My Brothers

My Brothers is in close competition with Tomboy as my second favourite film this week. There was some discussion once with my mum and step-dad as to what our favourite genre of film is, and discovered mine was "road movie". My Brothers is a wonderful road movie, set in Ireland as three brothers travel to the seaside in an old bread van to find a present for their terminally ill father. The film is about family relationships and dealing with grief. It is beautifully shot and the story is so emotional throughout. The film was directed by Paul Fraser who works alot with Shane Meadows, and he did a beautiful job on this, his debut feature. To top the film off, all the soundtrack was original music by Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol. Perfect. FIVE STARS. more if i could :) x

Page Eight

Waking up in time to be at the cinema by 9am was difficult, but totally worth it! Page Eight was the most star studded film i have seen, the cast including, Bill Nighy, Rachel Weiz, Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones and Tom Hughes. Although I have no knowledge in politics at all, the plot wasn't too hard to understand, and even though it was quite a serious film, Nighy, and Gambon both injected comedy into their performances. It isn't the first time I have seen Nighy play a spy and end up kissing the pretty young woman (Easy Target), but thats fine, because he's really, really good in that role! Definately worth watching and i think this films going to do well after the festival. FOUR STARS. :)

Tomboy

Tomboy, thus far was my second favourite of the festival. The idea was genius, and beautifully shot. The colours in this film were gorgeous, and it was extremely aesthetically pleasing. The topic of the film is somewhat controversial and although quite difficult, it was tackled wonderfully. The film had some of the best child acting i have ever seen, the smallest girl especially, she was hilarious and it was totally believable. Zoe Heran, the star of the movie was incredible. I myself wasn't sure if she was male or female for the most part and i know that she is going to grow into an incredibly beautiful and talented actress. From the very beginning I was attached to the family and it was very moved going through the events with them.

Without question, FIVE STARS.

Fast Romance

I have been very lucky, that every film I have seen in this years festival has been really good. Until now...

Fast Romance is the intertwining story of a group of people and their love lives. Its been done before, and been done well, Paris Je T'aime, for example. However this "Sex and The City meets Gregorys Girl" was a bit of a let down. Yes, parts of it were funny and parts of it were sad, but all in all, I found myself not really caring about the characters, and the acting wasn't great.

Saying this, it could have been MUCH worse and still feel I've done well if this is the worst film I've seen so far. The best thing about this film i feel was the soundtrack which featured a lot of up and coming Scottish Artists, such as Little Eye and A Band Called Quinn, who i have been listening to quite a bit since watching the film :)

Sorry, but TWO STARS! x

Albatross

Albatross is a 'coming of age comedy drama' about two girls, one an aspiring Oxford student (Beth) and the other (Emilia) a rebellious wannabe writer. As soon as Emilia walks into "The Cliff House" Hotel owned by Beth's family, everybody loves her. Beth wants her as a friend, her little sister wants to be her, and her father (sexy professor type, played by Sebastian Coch) see's her as his muse. But is she really the person everyone thinks she is?

I really enjoyed this film, i think, mainly because I am a teenage girl too. There were many middle aged men in this screening who i think would feel very differently. I thought Felicity Jones was lovely and fell in love with new comer Jessica Brown Findlay. From the opening shot i got a "Sugar Rush" vibe from the film, which carried on throughout, and thats good with me! FOUR STARS.

Our Day Will Come

Our Day Will Come is a beautiful french feature film, with the perfect blend of violence and humour. Vincent Cassel (Black Swan), was amazing, his character was so easy to identify with and never failed to evoke emotion from the audience. The script was incredibly well written, funny and full of surprises. Never before have I sat in a cinema and heard everyone laugh of loud together and gasp in horror with one another.

The story tells of a depressed doctor who takes pity on a misunderstood young man, who is running away from home. He takes the boy under his wing as his protege and together, they travel across france, and he teaches him the ways of the world.

Directed by Romain Gavras, best known for the M.I.A music video for Born Free, i knew the film would be controversial. Similarly to the video, the film tackles racism, and uses "red-heads" as the minority. Although racism is a serious issue, using ginger people added to the comedy of the film.

I am going to give this film FOUR STARS. It would have had five but i felt the story lost track a little towards the end :)

Meet Monica Velour

Meeting Monica Velour is an American comedy about a geeky teenage super fan of an 80's adult film star. To me it felt like Napoleon Dynamite meets Sex Drive, or The Girl Next Door, and was a nice light-hearted change at the festival! The film see's seventeen year old Tobe travel across America in order to see his heart throb perform. Here, he meets her and becomes involved in her complicated reality. The film, although a comedy, tackles gritty issues such as divorce, sex, and prostitution. As well as heart warming, it is heart breaking. Lovely film and ill definately be seeing it again :) FOUR STARS.