10 Films to Look Out for at the Glasgow Film Festival 2015
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night revolves around a young girl, who is also a vampire, whose blood sucking identity is jeopardised when he meets a man who seems to treat her with respect. This feature debut by Ana Lily Amirpour is a visual and stylistic masterwork. The black and white photography is meticulous and every shot is highly passionate, romanticised and meticulously choreagraphed. The ambition of blending several genres into one, from the western and horror genre to the commercialised Iranian romantic films matches also highlights the prominence of the mixture of the geographical filmmaking languages from the United States and Iran. Despite the undeniable fact that the plot can come across as being paper thin, and seeming to thrive on style over substance, its compelling feminist undertones and the riveting mix of graphic novel and shamelessly cheesy Iranian commercial romantic cinema, as well as horror and western, make this film exciting and potentially trend setting.
I CAN QUIT WHENEVER I WANT by Sydney Sibilla
A group of intellectuals and university graduates struggling to find work decide to earn a living by producing and selling a 'technically legal' drug. An impressive feature debut by helmer Sydney Sibilla, who fully embraces and re-discovers the Commedia all'Italiana format and narrative structures that sees likeable, good natured characters that descend into a world of crime due to social marginalisation and financial neglect. Born out of an irrevocable feeling of frustration due to the hardships of modern Italy's socio-political frustration, I Can Quit Whenever I Want is an intelligent satire characterised by cleverness and an impressive sense of humour that includes some true laugh out loud moments. Its entertainment value is also covneyed by a good pace and rhythm that pervents it from moments of dullness, while the screenplay has enough bite to make some compelling observations on the lack of opportunity offered to young adults in Italy.
A female chief of police is transfered into a small village, and before she knows it she becomes involved in the life of a young girl who is constantly abused by her father - a drunk thug and an unlikely respected man in the village - becoming a kind of mother figure to her. July Jung's impressive feature film debut creates the right compelling atmosphere that represents the close mindedness of the inhabitants of small villages. This is not necessarily restricted to the main plot, but also in other themes explored throughout the film duration. Jung also creates a good tension, and while A Girl at My Door's pace has a tendency of slowing down every now and again, the performances by the three lead players are great.
THE SAMURAI by Till Kleinert
Der Samurai is a strange and strangely appealing horror thriller with many B-movie elements that nevertheless always maintains a degree of control that allows it to never slip into farcical territories. It is the story of the meeting between a quiet and introvert cop, whose only excitement in life is a strange fascination and attempt at befriending a wolf that has been causing problems to the inhabitants of his small and dull village, and a psychopathic samurai transvestite. One chases the other through the night and in the process awakens feelings of sexual liberation and animalistic urges that were buried within the cop’s own dull resignation of a life. Kleinert employs a riveting visual style but also a tension that keeps the viewer actively engaged in the storyline, and at less than 80 minutes in length, Der Samurai is always upbeat, interesting, exciting and never boring.
Based on a much publicised and intricate true story of a missing child in China found in the countryside, Chan’s tale examines greatly complex domestic drama in all its aspects within the narrative of Dearest, his latest work. The interesting element is the shift in focus, which goes from the initial divorced parents of the missing child to the woman who raised him, who suddenly finds herself having to give up a little girl she also looked after for years on the same grounds. It is the non-judgemental approach that makes Dearest such an enriching interactive experience; it is up to the audience to make up its mind on the ethical inclinations of each individual element of the tale. Despite this, Chan plays up the emotional to quasi-exploitation levels through a shameless use of melodrama and a heavily stringed musical score. This, however, does not undermine the fact that the power of the story and the in depth examination of each of the individual characters remain remarkably gripping and ensure a three dimensional viewpoint on the delicate matter of cultural contrast, prejudice and the Chinese social plague of missing children.
