Tom Dawson

Polisse

Sprawling French ensemble drama that veers between compelling and ridiculous

16 May 2012

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…

Marley

A comprehensive documentary on the singer that would have benefitted from delving a little deeper

25 Apr 2012

(15) 145 mins Executive produced by Bob Marley’s son Ziggy and Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, Kevin Macdonald’s comprehensive, if overly reverential, documentary chronicles the life and times of the first musical superstar from the third world…

Rendez-vous with French Cinema preview

The chance to see upcoming French films before they hit cinemas later this year

26 Mar 2012

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…

Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life

Werner Herzog documentary more than righteous polemic against capital punishment

19 Mar 2012

(12A) 107min In an interview to promote Into the Abyss, the German filmmaker Werner Herzog declares that, ‘it is absolutely clear that the crimes of the persons in my film are monstrous, but the perpetrators are not monsters’. Although Herzog himself…

Director Paolo Sorrentino discusses the Sean Penn-starring This Must Be the Place

The drama merges themes of America, rock music and the Holocaust

19 Mar 2012

The protagonist at the heart of Paolo Sorrentino’s This Must be the Place isn’t your typical Nazi-hunter. Endearingly played by Sean Penn, Cheyenne is a retired rock star, now living in Dublin, whose mental and physical faculties have been impaired by…

Cleanskin

A gratuitously violent Sean Bean action vehicle light on sociological insight

9 Mar 2012

'I love my country. I’ve killed for it and I’ll die for it', growls Ewan (Sean Bean), an ex-soldier turned secret service agent who is tasked with tracking down a cell of homegrown suicide bombers in this London-set thriller by British writer-director…

Michael

Challenging and non-sensationalist portrayal of a paedophile

28 Feb 2012

(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…

Carancho

Argentinean neo-noir explores car crash insurance scams

22 Feb 2012

(15) 107 min Beginning and ending with visceral images of car crashes, this slice of contemporary neo-noir, from Argentinean writer and director Pablo Trapero, unites two of his country’s finest actors. The titular vulture (‘carancho’) is an…

Trishna

Michael Winterbottom's bold re-imagining of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles

17 Feb 2012

(15) 113 min Roman Polanski filmed Tess of the D’Urbervilles back in the late 1970s as Tess, with his then partner Nastassja Kinski in the lead role of Thomas Hardy’s heroine-cum-personification-of-nature. Here Michael Winterbottom, who’s previously…

Hadewijch

Provocative religious drama from French director Bruno Dumont

24 Jan 2012

(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

Quirky, saccharine directorial debut from French actress Melanie Laurent

24 Jan 2012

(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…

Profile: Carol Morley

Director of documentary-drama Dreams of a Life

9 Dec 2011

Born 1966, Stockport, England. Background The sister of music critic Paul Morley, film director Carol left school aged 16 to pursue a career as a singer in various post-punk Mancunian bands. Having studied fine art film at Central Saint Martins…

Dreams of A Life

Compelling UK documentary-drama investigation into life of dead woman

7 Dec 2011

(12A) 90min Back in January 2006 a 38-year-old Londoner of Afro-Caribbean descent, Joyce Vincent, was found dead in her Wood Green housing association flat located above a busy shopping centre. Her decomposing corpse had lain there undisturbed for…

We Have A Pope

Light-hearted touches within surprisingly pessimistic vision of Catholic Church system

9 Nov 2011

(tbc) 104mins Although it’s set in the world of heavyweight prize-fighters, it would be cruelly limiting to describe Martin Scorsese’s lacerating study of masculine self-loathing Raging Bull as a film about boxing. Ditto Italian writer-director Nanni…

Romantics Anonymous

Surprise hit at French box-office far more saccharine than bittersweet

9 Nov 2011

(12A) 78mins ‘I don’t have a problem with women,’ confides chocolate factory owner Jean-René (Belgian actor and comedian Benoît Poelvoorde) to his psychoanalyst (Stéphan Wojtowicz). ‘They just terrify me, that’s all.’ In clinical terms le patron is…

