Reviews by Andrew Robertson

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  First Place (2008)

  Review preview for First Place

  Earnest, fun, but not quite right; a Tokyo cream tea.

  A champion relentlessly insisting on 'being a champion' whilst the universe couldn't care less.
• 
  The Fisherman's Daughter (2011)

  Review preview for The Fisherman's Daughter

  Moody, meditative, and of tremendous quality.

  Concerned by local gossip, a father follows his daughter one night and discovers a tragic secret.
• 
  Fish And Cat (2013)

  Review preview for Fish And Cat

  Awe inspiring.

  A menacing pair descend on a campsite where a group of college kids have gathered for a kite-flying festival.
• 
  Fixing Luka (2012)

  Review preview for Fixing Luka

  Judith Johnstone's design and model making are tremendous.

  The animated story of a small girl trying to figure out how her brother works.
• 
  Flag Mountain (2010)

  Review preview for Flag Mountain

  It's good, even stripped of one of its two elements, and it might be very good.

  An introduction to the city of Nicosia, torn between Greek Cypriot and Turkish influences.
• 
  Flamingo (2016)

  Review preview for Flamingo

  Ferguson's cinematic sense trusts in audiences - that they will see what isn't there and react all the more strongly.

  An aspiring dancer develops an odd relationship with an obscene phone caller. Together they discover an impassioned interest in self-amputation.
• 
  Flow Country (2017)

  Review preview for Flow Country

  Shot on monochrome 16mm, the land itself is evoked by compelling sound work, by artifacts of processing and the shooting itself.

  Flow Country takes the viewer on an apocalyptic journey through a contested site in the far north of Scotland.
• 
  Flung (2007)

  Review preview for Flung

  Well-made, well-played, and well worth watching.

  A bullied boy seeks a way out.
• 
  Flying Blind (2012)

  Review preview for Flying Blind

  Flying Blind takes its time, but it knows where it's going, and it's very good.

  A stylish mix of erotic love story and political thriller, a brilliant aerospace engineer who is drawn into a passionate affair with a younger male student - but can she trust him?
• 
  Fly On The Window (2009)

  Review preview for Fly On The Window

  Though it's light on plot it's more about how things are seen rather than what.

  A moody animation from the perspective of a fly observing someone's home.
• 
  The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

  Review preview for The Forbidden Kingdom

  It's a loving homage, even verging on pastiche, but while it never comes close to wasting the talents of those involved it does fall short of its potential.

  An American teenager's love of kung fu leads him on the path to adventure in a mythic China.
• 
  For You I Will Fight (2010)

  Review preview for For You I Will Fight

  Well directed, well judged, subtle in tone and form.

  Escaping from an unhappy love affair, a young woman enlists in the army to try and find meaning in her life.
• 
  Four Minutes (2006)

  Review preview for Four Minutes

  This is a brilliant work, capable of speaking to a variety of audiences.

  A young prisoner receives piano lessons which change her life.
• 
  Foxy And Marina (2012)

  Review preview for Foxy And Marina

  While it's well-made, well-acted, it's trying to draw from a well too often tapped.

  A drug addict from the Isle of Skye considers giving up and going home.
• 
  Frontier(s) (2007)

  Review preview for Frontier(s)

  Not only boring but offensive; borderline entertainment.

  Thieves on the run fall prey to vicious neo-Nazis. Plus read our exclusive interview with Xavier Gens.
• 
  Galore (2013)

  Review preview for Galore

  Its plot unfolds in fits and starts, like summer holidays remembered.

  A dramatic love triangle set against the backdrop of raging bushfires. The summer nights hardly cool off and the parties keep getting wilder. Falling in love for the first time is a mysterious thing and here lies the danger for Billie, Danny and Laura.
• 
  Gate #5 (2011)

  Review preview for Gate #5

  Gate #5 is a passive observer, perhaps too passive.

  A documentary about Beirut's Gate #5 and the people around it.
• 
  Getting On (2012)

  Review preview for Getting On

  An amazing film, masterfully paced.

