Brighton's Cine-City 2006

Bringing me right up to date with my festival attendance, and also heralding an almost unheard of four consecutive days of updates on this blog, is Cinecity, Brighton's film festival. I discovered this festival by accident last year (just happened to be in Brighton when it was on) so decided it was a decent candidate for a little trip this year.

The first film I saw on the Friday night was Nick Broomfield's new semi-documentary drama GHOSTS, which weaves a tale of tragedy and exploitation based on the true story (though again, I don't know how much) of the group of Chinese cocklepickers that ended up drowning in Morecambe while working late at night.

Although a drama, the film presents plenty of facts and raises plenty of issues, tackling why these workers were doing such labour in these conditions and illustrating the obstacles of racism, illegal gangmasters, etc.

It's a pretty powerful account of a very serious problem but I also imagine it's a little too depressing for widespread tastes, and won't be helped by the subdued, fly-on-the-wall filming approach. The only attempt to lighten the mood seems to be some buffoonery on the part of one of the villains of the piece, but placing such comic antics in the middle of such a serious story lessens the impact of the tragedy and very real trouble that lie at the heart of it.

My next film was to be a late night screening of SHORTBUS - yeah, that film I managed to miss in Cardiff - but due to a lapse in planning on my part, which I'm not going to go into here, I couldn't actually make it to this one. Again.

Saturday afternoon saw the GET ANIMATED event showcasing the talents of a lot of young animators via a bunch of short animated films, many of which were in competition. The prize went to an amusing short about a granny taking on some street thugs but to be honest there were better entries than this. If there's one thing to take from this event it's that there are an awful lot of talented young animators out there working with a range of styles - that can only be good for the future of the industry, providing someone is actually there to support them.

TINY COLOUR MOVIES was the next event, a combination of film and live music. John Fox (he of Ultravox fame) became fascinated when viewing a collection of old super-8 movies owned by a private collector and promptly ran off and recorded new electronic music inspired by them. Here, for the first time, we saw the films themselves accompanied by John performing the music live. It was an interesting experience that lends a whole new depth to forgotten, seemingly unimportant pieces of film from the lives of ordinary folks - and the music was top class.

I'd have ended Saturday night with a late showing of a new print of the Rolling Stones movie SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL but alas the same poor planning from the night before also afflicted me on Saturday night and I had to give it a miss. Oh well. I wonder if it's as good as GIMME SHELTER? I must pick up the DVD some time.

I finished the brief trip with Sunday's screening of TEMPTRESS MOON, a Chinese film that was showing as part of a strand of Shanghai-related films and events (each year the festival holds a special look at one particular film - last year I got to see the eighties animated oddity VAMPIRES IN HAVANA).

Like so many modern Chinese films, it looked radiant - but this tale of a family and its troubles at the end of an era in Chinese history was too long and jumped between characters too often for my liking.

Despite the festival being held at various venues, all the events I had tickets for (attended or otherwise) were at the Duke of York's cinema, which I must sing the praises of. This year, as last, I was impressed by the venue, the atmosphere, the staff and just the general aura of the place. It's only got the one main screen but it's a lovely cinema and if you're ever in Brighton I urge you to take a trip there.

I did discover that there are nicer times of the year to be there however, as sitting in the auditorium having been soaked through by an unexpected shower isn't quite so enjoyable.

That's all the festivals up to date now - but I am going down to London this weekend to see Ennio Morricone (legend!) in concert, which I'm sure I'll tell you all about next week. I imagine I will find some time to check out some movies at the National Film Theatre too, so watch this space.

The Freakpit Festival Frenzy continues: Cardiff 2006

Three posts in three days - I'm on a roll!

Next on my festival frenzy was a brief trip to Cardiff for, surprisingly, the Cardiff Film Festival 2006. Or Gwyl Ffilm Caerdydd, if you speak Welsh. But I don't, so to continue writing in Welsh would be both stupid and very difficult. Let's move on.

I'd initially pencilled in the very explicit SHORTBUS as my first film on the Friday night (you knew I'd go and see something like that, didn't you?) but alas my timing wasn't quite as good as it had been at the London festival and I had to scratch that one from my schedule. Instead, I wandered the streets of Cardiff in heavy rain and got shouted at by a homeless person.

