Reviews by Angus Wolfe Murray

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Chrysalis (2007)

  Review preview for Chrysalis

  If the film fails to connect the dots, it is never less than intriguing.

  Futuristic French thriller erases memories and fights a serial killer.
• 
  Identification Of A Woman (1982)

  Review preview for Identification Of A Woman

  The blue bloods are either seriously screwed up or unapologetically vapid.

  The casual manipulations of a serial philanderer.
• 
  Encounters At The End Of The World (2007)

  Review preview for Encounters At The End Of The World

  What he’s talking about and looking for is oddity masquerading as normality.

  The infamous director Werner Herzog visits the Antarctic, determined not to make a movie about penguins.
• 
  Scottish Short Film Showcase (2008)

  Review preview for Scottish Short Film Showcase

  An uninspired, disappointing quartet.

  Four Scottish shorts, shown at the EIFF.
• 
  Island (2007)

  Review preview for Island

  It’s getting dark and his torch is on the blink.

  Dangerous intruders on an uninhabited island.
• 
  Let Me Show You Some Things (2008)

  Review preview for Let Me Show You Some Things

  The director's problem is engaging her audience.

  Estranged siblings meet and play Snap!
• 
  The Flyer (2008)

  Review preview for The Flyer

  Anna’s story is a romantic one, but not in an obvious sense. It is bitter sweet, which gives it an edge.

  A Polish girl works all hours to make love come true.
• 
  Bogman Palmjaguar (2007)

  Review preview for Bogman Palmjaguar

  Visually, the film takes risks and loses.

  Docubiog of a conservationist gone wrong.
• 
  A Film With Me In It (2008)

  Review preview for A Film With Me In It

  The film is as refined as toasted frog's spawn, only spicier. It is genuinely funny, which is a rarity these days, and for that be giggleful.

  Unemployed actors come face to face with sudden death.
• 
  The Wave (2008)

  Review preview for The Wave

  The message is clear and the message is strong: How To Build A Fascist Movement works.

  A high school teacher demonstrates with his class the true meaning of autocracy.
• 
  Paradise (2007)

  Review preview for Paradise

  It would be hard not to enjoy the company of these two. They give marriage a good name.

  The story of wallpaper and marriage in a house on a lake in Sweden.
• 
  Warsaw Dark (2008)

  Review preview for Warsaw Dark

  The bad guys act like good guys acting like bad guys, which means you don’t know who is good and who is bad and quite soon it doesn’t matter.

  A night club dancer becomes embroiled in a political assassination.
• 
  Life Track (2007)

  Review preview for Life Track

  The freak show element is never far from the surface of the plot, if, indeed, there is one.

  A disabled man allows a mute girl into his private space.
• 
  Spike (2008)

  Review preview for Spike

  There is nothing wrong with shoestring budgets and ordinary effects, but without imagination they look ridiculous.

  Low budget monster horror with romantic undertones.
• 
  Alone In Four Walls (2007)

  Review preview for Alone In Four Walls

  If this is a true representation of what Russian reform schools can achieve, it is remarkable.

  Inside a juvenile Russian reform school.
• 
  Helen (2008)

  Review preview for Helen

  The film resembles a portrait in stillness, as the fate of the alleged victim is replaced in the mind of the audience by the reality of this other girl’s life.

  A missing girl's police reconstruction prompts her proxy to fill in the psychological gaps in herself.
• 
  sleep furiously (2007)

  Review preview for sleep furiously

  The farmers are not in good condition. They look tired and their equipment looks exhausted.

  Rural Wales faces change from all sides as the population ages.
• 
  Tiramisu (2007)

  Review preview for Tiramisu

  Theatre groupies will adore the incestuous ambience, while those in outer darkness won’t be changing their prejudices about arts and farts in a hurry.

  Famous Dutch actress faces bankruptcy by hiring an accountant and giving another party.
• 
  Time To Die (2007)

  Review preview for Time To Die

  The film is funny, heart rending, brutally honest and extremely well made.

