Reviews by Andrew Robertson

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  The Berlin File (2013)

  Review preview for The Berlin File

  While the tension ratchets up, there are rockets, redemption, reams of secrets.

  As a North Korean spy suspects he has been set up, a South Korean spy uncovers a conspiracy.
• 
  Big Girl (2013)

  Review preview for Big Girl

  Feels real, honest, open, compelling.

  A reunion between friends leads to awkward revelations.
• 
  Birth Of A Nation (2010)

  Review preview for Birth Of A Nation

  In the constructedness of its approach, the split-screens, the mute passage of time before us, it becomes evocative, enlightening, impressive.

  An experimental short providing a glimpse inside a summer camp where young Russian cadets develop their allegiance.
• 
  The Bite (2009)

  Review preview for The Bite

  Haunting, intriguing, compelling.

  A woman is waiting for her lover. The little girl she is taking care of is playing. When the young man arrives, the little girl decides to explore the park.
• 
  Black Box Shorts (2008)

  Review preview for Black Box Shorts

  The unknown gap between a given input and output.

  Experimental short film showcase.
• 
  Blind Date (2010)

  Review preview for Blind Date

  The script and direction are solid, the performances great.

  A man's quiet night in the pub is interrupted when a girl arrives looking for her blind date.
• 
  Blood: The Last Vampire (2009)

  Review preview for Blood: The Last Vampire

  Chris Chow's script makes it seem as if whole scenes have been left out.

  A vampire schoolgirl hunts monsters for the government.
• 
  A Blooming Business (2009)

  Review preview for A Blooming Business

  This is shocking, on a par with Silent Spring.

  A expose of the Kenya's flower industry and its cruel human toll.
• 
  Bond (2013)

  Review preview for Bond

  As courtships go Bond is somewhat unconventional.

  A one night stand leads to unexpected entanglements.
• 
  Bon Appetit (2010)

  Review preview for Bon Appetit

  A mixture of humour both visual and bodily that will amuse children of any age.

  A little girl tries to get her ice-cream back from a hungry monster.
• 
  The Book Thief (2013)

  Review preview for The Book Thief

  The children, including Nico Liersch as Leisel's friend Rudy, are genuinely good, but they are strong performances in service of a film that doesn't quite work.

  A girl in Second World War Germany steals books and shares them with others.
• 
  Boris Ryzhy (2008)

  Review preview for Boris Ryzhy

  This is less a succession of scenes in a story than poems in an anthology.

  A documentary exploring the life of russian poet Boris Ryzhy.
• 
  Bridge Over The Wadi (2006)

  Review preview for Bridge Over The Wadi

  This is powerful filmmaking, upsetting and uplifting in equal measure.

  A cinematic attempt to bridge the cultural divide between Arabs and Israelis.
• 
  Bruce (2009)

  Review preview for Bruce

  Entertaining, inventive, and bleak.

  Using synthetic biological technology, a young man grows his own action hero.
• 
  Buenos Aires, 1977 (2006)

  Review preview for Buenos Aires, 1977

  Buenos Aires, 1977 is harrowing at times, terrifying at others.

  A goalkeeper kidnapped and tortured by the Argentinian secret police becomes determined to escape.
• 
  Buffalo Death Mask (2013)

  Review preview for Buffalo Death Mask

  There isn't enough to get a proper grasp of.

  Abstracted images of a conversation with the artist Stephen Andrews.
• 
  Bulb (2007)

  Review preview for Bulb

  Despite some stunning visual work, Bulb verges on nonsense.

  In a dystopian future, a sculptress completes her masterpiece.
• 
  Burger Van Champion (2013)

  Review preview for Burger Van Champion

  Genuinely funny, heart-warming.

  A young woman hopes to win the heart of the man she adores by winning an eating competition.
• 
  Cafe De Los Maestros (2008)

  Review preview for Cafe De Los Maestros

  Never quite hits the mark.

  A celebratory film about the maestros of tango.
• 
  Cages (2009)

  Review preview for Cages

  All involved can hold their heads up high.

  An old man walks through the desert checking his traps for food, but something else is stalking him.
• 
  Cailleach (2014)

  Review preview for Cailleach

  Beautifully shot, aided by beautiful country, there's mist and rain, birds on a wire, and real humour too.

  Portrait of a crofter.
• 
  Cake And Steak (2004)

  Review preview for Cake And Steak

  It's compelling, haunting, meaningless - it's all projection, these juxtapositions, it's a kaleidoscope of noise and image, and yet, within it, pattern.

  A questioning of the American dream and archetypal American nuclear family. Part one of The Suburban Trilogy.
• 
  Call It A Night (2013)

  Review preview for Call It A Night

  It's competently made, genuinely funny in places, but not consistently funny enough to make it a must see.

  A gang have to solve a murder to restore peace on their housing estate.
• 
  Camouflage (2012)

  Review preview for Camouflage

  Lydia Adetunji's script is neatly structured, not only managing to imply that answers we're given aren't entirely the truth in both directions, but also creating an air of creeping fear.

  A make-up artist who specialises in helping patients conceal scars finds herself helping to hide a bigger secret.
• 
  Canopy Crossings (2010)

  Review preview for Canopy Crossings

  This is a slight film, but that's not problematic because of its greatest feature; it is suffused with colour, saturated, possessed of a tremendous sense of place.

  Three people working in a local market dream of bigger things, but everything must stop eight times a day to pull down the canopy and make way for passing trains.
• 
  Canvas (2007)

  Review preview for Canvas

  A striking little tale.