My first outing was therefore to a double bill of Kenneth Griffith documentaries. Having died earlier this year, this fascinating Welshman was the subject of a retrospective at this year's Cardiff Film Festival. While many will undoubtedly know him from his acting, he wrote and presented a number of documentaries which were receiving rare (and very welcome) screenings at this festival.

I'd have liked to see his numerous documentaries on the subject of Ireland and its troubles - in particular the controversial Michael Collins film HANG UP YOUR BRIGHTEST COLOURS - but unfortunately was not in town when any of them were screening.

I did, however, get to witness this double bill of Africa-focused documentaries, both of which were outstanding. Camp theatrical performances, insightful writing and an utter refusal to take a neutral stance would seem to be what put Griffith's documentaries into a class of their own and those qualities are in abundance here.

The first of the documentaries wears its heart on its sleeve from the off - with a title like A TOUCH OF CHURCHILL, A TOUCH OF HITLER, you can be assured that the subject of the film, Cecil Rhodes (after whom Rhodesia was named), was not going to be getting off lightly. And so it was, in a wonderfully stirring polemic against Rhodes and colonialism. Griffith does not avoid acknowledging admirable traits in Rhodes but for the most part is interested only in driving home what a villain he was.

The second part of this double bill was the equally eye-grabbing title BLACK AS HELL, THICK AS GRASS, another tirade against Britain's colonial activities in Africa (focussing on the incident famously made into film in the Michael Caine movie ZULU).

It's a joy to behold such a passionate, honest and stirring approach to documentaries and while sometimes Griffith's performance goes so far over the top he almost topples off his soapbox the films are like nothing you'll see on the History Channel. Someone please get this guy's documentaries out on DVD now. Please.

TRUE TRUE LIE is a British psychological horror (filmed in Eastern Europe and made to look American) that follows a girl freshly released from an asylum and her two friends as a secret from the past threatens to catch up with them. After all, the reason for the incarceration was the belief that three of them had murdered someone as children, but they're assured it's all a figment of the imagination... or is it?

To be honest, I was struggling to care by the end of it. For such an apparently tight schedule and meager budget, the director has turned in a reasonably polished flick but it offers absolutely nothing new to the genre at all. If this one even makes it to a widespread theatrical release I would expect it to disappear within a week.

AMNESIA: THE JAMES BRIGHTON ENIGMA is a low-budget Canadian film alledgedly based on a true story (though how much I'm not sure) and tells of a young man who wakes up in a car park one morning completely naked, remembering absolutely nothing about himself except that he believes he's gay.

The shot-on-video, intimate documentary-style camera work takes a bit of warming to and once the origin of James's trauma is revealed, the film feels like there's nowhere left to go. Yet it ponders on towards a damp squib of a conclusion that doesn't offer a tidy resolution but at least hints at an ending of sorts. Shame, as there were some interesting scenes in the middle.

KARDIA is a rather surreal story of a woman scientist who does research into cardiovascular matters but with a rather more human than scientific approach - the whole crux of the film would seem to be the question of whether someone can actually have died of a broken heart rather than a simple heart attack.

The film has interesting ideas and the flashbacks to the scientists youth (telling of her relationship with her adopted dad) do a good job of intertwining them with some tender moments that all build up to a couple of twists at the end - one of which is quite predictable, but it leads to another one that isn't quite so expected.

It's a shame that a shallow, lacklustre secondary plot about two lab assistants' relationship was forced into the (already rather short) running time, as it isn't developed nearly enough and ends up feeling like its been forced into the script in order to provide some extra weight to the film's theories about the heart.

That's unfortunate, because the film could stand up well without it - the final revelations are shattering and leave you truly haunted by the ending, which is, well, heartbreaking. And I guess that was the point.

Finally, WIL is an Australian film about a young man who is offered a promotion and has a minute to think about it. In that minute, the titular man finds himself going over his entire life, all within the confines of a lift, with characters and situations from his past blending together in a stream-of-conciousness dream life that throws humour and philosophy into the mix without really succeeding at either.

It seems very much like it's trying to achieve the clever weirdness of ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, but it's just a mess and not nearly as funny or clever as it wants to be. It has its moments for sure, but not enough to merit a recommendation from me I'm afraid.

