Reviews by Anton Bitel

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  The Naked Island (1960)

  Review preview for The Naked Island

  Made over many months by a tiny cast and crew who themselves lived on the otherwise uninhabited island and sowed and tended the crops there, The Naked Island is both in love with labour, and a labour of love.

  The struggles of a family on an isolated island.
• 
  Reign Of Assassins (2010)

  Review preview for Reign Of Assassins

  In this saga of split bodies and double lives, it seems that everyone yearns for change.

  An assassin who has renounced her deadly trade finds the past is catching up with her.
• 
  Dark Nature (2009)

  Review preview for Dark Nature

  The film is part slash-and-dash, part domestic psychodrama, and all confounded with dream sequences, tarot premonitions and bizarre roadkill POVs.

  A woman and her family come under attack while on holiday in the Highlands.
• 
  Jack Reacher (2012)

  Review preview for Jack Reacher

  Make no mistake: despite the big cast, this is the sort of thriller you can safely snooze through on a plane, connecting with ease the dots between the clichéd fights and chases.

  A former military policeman comes out of self-imposed retirement to investigate a series of sniper shootings.
• 
  A Fish (2011)

  Review preview for A Fish

  A confident metaphysical mystery which, as a calling card, offers a tantalising glimpse into the future of Korean cinema, while coming with a gimmick of its own.

  When an academic discovers his missing wife has become a shaman, he fears he is beginning to lose his mind.
• 
  The Samurai That Night (2012)

  Review preview for The Samurai That Night

  By the close, the revenge motif has become completely decentred, giving way to a quirky study of lost souls.

  A man obsessed with avenging his late wife, mown down by a hit-and-run driver, threatens to kill the guilty driver... but will he find his inner samurai to act on the threat?
• 
  Tomorrow (2012)

  Review preview for Tomorrow

  When a journalist is so embedded, a bit of historical accuracy and broader perspective might actually have helped.

  Documentary about Russian artists' group Voina.
• 
  The Casebook Of Eddie Brewer (2012)

  Review preview for The Casebook Of Eddie Brewer

  However much he was required to pinch his own pennies, Spencer has elaborated a story so richly overdetermined that viewers cannot help but become disoriented by all the questions raised and unanswered.

  A paranormal investigator goes about his business as a documentary crew follows him.
• 
  Black Rock (2012)

  Review preview for Black Rock

  It is violent and visceral, of course, but also a metaphor for the irreversibility of time.

  Three women camping on a remote island find themselves under threat from three crazed soldiers.
• 
  My Amityville Horror (2012)

  Review preview for My Amityville Horror

  This documentary offers a uniquely personal account of events in the house from an eyewitness who has never really been heard before.

  A documentary about the famous Amityville 'haunting' case focusing on Daniel, who was ten at the time and remembers something very different.
• 
  The Comedian (2012)

  Review preview for The Comedian

  It is precisely Ed's inertia that makes The Comedian more a sketch than a film of action – and when things do happen, it is almost in spite of the protagonist.

  Trials and tribulations of a wannabe comic.
• 
  Basket Case - The Trilogy (2012)

  Review preview for Basket Case - The Trilogy

  Strange to think that a film made 30 years ago has never looked so good.

  Trilogy of films about a man and his basket-bound mutant brother
• 
  Basket Case 3: The Progeny (1992)

  Review preview for Basket Case 3: The Progeny

  Besides fraternity, paternity and family, craziness forms a major theme here.

  Duane's mutant brother is about to become a dad.
• 
  Basket Case 2 (1990)

  Review preview for Basket Case 2

  For all the creature effects and gore on offer here - not to mention bad acting and risible dialogue - Basket Case 2 feels cosily tame.

  A man and his basket-case mutant brother hole up in suburbia.
• 
  The Wall (2011)

  Review preview for The Wall

  The wall is an undeniable presence, both solidly tangible and, thanks to some stunning sound design, resonantly audible as it redefines and demarcates the Woman's newly cloistered life.

  A woman chronicles her time after becoming separated from the rest of humanity.
• 
  Grassroots (2012)

  Review preview for Grassroots

  Perhaps wisely, Grassroots never really seems especially engaged with ideology.

  A jaded journalist helps his friend stand for the local city council.
• 
  Sister (2012)

  Review preview for Sister

  It is a well-observed portrait of the family ties that bind, but with insufficient narrative development to justify its length.

  A snapshot of life for a 12-year-old, who steals from the rich at a local ski resort to support him and his sister.
• 
  Blood (2012)

  Review preview for Blood

  For the most part, this is an intense study of family loyalties and legacies.