The Well Digger’s Daughter

Beautiful landscapes and convincing performances in polished if unadventurous directorial debut

9 Nov 2011

(PG) 107mins A quarter of a century after his acclaimed performances as the shifty hunchback Ugolin in Claude Berri’s Jean de Florette and its sequel Manon des Sources, French actor Daniel Auteuil plays it safe in his directorial debut with this…

Las Acacias

Low-key and sparing Argentinean film illustrates how less can be more

8 Nov 2011

(12A) 86 mins In the renaissance of South American cinema during the last 15 years, the road movie has been embraced by numerous film-makers: think Walter Salles’ Central Station, The Motorcycle Diaries and the forthcoming Jack Kerouac adaptation On…

Interview: Kaya Scodelario on Skins, Wuthering Heights and Now Is Good

Former star Skins takes lead in Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights

21 Oct 2011

You were in line to work with Red Road and Fish Tank director Andrea Arnold on Wuthering Heights, yet you missed your first audition for the role? How come? ‘I was incredibly nervous about doing a period drama. I thought that to play period you had…

Self Made

Gillian Wearing's study of acting blurs the line between fiction and reality

17 Oct 2011

(15) 87min An intriguing debut feature from Young British Artist-turned director Gillian Wearing, which in a manner reminiscent of Clio Barnard’s The Arbor skilfully blurs the boundaries between documentary and fiction filmmaking. Having responded to…

Miss Bala

Impressive crime drama from Mexican director Gerardo Naranjo

12 Oct 2011

(15) 113min Maria Full of Grace meets Heat in this absorbing thriller from Mexican writer/director Gerardo Naranjo (I’m Gonna Explode), whose title translates as ‘Miss Bullet’. Laura (newcomer Stephanie Sigman) is a young working-class woman living…

Page One: Inside the New York Times

Personality-driven documentary about the world-famous publication

14 Sep 2011

(15) 91min These are dark days for the newspaper business. Advertising revenues and circulations are slumping in the face of ‘free’ online competitors, whilst scores of titles have already folded. Andrew Rossi’s fly-on-the-wall documentary charts a…

Mademoiselle Chambon

Moving romantic drama from director Stéphane Brizé, starring Vincent Lindon and Sandrine Kiberlain

14 Sep 2011

(12A) 101min Mademoiselle Chambon is another bitter-sweet and elegantly orchestrated chamber drama from Stéphane Brizé, the French writer-director of Not Here to be Loved, which plays like a Gallic variation of Brief Encounter. Jean (Vincent Lindon…

Attenberg

Clinical emotional awakening both intrigues and mystifies

19 Aug 2011

(18) 95min Unfolding in a strangely deserted seaside Greek industrial town, Attenberg charts the gradual emotional awakening of a withdrawn young woman Marina (impressive newcomer Ariane Labed), whose dying architect father Spyros (Vangelis Mourikis…

In a Better World (Hævnen)

Oscar-winning, powerfully acted work that loses its way

15 Aug 2011

(15) 117min The winner of the 2011 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, the digitally shot In a Better World is another of director Suzanne Bier’s emotionally intense male melodramas, scripted by her regular collaborator Anders Thomas Jensen. It…

Beautiful Lies (De Vrais Mensonges)

9 Aug 2011

(12a) 104min Despite the efforts of a fine French cast – which includes Nathalie Baye, Sami Bouajila and Audrey Tautou – this visually unremarkable romantic comedy from writer/director Pierre Salvadori (Wild Target, Priceless), in which mother and…

The Interrupters

Intimate documentary exploring gun crime in the US

4 Aug 2011

(12A) 125min Best known for his epic account of teenaged African-American basketball hopefuls Hoop Dreams, director Steve James returns in collaboration with the writer Alex Kotlowitz to inner-city Chicago for this sprawling documentary, which…

Sarah’s Key (Elle s’appelait Sarah)