Admid all this, I also managed one little late-night trip to an entirely non festival related screening, SAW III to be precise. It was much the same as the first two but not quite as good. As for the stories of people fainting during the film... having watched it, I'm more convinced than ever that it was a PR stunt. You'll see a lot worse.

Next on my list of festivals to write up... Brighton!

Horrorthon 2006, Dublin

Two posts in two days, I really am getting the hang of this again. And as if to make up for lost time, this one's a bit longer than usual, covering a five-day festival in its entirety. Enjoy!

Last year, for reasons I won't bore you with, I decided to take in the Horrorthon festival over the Halloween weekend in Dublin. The main motivation was that I fancied a horror festival and I'd never been to Ireland.

I was sceptical about the merits of Dublin since everyone I knew who had visited and loved it seemed to be primarily concerned with spending time in pubs getting wasted, which isn't really my thing (though I do make a point of visiting Toner's when I'm in town, for the sole reason that Sergio Leone short part of A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE there).

As it turned out I loved Dublin and had a great time at the festival, so it was a no-brainer that I'd return this year (despite being at the Irish Film Institute just one month earlier for the Stranger Than Fiction festival - see earlier blog entry on that subject).

The opening film on the Thursday night was the Irish premiere of Korean movie THE HOST, which I've mentioned on more than one occasion before. I'll not go on about it much more here, since I spoke about it just last week, but suffice to say having already been at the British premiere I was more than happy to go to this screening too. Great fun, and I should also mention the short film that preceded it, Ciaran Foy's THE FAIRIES OF BLACKHEATH WOOD, a four-minute gem that got a deservedly good reaction from the audience.

This was followed by SNUFF MOVIE, a low-budget, post-modern oddity about a horror film legend who decides to make one last movie but makes it a little too realistic... or does he? The movie is a mixed bag - the plot is cleverly handled, building up to a fun twist at the end, but it lags in certain scenes throughout and seems to be trying a little too hard to shock. The early scenes, which have clearly been inspired by the Manson family's killing of Sharon Tate, are a little too close to the real thing to be anything other than bad taste.

Friday opened with a screening of FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2, which I confess was one of the highlights. I love the F13 movies, or at least the first seven anyway. Yeah, I know, it sounds a bit daft to say that a series like this only ran out of steam after its sixth sequel, but it's the truth. Part 8, JASON TAKES MANHATTAN was just wrong - Jason's got no business taking Manhattan, everyone knows he should be carving up campers by Crystal Lake.

Anyway, the guys at Horrorthon had shown the original movie last year, one of the main reasons I was interested, and followed it up with the second one this year and I was delighted. Now if they're going to follow it up next year, a 3D print would be nice.

Another "classic" came next, the adaptation of Stephen King's PET SEMATARY and oh dear, it has not aged well. It's just so... eighties. And not in a good way. The cast, largely unknown outside of TV these days, are pretty much all terrible, so much so that a scene in which a man sees his child killed actually ends up being hilarious. That's not a good sign, and the movie didn't get any better.

Things picked up again with FROSTBITE, a new vampire movie... from Sweden! In a town where winter sees endless hours without daylight, vampires naturally thrive - but Dracula these guys are not. To cut a long story short, a town is overrun by vampires with hilarious consequences. A blend of good humour and decent special effects does the job. Watch out for this one.

Next up we had three episodes of the MASTERS OF HORROR series. If you're not familiar with this TV series, the concept is simple - take a director associated with the horror genre, give them a couple of million dollars and a couple of weeks to shoot a TV movie, and let them get on with it. The series (whose first season aired in the UK earlier this year) received mixed reviews, with most episodes garnering more negatives than positives.

The first episode shown here however, John Landis's season one episode DEER WOMAN, illustrated an interesting point about the difference your viewing environment makes. When I saw this episode on TV I wasn't that impressed - it had its moments but nothing outstanding. Watching it with a packed cinema on the other hand, it was actually a lot of fun and I found myself laughing a lot more than I had first time round.

