Film review: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

August 28, 2023January 10, 2025 Garry Arnot1 Comment

Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic novella has been retold on the stage and screen countless times and is so familiar to us that the title itself has become part of our vernacular. The latest adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde comes from director Hope Dickson Leach, combining mediums in a bold hybrid vision, first shown as a live experience at Leith Theatre in collaboration with the National Theatre of Scotland. Reimagined as an Edinburgh-based noir, Lorn Macdonald stars as Gabriel Utterson, a legal practitioner who turns detective when his friend Dr. Jekyll (Henry Pettigrew) abruptly changes his will, leaving everything he owns to the mysterious Mr. Hyde.

Continue reading →

Film review: Afire

August 22, 2023January 10, 2025 Garry ArnotLeave a comment

A subtly satirical take on the tortured artist trope, Afire is the latest effort from German writer and director Christian Petzold. The plot follows struggling author Leon (Thomas Schubert) and his photographer friend Felix (Langston Uibel) on a trip to a seaside holiday home to get some inspiration. On their arrival they find that they’re not the only guests, and their fellow lodger Nadja (Paula Beer) keeps them up through the nights as she entertains her lifeguard lover Devid (Enno Trebs). What begins as a work retreat soon turns into something quite different as procrastination leads to unexpected passion.

Continue reading →

DVD & Digital · EIFF23

Film review: Femme

August 20, 2023February 26, 2024 Garry ArnotLeave a comment

Developing their own 2021 short into a taut feature, the writer-director duo of Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping study very different facets of masculinity in their neo-noir thriller Femme. The story follows Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) who performs in drag under his ferociously flamboyant alias Aphrodite Banks. On the way home after a show, he falls victim to a brutal hate crime at the hands of Preston (George Mackay), a small-time drug dealer egged on by his jeering gang of friends. Several months later, their paths cross again in the most unlikely of places.

Continue reading →

DVD & Digital · EIFF23

DVD review: Passages

August 18, 2023February 17, 2025 Garry ArnotLeave a comment

Complicated romance has been at the core of writer and director Ira Sach’s work across his career and is revisited once again in indie drama Passages. Set in modern day Paris, the plot follows German filmmaker Tomas (Franz Rogowski) as he is finishing up on his latest feature. Feeling neglected by his husband Martin (Ben Whishaw) at the wrap party, he meets schoolteacher Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos) on the dancefloor and they share a night of passion. This tryst leads to a love triangle where the three wrestle with their evolving emotions.

Continue reading →

DVD & Digital

Film review: You Hurt My Feelings

July 23, 2023July 25, 2024 Garry ArnotLeave a comment

Amidst the writers and actors strikes in Hollywood comes the latest film from Nicole Holofcener, one of America’s most acclaimed contemporary screenwriters. Set in modern-day Manhattan, romantic comedy drama You Hurt My Feelings follows author Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) as she in the process of writing a novel. Worried that it won’t live up to the success of her well received memoir, she is shocked and upset to learn that her husband Don (Tobias Menzies) isn’t too fond of her fiction, and this revelation causes a complicated conflict in their happy marriage.

Continue reading →

DVD & Digital

DVD review: Elemental

June 27, 2023October 9, 2023 Garry ArnotLeave a comment

After working with Disney Pixar since the turn of the century, animator Peter Sohn made his directorial debut in 2015 with The Good Dinosaur. His follow up in the director’s chair is Elemental, inspired by his own immigrant experience of moving from Korea to New York in the 1970s. The plot follows fire element Ember (Leah Lewis), daughter of Bernie (Ronnie del Carmen) and Cinder (Shila Ommi), who is soon to take over their family business in Element City. On her first day left in charge alone, her fiery temper outburst causes a leak in the basement which leads her to meet water-boy city inspector Wade (Mamadou Athie), and the pair form an unlikely connection.

Continue reading →

DVD & Digital

Film review: Greatest Days

June 20, 2023September 5, 2023 Garry ArnotLeave a comment

In 2017, the pop songs of Take That were developed into a jukebox musical which enjoyed a stint on London’s West End and has now been adapted into a film of the same name. Directed by Coky Giedroyc, Greatest Days follows a group of pals that reunite for a trip to see beloved boyband ‘The Boys’ in concert. When superfan Rachel (Aisling Bea) wins tickets through a local radio competition, she reaches out to Heather (Alice Lowe), Claire (Jayde Adams), and Zoe (Amaka Okafor) to relight the fire of their teenage rebellion.

Continue reading →

DVD & Digital

DVD review: Smoking Causes Coughing (Fumer Fait Tousser)

June 19, 2023September 4, 2023 Garry Arnot1 Comment

Poking fun at the superhero genre that has saturated cinemas in recent years, the latest effort from French auteur Quentin Dupieux centres around a very different assembly of avengers. Smoking Causes Coughing follows a group of five known as Tobacco Force, all individually named after harmful substances in cigarettes.

When Benzène (Gilles Lellouche), Méthanol (Vincent Lacoste), Nicotine (Anaïs Demoustier), Mercure (Jean-Pascal Zadi), and Ammoniaque (Oulaya Amamra) defeat an evil turtle enemy in a particularly gruelling battle, the vigilantes are sent into the woods on a relaxing retreat to boost morale.

Continue reading →

DVD & Digital

DVD review: War Pony

June 12, 2023August 28, 2023 Garry ArnotLeave a comment

With acting credits including American Honey, Zola, and The Florida Project under her belt, Riley Keogh has made quite a name for herself in the US indie scene. Moving behind the camera for the first time, she has partnered with her best friend and producer Gina Gammell to co-write and co-direct crime drama War Pony. Following the trials and tribulations of Native American boys Bill (Jojo Bapteise Whiting) and Matho (LaDainian Crazy Thunder) in and around South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation, the film explores their interweaving paths.

Continue reading →

DVD & Digital

Film review: Love Without Walls

May 30, 2023July 11, 2023 Garry ArnotLeave a comment

Cinema can often reflect our cultural and societal issues back at us from the big screen and in the latest drama from writer and director Jane Gull, we see the plight of a young married couple in post-lockdown Britain. Love Without Walls is a social-realist romance that follows singer-songwriter Paul (Niall McNamee) and his wife Sophie (Shana Swash) as they struggle to make ends meet in London. Down on their luck in the early stages of our current cost of living crisis, they leave their unpaid bills and final reminders behind to pursue an opportunity in Southend-on-Sea which might turn their ill fortunes around, but their dire situation goes from bad to worse.

Continue reading →