Barry Didcock

Barry Didcock reviews 11 films from the Edinburgh International Film Festival, spanning documentaries, arthouse dramas, Scottish absurdism, horror and coming-of-age stories. Bel, Empty Heaven and Mission receive the strongest praise, while Douglas Gordon by Douglas Gordon, Sacred Creatures, The Incomer and Skintown are also rated highly. Faces of Death, Pretty Babies and Extra Geography earn more mixed three-star assessments, while Bad Day at the Office is presented mainly through its suspenseful premise. Skintown is singled out for winning the £50,000 Sean Connery Prize for Feature Film-making Excellence.

Kieron J Walsh’s Skintown, adapted and scripted by Ciarán McMenamin, is set in Enniskillen in 1994 and follows Vincent Duffy, a young man drawn into selling stolen ecstasy tablets amid sectarian divisions and violence. The review praises its gag-driven script, energetic soundtrack and performances, particularly those of Jack Rowan, Chris Walley, Martin McCann and Michael Smiley. Although structured as a darkly comic caper, the film’s abrupt third-act shift confronts the deadly consequences of bigotry and Northern Ireland’s troubled history. It won the Edinburgh International Film Festival’s £50,000 Sean Connery Prize for Feature Film-making Excellence.

Nicola Benedetti’s Classical Jam at The Hub in Edinburgh brought together 15 string players, the Kleio Quartet and pianist Petr Limonov for an informal, audience-focused chamber music experience. The programme, selected partly through audience voting, ranged from Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Dvořák to Brahms, Schubert, Beethoven, Jessie Montgomery and Philip Glass. The event ran for more than two and a half hours and was praised for its collaborative atmosphere, its support for emerging musicians and its success in breaking down barriers between performers and audience.

Extra Geography, directed by Molly Manners and based on an autobiographical short story by Rose Tremain, follows two teenage boarding-school friends, Flic and Minna, who imitate the plot of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by pursuing the first person they see after waking. The review praises the film’s visual composition, sharp script and offbeat charm, while criticizing its treatment of safeguarding issues and its ultimately slight impact. It awards the film three stars.