The Vast of Night
The debut from director Andrew Patterson, The Vast of Night, framed as an episode of The Twighlight Zone, is set over the course of a single night a small town in late 1950s New Mexico. Most residents of the town are at a basketball game, except for radio presenter Everett (Jake Horowitz) and switchboard operator Fay (Sierra McCormick), who hear mysterious sounds disrupting their lines and broadcasts. This leads to an investigation involving a veteran who phones into the radio station to recount his experiences and an elderly lady who shares snippets of a language she has heard that seems connected to the other strange sounds.
It's a beautifully made film which feels to very realistically evoke the era. It's a very low key drama, with the story developing slowly and there being little disagreement between Fay and Everett despite what must be trying events. A burgeoning romance between the two is very slightly hinted at but doesn't develop at all, avoiding the obvious sub-plot (though possibly decreasing the amount of engagement for some viewers?).
Definitely worth watching, it should get at least a restricted release in the UK in the next few months.
Time Crimes
Going back in time (in more ways than one) Time Crimes is a 2007 Spanish film featuring Hector a middle aged man who finds himself caught in a time loop and tries to keep going back to correct what went wrong last time he travelled back in time. It's one of those films that messes with your brain, specially if you think about it too much.
One of the great things about the Edinburgh International Film Festival is that it includes well curated retrospective strands that include films like this, that might otherwise be forgotten.
Disclaimer: I received free press tickets for the public screenings of these two films.
You can read my earlier reviews from Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019, by following the links below:
Boyz in the Wood a group of teenage boys get lost in the Scottish Highlands.
2040 - can technology offer solutions to our current climate and ecological crises?
Bait - Cornish fishermen try to adapt to a changing world
How to Fake a War (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) what happens when a rock star decides to meddle in international affairs?
Farm Animals on Film - featuring The Biggest Little Farm - an inspiring story of the creation of a sustainable biodiverse farm in California, plus Vulture, an experimental film about farm animals.
Virgin and Extra: Land of the Olive Oil.
Chef Diaries Scotland: Spanish Chefs the Roca brothers take the viewer on a culinary road trip round Scotland
Up the Mountain - a year in an artists' studio in the Chinese mountains.
The Amber Light - a cinematic ode to Scotland's national drink
Aren't You Happy (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) - a writer searches for the meaning of life while not actually writibg anything
The Deer - a Basque language film following two poachers in a national park on the outskirts of San Sebastien.
Hurt by Paradise - a poet keeps searching for a publisher and an actor keeps trying to get a role
Photograph (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) - a street photographer in Mumbai invents a fiancee for himself....
Endzeit - an ecofeminist road movie with zombies.
Vai and Venezia - 2 films from sinking worlds.
Hamada - (on my Shapeshiting Green blog) life for young refugees of the Sahwari people in the Sahara.
Volcano - a photpgrapher gets lost in Ukraine
Black Forest - a dysfunctional family holiday in the German forest
Carmilla - a gothic tale.
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