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Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival — A–Z of films

2016

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  • Battle Mountain: Graeme Obree's Story
    Review preview for Battle Mountain: Graeme Obree's Story

    As compelling as it is humourous.

    Luke Shaw · 3.5 out of 5
    A documentary about one man and his bike.
  • The Carer
    Review preview for The Carer

    Though it is Cox's turn that grabs, it is Konig's that delights.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    An ageing actor strikes up a relationship with his Hungarian emigre carer.
  • crISIS
    Review preview for crISIS

    An effective short film anchored by a strong central performance.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    A father and son struggle with grief as bombs go off around Baghdad.
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  • Dan And Margot
    Review preview for Dan And Margot

    Though it feels somewhat haphazard, Chirico and Chloe Sosa-Sims' film is well put together and maintains its energy and charm most of the way through.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Margot believes she is being stalked and tormented by someone named Dan, but discovers she has schizophrenia. Now, she struggles to build a life as a young independent woman, while trying to reclaim the years she lost to the disorder.
  • A Family Affair
    Review preview for A Family Affair

    Messily shot and assembled like the story it tells, this is a film which forces the viewer to ask questions about what is accident and what is artistry.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    When Tom Fassaert’s 95-year-old grandmother invites him to visit her in South Africa, all he knows about her are his father’s stories about the 1950s femme fatale who put her two sons in a children’s home. An unexpected confession makes things more complicated than he could have ever imagined.
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  • Infinitely Polar Bear
    Review preview for Infinitely Polar Bear

    Ruffalo is astonishing. He makes Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook look easy.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
    A manic-depressive mess of a father tries to win back his wife by attempting to take full responsibility for their two young daughters.
  • It's Kind Of A Funny Story
    Review preview for It's Kind Of A Funny Story

    It’s kind of a good film, but it’s kind of an irritating one too.

    Jeff Robson · 3 out of 5
    A New York teenager with suicidal tendencies strikes up friendships when he finds himself placed on the hospital’s adult psychiatric ward.
  • I Wish I Was That Bird
    Review preview for I Wish I Was That Bird

    Jeffrey Krolick's documentary is minimally intrusive and proceeds at a gentle pace, letting Condos unfold his tale.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    A candid and intimate portrait of outsider artist James Condos. Filmed over a period of three years, the documentary follows James as he reveals his childhood trauma, meets other outsider artists, tries to sell his work and seeks to find his place in the community.
  • Lima
    Review preview for Lima

    An exquisitely beautiful piece of stop motion animation.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    An animated film about a son’s struggle to keep the memory of his father alive.
  • Love & Mercy
    Review preview for Love & Mercy

    Pohland - working with an impressive script by Oren Moverman and Michael A Lerner - manages to orchestrate a musical path between the double storyline that finds unity through the creative process.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
    A look at two periods of the life of Beach Boy Brian Wilson.
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  • Mamma Mia!
    Review preview for Mamma Mia!

    Mamma Mia! is a roller coaster of emotion, careering colourfully from the blue waters of the Adriatic.

    Chris · 3.5 out of 5
    When her daughter wants to get married, Donna has to explain that any one of three men could be her father.
  • One Foot In Reality
    Review preview for One Foot In Reality

    A bold take on a subject it's still all too easy to obfuscate.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A woman discusses the impact of child abuse on her mental health in later life.
  • Planes, Trains & Automobiles
    Review preview for Planes, Trains & Automobiles

    Planes, Trains & Automobiles is an eternal tribute to how great Martin used to be before he sold himself out to family movies and how wonderful Candy was as an actor and a person.

    Gator MacReady · 5 out of 5
    Steve Martin and John Candy try in vain to get home in time for Thanksgiving.
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  • The Road Within
    Review preview for The Road Within

    The clashes between characters give this film plenty of catalysts for interesting discussions, and it is refreshing that these discussions are not framed as anything other than three young adults connecting.

    Luke Shaw · 3.5 out of 5
    A Tourette's sufferer goes ona road trip with his doctor and a couple of other troubled youngsters.
  • Rocks In My Pockets
    Review preview for Rocks In My Pockets

    It is funny and serious by turns... full of striking and humorous images.

    Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
    An animated film exploring living with illness.
  • Talk It Out
    Review preview for Talk It Out

    The overall standard of acting from the young cast is impressive.

    Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
    A teacher setting up an after-school support group prompts young people to think differently about mental health issues.
  • Touched With Fire
    Review preview for Touched With Fire

    There is a luminosity to Dalio's imagery, a beautiful use of colour, that encourages us to engage with these people and feel their joy as much as their pain.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A drama about two bipolar patients who feel their poetry is fuelled by emotional highs and lows.
  • Transition
    Review preview for Transition

    The film challenges notions about masculinity and the culture of expecting trans people to prove themselves by rejecting everything associated with the sex category they were put in at birth.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    A documentary portrait of a young trans man.
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  • Wild
    Review preview for Wild

    Witherspoon completely inhabits the role.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Adaptation of the best-selling memoir of Cheryl Strayed, a young woman attempts the gruelling 1,100-mile hike across the Pacific Crest Trail.