Film Festival - the good, the bad and the quirky

I took a bit of time this weekend to see a few films in the Film Festival. 

I loved Dragon a martial arts  crime drama set in Yumman province in 1917. The cinematography was a bit "chocolate box" but there are worse crimes in film making.  I really liked it. It had a  very strong narrative. The fight scenes were not  many so that side of things  didn't dominate the way other dramas allowed it and it looked great.

The solo in California Solo was ageing britpop star Robert Carlyle. This was a wee gem. His character  is working happily on a farm quietly minding his own business. Then he is caught drink driving and as a result finds his status as a resident in the USA under threat. 

I didn't take to Sun Don't Shine - a road movie about a couple with her dead husband in the boot fleeing across Florida. I find these types of films are always painfully slow as the filmmaker attempts to get across the  humid atmosphere and build tension.

Life without Principle was a Chinese drama about the choices faced by different people on the brink of a market crash. Weighting up the moral dilemmas of money lender, small time gangster, a pensions salesperson and the wife of a police officer it was well make. A good thought provoking narrative  and well acted.

Chapitaeu Show a surreal Russian comedy set in the Crimea was  rather good  fun and one I would recommend if you like quirky off beat comedy as I do. 

Lastly And if we All Lived Together was joyous. A group of five elderly friends including Geraldine Chaplin and Jane Fonda  concoct a very glamorous  "core and cluster" model of care in their later years. But there are issues with old friends  moving in together.  Lots of schemes involving champagne and wine and they always seemed to be chopping up vegetables.  

There is still the best part of another week to go and I understand that there are tickets still available. Well worth taking to a look and seeing if there is anything you might like.

http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/