  A woman labouring under the weight of housework with no reward, has an unusual visitor.
• 
  The Garfield Movie (2024)

  Review preview for The Garfield Movie

  It's a stodgy interpretation of something that wasn't that fresh to begin with.

  After Garfield's unexpected reunion with his long-lost father, ragged alley cat Vic, he and his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered lives to join Vic on a risky heist.
• 
  Gathering (2009)

  Review preview for Gathering

  Conveys mood and beauty ably but never quite grabs.

  Traces of the spring.
• 
  Gaze (2017)

  Review preview for Gaze

  Everything rests on Ansari - in gesture and step, in glance, in gaze.

  A woman witnesses an incident on the bus.
• 
  Genius Loci (2020)

  Review preview for Genius Loci

  Adrien Merigeau's film makes use of a variety of contrasts to shed light on place and personality.

  One night, Reine, a young loner, sees within the urban chaos a mystical oneness that seems alive, like some sort of guide.
• 
  Geronimo (2011)

  Review preview for Geronimo

  Dean Stalham's script is nicely paced, touching, and Nele Hecht's direction catches plenty of nuance in the cast's performances.

  A father and son working in the haulage industry are linked by an awkward sentimental attachment to a ring.
• 
  Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

  Review preview for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

  Painting by numbers and staying comfortably within the lines might pass time but I wouldn't call it entertainment.

  When the discovery of an ancient artefact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second ice age.
• 
  The Gig Is Up (2021)

  Review preview for The Gig Is Up

  There are several places where statistics are given without context, and the background reading is a gloss of imagery.

  Documentary digs into the gig economy.
• 
  A Girl From Mogadishu (2019)

  Review preview for A Girl From Mogadishu

  A story brought dazzlingly to life by the talents of its veteran cast and crew

  The true story of Ifrah Ahmed, who fled war-torn Somalia in 2006 and became a campaigner against gender based violence and female genital mutilation.
• 
  Girl In The Chair (2015)

  Review preview for Girl In The Chair

  This is a tale that does not start gently, and is unafraid to show its teeth.

  After years of confinement, a teenaged girl escapes her kidnapper and returns to the house of her long-lost family, but her homecoming is far from welcome.
• 
  Gladiator II (2024)

  Review preview for Gladiator II

  Box-office and quality are at best occasional companions and there's a reason that we distinguish between critical and commercial success. It's likely that as in the film crowds will turn and thumbs will waver.

  A man seeks vengeance as a gladiator in Rome after his wife is killed in a raid.
• 
  Glassmount (2019)

  Review preview for Glassmount

  Gorgeous imagery is at once sense and senseless, transporting and troubling, riddle and rhythm.

  A triptych of documentary images play simultaneously, united by the same geographical space but offering both complementary and contradictory narrative clues as to what is really going on.
• 
  Gloria Bell (2018)

  Review preview for Gloria Bell

  At heart (and it has a big one) there's a lot going for Gloria Bell.

  A free-spirited woman in her fifties looks for love in LA dance clubs.
• 
  Godzilla Minus One (2023)

  Review preview for Godzilla Minus One

  When Godzilla Minus One shines it is devastating.

  Post war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb.
• 
  Godzilla Minus Zero (2026)

  Review preview for Godzilla Minus Zero

  The first Japanese production to be shot specifically for IMAX, there's plenty big on that big big screen.

  Japan, 1949. Pilot Kōichi, his wife Noriko and adoptive daughter Akiko are attempting to recover from Godzilla’s recent attacks. But just as everything seems settled, a new danger emerges.
• 
  Godzilla Vs. Kong (2021)

  Review preview for Godzilla Vs. Kong

  As much of a mess as the aftermath of its set pieces.

  Two mighty monsters slug it out.
• 
  Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire (2024)

  Review preview for Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire

  Video game storytelling has advanced quite a bit, to be clear, but as with so many things large chunks of Godzilla X Kong are trapped in the early 1980s.

