Matthew Spence’s Edinburgh Film Reviews

A documentary about the Tango that gathers it’s information from the creators of it’s music. This documentary goes into some short details about each significant person, telling how they got into the tango,and what instrument they use. Most of these people were musicians of different instruments that played in orchestras that found fame during the Tango’s golden age.

I did not like this film. For most of the film I was completely lost as to what the film was about. This film jumped around to much for myself and I was not able to focus on anything. The film didn’t have any kind of attention getter in the beginning, and lost my interest. It also seemed to droned on with no end in sight. I would not recommend this film.

Trees: 0.5/5

This film consisted of several smaller shorts. The lot of them were quite depressing, they were either about death, suicide, or rape. These seven films were all joined together for their same independence of vision and their approach on storytelling.

I did not like most of these shorts, however the one’s I did like were Slapper, and Dead Dog. Slapper had a great storyline to it however sad the ending might be. A young boy watches a televised fight only to find out the masked man is his father, who told him he would see him again someday. Dead Dog reached me on an emotional level because I love my pets. I could relate to the man who had lost his dog, but I do not think I would go to his level of action in the end.

Trees: 2.0/5

Directed by: Vito Rocco

Faintheart is a film about a man named Richard (Eddie Marsan) whose life revolves around medieval reenactments. All he has ever done in his life is live in the past, his wedding was even medieval. This soon comes back to bite him when he misses his wife’s father’s funeral because he was attending one of his reenactments. This is the last straw for his wife and she begins falling out of love. Richard must change his ways in order to win his wife back.

I loved this film, it made me feel connected to the film. I felt as if I could relate to Richard as I love to LARP ( Live Action Role-play); which is what he does. I already do something similar to what he does but without the real swords and armor.

Trees: 4/5

Cadaver directed by Derek Son, is a horror film based around a South Korean hospital that uses cadavers to teach it’s medical students about the human body. Believing the body is a temple to the spirit the students go through a ritual before beginning their classes as a sign of respect for the dead. As they begin their class the students make an incision into a cadaver, releasing a vengeful spirit. The spirit possesses the students and kills them off one by one.

This film was excellent because I like how they portrayed the Korean beliefs in spirits and the bodies from fallen people. I have already seen this in other Japanese movies and creations, so it made this film a lot more believable. The ritual seemed quite accurate in comparison to the other movies I have seen because of the prayer cards they burned during it. On another note, I thought the teacher had a great way of getting rid of the body by letting his students work with it. It would get rid of the evidence but he did not anticipate the enraged spirit.

Trees: 3/5

In The Lovers directed by Louis Malle, the focus is around an emotionally confused woman named Jeanne (Jeanne). Even after eight years of marriage she is still confused as to whom she really loves. In Paris, she finds someone whom she thinks she loves, but things take a twist as she is suddenly stranded and picked up by a strange man.

The Lovers is a good film. The reason for this, is it keeps you guessing right towards the end of it. You can see that the young lady is unsure of her love to both her husband and newfound boyfriend, even when she says she loves them. The film adds an interesting twist of another character(name) who comes in about halfway through the film. He appears to be a “common man” but right near the end of the film they immediately and unrealistically fall in “love”. I would have to recommend this film for those who like love stories.

Trees: 3/5

This was a film that consisted of a group of shorter films. Overall the group of films were a depressing bunch. The themes ranged anywhere from poverty and Alzheimer’s, to people being forced to flee their homes in -20C weather.

My favorite shorts, despite their depressing themes, were “Irene”, a grandmother with Alzheimer’s, and “Karalien Girls”, women who talked about fleeing their town in Finland from the Soviets. “Irene” was a favorite of mine, because I can see how hard it would be if my own grandmother had the disease and would start forgetting even her own grandson. “Karalien Girls” is my second favorite for the ways they avoided the Soviets and how they made it very uncomfortable for them. I would only recommend these films if you are in the mood to see depressing films.

Trees: 2.5/5

Married Life, directed by Ira Sachs, is about a man named Harry Allen (Chris Cooper) who wants to leave his wife for a girl he has fallen in love with. (do not use prepositions at the end of sentences) He is a kind-hearted man who does not wish to bring pain upon the people he loves though cannot figure out an easy way to break the news to his wife. After much thought he thinks he must bring her a swift death so she can be released from any pain.

