Sweetheart is a coming-of-age first love story set in a crap British caravan resort. Reminded me of holidays at Southerness, enjoying it so much I’d hide in my bedroom wardrobe reading pick-you-own-adventure books. In some ways Sweetheart is like a 21st century British John Hughes film, about one life-changing summer. There’s something so timelessly naive…
In the style of classic love stories, a woman stands on the Liberty Bridge in Budapest waiting for the lover to show at the pre-arranged time and place to show that their love is true. And he does not show. And when she tracks him down, he does not recognise her and says he has…
BIG vs SMALL follows Joana Andrade, a professional surfer, and the first Portuguese woman to surf the waves at Nazare, where the waves can reach up to 80ft tall. Andrade at 5ft 1″ cuts a small silhouette by comparison against these monstrous waves. Andrade is frank about the fear she feels regarding tackling these giants.…
My favourite bit in this is when he tells of getting the first exhibitions of his work, this wee Glasgow fella, son of a shipyard worker, and his painting is hanging in Kelvingrove Museum. It’s of Athole Gardens, which is on a slope, so the buildings look all askew in the frame. And there he…
South Korean samurai movie. Go-hor-geous! A full on eyegasm. From the opening title sequence, I was every kind of Here For It. Kingsguard Tae-yul is unable to stop the deposition of his king, but spirits his daughter away into the mountains, out of harm’s way. Raising her as his own, they live in peace, until…
Eeeeeee. A profoundly uncomfortable watch. Handsome is a documentary about Nick and his brother Alex, who has Down’s Syndrome, as they talk to other siblings in the UK, USA, India and Vietnam about providing lifelong daily care for a sibling with Down’s. So, as someone with lifelong mental health issues, my teeth are immediately set…
Hard to believe that’s the first week of the festival over. I have to say, it is very different from the usual experience. I mean, not the movies, the movies are great. But that weird sense of timelessness that the pandemic brought has been doubled-down on as I just go from film to film in…
Chinese noir about how life turns on a dime. Song Hao is a conscientious student on track for university, after years of hard work and good choices. Then he is told his university spot has been given to another student, Li Tang, his friend and the son of the corrupt mayor. Both he and his…
Archival interviews, footage, and readings in their words of Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams on their work, life and friendship. They met when Truman was 16 and Tennessee 28, and formed a lifelong bond that lasted until death. The film traces their youthful exuberance in their common sentimentalities, their drifting apart with time and consuming…
Man, the knots people will tie themselves in coz they can’t hold two truths at the same time. What is so difficult about understanding that you might be being investigated for national security reasons and guilty of sex offences at the same time? This film builds this story up like it’s a mystery, was Matt…