Reviews & features: Foreign
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She Monkeys
23 May 2012
Impressive coming-of-age drama with frank depiction of adolescent sexuality
A courageous, periodically unsettling coming-of-age tale, She Monkeys is the arresting first feature from director Lisa Aschan. It’s a Swedish production which - in its frank approach to adolescent sexuality - bears comparison with Katell Quillévéré’s…
Polisse
16 May 2012
Sprawling French ensemble drama that veers between compelling and ridiculous
This sprawling ensemble film, which tracks the harrowing daily routines of a Parisian Child Protection Unit, veers wildly between the compelling and the ridiculous. Scripted and directed by Maiwenn, with Emmaneulle Bercot acting as co-writer, it shifts…
The Turin Horse
16 May 2012
Hard-going but profoundly rewarding piece of arthouse cinema from Bela Tarr
This mournful fable isn’t exactly going to win a whole new crossover audience for Hungary’s master of arthouse tough love, Béla Tarr, but it’s a compelling, vividly realised addition to his unique oeuvre. As a father and daughter scrabble for a living…
Casa de mi Padre
11 May 2012
Will Ferrell's Spanish-language comedy is at once unfunny and too silly to take seriously
Funnyman Will Ferrell as a tough rancher in a violent Spanish-language Western? It could only be a joke, and that’s exactly what Case de mi Padre is, a ragged, silly spoof in the Airplane/Naked Gun mode. Unfortunately, as jokes go, it’s a not…
A Royal Affair
11 May 2012
A skillfully delivered but coldly aloof period drama from the Swedish Dragon Tattoo team
Reuniting the writing team behind the original Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, A Royal Affair is a welcome break from the current plethora of morbid Scandinavian thrillers; instead, Rasmus Heisterberg and Nikolaj Arcel have co-adapted an unfamiliar but…
New trailer for Danish comedy Klown
10 May 2012
Filthy, funny antics that diverge from Scandinavia's current reputation for serious TV drama
Every now and then, something comes along that makes you laugh, wince and sneeze coffee through your nostrils, in that order. Today, that experience comes courtesy of the trailer for Danish comedy Klown. The film follows Frank (Frank Hvam) and Casper…
Seminal Souls - Antonioni and Bergman in the 21st century
26 Apr 2012
A look at the significance of Michelangelo Antonioni and Ingmar Bergman
Dying within twenty four hours of each other, the demise of two great filmmakers in 2007 was clearly a loss, but though Ingmar Bergman came out of retirement to make Saraband in 2002, and Antonioni made one feature, Beyond the Clouds (and a later short…
The Monk director Dominik Moll - interview
26 Apr 2012
The French director discusses his dark and beautiful adaptation of Matthew Lewis’ Gothic horror
'Film has a lot to do with dreams and nightmares,' says Dominik Moll, 'and what I like about making films is that they allow you to show a surface and also what’s underneath. I’m attracted to this double-layer idea.' The German-born French filmmaker…
North Sea Texas
18 Apr 2012
Sensitive performances fail to make this predictable coming of age story engaging
(15) 98 mins Given how difficult we’re lead to believe it is to get an independent film distributed in cinemas in the UK, you’d be forgiven for wondering why some of those that do reach our screens seem so familiar. North Sea Texas, the story of…
The Raid
17 Apr 2012
A short, tough, pumped-up flick for die-hard action fans
(18) 101min ‘1 ruthless crime lord. 20 elite cops. 80 floors of chaos.’ The advertising sets exactly the right proficient tone; crunching the numbers as well as bones, The Raid features a small group of policemen taking on a vertically stacked army of…
Monsieur Lazhar
17 Apr 2012
A classroom drama with unexpected charm, quiet dignity and emotional integrity
(12A) 94min Inspirational schoolteachers have been a cinematic staple from Goodbye Mr. Chips to Laurent Cantet’s Cannes prize-winner The Class. Monsieur Lazhar successfully avoids treacly sentimental as it charts how a teacher and a group of…
Goodbye First Love
17 Apr 2012
Intimate but unenlightening romance populated with unlikeable characters
(15) 110mins It’s supposed to be unbearably boring hearing about other people’s dreams. But often that’s not nearly as bad as hearing about other people’s formative love affairs. Watching vain, drippy, lugubrious teenager Camille (Lola Créton) fall…
Cafe de Flore
17 Apr 2012
An objectionable, distasteful and ultimately pointless exercise in parallel plotting