The other episodes were a couple of premieres from season two - Tobe Hooper's DAMNED THING was next, which features a reasonable lead performance by Sean Patrick Flannery and a general atmosphere of dread, but little else. Not too much of a surprise since Hooper's first season episode was an absolute turd. At least this one improved it.

This was followed by John Carpenter's season two episode, PRO-LIFE, starring Ron Perlman. I liked Carpenter's first season episode a lot, but this one is a real stinker. Aspects of Carpenter's best films are recycled to little effect, leaving you thinking how much better they were first time round, and leaving us with another unimpressive episode.

Friday night finished with a Euro gem from a couple decades ago, the hilariously-dubbed, so-bad-it's-good DEMONS, produced by Dario Argento and directed by Lamberto Bava (who turned up to introduce the film). A bunch of people get free tickets to the opening of a new fleapit cinema but of course there's always a catch with anything free. Next time anyone offers you a free cinema ticket, check the small print in case it says "warning, you might get locked inside the auditorium with a bunch of flesh-ripping cinema demons".

Saturday opening with LIE STILL, a low-budget British film about a haunted house. Or is it? To be honest, I don't care. This film was just plain dull.

Talking of dull, low-budget British films, the next screening didn't exactly excite me either. This was apparently the director's cut of DARKLANDS - I don't know how much is different but I don't feel the need to go and find out. Craig Fairbrass, who appeared on TV and then a few crap British films of the early 1990s, investigates strange goings on in Wales involving a local company, some dodgy rituals, a cliched plot and some really bad acting.

THE LOST wasn't really a horror film but I don't care as it was a distinct improvement over the two turkeys I'd just seen. Seedy goings on in a small town, mostly centering round a young man who killed a couple of young girls and was never caught, build up into a twisted finale of violence that isn't for the faint hearted.

Lamberto Bava returned to introduce his latest effort, THE TORTURER, next. I often find myself wondering what happened to all those Italian directors who used to make such classic horror in the late seventies and early eighties - if this piece of badly constructed, shot-on-video, cheap and nasty, mysogynistic trash is anything to go by it's not a great loss. DEMONS was so bad it's great; this is just so bad I'm not going to waste any more time talking about it.

Another couple of MASTERS OF HORROR season two episodes popped up next. John Landis's FAMILY, about a young couple who move in next to a psychopathic George Wendt, is another episode rife with humour and again was well-received by the packed audience, but will probably not fare as well on TV. The same fate, I suspect, awaits Dario Argento's PELTS starring Meatloaf (yes, Meatloaf) and cult movie icon John Saxon. It's an improvement on his first season episode but is still silly enough that it's unlikely to be hailed as a classic.

Saturday finished with GRIZZLY, a fantastic piece of trash cinema from the 70s, about a giant grizzly bear terrorising holiday makers - think JAWS but with a bear and you've pretty much got it. A perfect movie for the late night showing, it never fails to entertain (and what movies made in Hollywood these days would give you a graphic shot of a small child getting dismembered by a bear?). It's terrible but it's brilliant, and I really will have to pick up the DVD some time.

Sunday's proceedings began with COUNTESS DRACULA, one of the countless horror films churned out by Hammer in its glory days but far from one of the best. Ingrid Pitt spends half the film in old-age make-up and the other half looking her usual lovely self and, well, that's about it. She needs the blood of virgins to maintain her youth and I guess you can probably script the rest of the movie yourself. And to add insult to injury, she's not even got anything to do with Dracula, that's just a reference that gets shoehorned in at the end so that Hammer could feel justified in their shameless exploitation of the name.

Another couple of episodes of MASTERS OF HORROR followed - Brad Anderson's SOUNDS LIKE was flawed but better than most of the others, and for once edged more towards psychological horror than outright gore. Takashi Miike's episode IMPRINT on the other hand, was an over-the-top piece of craziness that made very little sense (not surprising if you've seen many of his films), had some bizarre acting (due to the Japanese/English language issues - and Billy Drago appeared to be acting in slow motion for the duration) and was not shown in the original run in the US due to being a little too controversial for network tastes. It's actually not that shocking compared to an awful lot of other things that get shown but there are certainly some moments that will have less hardened viewers reaching for the sickbag.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was next on the programme, a rare chance to see the original classic on the big screen. If you're familiar with this film there's nothing I need to say; if you're not, then you really should make it your business to change that sitation. It's the father of all zombie movies, and no horror fan should miss it. Great film, great ending, great fun seeing it on the big screen finally.