  A police detective's disgust at the murder of a young girl leads him to make dangerous decisions.
• 
  The Master (2012)

  Review preview for The Master

  Perhaps the title of Master is best reserved for Anderson himself, who builds, as if from water and sand, a story that is messy in the very best sense, crumbling before the viewer's eyes before it can be easily grasped or penetrated.

  A troubled veteran falls under the spell of a charismatic cult leader.
• 
  Ernest And Celestine (2012)

  Review preview for Ernest And Celestine

  Small-town prejudice and the fear of otherness are roundly exposed for their absurdity, but the sensitivity of the artistic disposition and even the importance of good dental care are also sensibly celebrated.

  The unlikely friendship between a gruff bear and an orphaned mouse worries authorities who believe the species shouldn't mix.
• 
  Reality (2012)

  Review preview for Reality

  A strictly one-note parable.

  A fishmonger's fantasies of appearing on Big Brother threaten to ruin his life and that of his family.
• 
  Our Children (2012)

  Review preview for Our Children

  Joachim LaFosse's film builds, inexorably, to an ending that we know from the start is coming.

  A couple's relationship becomes strained under pressure from one of their adoptive parents.
• 
  Thursday Till Sunday (2012)

  Review preview for Thursday Till Sunday

  The camera of Bárbara Álvarez carefully observes the tensions mounting against a backdrop of ... landscapes that mirror the young girl's anxieties.

  A ten-year-old becomes aware of the strains on her parents' marriage over the course of long car journey.
• 
  Doomsday Book (2012)

  Review preview for Doomsday Book

  Doomsday Book sandwiches Kim's serious and savoury speculative fiction between Yim's two altogether more absurdist slices of Armageddon.

  A trilogy of apocalyptic science fiction tales.
• 
  Save Your Legs! (2012)

  Review preview for Save Your Legs!

  It could be comedy gold, but the ball is dropped early.

  A feeble amateur cricket team blags its way into international competition.
• 
  Here And There (2012)

  Review preview for Here And There

  The sort of film that practically defines the festival experience, but that one could not ever imagine watching in any other context.

  After years in the US, Pedro returns home to his family in Mexico, but the lure of the north remains as strong as ever.
• 
  Celeste And Jesse Forever (2012)

  Review preview for Celeste And Jesse Forever

  The writing is so sharp and rapid-fire, and the performances so charmingly self-lacerating, that you will be happy to spend time in these characters' company.

  Two best friends struggle to come to terms with sharing the perfect divorce.
• 
  Toomelah (2011)

  Review preview for Toomelah

  Sen does not flinch from showing a community plagued by misguided models of masculinity, but offsets this hopelessness with a qualified optimism for a different kind of cultural continuity.

  In a remote Aboriginal community, 10-year-old Daniel aspires to be a gangster.
• 
  Swerve (2011)

  Review preview for Swerve

  Despite a solid cast and good use of location, we really have been here many times before, regardless of how many twists Lahiff compounds to get us there.

  Thriller, sees the paths of a drug dealer, a dissatisfied wife, a straight up ex-soldier and a psychotic cop collide.
• 
  Exit Humanity (2011)

  Review preview for Exit Humanity

  Exit Humanity's attempt to rewrite history may bring a bit of fresh meat to the table, but it hardly adds up to a bright new future for the zombie genre.

  Humans struggle to survive an outbreak of zombies in the aftermath of the American Civil War.
• 
  Kotoko (2011)

  Review preview for Kotoko

  This is a difficult film, full of abhorrent behaviours and unbearable tensions – but at the same time it shows a profound respect towards its troubled subject, and therefore towards its viewers as well.

  A single mother clings to life amid nightmarish mental problems and self-mutilation.
• 
  Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992)

  Review preview for Tetsuo II: Body Hammer

  Tsukamoto's preoccupations with meta(l)morphosis, body horror and unchecked masculinity remain firmly in place, as does the writer/director's way with outrageous images and ideas.

  A conspiracy of a gang of cyborgs.
• 
  Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

  Review preview for Tetsuo: The Iron Man

  The film's vision of creation and destruction as coexisting drives within the steely heart of man has lost none of its arresting force over the years – or been outdone by Tsukamoto's two sequels.

  The seminal work of extreme Japanese cyberpunk, newly restored from the original negative by cult director Shinya Tsukamoto, who will be in attendance at EIFF.
• 
  Prometheus (2012)

  Review preview for Prometheus

  This big-screen epic is immersive less for its binocular vistas than for their impossibly grand scale

  Exploration to the dark reaches of space, to discover the origins of mankind. It doesn't go well.
• 
  Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai (2011)

  Review preview for Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai

  Hara-kiri: Death Of A Samurai is in fact a lesson in artful restraint, slowly and deliberately building to its violent conclusion with a multi-layered narrative of flashback and counter-flashback.

