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Leeds International Film Festival · 2007

Leeds International Film Festival 2007

Unnamed Strand

Programme

22 films · 22 reviews

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The Darjeeling Limited

Review preview for The Darjeeling Limited

Chaotic, funny, beautifully shot and performed with a childlike deadpan.

Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
Three brothers take a 'spiritual journey' across India by train.

(Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Wes Anderson; Writer: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman; Stars: Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman, Amara Karan, Wallace Wolodarsky, Waris Ahluwalia, Irfan Khan, Barbet Schroeder, Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston, Camilla Rutherford, Natalie Portman) , Official site

Full review See: Darjeeling Limited press conference with Wes Anderson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman, Roman Coppola, Amara Karan, Waris Ahluwalia

Dog Altogether

Review preview for Dog Altogether

Mullan, as usual, blends his trademark emotional rawness and understatement of gesture to powerful effect.

Dylan Matthew · 4 out of 5
A man has to deal with the outcome of his rage. Screening alongside Somers Town at many venues.

(Country: UK; Year: 2007; Director: Paddy Considine; Writer: Paddy Considine; Stars: Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman, Karl Johnson)

Full review

Enemies Of Happiness (Vores lykkes fjender)

Review preview for Enemies Of Happiness

By gaining such intimate access to Joya, Mulvad has ample opportunity to show the person behind the politics.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Sundance award-winning documentary about Malalai Joya's campaign to be elected to the Afghanistan parliament.

(Country: Denmark, Norway, Finland; Year: 2006; Director: Eva Mulvad)

Full review

Faro - Goddess Of The Waters (Faro - La Reine Des Eaux)

Review preview for Faro - Goddess Of The Waters

The water rippling around the village mirrors the ebb and flow of relationships within Salif Traoré’s film.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
An engineer ties to lay old ghosts to rest when he returns to his home village.

(Country: France, Canada, Mali, Burkina Faso, Germany; Year: 2007; Director: Salif Traoré; Writer: Olivier Lorelle, Salif Traoré ; Stars: Fili Traoré, Maimouna Hélène Diarra, Michel Mpambara, Habib Dembele, Helene M Diarra, Rokia Traoré)

Full review

Kurt Cobain - About A Son

Review preview for Kurt Cobain - About A Son

Cobain’s story is perfectly juxtaposed with some spectacular photography. 

David Stanners · 4 out of 5
A look at the life and music of Kurt Cobain, narrated by the man himself.

(Country: US; Year: 2006; Director: AJ Schnack; Stars: Kurt Cobain)

Full review

A Man's Job (A Man's Work, Miehen työ)

Review preview for A Man's Job

A Man's Job uses its simple story to probe a number of prevalent but subdued contemporary issues.

Paul Griffiths · 3.5 out of 5
An out-of-work father tries his hand at male prostitution to keep supporting his family.

(Country: Finland; Year: 2007; Director: Aleksi Salmenperä; Writer: Aleksi Salmenperä; Stars: Tommi Korpela, Maria Heiskanen, Jani Volanen, Konsta Pylkkonen, Stan Saanila, Sara Paavolainen, Minna Suuronen) , Official site

Full review

Motodrom

Review preview for Motodrom

Motodrom has no pretensions other than to demonstrate the skill and daring of the Wall of Death riders.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3 out of 5
The riders of The Wall of Death still defy gravity and thrill a diminishing crowd.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2006; Director: Joerg Wagner; Writer: Joerg Wagner)

Full review

No Country For Old Men

Review preview for No Country For Old Men

Against the whisper of wind and buzz of flies, the Coens manage to find tension in the subtlest of movements and cut the dialogue through with humour as arid as the landscape.

Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
A man goes on the run from a psychopath in Texas after coming across a briefcase of stolen cash.

(Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen; Writer: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy; Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Tess Harper, Barry Corbin, Stephen Root, Rodger Boyce, Beth Grant)

Full review See: Top 50 films of the decade

The Orphanage (El Orfanato)

Review preview for The Orphanage

Sanchez and Bayona never lose sight of the requirements of the genre, providing plenty in the way of seat-gripping tension and finding suitable shocks in the everyday.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Ghost story about a family who live in an orphanage.

(Country: Mexico, Spain; Year: 2007; Director: Juan Antonio Bayona; Writer: Sergio G Sánchez; Stars: Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Geraldine Chaplin, Montserrat Carulla, Mabel Rivera, Andrés Gertrúdix, Roger Príncep, Carla Gordillo Alicia, Georgina Avellaneda, Alejandro Campos, Oscar Guillermo Garretón) , Official site

Full review

Planet Terror (Grindhouse)

Review preview for Planet Terror

Glorious, a hilariously stupid zombie fest that spoofs and honours grindhouse so much better than the tenuously related Death Proof.

Ben Sillis · 4.5 out of 5
Survivors take on infected zombies in the second part of the double-bill formerly known as Grindhouse.

(Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Robert Rodriguez; Writer: Robert Rodriguez; Stars: Freddy Rodríguez, Rose McGowan, Marley Shelton, Josh Brolin, Michael Biehn, Naveen Andrews, Michael Parks, Jerili Romeo, Tom Savini, Rebel Rodriguez, Carlos Gallardo) , Trailer

Full review

Princess

Review preview for Princess

An emotional, thrilling, disturbing and beautiful film.