This was followed by Horrorthon's "surprise movie", which turned out to be SEE NO EVIL, starring WWE's Kane. That probably tells you all you need to know about the film to be honest. It's not a good horror film by any stretch of the imagination and even taking out a couple of minutes of gore, it seems to belong to that group of horror films that believes scares are best manufactured by simply turning up the volume at opportune moments. Poor.

The Irish premiere of PAN'S LABYRINTH sold out fast, and I'd be willing to bet that the majority of the audience, if not all of them, went away happy. This adult fairy tale is another movie that I raved about last week. It's one of the best films of the year so far and it'll be really interesting to see whether this or Almodovar's VOLVER ends up as Spain's nod in the foreign language Oscar category next year.

From high art to low brow trash, Sunday finished with Bruno Mattei's CRUEL JAWS. Mattei is king of the rip-off, famed for his trashy early eighties movies that were cheap and nasty even by the standards of the already cheap and nasty genres he was working in (ZOMBI 3, ZOMBIE CREEPING FLESH and RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR are just three of his gems). This one is a lot more modern but no less shameless. It's cheap, it's badly acted, and it's an amalgam not only of ideas from other films (mostly the Jaws films) but also of footage and music that Mattei has has the gall to steal from other movies! This film is truly horrendous, one of the worst you'll ever see... so naturally it provided the late night audience in the IFI with an hour and a half of pure, unbridled cinematic joy.

GOING TO PIECES: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SLASHER FILM was the first film on the final day. This documentary charts the rise of the slasher genre that found such infamy in the early 80s and for horror fans, particularly slasher-lovers (which I confess I am), it's fascinating. It's not without its flaws though - while mention is made of Mario Bava's influence, the makers gloss over the seminal BLACK CHRISTMAS, choosing instead to start with HALLOWEEN. A classic to be sure, but Bob Clark's seasonal chiller deserves more recognition. The other gripe is that many of the clips look like they've been taken from old VHS copies - surely in this day and age it wouldn't be too difficult to find some presentable materials. Still, any documentary that manages to mention (and interview the star of) SLEEPAWAY CAMP is okay in my book.

This documentary was paired with another, BAN THE SADIST VIDEOS PART 2, which followed last year's video nasty documentary with a look at the BBFC's rise in importance, the folly of the censorious zealout James Ferman, the ridiculous kneejerk policy proposals of the detestable MP David Alton, etc. Again, it's a fascinating film but also likely to leave many people feeling angry at the censorship laws we've been subjected to over the years (and in some cases still are).

What if killers like Mike Myers, Freddy Krueger and Jason Vorhees were real? Wouldn't it be intersting to see a news crew get inside their head, follow them around, see how they plan their killing sprees? The comedic notion of a killer being followed around by a news crew is not entirely new (see also MAN BITES DOG, THE MAGICIAN) but what makes BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON unique is that it takes the same approach to the supernatural, force-of-nature type of killers that found fame in the infamous slashers of the early eighties.

So we have a camera crew follow Leslie as he explains his methods, how he picks his victims, who his "survivor girl" will be, why he has picked this particular date, etc. While probably a little too knowing for the casual viewer, anyone who is familiar with the formulae of slasher movies will get plenty of laughs from this movie's referential SCREAM-style post-modern japery.

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT provides is with more Hammer horror but once again it's far from being one of their stronger efforts. In fact, if pushed, I'd have to admit that it's rubbish. Some nonsense about devil worship or something like that just seems to be the peg upon which various shoddy set pieces are hung and by the end I was glad it was all over. Christopher Lee's a legend, but I'd wipe this one from his CV if I was him.

A horror festival wouldn't be complete without some Asian spookiness, so the penultimate film this time is the Korean CELLO - yep, they're really beginning to run out of household objects to make scary. There isn't too much to say about this without giving away the plot, so let's just say there's a car crash, a cello, some people dying and lots of people wandering about looking haunted. If you know Asian horror, you probably know what to expect by now - and if you don't there are far better films to start you off with.

