Charlotte Carden's Film & TV Blog: Edinburgh Film Festival

The best experience ever!

The Edinburgh International Film Festival was absolutely amazing! I had such a good time, I think we all agreed that we saw some inspiring films and also the general atmosphere made the whole experience.
There were 8 of us through in Edinburgh over the 20th-22nd. We were all staying in a rather cool hostel right in the city centre. I don't quite know what it is about Edinburgh but it all feels so much more Scottish than Glasgow, maybe it's all the flags and tourists? One of my first phrases when entering the city was "Oh my God we're in SCOTLAND!"

Staying at the hostel definitely added to the whole Edinburgh experience, many of us had just finished our week long stay 'chez Benoit' and easily slipped back into our living together routine. I think many of the class realised just how important me & Galina's afternoon power naps are to our daily well being. Also Galina doesn't like to woken up in the mornings, but will be especially annoyed if no-one wakes her up?!-women huh!

And on a serious note - there was actually a red carpet! A real RED CARPET!!! "Can you imagine!"

Here are some of the films we managed to catch;

Vinyan ~ Fabrice Du Welz & Oliver Blackburn

"When someone dies a horrible death, their spirit becomes confused and angry. They become Vinyan."

Vinyan is a film about a couple Jeanne (Emmanuelle Beart) and (Rufus Sewell) Six months after losing her only child in the Southeast Asia tsunami.
The couple are trying to come to terms with their sons death while still living in Thailand. At a friends party they watch a film about orphans living in the jungles of Burma, Jeanne asks for the tape to be rewound, she has seen her son in the background of a group of Burmese children. Rufus Sewell reluctantly agrees to take her to search for their son together, when she uses the "wouldn't you do anything if there was even a slight chance that he's still alive?" card. Being equally devastated by the death of his son and seeing her pain he agrees to take her. The couple cross the dangerous border to Burma where they are Introduced to a dangerous gang of human traffickers, they find themselves stranded in the middle of a treacherous jungle inhabited by a band of feral children.
I thought this film was extremely thought provoking, not to mention it's beautiful cinematography. A treat for the eyes every second it was on screen. I thought the casting was excellent, Emmanuelle gave an amazing performance as a woman beside herself with grief and pain. The same went for rufus Sewell, between him and Emmanuelle I kept swapping between liking one and really hating the other, this changed every 20 mins or so. I think that for a character to do this so often the actor must be extremely versatile and talented, which both of them were.

Towards the end I wasn't sure where the narrative was going to take us, however I was extremely pleased with the ending, I thought the story was a very interesting one but I was worried it might take us down the same, well trodden path as The Beach. I was relieved that Vinyan had it's own take on what civilisation and society does to humans and how in this case, getting away from that is the only way a grieving mother can really find peace again.

Outrage ~ Kirby Dick

Outrage sheds some light on the mass of closeted politicians who campaign for anti-gay legislation in the U.S. I thought the subject matter of this documentary was very interesting and scandalous. I was not disappointed after watching. I was very intrigued at how people can be so hypocritical but moreover how they can be so ashamed at who they really are, actually that wasn't the tone. I didn't get the impression they were ashamed more that they would lie and cover up their homosexuality to win votes and stay in power. Which is so much worse as it shows a great deal about the mind set of these people in power and its a horrific reflection on society.

I was very moved by one of the politicians who had come out to his wife and publicly confessed that he had been living a lie and resigned. When he spoke his eyes swelled up with tears at how relived he was to be able to live truthfully. In terms of documentary filmmaking I think Kirby Dick managed to capture important moments and I was very impressed by the extent of his research that went into the subject matter, he managed to get so many people to speak on behalf of the politicians.

The Girlfriend Experience ~ Steven Soderbergh

The film documents the life of an ultra high-end Manhattan call girl who's life appears to be under control. She makes $2000 an hour, and has a boyfriend who accepts her being a prostitute.

That is pretty much all that happens in this film, actually I have merely forgotten if there was anything else. I had forgotten this film as soon as I left the cinema.

Running In Traffic ~ Dale Corlett & Bryan Larkin

"Running in Traffic is a modern day drama that examines the lives of two central characters who attempt to bring the balance back into their lives after their respective loss. It is examination of the nature of coincidence and how we are all connected in this life in ways that we might never know the truth about"

I had to find this from IMDB because quite frankly, I had no idea what this film was supposed to be about, not during the film or after. The whole time I was in the cinema I was wondering what the hell was going on, who these people were, when the inciting incident was going to happen? It was a complete waste of 2 hours of my life. I don't want think about it anymore.

The Antichrist

~ Lars Von Trier
A couple lose their young son when he falls out of a window while they are having sex in the other room. The mother (Charlotte Gainsbourg) stays in hospital suffering from severe depression, her husband (William Dafoe) is a therapist and brings her home to treat her himself. They go to stay at their remote cabin in the woods, "Eden", where they used to go as a family to confront her depression. Antichrist is told in four chapters with a prologue and epilogue, there are beautiful hand draw cards that mark each new chapter, the style of drawing fits perfectly with the tone of the film.
The opening scene was the one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen at the cinema. The black & white, the compositions, the slow motion, the choice of music. It was amazing.

I thought Antichrist was beautifully eerie, the film constantly challenged the audience to think about what was going to happen next, who was the hero, who had good intentions? You never knew where you were or what you were supposed to be feeling and in my mind this made the film a perfect unsettling horror. Having a scene depicting horrific events, filmed and coloured so beautifully is really unusual to watch. This unsettling mix of horror and beauty is what made the film stand out as one of the best things I've seen throughout the whole festival. The film has stayed with me and I am still thinking about it know. I would like to watch it again as I think it is the kid of film that benefits from multiple viewings, it had many layers that could be further explored.

A talk with...Darren Aronofski!

We were so lucky to get tickets for a talk with Darren Aronofski, we had to get up dead early to queue for tickets but luckily we got some!!! He was incredibly inspirational and quite a normal guy, he was incredibly embarrassed by clips of his older films!-that made me like him more! He spoke about all his films and how he doesn't think 3D will ever take over in the industry. I think he was right in saying it is still just a gimmick and even though the world is 3D, it doesn't give the illusion of reality as much as 2D films. Darren was very willing to answer all the audiences questions, even though there was yet again a really rude and obnoxious man asking a question, which reminded me of that idiot on the Richard Attenborough day-there's always one isn't there!

We had one awesome day when fate stepped in to show us Sean Connery!!!

Then within an hour we saw Alan Cumming! Alan spoke about the RSAMD and his dream to perform at the Citizen's theatre.

One of my favourite parts of the festival (besides the films!) was hanging out on the red carpet! This was so much fun because you never knew who was going to show up, its all so exciting!
Me & Galina were waiting by the red carpet, we were supposed to be in a documentary that had just started, then we saw....GAEL GARCIA BERNAL & DIAGO LUNA!!!!!!!!!!

I have never been so happy in my whole life, I have ALWAYS wanted to see Gael Garcia Bernal in real life and know I have. It was actually amazing, I mean they were right infront of us, I was too shocked to even get a proper photo as I didn't want to look away even for a second! They were in Edinburgh for their new film Rudo y Cursi! The EIFF staff gave me and Galina a poster each from the movie and trust me, I will treasure it forever.

Did I mention it was the best day of my life, ever!

So overall I absolutely LOVED the Edinburgh Film Festival, I would love to have stayed for the whole festival though as there is so much to see and to do, I can't wait to go again!