  Stop-motion animation about an artist and his increasingly disturbing work. Showing at EIFF 2007 in World Animation 1.
• 
  Caretaker For The Lord (2009)

  Review preview for Caretaker For The Lord

  With excellent sound work, a keen eye and a good subject, this is a lovely piece of documentary.

  A documentary about the community in a neglected Glasgow church and their struggle for survival.
• 
  Cariño (2013)

  Review preview for Cariño

  Visceral stuff this, back-woods and isolated, gory and horrifying.

  A tale of love and torture in an isolated location.
• 
  The Case (2013)

  Review preview for The Case

  Technically this is excellent.

  An exploration of imagery and ideas related to crime.
• 
  Cass (2008)

  Review preview for Cass

  An affirming story of an escape from violence.

  The true story of an abandoned baby who grew up to be a notorious football hooligan.
• 
  Castles In The Sky (2014)

  Review preview for Castles In The Sky

  Worthy, entertaining, but suffers in places from heavy-handedness.

  The story of the Scottish engineer and developer of radar Robert Watson-Watt.
• 
  Catzilla (2010)

  Review preview for Catzilla

  Catzilla might not be king of the monsters, but it's well in the running for the cutest.

  A fluffy kitten dreams of rampaging through a city.
• 
  The Cabbie (2000)

  Review preview for The Cabbie

  Now feels like a charming period film

  When a cabbie falls for a cop, he comes up with a ruse to catch her eye.
• 
  The Cage (2009)

  Review preview for The Cage

  Good intentions abound, consequences too.

  A son brings home an injured dove.
• 
  Calibre (2018)

  Review preview for Calibre

  It's not that it's bad - if anything it's just upsetting - but it's also disappointing. There could have been more.

  A weekend hunting trip goes badly awry.
• 
  Can You Hear Me? (2021)

  Review preview for Can You Hear Me?

  Can You Hear Me? manages not just to tell a satisfying story but in continuing action over its credits to create a coda that grants a different depth.

  Jhong wakes up and finds himself dead. He watches his family dealing with his death over breakfast. Although his wife can’t hear him, she can somehow comprehend what is on his mind.
• 
  Capsized (2026)

  Review preview for Capsized

  It doesn't quite manage to smuggle its magic through.

  Nicole's discovery of an eviction notice shatters her family's houseboat vacation, forcing them to confront their patriarch's troubles, lost homes, and fractured identities.
• 
  Captain America: Brave New World (2025)

  Review preview for Captain America: Brave New World

  There comes a point where ingredients stop being a recipe and start resembling a shopping list.

  Sam Wilson, the new Captain America, finds himself in the middle of an international incident and must discover the motive behind a nefarious global plan.
• 
  Carajita (2021)

  Review preview for Carajita

  The actors make grieving palpable, as sure and solid as the colours caught by Ivan Gierasinchuk.

  Sara and her nanny Yarisa have a relationship that seems to transcend their class condition but an accident will test their loyalty.
• 
  Carbon (2012)

  Review preview for Carbon

  A kind of narrative pareidola.

  A series of awkward encounters causes escalating tension.
• 
  The Card Counter (2021)

  Review preview for The Card Counter

  Tightly wrapped doesn't begin to cover it.

  William Tell, a for­mer ser­vice­man who became a pok­er play­er, leads a soli­tary exis­tence on the casi­no trail. His path cross­es with Cirk, a vul­ner­a­ble and angry young man obsessed with his plan for revenge and he tries to steer him away from violence.
• 
  The Carer (2016)

  Review preview for The Carer

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

  An ageing actor strikes up a relationship with his Hungarian emigre carer.
• 
  Carl's Date (2023)

  Review preview for Carl's Date

  There's something bittersweet about it, differently so than Up.

  Carl Fredricksen reluctantly agrees to go on a date with a lady friend, but has no idea how dating works these days. Ever the helpful friend, Dug steps in to calm Carl's pre-date jitters and offer some tried-and-true tips for making friends - if you're a dog.
• 
  Carnival Is Over (2024)

  Review preview for Carnival Is Over

  Coimbra's touch is assured, Ulisses Malta Jr's cinematography helps create something that looks as crisp as shadows on clean concrete.

  After a man and wife inherit part of a mob gambling business, they attempt to scheme their way to the top.
• 
  Catcalls (2017)

  Review preview for Catcalls

  Shows an absolute grasp of genre features and a willingness to have fun with them.

  A man picks the wrong stranger to expose himself to.
• 
  Cerulia (2017)

  Review preview for Cerulia

  There are intersections of scale and scope - a chair in the greenhouse, what lies hidden beneath the leaves - moments of delight as simple as heterochromatic twins and complex geographies of houses sold and unsold.

  Cerulia returns to her childhood home to find that it is haunted by her memories.
• 
  Checkpoint (2010)

  Review preview for Checkpoint

  The heart of the film is Abdallah El Akal as Suleiman.

  An 11-year-old Palestinian boy accompanies his father on regular trips to a ruined Gaza village, though he doesn't understand their purpose.
• 
  Chevalier (2022)

  Review preview for Chevalier

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

  The true story of composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner, who rises to heights in French society as a composer before an ill-fated love affair.
• 
  Chiffon (2021)

  Review preview for Chiffon

  There is much to admire here beyond the immediate perceptions, sensibilities too.

  Bijoli is serene until a mysterious visitor shows up in her small tailoring shop with a commission.
• 
  Children Of The Mist (2021)

  Review preview for Children Of The Mist

  I have been discomfited watching films before but the anguish here is so genuinely and affectingly captured that it is almost unbearable.

  Documentary about the indigenous Hmong ethnic minority in Vietnam's northern mountainous region, focusing on a youngster who faces the prospect of an unsettling matrimonial custom.