Alistair Harkness

Alistair Harkness reviews four films at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Paul Wright’s Mission receives the strongest praise for its expressionistic depiction of alienation, masculinity and psychological breakdown, supported by George MacKay’s performance. The Best Summer is celebrated as an intimate 1995 touring-festival music documentary featuring bands including Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Bikini Kill, Pavement and Foo Fighters. Borges and Me is criticized as cautious and clichéd despite its potentially magical subject, while Na Hong-jin’s expensive South Korean monster film Hope is dismissed as overlong, tonally confused and visually unconvincing.】【。

Alistair Harkness reviews six films at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Louis Paxton’s The Incomer and Finlay Pretsell’s Douglas Gordon by Douglas Gordon receive the strongest praise for their wit, emotional depth and inventive approaches. Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell is also acclaimed for its visually striking psychological horror, while Bad Day at the Office, Pretty Babies and Bodyhackers are criticized for excessive violence, exploitative filmmaking, incoherence and derivative ideas.

Tony, Matt Johnson's drama about Anthony Bourdain's formative summer in 1975, is praised for its enjoyable moments and poignant ending but criticized for its restrained tone and failure to convey Bourdain's passion for food. Dominic Sessa gives a layered performance as the insecure, arrogant young chef. Sunny Dancer, starring Bella Ramsey as a cancer survivor sent to a teen summer camp, avoids excessive sentimentality through sharp dialogue and an irreverent tone, although its conventional direction and occasionally forced lines weaken it. Both films are scheduled for general release on 14 August.

The review examines three films. Love Me Tender receives the strongest praise for its sensitive portrayal of a mother facing a custody battle after coming out and for Vicky Krieps’s forceful performance. The Summer Book benefits from Glenn Close’s nuanced work and the Gulf of Finland setting but is weakened by twee dialogue and subdued drama. Nimrods: A Green Day Comedy is criticized as a sentimental, underpowered road comedy that fails to capture the punk band’s sharper political edge.

Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey blends large-scale spectacle with psychological depth, using fractured timelines to explore heroism, war trauma and the fragility of civilisation. Matt Damon’s Odysseus navigates both mythological threats and personal guilt as the film recounts his journey home, while Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland anchor the story’s emotional core. Shot entirely with IMAX cameras, the film emphasises practical effects and immersive locations, culminating in a brutal depiction of the fall of Troy. Despite culture‑war backlash over modernised dialogue and diverse casting, the film is presented as one of Nolan’s most intense and accomplished works.