Author: Garry Arnot

DVD & Digital · EIFF25 · Interviews

Reality Is Not Enough Interview: Irvine Welsh & Paul Sng – ‘It’s quite an achievement to make a writer look interesting’.

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Known for his drug-fuelled novels such as Trainspotting, Filth, and Crime that depict working-class life in Scotland, novelist Irvine Welsh continues to explore fresh artistic mediums some thirty-plus years into his creative career. He has recently released concept album The Sci-fi Soul Orchestra as a musical companion piece to his latest book, Men in Love, and is always working on exciting new ideas across stage, screen, and of course literature. Giving a unique insight into his life and psyche, experimental documentary Reality Is Not Enough is written and directed by Paul Sng and uses a range of filmmaking styles to present a vivid and deeply personal portrait of the iconic writer.

Ahead of its world premiere at the 78th edition of Edinburgh International Film Festival, I was lucky enough to sit down with Sng and Welsh to discuss the film…

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cinema · EIFF25

Film review: On the Sea

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A decade has passed since award-winning novelist Helen Walsh turned her attention to filmmaking, and after a foray into television last year, she has returned to writing and directing for the big screen. Her latest piece is erotic drama On the Sea which unravels within a fishing village of the north coast of Wales. Mussel farmer Jack (Barry Ward) is content in his stable yet unfulfilling marriage to Maggie (Liz White) and hopes that their teenage son Tom (Henry Lawfull) will join him and younger brother Dyfan (Celyn Jones) in the family hand raking business. However, as troublesome Scottish deckhand Daniel (Lorne MacFadyen) arrives in the tight-knit community, Jack confronts long suppressed emotions and risks everything he has worked for as an unexpected romance develops.

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cinema · EIFF25

Film review: Crushed

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No stranger to plying his trade within the circuit of genre festivals that showcase his low-budget efforts, indie writer and director Simon Rumley has taken his alternative sensibilities to Thailand for his next feature. Set in the leafy suburbs of Bangkok, religious thriller Crushed follows pastor Daniel (Steve Oram) who lives a quiet, comfortable life with his devoted wife May (May Nattaporn Rawddon) and Olivia (Margaux Dietrich), their 10-year-old daughter. However, following the mysterious disappearance of their cat Miss Kitty, Olivia is kidnapped and the family’s faith is tested when their distressing search exposes them to the depths of humanity.

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cinema · EIFF25

Top 5 Must-See Movies of EIFF 2025

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After rejuvenating EIFF last year, the festival’s director Paul Ridd and producer Emma Boa are back with their sophomore effort. Critically acclaimed comedy drama Sorry, Baby is will open proceedings, kicking off an exciting and eclectic programme that boasts a variety of new releases, retrospective screenings, as well as the return of Midnight Madness; a strand that showcases six genre films to satisfy the night-owl cinephiles among us. I will be covering the events in my 11th year, and have handpicked five selections to keep an eye on…

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Berlin25 · cinema · Interviews

Late Shift Interview: Petra Volpe – ‘COVID came, everybody was clapping for nurses, and then we forgot’.

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Earlier this year I attended Berlin Film Festival and the final screening of my trip was the gripping Swiss-German drama Late Shift which follows an eventful day in the life of surgical nurse, Floria who is brilliantly portrayed by Leonie Benesch. It was one of my festival highlights and ahead of its UK release next month, I was fortunate to sit down with its writer and director Petra Volpe to discuss the film…

It feels like very important, especially post-pandemic, to focus a film on the experiences of a nurse. What drew you to tell this story initially?

Well, I had lived with a nurse for many years before COVID even, and I kind of observed how the conditions she worked under got worse and worse, and how it affected her deeply. I just always felt like the work I’m doing, at home writing screenplays, was so banal compared to what she encountered every day. It’s such an emotionally complex but also technically complex job.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Superman

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 Over a decade has passed since writer and director James Gunn was called upon to add his filmmaking flair to the world-building of Marvel’s cinematic extended universe with the beloved Guardians of the Galaxy series. In more recent years, he jumped strip to reimagine DC’s Suicide Squad division and has now been tasked with rebooting their tale of arguably the world’s most iconic caped figure.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: 28 Years Later

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Their collaboration on 28 Days Later was credited with revitalising the zombie-horror subgenre for the 21stcentury, but director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland soon parted ways after falling out over the religious and philosophical themes in their sci-fi venture, Sunshine. It’s taken over two decades for them to reconcile their creative differences, and they have reunited to revive their post-apocalyptic franchise with thriller 28 Years Later.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: The Uninvited

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“I’ve never really been good at metaphors” says a drug-addled talent agent in The Uninvited, a comedy drama that takes a satirically sideways glance at ageing in modern-day Los Angeles. Written and directed by Nadia Conners, the plot centres around once-acclaimed stage actor Rose (Elisabeth Reaser) who has somewhat reluctantly fallen into a homemaker in the hills lifestyle since becoming a mother. While preparing to host a glamourous party with her husband Sammy (Walton Goggins) in order to impress their peers, an elderly woman named Helen (Lois Smith) arrives unannounced and claims that their house is in fact her own.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Freaky Tales

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After a foray into the mega-budget mainstream with comic book movie Captain Marvel in 2019, writer and director duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have made a welcomed return to their indie roots for their latest piece Freaky Tales, an action-horror comedy anthology set in late ‘80s Oakland, California. As the paths of hitman Clint (Pedro Pascal), corrupt cop (Ben Mendelsohn), and basketball star Sleepy Floyd (Jay Ellis) cross with punks, skinheads, and underground rappers, their interconnected stories are tied together by strange supernatural happenings and blood-soaked vengeance.

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