Structurally, I believed this film was done very well. The camera movements were good, the acting was almost flawless, and the scenes flowed smoothly. However, I detested the moral of this story. It is based on deceit and lies and I believe that you should be truthful, especially to your “life-long” partner. Not one character in this film was a truthful or trustworthy character as every single one of them was either cheating, lying, or betraying each other. Despite my dislikes for the moral of the film, I would have to recommend this for anyone who likes to watch drama.

Trees: 3.5/5

Directed by: Trygve Diesen and Lucky McKee

The film Red focuses around an old man named Avery (Brian Cox). Avery seeks to get the truth from some boys who deny shooting his dog. Avery is followed by a common theme of the color red throughout the film weather it be his dog’s name, blood, or the bar door. This movie aims toward an audience who has a love for animals or justice or both, however it would not have the same effect to those who don’t.

I enjoyed this film mainly because of Av’s pursuit of justice. Once the kid (character’s and Actor’s name) shot his dog when he did not get what he wanted, Av began seeking justice by tracking the kid down to make him feel truly sorry for what he had done. As the kid (name) denies Av’s story, he digs himself deeper and deeper into trouble as he and his friends resort to extremes in order to get Av to disappear. This movie shows how a small incident can turn into something blown entirely out of proportion. My favorite scene in the film is after the death of Av’s dog. He hears a small boy’s laughter and a puppy barking as he approaches his swing. He is too old to be that small boy so it is safe to assume that he had a child at one point. I would recommend this film if it were rated PG-13 due to the mild language and the few grotesque scenes.

Trees: 4/5

This film is a linear, time line, documentary that covers the band, the ‘Gorillaz”. The documentary depicts the creators of the “Gorillaz” in real life and shows the different ways the “Gorillaz” create their unique music. The other critical aspects in this documentary are showing how the band is created through animation, the real life reactions of the band members themselves, and how hard they work to achieve exactly what they want.

Personally, I favored this documentary for the fact that I already like their music. I have never had the privilege to see the people behind the scenes to know what they are like. I also find it very interesting on how they created their music using many different sounds. Their instruments come from all around the world, which gives them a very unique sound. I would recommend this documentary for any “Gorillaz” fan.

Trees: 3/5

A linear documentary about how a Japanese scientist experiments with how a human reacts to a machine, or android that is made to look like a human or a pet. The scientist makes a geminoid or “exact copy” of himself and he and his team’s task is to program the geminoid to make it behave as if it were the scientist. He finds he cannot be the judge of his own behavior for he does not realize what he does unconsciously, forcing him to rely on his team to help fill in the gaps. There are two main studies done during the documentary, one of which is about a pet seal for elderly people and for those who may not be lucid. The other study is seeing how the scientist’s wife and daughter will react to the geminoid.

I found this film to be quite fascinating as I have always been intrigued about the creation of an android. I believe such technology is amazing and this film has just proven to me how amazing it can be, however it also shows how uncanny it can be as well. The fact that the small android pets have improved the lives of the elderly and those who aren’t lucid, is quite intriguing. The studies have shown that those who have the pet machines, have had increased brain activity. The reason for this is because the androids are giving those people something they have not had in a long while, the ability to care for something, and actually getting a positive response from it. Brain activity is increased because they are usually alone, or have very little daily contact with others or loved ones.

The Human android study on the other hand is another story. Even though the scientists put a lot of work into creating the geminoid to be as human-like as possible, it gives many people the sense of unease including myself. During the case study with the scientist’s family, the daughter did not like the geminoid and would rarely talk with it for she had a very uncanny feeling towards it. However, the daughter did agree that the geminoid did look and sound like her father. I tend to disagree with the daughter, the androids still do not look or behave very human-like. There still needs to be much improvement to android movements before any person can be fooled that it might actually be real. Until this is achieved, there will never be a human-like presence with an android, which is the scientist’s goal. I would recommend this film for those who are also interested in android technology.

Trees: 3/5