Tove Jonsson's lovable critturs come to life on the big screen in Xavier Picard's Moomins on the Riviera. The adorableness of the animation, hand drawn and for that reason standing out among the hoardes of 3d animation features that are starting to worryingly look the same, is conveyed by an impressive sense of humour that allows the film to be just as enjoyable to children as it would be to adults. The narrative adds to the fun with its essential randomness...if we were to narrow it down one in particular, we could say that these hippo like creatures named Moomins and their friends set out off from their peaceful and quiet little island to check out the exciting vibes of high society on the riviera, only to gradually discover it less impressive than they had initially through. The film's fun and funny appeal is tastefully completed by a vaudevillian vibe that takes us back to the days of early slapstick, while the gags in themselves are impressive and creative. Moomins on the Riviera is simply an impressive and creative piece of family cinema.
Richard Glatzer’s Still Alice is a film that chronicles a happy family woman’s world crumble as she gradually gives in to the inevitable grip of Alzheimer’s disease. Despite dealing with quite a delicate themes, this film has enough sensibility to treat its core subject of Alzheimer’s with a good balance of melodrama and authenticity. The hopeless feeling of relentlessness is carried quite wonderfully by Julianne Moore in one of her most defining performances to date. Her carefully balanced performance tastefully represents her character’s journey into darkness in a tastelessly collected way. Furthermore, this is the type of performance that downright dictates the mood and atmosphere of the film right down to individual sequences, when a blank stare is all that is needed to suddenly change the tone of a seemingly harmless situation. This adds unparalleled dramatic tension and incredible physical depth to a film that is very character driven and not too bothered about seeming narratively well rounded, in order to achieve a thriving genuineness with great credibility.
X+Y by Morgan Matthews
The mathematics of love are explored through the love of mathematics of a young man, who undergoes a coming of age experience after he is handpicked and shortlisted as a member of the British Squad at the International Mathematics Olympiads. But this is far from being a simple film about a math prodigy or boy genius, which has been seen in cinema time and time again. X + Y by Morgan Matthews, in fact his fiction film directorial debut after a celebrated career in documentary, is a deep examination of love which looks at the different emotionally intense facets of its pivotal thematic subject - the need to give love, the need to have it, the inability to understand it and so on. Wonderfully shot with moments of creative artistic visual delight that even allows us to experience things from the viewpoint of the central character, who suffers from Asperger syndrome, this film is never sympathetic of its character and struggles but rather tries to represent them and understand them in order to make for a much deeper and more genuine portrayal of familiar emotions and elements.
CATCH ME DADDY by Daniel Wolfe
After a prominent career in music videos, Daniel Wolfe makes his staggering feature directorial debut with Catch Me Daddy, a modern western set in the Yorkshire Moors. The story is that of young star crossed lovers, a Pakistani girl and British girl - struggling, broke but content with each other's company. However, two cars ride into town, one with Brit thugs and the other with merciless Pakistanis hired by her father to bring her back to her household and hell bent on seeing their mission accomplished. The chase that spins off is exciting and intense, taking place in the course of the one night and beautifully making use of its dark and shadows thanks to excellent camerawork by Robbie Ryan. This suspenseful story of marginalised souls unravels with tension and urgence, as well as exceptional character development that adds depth to the action and a further dark tone of disenchantment.
3 HEARTS by Benoit Jacquot
In short, 3 Hearts is the story of how an everyman, if not downright loser, falls with two sisters, and how a series of freak accidents and cruelty of fate gets in the way. This story of a bizarre love triangle is eccentric and lacks romanticism, resembling more a tragedy ala David Lean, a Leo McCarey melodrama or even a noir with Hitchcockian influences. This strange mix of influences is bold and daring considering the many twists and turns as well as a relentless pace that points out to inevitable disaster and self-destruction which is bound to leave some viewers feeling more angry than anything else. However, it's plain to see that through its quasi obnoxious elegance, that is what it sets out to do from the start also by flattering the imperfections and vulnerabilities of its three pivotal characters. In other words, mission accomplished.