With Shadow Dancer, director James Marsh (Man on Wire, Project Nim) takes us back to a time when – in the UK, at least – the word “terrorist” did not automatically carry connotations of the Islamic ‘other’. A fine example of the gritty yet increasingly glamorous film-making for which the BBC is developing a reputation, […]
Every once in a while, a film comes along which seems to tick all the right boxes. Beautifully shot, with a compelling story, complex characters and plenty of edge-of-your-seat moments, Peter Chan’s kung-fu detective thriller Dragon (Wu Xia) is just such a film, and makes for a stunning cinematic experience. Set in China’s Yunnan province […]
The Fourth Dimension is a strange beast. Although billed as a single feature, it is in fact a succession of three short films – one American, one Russian, one Polish – all of which present their own unique take on the impact that the fourth, temporal dimension has on people’s lives. A series of quotes […]
Last year, Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block demonstrated that, post-Shaun of the Dead, the UK was capable of producing impressive monster movies which could acknowledge a slew of Hollywood influences while still maintaining their own identity. Jon Wright’s Grabbers has now, it seems, done the same for Ireland, albeit in slightly more parodic fashion. The […]
“Guy, did the world end?” “I’m not sure.” I don’t know who wrote the blurb for this film on the official Edinburgh Festival website, but it’s very misleading. As far as I can see, there are no “space aliens” to be found in Young Dudes, the latest feature from acclaimed Taiwanese director DJ Chen. […]
And so we come to the film chosen to officially open the 66th Edinburgh International Film Festival; William Friedkin’s Killer Joe. It might seem as though Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) has been relatively quiet since his ’70s heyday, but nothing could be further from the truth. Although the ’90s were something of a […]