Short Film Festival reviews

Twelve and Holding - ***1/2 - A phenomenally acted, well written drama about three friends who lose a friend in a terrible accident. Jacob swears vengeance on those responsible, Malee discovers her bravery and sexual fire, and disturbingly overweight Leonard, through losing his ability to taste food - and assistance from his school coach, begins shedding the pounds. Michael Cuesta, in his somophore effort reveals that L.I.E. was no flash in the pan, his sensitive, compassionate direction and great skill in getting performances anchors the film in a wallow of aching sympathy. Expertly deconstructing the modern American family, the man has a masterpiece in him somewhere. The denouement is all that lets the film down, just like L.I.E. Superb otherwise.
Madeinusa - *1/2 - Peruvian story about the Easter celebrations, and what goes on in a small village during the time Christ dies, and is reborn. It kept my attention through gorgeous cinematography and decent performances. Nothing else worked.
Wristcutters : A Love Story - **1/2 - Most movies about the afterlife are as spirit thin as the spectral beings. A fleeting, beautifully scored comedy about the netherworld. Zia (Patrick Fugit - one of my favourite young actors having only seen him in two movies), after being rejected by the love of his life, slashes his wrists and is reborn in a new world for suicide victims. It's a beautifully realised world, bleached of most colour, where everything is just "a little bit worse" than the real world. Two parts What Dreams May Come, with a slight dash of Toy Story 2 or The Wizard of Oz (the ultimate road movies), the script feels more of a series of sketches than a story. Well acted, shot and directed. It just failed to engage me emotionally.
Sheitan - *** - A very entertaining macabre comedy about an inbred honey-trap, and dollmaking. Youthful, energetic and excellent trash. The deathly rictus grinning Vincent Cassell is the movies' best bogeyman since John Jarrett in Wolf Creek.
The Last Detail (1973) - *** - almost quaint by today's standards, this military comedy gets it's healthy laughs from characterisation and Jack's caring clown performance. Cheerfully foul-mouthed at the time - "I knew a whore once in Wilmington. She had a glass eye. Used to take it out and wink people off for a dollar. "
Special - **1/2 - good first feature about a guy who has a psychotic reaction to his medication. Takes the easy way out in the writing in the second half, falls flat.
5 Days - ***1/2 - splendid documentary about the Gaza Strip forced evacuation. Balanced, well realised and completely lacking in commentary.
Dam Street - *** - A movie about strong women, and idiot men. A family drama - a schoolgirl gets pregnant, has the child and is told it died during delivery. 10 years later, she meets a 10 year old boy, and strikes up a friendship with him. No prizes for guessing the outcome.
Mr. Pilipenko and his Submarine - **1/2 - A 53 year old retired crane driver has been building a submarine in the middle of nowwhere for 20 years. This documentary chronicles his journey to perfect it and go to the Red Sea. Would have made a better short subject, the material is too thin to last 90 minutes.
Palimpset - * - a Polish slavish exercise in style, as thoroughly empty as movies get. A policeman is dropped from a great height, and the leading investigator has a nervous breakdown. The movie is content to be good to look at, and boring.
Clerks II - ***1/2 - Kevin Smith wears his heart on his sleeve, and delivers some killer gags. Too lovable to be offensive. And Rosario Dawson is just so sexy. ;)
London to Brighton - *** - well made drama about a prostitute who is forced to go on the run with a 12 year old child after the child murders her client. Falls short in the finale, with a crummy deus ex machina ending.
Red Shoes (2005) - ** - Felt like someone shoved a cattle prod up my arse and kept adjusting the voltage. Scary, yes.. but boring.
Where's Poppa - *** - as a piece of vulgar comedy, it has little equal. However, this 1970 movie has dated rather horribly, and the racist stereotypes are just plain offensive.
Holly - *1/2 - "worthy but dull" is the mantra of this child sex trafficking fiction story. Treated with all the technical skill it can afford, but a bland script and flabby direction sink it without trace.
Taking Off - **** - a triumph of satire. This 1970's movie, by Milos Forman (Amadeus, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest) cheerfully attacks American homespun values by mixing them with the hippie movement of the time. A glorious, extended marijuana instructional scene made me laugh so loudly I started choking.
Gretchen - ** - Welcome to the Dollhouse, without the incisive wit, or skill. An emotional cripple seeks meaning to her dull 17-year old existence through parental reunion, ineffective counselling, and prom. It's often painful to watch, not because it has any difficult truths about school outsiders, but because the characters are such freaks.
It's Winter - ** - a terrific looking, crisply cut empty poem of a movie
Sherrybaby - ** - Maggie Gyllenhaal's expert performance cannot save this movie-of-the-week.
Destricted - ** - Five short films by renowned international moviemakers about their artistic feelings on the porn industry. Two films of which, I felt like hurting someone, they were so bad. One was really interesting, another was reasonably good, and the last was too damn odd - a four minute shot of a penis going from flaccidity to erect opens it - to make me care.
Them - ***1/2 - a terrific French thriller/horror movie. As I ask of genre pictures, it was well made, didn't insult the audience, and delivered what it promised. It scared the hell out of me.
Someone Else - *** - A good British movie about failing and blossoming relationships. Woody Allen has done pictures like this for years, but I admired it's look, it's narrative and dialogue simplicity, where it lets the actors deliver the body language nuances. It felt real, and of the moment.
The Host - ***1/2 - the most singularly entertaining film I've seen since Superman Returns. A glorious, exuberant and scary Korean monster film. It's a movie so full of cross-pollinated genre ideas, that one could easily criticise it for lacking focus. I wouldn't do that, I enjoyed myself far too much for that.

If you want near exhaustive online coverage of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, then visit EyeForFilm.