  Two ancient titans, Godzilla and Kong, clash in an epic battle as humans unravel their intertwined origins and connection to Skull Island's mysteries.
• 
  The Golden Spurtle (2025)

  Review preview for The Golden Spurtle

  Constantine Costi's film is charming, allowing its subjects to speak for themselves and directly to camera.

  Documentary charting a porridge-making contest in the Highlands.
• 
  Goodnight (2018)

  Review preview for Goodnight

  The unease really builds with the wallpaper of the title screen, the scratching out of its name indicative in a way that will bear fruit later.

  After a young couple puts their daughter to sleep, a paranoid mother starts to believe something else is in her daughter's room.
• 
  Good Boy (2022)

  Review preview for Good Boy

  The spirit of the thing is fun and frightening in equal measures.

  Not everyone can be a dog sitter. A young woman learns this the hard way when the tiny Pomeranian she’s hired to watch reveals itself to be a deranged murder junkie.
• 
  Gossipy (2021)

  Review preview for Gossipy

  Inventiveness with camera in what feels like location shooting rather than two-camera studio gives it a versimilitude that helps carry its comic elements.

  A woman watches every move in her neighbourhood.
• 
  Go Home (2021)

  Review preview for Go Home

  Razan Madhoon's film is a gut-punch, a wrenching.

  When a young Palestinian woman tries to claim asylum in the UK, she faces the indifference of British bureaucracy.
• 
  Gracemary (1966)

  Review preview for Gracemary

  Even these fantasies are grounded in locale.

  A young woman runs to catch the last post with her weekly pools coupon, whilst imagining a more glamorous life for herself.
• 
  Grand Theft Hamlet (2024)

  Review preview for Grand Theft Hamlet

  The absurdity is one of its delights.

  Shot entirely inside the video game Grand Theft Auto, this documentary charts the story of two out-of-work actors as they try to stage a full production of Hamlet within this notoriously violent digital world.
• 
  Gran Torino (2008)

  Review preview for Gran Torino

  They do, it seems, still sometimes make them like they used to.

  Foul-mouthed racist pensioner stands up to gang leaders in his neighbourhood.
• 
  Green Thoughts (2020)

  Review preview for Green Thoughts

  There are compositions audible and painterly, moments of juxtaposition and superposition, frames that perhaps deserve frames.

  Somewhere in the world there is a remote island. The sea. Lush hills. The impenetrable forest.
• 
  Grim's Dyke (2010)

  Review preview for Grim's Dyke

  The film itself is a thing attacked, artifact upon medium transformed by light into something inexplicable.

  Experimental short.
• 
  Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 (2023)

  Review preview for Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3

  This is filmmaking that paints by numbers and with Key Performance Indicators in mind.

  Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own - a mission which, if unsuccessful, could mean the end of the Guardians.
• 
  Gwen (2018)

  Review preview for Gwen

  There is magic here.

  In 19th Century Snowdonia, a young girl tries to hold her home and family together as a mining company encroach on their land.
• 
  G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

  Review preview for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

  It starts to become clear what happened here: there's a children's party game where everyone takes a turn writing a paragraph, and the next person only gets to see the last sentence.

  Elite commandos take on a dangerous arms dealer and his deadly minions.
• 
  Glitch (2006)

  Review preview for Glitch

  This is slickly professional, and gorgeous.

  A man is grabbed into a twisted dimension. Showing at EIFF 2007 as part of World Animation 1.
• 
  The Globe Collector (2012)

  Review preview for The Globe Collector

  DeRoche has created a documentary that's both heart-warming and illuminating.

  Meet Andrew and his amazing collection of lamps.
• 
  Glory (2016)

  Review preview for Glory

  This is black comedy at its best, subtle, confident in deadpan, as bleak and dry as a sun-scorched siding.

  A railway worker finds a large amount of money on the line and duly hands it over to the authorities, who give him a watch, which stops working.