The final film on Monday night was a 70mm screening of the classic POLTERGEIST, made back in the days when Tobe Hooper still made things that were worth watching. A few elements have dated but it remains a classic - and is guaranteed to leave you with Jerry Goldsmith's theme music stuck in your head as you leave the cinema.

And so endeth another festival and another trip to Dublin, with much fun had over the course of the week (hello to James and Peter if you're reading). It's fair to say I'll probably be back next year.

Mind you, I see Dublin's international film festival is usually around about March, so I guess I might not have to wait that much longer for my next excuse to return...

Next festival write-up: Cardiff - coming soon!

LFF 2006 - Great cowboy, crap eskimo

Okay, time to catch up on all those film festivals I've been to recently. Tonight, it's my brief (and first ever) visit to the London Film Festival (which was celebrating its 50th this year). Not bad, I'm only running a month behind schedule.

Flying down on Saturday morning, I managed to time it to such perfection (or to put it another way, I was very lucky that my cavalier planning paid off) and made it to the cinema (Odeon West End on Leicester Square) with fifteen minutes to spare before my first screening.

And what was that first screening, I hear you ask? Well, I don't hear you at all obviously, such is the isolated nature of internet communication but you know what I mean.

It was a brand new restored print of classic fifties western THE BIG COUNTRY. Pretty famous film certainly, but not one I'd ever seen (my favourite westerns are usually more obscure and nine times out of ten are Italian). I'm kind of glad I'd missed out on it all these years because to have seen it in any other format for the first time would have been criminal.

The title music by Jerome Moross is world famous and deservedly so; the photography is stunning and makes full use of the widescreen format. It was just amazing.

But the best aspect of it all for me was Gregory Peck. I don't know if you know what the film's about but, to cut a long story short, a great deal of it concerns Peck's pacifistic view of life and his refusal to fight people when they want a fight or to rise to the abuse he receives when being branded a coward for his actions. The character is just the coolest, most heroic man I've ever seen on screen, and anchors the film as not just a great western but a great anti-war movie, a sentiment that will always be relevant somewhere in the world.

A brief stroll across the Thames (not literally - I used a bridge) took me to the British Film Institute, where I have been before, and in particular to the National Film Theatre (where I haven't). My first film in this cinema was another newly-restored print, this time being the UCLA's preservation of classic film noir THE BIG COMBO.

I don't consider this to be the best noir I've seen - it wouldn't even make my top ten - but it does have all the ingredients you want from one and is certainly still a fine example of the genre, and the work done by the UCLA in preserving it deserves high praise.

If there's one thing I took from THE BIG COMBO, it's the remarkable relationship between two minor hoods in the film (one of whom is played by future spaghetti western stalwart Lee Van Cleef), who are clearly supposed to be lovers, before such things were deemed acceptable in Hollywood. I won't list all the clues here, but the biggest laugh of the film was undoubtedly when the two men are hidden away together, obviously rather edgy, and LVC offers his companion something to eat - only to be met with the response "I can't swallow any more salami!"

Or maybe the audience I was with just have a dirty mind and it's all entirely innocent. I seriously doubt it.

It was back the NFT again shortly after that for a premiere of African film BAMAKO. In this film, a trial takes place in a poor African town, in which the global corporations of the western world are taken to task over their treatment of Africa.

The film obviously employs non-professional actors and while it's true that their performances spring passionately to life during the court scenes, the film becomes flat when it moves back to the domestic lives of the participants, when the limitations of the actors become obvious.

This film was followed by a special panel discussing the current emergence of Africa on film, and I did pick up a ticket for the event (free when you bought one for BAMAKO). Unfortunately, due to the late running of BAMAKO, the fact that I was starving and the exceptionally slow service in the NFT restaurant when I decided I needed food, I abandoned my plans to attend the event. I'm sure it was very interesting though.

Sunday's films began with THE U.S. VS JOHN LENNON, back in the Odeon again, which I mentioned last week. A fascinating portrait of a star, showing a rarely seen side of him that really wins you over - against the sinister machinations of Nixon and friends on the other side of the political divide. One of the best documentaries of this year in my humble opinion and it gets released here in the UK in a few weeks. Go and see it.

