Edinburgh, week 2.

"At its halfway point, we have a clearer idea of whether the Edinburgh film festival can cope on its own, divorced from the supportive hubbub of the Fringe that brought so many people into the city," blogs the Guardian's Andrew Pulver. "I have to confess initially I was a bit of a sceptic, reasoning the film festival must surely get more out of Edinburgh's August maelstrom than it would gain by losing it. But having just nipped into town, it's interesting to see how the film festival's identity has already changed in quite subtle ways."

Neil Young's been indexing his coverage, most of it for the Hollywood Reporter:

Updated through 7/1.

• Christopher Doyle's Polish political thriller Warsaw Dark is a "classic example of style triumphing over substance." More from Allan Hunter in Screen Daily: "Elements of political conspiracy, shady underworld intrigue and romantic infatuation are executed with a measure of elegance but this is an idiosyncratic, unfathomable muddle that begins to resemble a jigsaw where all the pieces are present but the hapless viewer is clueless as to how they might fit together."

• "As an example of issue-driven community filmmaking, Trouble Sleeping, an ensemble drama "based on the experiences of members of Edinburgh's refugee community," is a respectable effort that almost transcends tight budgetary limitations."

• "East meets West with quietly droll results in We Went To Wonderland the second feature-length film by London-based Chinese filmmaker/novelist Xiaolu Guo. While her 2006 debut, How Is Your Fish Today?, spellblindingly combined documentary and fiction, this time she takes a more straightforwardly documentary approach to record her elderly parents' first visit to Europe."

• "An intense, downbeat psychological character study that feels infinitely closer to recent Austrian and German cinema than anything from its native Britain, Helen is a ponderously pretentious affair that wastes an intriguing premise not to mention Ole Birkeland's superlative cinematography." More from Allan Hunter in Screen Daily.

And still more from Allan Hunter in Screen Daily:

• "The move from kidulthood to Adulthood prompts some awkward growing pains for screenwriter/actor Noel Clarke as he also assumes the role of director for the first time and his film's polished, technical confidence is fatally undermined by overwrought melodrama and unconvincing performances."

• "Eight years after ivansxtc, director Bernard Rose and star Danny Huston are reunited on another digitally-shot, The Kreutzer Sonata is the lesser of the two films, transforming a tale of all-consuming sexual jealousy into a turgid journey through banal scenes from a Beverly Hills marriage."

• "A defining moment in the forging of Scottish nationalism is transformed into an Ealing-style comedy caper in Stone of Destiny, a sentimental rendition of the true theft - or liberation - of the ancient Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey."

The festival wraps on Sunday.

Earlier: "Edinburgh, week 1."

Update, 6/26: "Relationships between brothers can often provide fertile subject-matter for cinema, but overcooked family-drama Dummy is an undistinguished variation on the theme," writes Neil Young for the Hollywood Reporter. Also: "The family that slays together stays together in Mum & Dad, a nightmarish little Brit-horror that makes a virtue of micro-budget limitations."

Updates, 6/27: Online listening tip. Jason Solomons hosts the latest edition of Film Weekly from Edinburgh.

For the Telegraph, Tim Robey reviews The Wackness, Somers Town, A Complete History of My Sexual Failures, Donkey Punch, Red and Of Time and the City.

Updates, 6/28: From Charlie Olsky's indieWIRE dispatch: "Cinematographers certainly aren't left out of the Edinburgh love; the festival held a particularly anticipated conversation between two of this year's academy-award nominated cinematographers Roger Deakins (No Country for Old Men, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) and Seamus McGarvey (Atonement). Longtime Wong Kar-Wai collaborator Chris Doyle held the world premiere of his film Warsaw Dark, about violent Mafioso and tragic prostitutes in the title city (which Doyle portrays as a hellhole). It's a disappointing film from one of the world's finest cinematographers, somehow managing to simultaneously look beautiful and be profoundly ugly, as doomed people live out bleak situations, cursing the horrors of capitalism."

Dummy director Matthew Thompson tells Guardian readers what it's like to have a film at the festival.

Update, 6/29: "The 62nd EIFF concluded with today's awards ceremony which saw Somers Town winning the Michael Powell Award, and Robert Carlyle walking away as best actor for his performance in Summer." Congrats to Shane Meadows; the site's got the full list of winners.

Update, 6/30: Sheila Johnston looks back on the highlights in the Telegraph.

Update, 7/1: Tim Hayes offers an overview in cinemattraction.

Posted by dwhudson at June 25, 2008 5:44 AM