Black Bear, 2020. Directed by Lawrence Michael Levine. Starring Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott, Sarah Gadon, Paola Lazaro, Lindsay Burdge and Lou Gonzalez. SYNOPSIS: A film director seeks solace whilst vacationing at lake house, though quickly becomes entangled in the lives of the couple who own the property. The question of whether art imitates life or […]
2021 Glasgow Film Festival Review – The Toll
The Toll, 2021. Directed by Ryan Andrew Hooper Starring Michael Smiley, Annes Elwy, Iwan Rheon, Dewi Morris, Evelyn Mok, Steve Oram, and Julian Glover. SYNOPSIS: After a chance encounter with an old enemy, a toll booth operator and master criminal awaits a violent fate approaching his quiet, rural Welsh post. At what point does homage […]
Second Opinion – Mid90s (2018)
Mid90s, 2018. Directed by Jonah Hill. Starring Sunny Suljic, Lucas Hedges, Olan Prenatt, Na-kel Smith, Gio Galicia, Ryder McLaughlin, Jerrod Carmichael, and Katherine Waterston. SYNOPSIS: Stevie (Sunny Suljic) is just like a lot of other boys growing up in 90s Los Angeles; he has an oppressive older brother (Lucas Hedges) who won’t let him touch […]
2019 Glasgow Film Festival Review – Beats
Beats, 2019. Directed by Brian Welsh. Starring Cristian Ortega, Lorn Macdonald, Laura Fraser and Brian Ferguson. SYNOPSIS: It’s Scotland, 1994. Two young friends in West Lothian with a love for techno head for one last night together, before life sends them their separate ways. For all its horrific, stillborn visage and unforgiving portrait of drug culture, Trainspotting […]
Glasgow Film Festival 2019 Review – The Public
The Public, 2018. Directed by Emilio Estevez. Starring Emilio Estevez, Alec Baldwin, Jena Malone, Taylor Schilling, Christian Slater, Gabrielle Union, Jeffrey Wright, Michael K. Williams, Che ‘Rhymefest’ Smith, and Jacob Vargas. SYNOPSIS: For his 6th feature behind the camera, Emilio Estevez explores homelessness on the coldest night of the year in Cincinnati, Ohio. Playing public […]
Glasgow Film Festival 2019 Review – Eighth Grade
Eighth Grade, 2018. Directed by Bo Burnham. Starring Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson and Jake Ryan. SYNOPSIS: With one week of eighth grade left, an introverted 13-year-old girl tries to make it to the end. 1986’s Stand By Me sees four young boys on a cross-country hike to find a dead body. The story […]
Glasgow Film Festival 2019 Review – Under the Silver Lake
Under the Silver Lake, 2018. Directed by David Robert Mitchell. Starring Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough, Topher Grace, Grace Van Patten and Jimmi Simpson. SYNOPSIS: Sam, a layabout, shaggy no-user, finds himself chained to the charm of a mysterious stranger after she goes missing. Through various puzzles and bizarre locations in Los Angeles, he stumbles on a […]
Glasgow Film Festival 2019 Review – Gloria Bell
Gloria Bell, 2019. Directed by Sebastián Lelio. Starring Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Michael Cera and Alanna Ubach. SYNOPSIS: A 58-year-old woman in her prime seeks out love in the nightlife of L.A. Sebastián Lelio’s sagacious outlook on the odyssey’s of everyday females, from the spirited to the despaired, is prevalent in much of his work. A […]
Glasgow Film Festival 2019 Review – Hotel Mumbai
Hotel Mumbai, 2019. Directed by Anthony Maras. Starring Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi, Jason Isaacs, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, and Anupam Kher. SYNOPSIS: The true story of the victims and survivors of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, focusing on the residents and staff of the Taj Hotel. Some events are so abhorrent, so unspeakably horrific and off-putting to the […]
Glasgow Film Festival 2019 Review – Benjamin
Benjamin, 2019. Directed by Simon Amstell. Starring Colin Morgan, Phénix Brossard, Joel Fry, Anna Chancellor and Jack Rowan. SYNOPSIS: A young, aggressively anxious filmmaker navigates his way through a burgeoning relationship as he battles with his own personality. Films are often segregated by their sexual orientation. Look at Netflix and Sky Movies, you can categorise […]