  Takashi Miike follows 13 Assassins with a neo-classical remake of the Yasuhiko Takiguchi story about desperate, impoverished ronin and implacably cruel feudal lords.
• 
  Arirang (2011)

  Review preview for Arirang

  While it is certainly possible to admire the experimentalism of Arirang, it is less easy to like or care about it.

  Autobiographic documentary.
• 
  Himizu (2011)

  Review preview for Himizu

  The result is a coming-of-age, state-of-the-nation film which, though important in the post-tsunami context, nonetheless hardly feels like one of Sono's best.

  A pair of teens struggle to get by in a Japan that has been ravaged by natural disaster.
• 
  Damsels In Distress (2011)

  Review preview for Damsels In Distress

  A disorienting, surreal blend of sophisticated verbal wit and inconsequential inanity.

  A trio of girls aim to revolutionise a stuffy, former all-male university.
• 
  21 Jump Street (2012)

  Review preview for 21 Jump Street

  Blends zany character comedy and squeamishly surreal grossout with some postmodern wit and knowing parody of action cliché tropes.

  A pair of cops are sent back to high-school under cover to bust a drugs ring in this reboot of the 80s TV series.
• 
  The Shrine (2010)

  Review preview for The Shrine

  A mirthless hybrid of different subgenre elements that, though merged with a twist, remain resolutely bland to the end.

  Three journalists find themselves in danger when on the trail of a cult which just might be practising human sacrifice.
• 
  The Muppets (2011)

  Review preview for The Muppets

  As long as this zany crew of misfits continues to raise a smile, a laugh, even a tear, there remains a place for their alchemic power to turn on- and off-stage mishaps, arch pop-culture commentary and sly self-parody into entertainment gold.

  When the Muppet Theatre is theatened, three fans must reunite its former stars to save it.
• 
  Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

  Review preview for Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

  Following the phenomenal sequences up on the Dubai skyscraper, it seems that the only way is down.

  Ethan Hunt is forced to become a rogue agent in order to clear his name.
• 
  Margaret (2011)

  Review preview for Margaret

  Divorced by many years from the context of its original conception, the film might easily be viewed as just another rites-of-passage indie – albeit an unusually multi-faceted one.

  A young woman find herself embroiled in the blame game after a bus accident.
• 
  Outside Satan (2011)

  Review preview for Outside Satan

  A jarringly odd mix of dull and disturbing that comes with its own quasi-religious frisson for a jaded age.

  Enigmatic drama about the relationship between a woman and a mysterious outsider on Northern France's Opal Coast.
• 
  Shame (2011)

  Review preview for Shame

  It is so very well made that one can only wish there were a little more to it than the fleshy mechanics of trauma.

  A thirtysomething finds his life spiral out of control after his sister moves into his apartment.
• 
  Footnote (2011)

  Review preview for Footnote

  The initially breezy tone of the comedy gives way to a depiction of calculated cruelty monstrously vicious enough almost to qualify as horror, human enough to count as tragedy and nuanced enough to face viewers with a most unusual kind of dilemma, part in

  Tale of father-son rivalries within the Israeli academic establishment.
• 
  Hut In The Woods (2011)

  Review preview for Hut In The Woods

  As Martin walks to and fro from urban settings to the Edenic countryside, Weingartner's film also seems to meander, and to drift a little too close to the sentimental – until a twist comes that forces the viewer to re-evaluate everything that has gone bef

  A young man befriends an orphaned boy, and they try to escape the world by building a cabin in the woods.
• 
  Junkhearts (2011)

  Review preview for Junkhearts

  It is a striking audiovisual style which rescues this production from many of the more hackneyed tropes of British social realism and urban grit.

  An unlikely group of people are drawn together by shared loneliness.
• 
  Darwin (2011)

  Review preview for Darwin

  This alien landscape, shot wide by the Swiss filmmaker with an outsider's eye for the dustily hyperreal, is teeming with strange life and even stranger stories.

  Evocative documentary about a ghost town in Death Valley, California, with a scant population of just 35.
• 
  The Somnambulists (2011)

  Review preview for The Somnambulists

  The Somnambulists is a powerful, unapologetically political contribution to the discourse about this country's questionable manoeuvrings abroad since 9/11, lest we forget.

  Richard Jobson's committed, imaginative response to our collective apathy to the war in Iraq.