(tbc) 120 min In crisply-shot present-day Montreal, celebrity DJ Antoine (Kevin Parent) has recently left his wife Carole (Hélène Florent) and set up a home with their two children and his new girlfriend, Rose (Evelyne Brochu). In dull and dingy Paris…
This is Not A Film
12 Apr 2012
A snapshot into the life of embattled Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi
(U) 75mins This is Not a Film shows us the world of acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi - currently under house arrest in Tehran and facing a 6 year prison sentence and 20 year ban on filmmaking - all for planning to make a film that was deemed…
Shinji Somai retrospective announced for Edinburgh International Film Festival 2012
11 Apr 2012
PP Rider, The Catch, Typhoon Club and more to screen at EIFF 2012
Japanese director Shinji Somai will be the subject of a major retrospective at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival. The director, who died in 2001, is greatly admired in Japan, and is slowly starting to achieve international…
Bonsai
10 Apr 2012
A likeable drama about past love and missed opportunities
There’s much to like in this gentle drama about young love and missed opportunities but Chilean feature Bonsái feels a little too familiar to make a lasting impact. Julio (Diego Noguera) is an aspiring writer, working in a bookshop by day and…
Revisiting: La Grande Illusion
4 Apr 2012
The chance to see Jean Renoir’s eloquent anti-war statement on the big screen should not be missed
It’s usually described as an anti-war statement, and La Grande Illusion is certainly and eloquently that, but Jean Renoir’s masterpiece – re-released this month – is warmer and less didactic than that tag suggests. The film makes its moral point about…
Rendez-vous with French Cinema preview
26 Mar 2012
The chance to see upcoming French films before they hit cinemas later this year
Now that The Artist has cleaned up at the Oscars, attention can turn to other French films that will be released in the UK during 2012. The Rendez-vous with French Cinema event, which runs in London until Sat 24 Mar and at Edinburgh's Filmhouse from Fri…
Le Havre
19 Mar 2012
Aki Kaurismaki's French language debut is a grimly funny working class drama
(PG) 93min Migrating south to shoot his latest feature in France seems to have lightened the mood of the Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki, whose brand of deadpan humour has previously proved to be the key in crafting a series of delightfully…
The Kid with a Bike
28 Feb 2012
Naturalistic storytelling from the Dardenne brothers, starring Cecile de France and Thomas Doret
(12A) 87min The Dardenne brothers’ latest film is one of their very best – the story of the relationship between a young boy Cyril (Thomas Doret), recently taken into foster care, and local hairdresser Samantha (Cecile de France). The two meet by…
Michael
28 Feb 2012
Challenging and non-sensationalist portrayal of a paedophile
(18) 96min Doubtless Austrian writer-director Markus Schleinzer, a former casting director for Michael Haneke, will be pilloried in some quarters for making a film which ‘humanizes’ its paedophile protagonist. Yet what makes this rigorously observed…
GFF 2012 - Kid With a Bike and On The Ice
20 Feb 2012
Dardennes brothers film strikes a chord but Inuit thriller fails to excite
Before the Film Festival began, when talking to people about highlights, one of the picks that kept coming up was the Dardennes brothers' Kid With a Bike. The Dardennes (Jean-Pierre and Luc) are the Belgian filmmaking pair responsible for La Promesse…
GFF 2012 - Day planner
6 Feb 2012
Our highlights for each day of the Glasgow Film Festival
It can be difficult, when any festival rolls around, to decide which events to skip in favour of others. Searching rigorously through the programme, referring back to the calendar, trying to fit in as much as possible - it's a painstaking piece of work…
Hadewijch
24 Jan 2012
Provocative religious drama from French director Bruno Dumont
(cert tbc)105mins Don’t be put off the fact that it’s taken a couple of years for this provocative examination of contemporary religious martyrdom to gain a cinematic release in the United Kingdom. The film, which explores how extreme faith can…
The Adopted
24 Jan 2012
Quirky, saccharine directorial debut from French actress Melanie Laurent
(15) 100 mins Still only 28-years-old, French actress and musician Melanie Laurent makes her directorial debut with this offbeat family tale, which owes more to her recent performances in US indie Beginners and the sentimental melodrama The Concert…
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