I was due to attend LIVES OF THE SAINTS after this film, but it was at the Rio cinema, some way out of central London and I decided that I was struggling to get out there in time and would probably not make it back in time for my next film, so once again I abandoned this one. I admit I could probably have planned that one better but what can I say, London's a bit bigger than I remember it being...

So it was back to the NFT again for FRAULEIN, a touching tale of Serb immigrants in Switzerland and how one youngster impacts on the life of an older compatriot, and vice versa. It certainly can't be described as a happy movie but it's an accomplished and memorable work. No idea if its been picked up for distribution in this country yet, but I'm sure it'll be well received if it is.

Back to the Odeon again, and Sunday night finished with the premiere of RED ROAD, the first feature film from Oscar-winner Andrea Arnold. It had much to live up to, having bagged a major prize at Cannes, but it more than equalled the hype (and has since swept the boards at the Scottish BAFTAs).

Kate Dickie plays a CCTV operator whose life is turned upside down when she sees on one camera a man she hoped never to see again. An obsession develops and you can't help but be reeled in, desperate to find out what he did, why she's so affected by it and what she's doing in response to it. It's a slowburner but well worth every minute of it - Arnold somehow manages to capture the grim and gritty side of a run down Glaswegian estate while still retaining a cinematic look to the film, and the performances are uniformly excellent from all involved.

It won't be to everyone's taste (there are a couple of moments of violence, a lot of very strong language and a pretty explicit scene towards the end that is integral to the plot) but it should be seen. It'd be a great film anyway, but from a purely parochial view it's great to see a Scottish film this good - they don't happen very often.

The last film I saw, on Monday morning, was THE JOURNALS OF KNUD RASMUSSEN, a documentary-style drama about how a European explorer introduced Christianity to the Innuits and destroyed their belief system. It's filmed in a fly-on-the-wall style that simply doesn't work; I try not to use the word when describing films but I'm afraid "boring" is the best fit I can think of. The ending is haunting but it was too much of a chore to get there. Avoid.

And that was all. A couple of observations on London cinemas to finish.

First of all, the layout of NFT1 and OWE2. If you end up with seats at either side, it's not the most comfortable as the auditorium in both instances is rather too curved for my liking - unfortunately getting there early doesn't help, as an allocated seat system was in operation. There's no doubting the quality of the NFT's facilities but I still prefer my own favourite cinemas in Edinburgh (links on the right hand side of the main Freakpit page).

The other issue is that it ain't cheap. That's not just the festival though - in fact, compared to average London cinema prices, the festival isn't too bad - but cinemagoing in London will really make you think the next time you're grumbling about paying too much for a cinema ticket. The average price for a popular screening would seem to be about three times the price of its Edinburgh equivalent. Ouch.

Coming soon... Horrorthon 2006, Dublin!

For once, some current recommendations

Sorry, I know, I'm really no good at this blogging lark at all. Not only have I got the Dublin Horrorthon and the London Film Festival still to report on, but I've just added a weekend at the Cardiff Film Festival to that list and tomorrow morning will be flying south for the Brighton Film Festival. So yet again I've neglected my duties here.

Just so this place isn't completely empty for all that time, I thought I'd just chip in with a few current or forthcoming recommendations.

THE PRESTIGE, the new film by Christopher Nolan starring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and a bunch of other famous folk is quite simply my film of the year so far. It's a story of two magicians in Victorian London who constantly try to get one up on each other, with the costs involved in such a duel getting ever more drastic. It drew me in from the start, pulls the rug out from under you every ten minutes and weaves a lovely little mystery with clues for the viewer sprinkled throughout. I saw it at a preview screening but since it's been out in UK cinemas for about a week now, that no longer seems quite such an important fact. Guess I should have told you sooner.

Having attended both the British and Irish premieres of the Korean monster movie THE HOST, I can heartily recommend it when it comes out later this month. Even if you don't usually like monster movies or don't go in for foreign films; whether you're going with family, friends, a date or all on your lonesome - it makes no difference. This is just a great, fun movie and is everything that current Hollywood blockbusters can only dream of being.