Susanna Krawczyk · 4.5 out of 5
A priest adopts his orphaned niece and grows furious upon discovering what happened to her and her mother.

(Country: Germany, Denmark; Year: 2006; Director: Anders Morgenthaler; Writer: Mette Heeno and Anders Morgenthaler; Stars: The voices of Thure Lindhardt, Liv Corfixen, Stine Fischer Christensen, Mira Hilli Møller Hallund)

Full review

Rock The Bells

Review preview for Rock The Bells

A deceptively polished work.

Chris · 3 out of 5
A concert promoter tries to reunite the Wu-Tang Clan.

(Country: US; Year: 2006; Director: Casey Suchan, Denis Henry Hennelly)

Full review

Rescue Dawn

Review preview for Rescue Dawn

Beneath the cover of portraying the generalised horrors of war, the film is more subtly critical of America's conduct in both the Vietnam War and the current conflict in Iraq.

Max Crawford · 4 out of 5
A US fighter pilot shot down in the Vietnamese jungle must go to extraordinary lengths to survive.

(Country: US; Year: 2006; Director: Werner Herzog; Writer: Werner Herzog; Stars: Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davies, Marshall Bell, Brad Carr, François Chau, Craig Gellis, GQ, Zach Grenier, Pat Healy, Toby Huss)

Full review

Silk

Review preview for Silk

When it comes to Japanese slo-mo sensuality, there is nothing you can do but admire the photography, because arousal has been dulled to death long before.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 1 out of 5
19th century travels in search of silk worms introduces the perfectly naked Japanese concubine.

(Country: Canada/France/Italy/UK/Japan; Year: 2007; Director: Francois Girard; Writer: Francois Girard, Michael Golding, based on the novel by Alessandro Baricco; Stars: Michael Pitt, Keira Knightley, Alfred Molina, Sei Ashina, Koji Yakusho, Kenneth Welsh, Miki Nakatani, Callum Keith Rennie, Mark Rendall, Chiara Stampone)

Full review

Soft

Review preview for Soft

This is clever writing, smart filmmaking and excellent acting. It grasps your nerve endings and gives them a twist.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
Youth Gang Terrorises Suburbia. Winner of European Film Academy Short Film Prix UIP.

(Country: UK; Year: 2007; Director: Simon Ellis; Writer: Simon Ellis; Stars: Jonny Phillips, Matthew O'Shea, Michael Socha) , Official site

Full review

Silent Light (Stellet Licht)

Review preview for Silent Light

Silent Light is a powerful, technically excellent piece of cinema.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
A deeply religious, married man falls in love with another woman and has to question his whole life.

(Country: Mexico, France, Netherlands, Germany; Year: 2007; Director: Carlos Reygadas; Writer: Carlos Reygadas; Stars: Elizabeth Fehr, Jacobo Klassen, Maria Pankratz, Miriam Toews, Cornelio Wall, Peter Wall) , Official site

Full review

Tekkonkinkreet (Tekon Kinkurîto)

Review preview for Tekkonkinkreet

Tekkonkinkreet is beautiful, and ably uses its visual appeal in service of an exciting fable.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
Two young boys try to stop gangsters taking over their city.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2006; Director: Michael Arias; Writer: Anthony Weintraub, based on the comic by Taiyo Matsumoto.; Stars: Yû Aoi, Alex Fernandez, Yusuke Iseya, Kankurô Kudô, Sanchu Mori, Masahiro Motoki)

Full review

Teeth

Review preview for Teeth

Lichtenstein takes the myth of vagina dentata and gives it a kitsch horror/comedy makeover, to surprisingly smart and sassy effect.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A virgin's anatomical quirk means she bites off more than she can chew.

(Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Mitchell Lichtenstein; Writer: Mitchell Lichtenstein; Stars: Jess Weixler, John Hensley, Vivienne Benesch, Lenny Von Dohlen, Ashley Springer, Josh Pais, Nicole Swahn, Julia Garro) , Trailer

Full review See: Sundance Film Festival 2007: Day 3

Tyger

Review preview for Tyger

Marcondes' artistic mix of puppetry, traditional and computer-generated animation is a feast for the eyes.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A tyger brings the jungle to town.

(Country: 2006; Year: 2006; Director: Guilherme Marcondes; Writer: Guilherme Marcondes) , Official site

Full review

Vexille

Review preview for Vexille

This might be familiar fare, but Fumihiko Sori and his team pull it off with sufficient visual aplomb to keep things highly entertaining.

Paul Griffiths · 3.5 out of 5
In 2077, Japan’s secretive, advanced bio-technology could pose an unimaginable threat.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2007; Director: Fumihiko Sori; Writer: Haruka Handa, Fumihiko Sori; Stars: Voices of Meisa Kuroki, Shosuke Tanihara, Yasuko Matsuyuki, Tetsuya Kakihara, Toshiyuki Morikawa, Akio Ôtsuka, Romi Pak, Takahiro Sakurai) , Official site

Full review

WAZ

Review preview for WAZ

Shankland dispenses with subplots almost as quickly as bodies, but his debut rattles along at a nice, taut pace.

Richard Mellor · 2.5 out of 5
A detective caught in a battle of wits with a killer is forced to pay for his past failings.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2007; Director: Tom Shankland; Writer: Clive Bradley; Stars: Stellan Skarsgård, Melissa George, Selma Blair, Ashley Walters, John Sharian) , Official site

Full review