It took me a while to get round to it, but I finally watched Marion Cotillard's stunning interpretation of Edith Piaf.

As Cotillard observes, Piaf's life was short, but she fully lived every second of her 47 years On first viewing, the movie seems disjointed. But I now understand that  Olivier Dahan wanted to make not a biopic but a portrait. It's ( Read more... )

To Edinburgh again this afternoon, but this time a silver-screen version.

Adapted from a Jacques Tati story, Sylvain Chomet's animated movie, The Illusionist,  is set in the Scottish capital and features a magician and a demented rabbit.

The movie sensitively portrays the slow death of variety. The Illusionist of the title is an ageing conjurer ( Read more... )

On the north coast of Peru, two men fall in love, risking family break-up and the wrath of a small community with minds to match. Sounds familiar. But Contracorriente is no Brokeback-on-Sea.  It's an immensely powerful film that goes beyond the experimental fumblings of same-sex sex.

Miguel, a well-liked fisherman is excited about becoming a ( Read more... )

The visual feast at the movies yesterday wasn't confined to the big screen.  In the foyer of the Glasgow Film Theatre, there's an especially eye-catching mosaic.


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To the movies today for a tribute to Serge Gainsbourg.   Icon, iconoclast, troubadour and ladies' man,  serial smoker and musical legend, all the Gainsbourgs are on show here.

Éric Elmosnino takes the title role by the throat and is simply superb.  The director, Joann Sfar, uses his comic-book talents to the full, adding inventive puppetry and ( Read more... )

"I wish I'd never written it."

A startling admission for an author, and even more so coming from the author of the wildly successful Brokeback Mountain.  Annie Proulx says the story has brought her nothing but hassle, especially since the movie version came along.

I was listening to her on the BBC's World Book Club podcast, but she's repeated her ( Read more... )

I overslept this morning, and it was all Meryl Streep’s fault. Well, her and Kathy Burke. And Brian Friel.


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At 933 pages, Shantaram is not a novel for the faint hearted. But 120 pages in and I’m already hooked.

Based on a true story, it recounts the adventures of Lindsay Ford, a New Zealander on the run after escaping prison.  He arrives in Mumbai, unfamiliar with the customs, culture or languages of India. But his luck is in, as he encounters ( Read more... )

Less than majestic reviews, though, from the press:

“It looks gorgeous, but this version of Victoria's early life is marred by a clunky screenplay. Historically, it's not at all bad, apart from Prince Albert getting a very different sort of piercing than the one with which his name is associated. And that, by the way, is a myth. Probably."
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The Times has compiled its list of the worst movies of 2008.

Not having seen any of them, I can't comment, but their movie reviewers certainly can:

Star Wars: The Clone Wars
The latest instalment of George Lucas’s interminable franchise has the charm of a cash machine. This noisy animated feature is set in a galaxy that isn’t far away enough.
To Get ( Read more... )