Wartime drama based on deportation of 13,000 Parisian Jews

29 Jul 2011

(15) 111min Like the recently released The Round-Up, this respectful adaptation of Tatiana de Rosnay’s best-selling novel revisits one of the most shameful episodes of 20th-century French history, namely the Vel d’Hiv raid on July 16 1942. Some…

The Referees (Les Arbitres)

Revealing study about the much-maligned professional whistle-blowers

28 Jul 2011

(15) 77min Following on from Fire in Babylon and Senna, The Referees is another impressive sports-related documentary. Belgian filmmaker Yves Hinant and his co-directors Eric Cardot and Lehericey Delphine were given full access by UEFA to the…

The Princess of Montpensier - Bertrand Tavernier interview

The cineaste speaks on his inspiration for returning to the past

1 Jul 2011

In a career spanning four decades and some 27 films, the French director Bertrand Tavernier has often been drawn to historical subjects: think for example of his 17th century swashbuckler D’Artagnan’s Daughter, or his dramas set in the aftermath of…

The Princess Of Montpensier (La Princesse De Montpensier)

Romantic thriller a refreshingly modern take on religion and oppression

17 Jun 2011

(12A) 139min Although it’s set against the backdrop of the 16th-century French wars between Catholics and Protestants, veteran writer/director Bertrand Tavernier’s self-styled ‘romantic thriller’ feels refreshingly modern in its treatment of…

Vidal Sassoon

Documentary provides a brief look at th style icon, but ultimately lacks depth

20 Apr 2011

Some bold claims are made about the subject of this documentary, the hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, in the opening sequence alone. ‘It’s impossible to overestimate his importance,’ declares one off-screen voice, while he’s also compared to Ali, Einstein and…

Life, Above All

Director Oliver Schmitz succeeds in making this more than just another 'issues movie'

20 Apr 2011

(tbc) 100min Set in the South African township of Elandsdoorn outside Johannesburg, this forceful coming-of-age drama concerns a 12-year-old girl, Chanda, (Khomotso Manyaka), whom we first meet helping arrange the funeral of her baby sister. Her…

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

Luc Besson brings Jacques Tardi's adventure comics to the screen

24 Mar 2011

(12A) 107min The ‘cinéma du look’ pioneer Luc Besson returns with this old-fashioned adventure-cum-fantasy yarn, adapted from Jacques Tardi’s long-running comic book series. Although set on the eve of World War One, its intrepid titular heroine…

Polish director, writer and actor Jerzy Skolimowski on new film Essential Killing

Vincent Gallo-starring film tells tale of fugitive on the run from the CIA

18 Mar 2011

‘I live in a remote area of the Masurian forest in Poland and one night I was driving back home on a very slippery road. My car skidded and I very nearly went over the edge, which would have killed me. I felt a real shock and I realised I was near this…

Little White Lies (Les Petits Mouchoirs)

Overlong comedy-drama starring Marion Cotillard, Francois Cluzet and Benoit Magimel

18 Mar 2011

(15) 154min Following the international success of his innocent-man-on-the-run thriller Tell No One, French actor/director Guillaume Canet returns with this sprawling ensemble drama, which concerns a group of friends in their 30s and 40s. One of…

Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer

Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is the subject of Alex Gibney's new documentary

2 Mar 2011

This intriguing investigative documentary from Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Taxi to the Dark Side) chronicles the spectacular rise and fall of the American politician Eliot Spitzer; as the latter himself comments, ‘The only…

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Werner Herzog's documentary about the ancient Chauvet-Pont-d-’Arc caves

2 Mar 2011

(15) 90min Cinema’s capacity to transport the viewer into the most extraordinary of locations is memorably illustrated in Werner Herzog’s immersive new documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams in 3D. Back in 1994 the limestone Chauvet-Pont-d-’Arc caves…

Men on the Bridge

Naturalistic Turkish drama set on the Bosphorus Bridge

2 Mar 2011

(15) 90min Spanning some 1.5 km, the frequently gridlocked Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul links Europe and Asia. It’s this impressive edifice, which forms the backdrop to female Turkish director Asli Ozge’s debut feature, which deftly interweaves the…