  An old woman talks to her dog in an attempt to retain a modicum of independance in a material world that does not appreciate a child's desire to play on a swing.
• 
  The Appeared (2007)

  Review preview for The Appeared

  The film is made with commitment, even passion, and the terror tactics are effective until the plot loses itself in a miasmic mist of incomprehension.

  Siblings are terrified by tortured ghosts and a brain dead father's legacy in Argentina.
• 
  Destry Rides Again (1939)

  Review preview for Destry Rides Again

  The pace is fast, the fun frantic, the script as witty as a whiplash and the performances are sublime.

  Pacifist lawman in the Wild West meets feisty chanteuse in The Last Chance Saloon.
• 
  A Secret (2007)

  Review preview for A Secret

  The war was monumental in its emotional and physical destruction. The film succeeds on many levels, most of all with the heart and mind of the boy witness.

  Passions simmer as the Nazi trawl for Jews in Paris heats up.
• 
  Flashbacks Of A Fool (2008)

  Review preview for Flashbacks Of A Fool

  Life changing events are signaled so far ahead that tear ducts have withered by the time they explode.

  Hedonistic Hollywood movie star remembers his rites of passage in good old Blighty when Roxy Music was cool.
• 
  Microcosmos (1996)

  Review preview for Microcosmos

  The ordinary becomes exquisite and the extraordinary alien.

  What creeps and crawls in a French meadow.
• 
  The Go Master (2006)

  Review preview for The Go Master

  The film is as introspective as the man, while explanation is as minimalist as the screenplay.

  The long and quiet life of a Chinese Go Master in Japan.
• 
  The Last Enemy (2008)

  Review preview for The Last Enemy

  Into this miasmic mess of muddled make-believe stumbles mathematician Stephen Ezard, surely the most inept protagonist ever invented.

  A futuristic security force attempts to contain and cover up a man-made deadly virus.
• 
  Her Name Is Sabine (2007)

  Review preview for Her Name Is Sabine

  Some might consider Sandrine’s documentary an act of courage in the pursuit of truth, while others, distressed by the exposure of her sister's humiliation, may see it as an intrusion into personal grief.

  Sandrine Bonnaire documents the sad life of her autistic sister.
• 
  Iron Ladies Of Liberia (2007)

  Review preview for Iron Ladies Of Liberia

  You feel the urgency to improve things. You feel their dilemmas. “In Africa, 100% democracy is not working. Especially after war.”

  A year in the life of the first female African president.
• 
  Rocco And His Brothers (1960)

  Review preview for Rocco And His Brothers

  Emotions run deep and tragedy is as predictable as rust. This is Visconti at the pinnacle of his powers.

  A family from the rural south fight for unity and purpose in post-war Milan.
• 
  All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane (2007)

  Review preview for All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane

  Anthea may be dull, but she’s nice. Michael may be passive, but he’s sweetly charming. You care enough about them to wonder whether they kiss better than camels on heat.

  Restless twenty-somethings can't decide whether to stay or leave or fall in love. Touring.
• 
  Unfinished Sky (2007)

  Review preview for Unfinished Sky

  As a two hander, the film eases gently towards acceptance, even affection, until a melodramatic ending blows it to smithereens.

  An Afghan refugee hides out on an isolated farm in Australia.
• 
  Lioness (2008)

  Review preview for Lioness

  It is the unspoken experience, the agony that is Iraq, which hangs so heavy in the vacuum between what you see and what you imagine.

  Women soldiers in Iraq.
• 
  There Will Be Blood (2007)

  Review preview for There Will Be Blood

  Anderson deals in originality. That is his currency. Don’t expect anything to resemble something you might have seen before.

  Gushers and guns and an emotionally damaged prospector in the early years of California's oil boom.
• 
  Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)

  Review preview for Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

  The way the plot manipulates every worst case scenario is fiendishly clever. Seldom has an ensemble cast meshed so effectively.

