Author: Garry Arnot

cinema

Film review: Bugonia

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 Since they first collaborated on period piece The Favourite in 2018, director Yorgos Lanthimos and actor Emma Stone have had a fruitful working relationship which led to the latter’s Best Actress win at the Oscars for fantastical comedy Poor Things. They have come together again for their fourth feature with satirical thriller, Bugonia.

 An English-language remake of South Korean sci-fi Save the Green Planet! from 2003, the plot follows conspiracy theorist cousins Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and Don (Aidan Delbis) who kidnap ‘big pharma’ CEO Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), convinced that she is an alien sent to destroy the planet. Tying her up in their basement and shaving her head, they begin torturing her in pursuit of the truth.

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cinema · EIFF25 · Interviews

Dragonfly Interview: Paul Andrew Williams – ‘If there’s a story I can tell that makes people feel something, I want to do that’.

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Since breaking into the British independent film scene with his excellent low-budget debut London to Brighton, writer and director Paul Andrew Williams has worked extensively in television and cinema from directing episodes of ITV dramas such as Broadchurch to crafting his own stories like 2021 revenge flick, Bull. His latest feature is Dragonfly, a social-realist drama with psychological thriller elements set in a working-class English town. When old-age pensioner Elsie (Brenda Blethyn) feels neglected by the nurses that visit her daily, her rough-around-the-edges neighbour Colleen (Andrea Riseborough) steps in to care for her, accompanied by her enormous bull terrier, Sabre. The women strike up an unlikely friendship but Elsie’s son John (Jason Watkins) worries that all is not as it seems.

I was fortunate enough to sit down with filmmaker Williams to discuss the piece… 

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DVD & Digital

Film review: After the Hunt

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Since the #MeToo movement ripped through Hollywood a little under a decade ago, there have been a spate of misconduct stories on the big screen, from Kitty Green’s The Assistant to Maria Schrader’s She Said. The latest in this contemporary sub-genre wave is psychological thriller After the Hunt by director Luca Guadagnino. Unravelling in and around Yale University, the plot follows esteemed philosophy professor Alma Imhoff (Julia Roberts) who is up for tenure. After she and her husband Frederick (Michael Stuhlbarg) host a dinner party, her PhD student Maggie (Ayo Edebiri) accuses Alma’s colleague and close friend Hank (Andrew Garfield) of sexual assault.

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cinema

Film review: The Smashing Machine

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Benny Safdie is best known for making acclaimed indies such as Good Time and Uncut Gems alongside his older brother Josh, their films noted for their chaotic camerawork and scuzzy New York City energy. Like the Coens and Wachowskis before them, the directing siblings have gone their separate ways, and sports biopic The Smashing Machine marks Benny’s debut solo effort. Based on the 2002 documentary of the same name, the plot follows former MMA fighter Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) through his career in the ring, his turbulent relationship with girlfriend Dawn (Emily Blunt), and his dangerous addiction to prescription painkillers.

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cinema

Film review: One Battle After Another

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 The challenging postmodern material of author Thomas Pynchon was first brought to the big screen just over a decade ago when Paul Thomas Anderson adapted stoner-noir tale Inherent Vice, and the filmmaker has once again looked to the novelist for inspiration in his latest feature. Loosely based on his 1990 book Vineland, action thriller One Battle After Another shifts the story to the chaotic landscape of modern-day America.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale

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 After six series of television, five festival specials, and two features, the curtain is drawn on the historical franchise with a third and final film. Written by Julian Fellowes who created the show, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is set in 1930 as the Crawleys prepare to embrace change with head of the table Robert (Hugh Bonneville) set to retire. Simon Curtis returns as director for a plot that centres around his eldest daughter Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery) as the scandalous news of her divorce spreads through their high-society. Meanwhile, Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) hosts her brother Harold (Paul Giamatti) and his friend Gus (Alessandro Nivola) who are visiting from across the pond, bringing news of financial hardship for the family.

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cinema

Film review: I Swear

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 Tourette’s syndrome activist John Davidson is no stranger to our screens, having been the subject of groundbreaking Q.E.D. television episode titled ‘John’s Not Mad’ among many other documentaries over the years.  His campaign to raise awareness of the disorder led to an MBE award in 2019 and his incredible story has been dramatised in the latest feature from writer and director Kirk Jones. Based in the Scottish Borders town of Galashiels, biographical comedy drama I Swear follows John through a challenging adolescence (Scott Ellis Watson) and into adulthood (Robert Aramayo) as he comes to terms with his diagnosis. After mental health nurse Dottie (Maxine Peake) takes him under her wing, he meets Tommy (Peter Mullan) who presents him with a rare opportunity and encourages him to speak out about the condition.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: The Long Walk

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 Known for his work on the Hunger Games young-adult franchise, director Francis Lawrence treads a similar thematic path in his latest feature. Based upon the novel of the same name by iconic horror writer Stephen King, survival thriller The Long Walk takes place in an America dystopia ravaged and in financial ruin after a second Civil War.

Under a totalitarian regime, the plot follows a group of fifty young men, namely Ray Garraty (Cooper Hoffman) and Peter McVries (David Jonsson) who each represent their state in an annual event whereby they walk for miles until only one remains. If participants fails to follow a set rules outlined by military leader ‘the Major’ (Mark Hamill), after three warnings they are mercilessly executed by an army of soldiers. The winner will be awarded a significant cash prize and granted one wish.

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Berlin25 · cinema · EIFF25 · Interviews

Islands Interview: Jan-Ole Gerster – ‘I seem to be terrified by the idea of living the wrong life’.

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 Following on from the success of indies in his home country of Germany, writer and director Jan-Ole Gerster’s latest work Islands marks his English-language feature debut. After having its world premiere in Berlin back in February, the film screened at Edinburgh International Film Festival before going out on UK general release this month.

 Sam Riley stars as a has-been pro turned tennis coach Tom who works out of a holiday resort in Spain, usually whilst hungover from partying at the local club the night before. His hedonistic lifestyle is upended when Anne (Stacy Martin) and Dave (Jack Farthing) arrive on the scene and ask him to give their young son private lessons. What follows is a suspenseful noir mystery with more twists and turns than a Grand Slam winning rally. I took the opportunity to sit down with Gerster to discuss the piece…

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DVD & Digital · EIFF25 · Interviews

All the Devils Are Here Interview: Eddie Marsan, Burn Gorman, Barnaby Roper & Tienne Simon

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 Taking its title from an ominous line in William Shakespeare’s tragicomic play The Tempest, crime thriller All the Devils Are Here is written and directed by Barnaby Roper – a stylish feature debut from the filmmaker who uses his breadth of experience in making shorts and music videos to craft a slick experience. The plot centres around thieves Ronnie (Eddie Marsan), Grady (Sam Claflin), Royce (Tienne Simon), and Numbers (Burn Gorman) who hide out in a secluded house in the countryside after a heist spirals out of control. I took the opportunity to chat with the director and his cast ahead of its world premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival.

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