Critically acclaimed US indie Ballast reaches UK

Powerful, semi-improvised performances from non-professional cast

2 Mar 2011

96min The critically acclaimed Ballast, which has taken several years to reach British shores, is a rarity: it’s a US indie, which warrants being labelled as a bona fide art film. Clearly influenced by the works of Robert Bresson and the Dardenne…

Inside Job examines 2008 financial crisis - Charles Ferguson interview

Matt Damon-narrated documentary suggest crash was avoidable

18 Feb 2011

An interview with Charles Ferguson, director of the Matt Damon-narrated Inside Job, an examination of the 2008 financial crisis

Uplifting documentary Waste Land profiles world’s largest rubbish dump

British film on garbage artist Vik Muniz features score by Moby

18 Feb 2011

(PG) 98min ‘I like to take people into places they can’t access on their own’, is how British documentary filmmaker Lucy Walker (Blindsight, plus the forthcoming Countdown to Zero) recently described her films. Her Oscar-nominated Waste Land…

Inside Job - Absorbing documentary on causes of 2008 global financial crisis

Matt Damon narrates film suggesting crash was not unavoidable

17 Feb 2011

(12A) 108min The causes of the global financial crisis of 2008, which has been the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s, are rigorously explored in this absorbing documentary from American filmmaker Charles Ferguson. That we are continuing…

Biutiful - Alejandro González Iñárritu interview

The Mexican filmmaker talks about his new film Biutiful, Spain, Javier Bardem and fatherhood

18 Jan 2011

‘The starting point for Biutiful was the character of Uxbal [played by Javier Bardem], who got into my head one day. I had listened to Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major and that had given me an idea for a tone and a mood. Then I had this image of Uxbal…

Biutiful a departure for Mexican Amores Perros director Alejandro González Iñárritu

Terminally ill underworld hustler Javier Bardem puts his life in order

18 Jan 2011

(15) 147min A departure for Mexican writer/director Alejandro González Iñárritu, following a trilogy of films (Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel) notable for their achronological, criss-crossing narratives. Save for its mysterious prologue, Biutiful…

Leap Year (Ano Bisiesto)

Serious exploration of troubling subject matter

23 Dec 2010

(18) 92min Set almost exclusively within the four walls of a gloomy Mexico City apartment, this minimalist chamber drama is the debut feature of Australian-born writer-director Michael Rowe. Its protagonist is the depressed Laura (Monica del Carmen…

Easier with Practice

Impressive lead performance from Brian Geraghty in film exploring loneliness and alienation

23 Dec 2010

(15) 100min ‘A one-sided love story’ is how writer-director Kyle Patrick Alvarez has described his downbeat US indie, which won the Best New International Feature Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival back in 2009. Adapted from an…

Catfish: Profile of the team behind the ‘100% real’ documentary charting online friendship

Henry Joost and Nev Schulman

14 Dec 2010

Background New York City filmmaker Henry Joost set up production company Supermarché in 2006 with his school friend and business partner Ariel Schulman so they could make commercials, shorts and documentaries. Joining them in their ‘collective’ was…

On Tour (Tournee)

Star-writer-director Mathieu Amalric combines road movie with authentic portrait of provincial show

10 Dec 2010

‘France is going to love you,’ declares television producer turned impresario Joachim (Mathieu Amalric) to his American troupe of ‘new burlesque’ dancers, whom he is leading on a tour of French coastal towns. Voluptuous characters such as Mimi Le Meaux…

Catfish

Debate over documentary that taps into universal desires for love, acceptanc

10 Dec 2010

(12A) 87min Fabulism flourishes in the unlikeliest of places in this intriguing documentary co-directed by young New York filmmakers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. It begins with Ariel’s photographer brother Nev receiving a painting of one his…

Of Gods And Men (Des Hommes Et Des Dieux)

30 Nov 2010

(15) 121min ‘It goes beyond religion: the film is about men,’ is how French writer-director Xavier Beauvois has described his serenely controlled drama Of Gods and Men. Inspired by real-life events from the mid-1990s, it chronicles the experiences of…