Also out very soon is PAN'S LABYRINTH, Guillermo Del Toro's latest flick. This Spanish masterpiece was highly acclaimed in every festival it played at and was equally well received at its Irish premiere in Dublin, where I saw it. It's described as an adult fairy tale and that's about right - while the fairy tale aspect of the film is dark, it would still be suitable for kids. The backdrop of war-torn Franco-era Spain however is probably not for children. This is another must-see, regardless of any prejudices towards foreign films. It's dark, it's intelligent and it's visually stunning - once again Hollywood has been put in the shade.

Finally, if you're in the mood for a documentary, I recommend THE U.S. VS JOHN LENNON, which comes out in UK cinemas in a couple of weeks. It's one of the most entertaining documentaries I've seen in a while and relates the story of Lennon's revolutionary tendencies and Richard Nixon's spectacularly over-the-top reaction. Lennon is the real star of the show, with plenty of footage showcasing both his intelligence, his charisma and his sense of humour. I saw it at the London Film Festival, so maybe I'll say a bit more about it if I ever get round to writing up the rest of that festival.

Okay, off to bed, it's almost 2am and I'm off to Brighton tomorrow morning. I'll try to write something more substantial next week, honest.

Document 4 @ the GFT

A few weeks ago I spent a weekend at Document, the International Human Rights Film Festival at the Glasgow Film Theatre. It might not sound like a bright and cheerful way to spend several hours of your time and, er, that's because it wasn't.

Don't get me wrong, there were some well-made films and a number of not-so-well-made films, but the majority of them were at least interesting in some way. But of course, with a subject like that, you just know that no matter how good the films are you're going to come out depressed, especially after watching two days' worth.

The very mention of "human rights" tells you it's going to be depressing - because, after all, how often do you hear the phrase in conjunction with anything positive? Nope, it's always about human rights being removed, infringed, denied, etc. - never about someone doing a lot of good work for human rights, or a country having an excellent human rights record.

Nevertheless, being the cinema-addicted junkie that I am, and having a bent for filling up my schedule these last couple of months with festival after festival, I went along anyway, armed with weekend pass. At £30 for unlimited access to all the films, it was good value, but there can't have been too many sold judging by how empty a lot of the screenings were. I guess it comes back to the depressing subject matter - not everyone's idea of a fun weekend.

And what of the films? Well, I personally saw:

• A RELUCTANT SILENCE - a short film illustrating one man's struggle with aphasia, shot in an original and effective blend of interview and special effects
• I AM DEAF - part heartwarming and part heartbreaking study of the lives of various deaf people and how they have overcome their affliction
• DARFUR DIARIES - documentary on the current situation in Darfur which unfortunately suffers through its rather scattershot approach to the issue
• OUR HOUSE - Award-winning documentary about a group of people with various disabilities and their relationship to each other and the volunteers who help at the home. It's a fascinating and sometimes saddening insight but at times comes dangerously close to an invasion of privacy for my liking.
• RADOVAN KARADZIC - MOST WANTED? is about the man who was, at one time, the most wanted man for war crimes during the Balkan conflict. Interestingly, the film points out that he could have been caught before now but has not, and questions whether there is any truth in the rumour that he did an underhand deal with the international community to avoid capture.
• UNSER AMERICA is a German-made documentary following a quest to locate two former female guerillas who fought in Nicaragua to see if things are really so much better two decades afterwards.
• SCYTHIAN SUITE is a haunting portrait of the daily life of a man who has grown up in the gulag, now a wasteland.
• FLOWERS DON'T GROW HERE is a disturbing look at the underside of European cities, via the life of a gang of homeless youths in Kiev.
• ODESSA, ODESSA looks at the Jewish community in Odessa and those who emigrated to the USA and Israel.
• BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT is an insight into the trial concerning the genocide at Srebrenica.
• VIERKA - OR THE MYSTERY OF FAMILY B'S DISAPPEARANCE is about the clash of cultures between a prodigious young Romany singer and the Czech society that she finds herself in as a result of her incredible singing talent.

Most of the documentaries on show were worthy efforts that relied more on passion than resources, with a most of them being shot on video and being fairly unprofessional in appearance. Nevertheless there was a lot to be commended and the festival really deserves more audience support than it received.

It was really depressing though, but then luckily I could cheer myself up shortly after that with my first ever trip to the London Film Festival. But more on that next week!