without sentimentality.

Mother Superior often puts style over substance, but that style is a real treat for fans of the Gothic.

This is very much a film about filmmaking – not the production, not the actors and associated gossip, but the experience of constructing a film on storyboard and set, building it up shot by shot until it becomes more than it first appeared to be on the page.

This an actors’ film, featuring sterling work from all three leads.

Nvotová is well versed in the language of the horror film, and some scenes echo the early work of Neil Jordan, but go much further in their hallucinatory concatenation of the forest wild and the monstrous feminine.

While a specific killer may not be unmasked, toxic masculinity and its co-conspirator the patriarchal society stand in the dock - and the case against them is damning.

The striking framing by director Robert Wise and cinematographer Joseph C Brun...adds an extra layer of menace to the urban environment.

Seydoux is superb as she runs the emotional gamut with subtlety and empathy, demonstrating an extraordinary survival spirit in complicated circumstances.

Crucially, there is enough here that doesn’t depend on in-jokes to give it some broader entertainment value.

Dazzles from the opening song and dance number to the final credits.

As richly drawn as it is delicately handled.

This is quite simply the best performance of the year, blowing everything else out of the water.

We stumble through the night with only guttering flames to guide us, straining to catch the tiniest sound that might give us a hint of what’s out there.

The combination of Efira and Magimel proves magnetic.

Shooting much of this at night on a low budget, Trukanas pulls off some impressive work.

Hunter delivers a riveting central performance, her silence speaking for a myriad women whose stories have been overlooked by history.

The film is full of sharp little observations, made in passing, which tell us about this society and the experience of people living it.

Manzoor operates a controlled chaos that blends the colour and splendour of Bollywood with sly British satire reminiscent of early Edgar Wright.

Whereas most prison films focus on strife, it’s the gradually developing friendship which forms the bedrock of the film.

An all-action spectacular with some smart ideas which sustains itself surprisingly well over a full two hours.

An accomplished piece of work.

Rye Lane has a sustained energy that makes it a joyous experience to watch.

The transcendental nature of the film feels like an existential and therapeutic need.

The only way to pull off a film like this is to approach it with absolute confidence. Jalmari Helander does a fantastic job.

There’s a vast amount going on in Alex Schaad’s ambitious film.

There is a complete disregard for any kind of consequence or continuity in this film, and you know that the rug could be pulled from under you at any second.

De Filippis understands the value of the small stuff.

Power slips from one character to another with disconcerting ease, and as the story progresses, what might seem confounding, a product of myth or dream or hallucination, takes on an abject clarity.

Sustained by a bravura performance from Isabelle Huppert in a total change of register from her last comedic outing with the same director Mama Weed, the new collaboration never puts a frame out of place.

The fact that this film still gets people talking, and arguing, nearly 20 years on, is surely an argument for its quality and relevance.

Though it may look chaotic, the film has been quite cleverly edited by Eng himself, who is always in control of what we see.

The science fiction elements of the film take a back seat for most of the running time in what is essentially a story about how people deal with extreme situations and with a sense of being cheated out of what they are due.

Much more of a natural crowd-pleaser than her previous works, this might be Morley’s most successful film to date.

A film that seeks to challenge and alienate its audience from the get-go, knowing full well that it won't win all of them back.

Blasko tells the story with a plainness which adds to its power, sometimes using news-style framing as if to remind us of the political moment which we’re living through.

What is clear is the genuine affection held for its subjects, but that makes some elements of it all the more galling.

Everything here has a depth, a richness.

Although the drama itself has a generally naturalistic feel, striking visuals embellish the spirit of all those things that are just beyond that realm.

The real horror of Diaz’s film lies in its recognition of how meaningless all these conflicts are.

Recent Hollywood heist films - typified by the Ocean's franchise - have been largely concerned with shiny surfaces, gloss and froth but British director Steve McQueen is much more interested in what lies beneath.

It's a well constructed, well paced, well made film, but it's poised and polished and professional where one might hope for something a bit more ramshackle, a mite more rebellious.