EIFF24 · Features

Top 5 Must-See Movies of Edinburgh International Film Festival 2024

Garry ArnotLeave a comment

Another year, another fresh start for Edinburgh International Film Festival with a new look and new team at the helm in 2024. In the safe hands of director Paul Ridd and producer Emma Boa, the 77th edition will be woven into the festival fabric of the city throughout August, will include an exciting new Midnight Madness strand, and will have 10 world premieres compete for The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence. I previewed the programme during the July episode of the Cinetopia Radio Show which is now available as a podcast, but have also picked out five films to keep an eye on…

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DVD & Digital · GFF24

Film review: About Dry Grasses

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 With many films that have garnered critical acclaim across the span of his thirty year career, Turkish writer-director Nuri Bilge Ceylan can be considered a contemporary auteur due to his distinctive longform storytelling. About Dry Grasses is his latest effort, an epic drama which centres around art teacher Samet (Deniz Celiloğlu) who is on a placement in a remote village in Eastern Anatolia. After returning to work following the winter break, he is dismayed to learn that students Sevim (Ece Bağcı) and Aylin (Birsen Sürme) have accused him and his colleague Kenan (Musab Ekici) of inappropriate behaviour.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Longlegs

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 As the son of the Anthony Perkins who played the iconic Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Psycho, you could argue that writer and director Osgood Perkins has horror films in his DNA. His latest picture is serial killer thriller Longlegs which follows rookie FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) as she investigates a series of homicide-suicides where families are massacred in their homes and cryptic notes are left behind. Following the clues, she finds that she has a strange flair for clairvoyance and soon suspects that she might have an eerie personal connection to the man behind the murders.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Kinds of Kindness

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Greek writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos made a name for himself with his unique brand of absurdist black comedy, breaking through with indie hits Dogtooth and The Lobster before shifting into slightly more commercial territory and enjoying award-winning successes with The Favourite and Poor Things.

 His latest piece sees the auteur return to his deadpan roots, reuniting with screenwriter Efthimis Filippou with whom he collaborated on the earlier work. Structured as an anthology, Kinds of Kindness follows Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone in three separate chapters: first as troubled souls with something unusual in common, then as husband and wife in a strained marriage, and lastly as members of the same supernatural cult.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Hundreds of Beavers

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Taking inspiration from the slapstick brilliance of the silent-era of cinema, filmmaking friends Mike Cheslik and Ryland Brickson Cole Tews came up with the concept for their surrealist comedy Hundreds of Beavers whilst, unsurprisingly, at a bar. With the former directing, editing, and on visual effects duty and the latter acting in the leading role, the pair wrote and produced the DIY passion project together.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: The Bikeriders

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 A student of the ‘gonzo’ approach to journalism pioneered by Hunter S. Thompson, photographer Danny Lyon immersed himself into the notoriously non-conformist motorcycle subculture in the 1960s and even became a fully-fledged member of a Midwestern gang for a couple of years. His findings were published in a photo-book that has been adapted for the screen by writer and director Jeff Nichols.

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DVD & Digital · GFF24

Film review: The Dead Don’t Hurt

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 Almost as old as cinema itself, the classic Western has evolved over the years into its own subgenres and many styles. The latest take on the Wild West comes from actor-turned-filmmaker Viggo Mortensen who not only directs but has written the screenplay, composed the score, and starred in his latest work. The Dead Don’t Hurt is set in the 1860s and follows Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps) who falls in love with Holger Olsen (Mortensen), a Danish immigrant plying his trade as a carpenter. Much to her dismay, her husband leaves their Nevada home to fight in the American Civil War while she gets a job behind the bar of a saloon.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: The Beast (La Bête)

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 We’re in a time where artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming part of our day-to-day conversations, so we should expect a reaction to this cultural moment from the world of cinema. French auteur Bertrand Bonello is making his statement on the matter by loosely adapting the 1903 novella The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James. Simply titled La Bête, the science fiction drama follows Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) across three separate narrative strands, exploring her connection to acquaintance Louis (George MacKay) in each.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

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 It has been almost ten years since filmmaker George Miller revived his post-apocalyptic franchise with Fury Road and the latest instalment is a prequel to that, delving into the origin tale of a warrior that quickly became iconic to fans of the series. Starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Alyla Browne as younger versions of the titular character, adventure epic Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga sees her being abducted from her family as a child by Dr. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), a wicked gang leader. Years later, a savage rivalry begins between her captors and an army led by Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), and Furiosa desperately tries to find a way home.

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