Saturday, June 27, 2015

Best of Fest

Edinburgh International Film Festival has announced the line up of the Best of the Fest screenings to be shown on Sunday.

Tickets are on sale now and films screen from Saturday 27 - Sunday 28 June at:
And now for my own Fest of the Fest! Follow the links below for my reviews

Chicken - a beautifully made coming of age drama focussing on a teenager with learning difficulties and his pet chicken.

Scottish Mussel - a romantic comedy focussing on the fight to conserve the freshwater mussel

Black Mountain Poets - a hilarious tale of two sisters on the run who pretend to be poets and hide out at a poetry retreat in the Welsh Mountains

 Desert Dancer - amazing choreography in this fictionalised biopic of the Iranian dancer Adshin Ghaffarian

Liza the Fox Fairy - a surreal comedy from Hungary

When Elephants Fight - an important documentary about conflict minerals in the Congo

It's been a great festival and many of the films shown deserve to be released into cinemas. 

Disclaimer - I had a press pass for the film festival and attended free press screenings of these films (except for Liza the Fox Fairy)

Friday, June 26, 2015

Liza the Fox Fairy

I wasn't able to get to a press screening of Liza the Fox Fairy but managed to buy a ticket for the last public screening and went along with Crafty Green Boyfriend.

This is a surreal film ('delightfully bonkers' according to Crafty Green Boyfriend) set in a beautifully imagined alternative reality 1970's Hungary where capitalism has replaced communism and everyone eats at Mekk Burger.

Liza is the live in nurse for the widow of the Japanese ambassador. The ghost of a Japanese pop star lives in the same flat and onstantly sings to Liza, though no-one else can see or hear him.

A series of unfortunate incidents in which people close to Liza die convince her that she is in fact a fox fairy, a creature from Japanese mythology who kills everyone who loves her. Can she find her one true love who can break the curse?

This a wonderfully escapist film, entertaining and very funny in parts.

Liza the Fox Fairy was shown as part of the Edinburgh International Film festival and hopefully will eventually get released into cinemas.

To read my other reviews from the film festival, follow the links below

Scottish Mussel - a romantic comedy centred on the fight to save the freshwater pearl mussel

 Black Mountain Poets - sisters on the run join a poetry retreat in the Welsh mountains

Desert Dancer - drama inspired by the life of Iranian dancer Afshin Ghaffarian 

Under Milk Wood - a new cinematic interpretation of Dylan Thomas' classic prose poem

Brand New U - futuristic thriller /  love story 

 Of Chickens and Camels - a review of Chicken (a wonderful coming of age film about a teenager with learning difficultie) and Nearby Sky (a documentary about the camel beauty contests in the Emirates). 

Infini - disaster on an off-planet mine

La Tirisia - love and life in the cacti covered mountains of Mexico

When Elephants Fight - conflict minerals in Congo

 Iron Ministry - a cinematic journey through China by rail

 Index Zero - dystopian SF set in a future Fortress Europe

30 Days Wild goes to the cinema - how the landscape backdrops two films set in very different countries (Sand Dollars and The Gulls

Disclaimer - I have a press pass for the film festival and attended free press screening of  these films.

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks which take you to other webpages where you can find out more.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Brand New U

Brand New U, showing at the Edinburgh International Film Festival is a tense, futuristic thriller about parallel identities that at heart is a love story. Slater visits the Brand New U corporation after his girlfriend Nadia disappears. He is given a new identity and a new lifespace with the warning that he musn't take anything from his old life with him. He is however, obsessed with Nadia and is convinced he has found her in his new lifespace, with complicating and dangerous consequences.

This stylish and moody film brings up interesting issues around identity and the existence of a soul-mate and plays with ideas around parallel realities.

It can be confusing. As I left the cinema, I heard someone say she thought it was much more confusing than she had expected, but I found it less confusing than I had expected. 

The soundtrack severely begs for Placebo's track Every You and Every Me. Luckily I know that song pretty well and could add it myself at the appropriate moments. Silently of course so as not to disturb the rest of the audience.

Brand New U is showing as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival at 1550, 27 June at the Odeon.

You can read my other reviews from the film festival over on Crafty Green Poet by following these links

Under Milk Wood - the film (2015) - the new cinematic interpretation of Dylan Thomas' classic prose poem 

Of Chickens and Camels - a review of Chicken (a wonderful coming of age film about a teenager with learning difficultie) and Nearby Sky (a documentary about the camel beauty contests in the Emirates). 

Infini - disaster on an off-planet mine

La Tirisia - love and life in the cacti covered mountains of Mexico

When Elephants Fight - conflict minerals in Congo

 Iron Ministry - a cinematic journey through China by rail

 Index Zero - dystopian SF set in a future Fortress Europe

30 Days Wild goes to the cinema - how the landscape backdrops two films set in very different countries (Sand Dollars and The Gulls)

Disclaimer: I have a press pass for the film festival and attended free press screenings for these films. 

As ever, coloured text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.