EIFF: Tuesday 22nd

Tuesday's viewing began, as always, with the Mitchell Leisen retrospective and this time it was HOLD BACK THE DAWN. Once again the film was a romance with comedic elements but I'd stop short of calling it a romantic comedy. The story of a man who intends to marry a US citizen so that he may get a visa is once more a dark tale with an air of depression and despair, reflected in the location where the film takes place. No more the brightly-lit city residences - now we're in a grim Mexican border town full of desperate people in desperate situations. Another fine effort from Mr Leisen.

This was followed on my schedule with BLACK BRUSH, a slacker comedy from Hungary about a bunch of chimney sweeps who do no work and try to hatch elaborate plans to make money. I'd almost describe this as Kevin Smith's CLERKS if he'd been Hungarian, but the key difference between the two is that while they both might be structured similarly and share the same look, BLACK BRUSH isn't actually very funny. It's scooped lots of prizes elsewhere, including its homeland, so maybe I'm missing something but to me it's a flop.

Sadly it was more of the same, albeit slightly improved, with the British/Czech comedy SHUT UP AND SHOOT ME. When a man's wife is killed while on holiday, he decides that he can't live anymore and after a failed attempt at suicide he enlists the help of a local to kill him. This is a comedy though, and the murder attempts don't go to plan, leaving a trail of death and destruction behind them - not to mention an angry hitman with whom they become entangled.

Despite a promising start, there are only sporadic moments of laugh-out-loud humour - it's never a laugh riot. Sadly there are very few films that are more difficult to sit through than a comedy that isn't funny and my double bill of BLACK BRUSH and this film represented a real ordeal.

It was a pleasant surprise then that the next film I saw, which I'd been slightly sceptical of, was one of the triumphs of the festival.

ZIDANE: A 21ST CENTURY PORTRAIT follows the titular footballer for the course of a game using cameras placed all over the stadium. We don't follow the play and with the occasional exception we have no idea what is happening elsewhere on the pitch - we see only Zidane as he passes, waits, runs, thinks... it's not a completely original concept (a similar film of George Best was made in the 1970s) but it's executed superbly.

It's difficult to take from my description just how riveting the film is but I was captivated from start to finish and it's telling that the gentleman I sat next to admitted to never watching football but described this movie as absolutely enthralling. I agree.

LOUDQUIETLOUD: A FILM ABOUT THE PIXIES does exactly what it says on the tin. The documentary follows the influential US rock band not in their heyday when they were so underappreciated but rather during their 2004 reunion and tour. The filmmakers behind this movie have done a good job in carving out a watchable documentary with the material available because despite the fact that guitarist Joey seems to be the only member of the band without major issues, the group are actually not that interesting. On stage they're magic, off stage they hardly talk to each other. You sense that there was a real struggle to make this film interesting but for the most part it succeeds.