  Damage limitation after a jewellery heist goes wrong.
• 
  Cloverfield (2008)

  Review preview for Cloverfield

  This is a gimmick picture. After admiration for the concept has blown away, you are left with a plotless disaster movie that goes nowhere.

  A small group of friends struggle to survive when a giant monster attacks Manhattan.
• 
  In The Hands Of The Gods (2007)

  Review preview for In The Hands Of The Gods

  Their achievement, their adventure, their passion for football is admirable and it is this that drives the film.

  Searching for Maradona.
• 
  Tabu: A Story Of The South Seas (1931)

  Review preview for Tabu: A Story Of The South Seas

  Murnau’s ability as a storyteller is demonstrated to perfection in this, his last film.

  FW Murnau's tale of love on the run in the South Seas.
• 
  The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007)

  Review preview for The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

  It is a character piece, an actor’s picture, supremely atmospheric and secure in its knowledge of place and time.

  The title says it all...
• 
  August Rush (2007)

  Review preview for August Rush

  The film's sugar content is off the scale and it doesn’t help that everyone who comes in contact with Evan are sooo nice it reaffirms your belief in human nature – well, almost.

  Boy on the run discovers he is a musical prodigy.
• 
  N (Napoleon And Me) (2006)

  Review preview for N (Napoleon And Me)

  The lavish decoration, aesthetically pleasing and beautifully photographed, exposes the artificiality of the storyline.

  When Boney went to Elba...
• 
  The Lark Farm (2007)

  Review preview for The Lark Farm

  The Taviani brothers are known for their honesty. They do not compromise with your sentiments.

  Massacre of Armenians in Turkey during the First World War.
• 
  Silk (2007)

  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.

  19th century travels in search of silk worms introduces the perfectly naked Japanese concubine.
• 
  Night And The City (1950)

  Review preview for Night And The City

  The film has style, created as much by Max Greene’s atmospheric camerawork as Widmark’s bravura acting.

  A small time American hustler in post war London takes on the hoodlum who runs the wrestling rackets.
• 
  Saturn In Opposition (2007)

  Review preview for Saturn In Opposition

  The “so what” factor doesn’t go away, because it is difficult to care about these people.

  A group of friends in Rome discover than happiness is transient and grief a great healer.
• 
  The Tree Of Wooden Clogs (1978)

  Review preview for The Tree Of Wooden Clogs

  As a record of life before emancipation, this is a testament to human endeavour.

  The injustices and little victories of farm labourers and their families in Lombardy's feudal past.
• 
  Heima (2007)

  Review preview for Heima

  There have been bands-on-tour films before, but nothing can compare to the unbearable beauty of Heima.

  The most original and successful Icelandic band travels the country giving free concerts.
• 
  The Serpent (2006)

  Review preview for The Serpent

  The Serpent is a thriller of infinite cunning and surprise. It is unlikely that you will be more frightened in a cinema this year.

  A blackmailer with a personal agenda resorts to murder.
• 
  The Inheritance (2007)

  Review preview for The Inheritance

  Road movies come with clichés attached. Thanks to dialogue that strips convention to the bone, they have no effect here because they wouldn’t survive the verbal onslaught.

  Two brothers who hate each other drive to Skye to search for their dead daddy's money.
• 
  Cry Of The City (1948)

  Review preview for Cry Of The City

  When there’s nowhere else to go but the electric chair, what’s another murder if it keeps Marty Rome on the streets?

  A wounded killer goes on the run in New York. Out on re-release in the UK.
• 
  CSI: NY - Season 3, Part 2 (2006)

  Review preview for CSI: NY - Season 3, Part 2

  Dead hunky guys and half naked hottie corpses make for high ratings - it’s about style, sex appeal and money

  Mac Taylor's team go up market for more bizarre murders, while Stella Bonasera has a scare in a contaminated crime scene.