After having my pass scanned twenty-eight times, seeing the EIFF clip twenty-eight times, signing five embargoes, the wonderful fortnight has ended. I have seen Elijah Wood and Brian Cox, Darth Vader and stormtroppers outside the Filmhouse, and I have seen many films: some good, some bad (Hyena, I Hate the Dawn, Korso, Palo Alto, X/Y, Aberdeen, Hide and Seek, We Gotta Get Out of This Place, Cold in July, Koo! Kin-dza-dza, Miss Zombie, Displaced Perssons, My Accomplice, Castles in the Sky, Set Fire to the Stars, Daughters, Hellion, Coherence, Garnet’s Gold, Joe, The Anomaly, The Infinite Man, Life After Beth, We’ll Never Have Paris, Honeymoon, Uncertain Terms, The Guvnors and I Believe in Unicorns).
Watching all these films was tough and tiring, sometimes I was watching four in a day. The good thing was that everybody obeyed the code of conduct in the press screenings, everyone was nice, from cinema staff to EIFF volunteers. I did treat it almost like a job – watching films during the day and writing reviews at night. Most are pretty poor, I just ran out of time and I was burnt out near the end.
There were three stand out films for me: The Infinite Man, Hide and Seek (which won the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film) and Coherence. The Infinite Man especially is something that I would recommend for anyone – I will be contributing to its box office if and when it is released in the UK.
A thoroughly amazing and enjoyable experience and would recommend this to any future FimSoc member. And if there is any space next year I am taking it.
Final film reviews:
The Guvnors
A turf war arises in London between the old hooligans and the new hoodies. The lead actor (Harvey Sylvester) is from some band called “The Rizzle Kicks” who are a hip-hop duo. He stunningly plays Adam the leader of the teenage hoodie gang, this is the only good thing in it. For a story about gang life it has a severe lack of characterisation relying on cliché stereotypes. It is laughable, comical at times, init bruv.
I Believe in Unicorns
Davina, a sweet and innocent girl, is a home carer for her disabled mother. She meets Stirling, a grungy skater boy, and then the two fall in love. The film is interspersed with clips featuring Davina taking part in magical, mystical set pieces. I didn’t enjoy their company. They should just grow up. Davina, if you don’t like the sex just say something, he isn’t a mind-reader. I just found myself looking for things that made her more annoying: not wearing a helmet whilst cycling, inefficient food storing in the fridge etc.
My week spot are films about teenagers – I even like Twilight – but I didn’t like this. I was seriously thinking my watch was broken – it was moving so slowly.
