Àma Gloria

03/07/24

Mareel, Lerwick, Shetland

Six-year-old Cléo’s dad, Arnaud (Arnaud Rebotini), clearly loves her very much, but he’s busy with work and still grieving for the little girl’s mum, who died a few years before this story starts. He can’t manage on his own. Thank goodness for Gloria (Ilça Moreno Zego), a nanny, who forges a close bond with the child. In her care, Cléo (Louise Mauroy-Panzani) is happy: she laughs; she learns; she lights up the rooms of their Paris apartment.

But there’s a darker side to Gloria’s story. An immigrant, she’s come to France to earn the money to pay for her own children’s education. They’re back in Cape Verde, being cared for by Gloria’s mum. And when she dies, Gloria knows it’s time to go back home, and try to build the hotel she’s been saving for. Cléo is devastated by the loss of a second ‘mother’.

Arnaud and Gloria come up with a plan to ease the little girl’s pain: she can visit Gloria for a holiday. In Cape Verde, we see that Cléo is not the only motherless child: ten-year-old César (Fredy Gomes Tavares) is resentful of the Parisian who stole his mum from him. His older sister, Nanda (Abnara Gomes Varela), is more welcoming, but when she gives birth to her own son – Gloria’s first grandchild – Cléo experiences a powerful jealousy…

Written and directed by Marie Amachoukeli-Barsacq, Àma Gloria is a beautifully understated film, anchored by an extraordinary performance from its young co-lead. Mauroy-Panzani is luminous, her emotional reactions heart-wrenchingly convincing. Moreno Zego is excellent too: she imbues Gloria with both dignity and heart.

The animated sequences (by Marie and Pierre-Emmanuel Lyet) work really well, their soft edges lending them a dream-like quality, their blurriness suggestive of Cléo’s vision when she takes off her glasses. They magnify key points in the drama, slowing down the action so that we have to focus on the moment.

In fact, not much happens, but the what-might-have-beens are expertly placed so that, even when they don’t occur, we have already imagined them; they form part of our experience of the film. It’s a clever touch.

Heart-breaking, life-affirming, thought-provoking and delicate, Àma Gloria is a lovely, affecting film.

4.4 stars

Susan Singfield

Da Steak Hoose

02/07/24

Mounthooly Street, Lerwick, Shetland

We’re in Shetland for an author visit and until today the weather has been relentlessly dreich. This afternoon though, after the book event, the clouds disappear so we visit St Ninian’s Isle. After a long hike, we find ourselves in the mood for a slap-up meal. We can hardly fail to notice Da Steak Hoose, which literally adjoins the charming Airbnb where we’re staying.

First impressions aren’t promising. From the outside the place looks unprepossessing, almost forbidding, with no way of seeing what actually lies behind those blacked-out windows, and we start to wonder if it’s still doing business. But then we notice a sheet of faded paper in the window announcing that the establishment won a ‘Best Scottish Steakhouse Award’ in 2023 and so we make the (one minute) journey and head upstairs to the restaurant.

It quickly becomes clear that those first impressions were deceptive. There’s a large, roomy dining area, already half full of cheerful, friendly customers. The staff are charming and we’re soon sipping drinks and perusing the menu. We note that other diners are happily tucking in to generously-sized starters, which look enticing, but we resolve to cut straight to the main course and leave some room for pudding.

I order the rib-eye steak with a pepper corn sauce, and Susan opts for the sirloin. Soon enough, the meals arrive and we don’t require any urging to get stuck in. The medium-rare steaks are succulent, easy to slice and gloriously juicy. They are accompanied by baskets of chips, which are amongst the best I’ve eaten, with dry crispy exteriors and a soft floury centre: exactly what fried potatoes ought to be but so often aren’t. There’s a little green salad, a slice of intensely flavoured sweet tomato and some crispy onion rings. It’s all handsomely presented and it goes down a treat.

There’s a choice of just four puddings so we decide to share two of them. There’s a sticky toffee pudding, which is soft and scrumptious and full of dates, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a fresh strawberry. It’s nicely judged, sweet but not too sweet. The chocolate flowerpot brownie is also a delight, the chunk of brownie gooey and indulgent, the flowerpot even more so, the chocolate shell stuffed with a thick chocolate mousse, the whole thing decorated with raspberries, chocolate crumb and edible flowers. It tastes every bit as delicious as it looks.

So, should you ever make it out to Shetland – and there are plenty of reasons why you should – Da Steak Hoose should be on every carnivore’s bucket list.

4.2 stars

Philip Caveney

Pride 10th Anniversary

30/06/24

Mareel, Lerwick, Shetland

We reviewed Pride on its initial release in 2014 and, ten years later, it’s given this timely rerelease. What strikes me most about it now is how relevant it still feels, the same – or similar – battles still needing heroes to fight them. I’m fascinated too by the stellar cast, many of whom have on to even greater things, notably Andrew Scott and George MacKay – and also Jessica Gunning, who (thanks to Baby Reindeer) has recently been catapulted to wider recognition.

If Pride made me weep first time around, it leaves me in floods today.

I post my original review here and absolutely stand by the observations, though in retrospect I might be tempted now to boost those stars to a full 5.

14/09/14

Cineword, Didsbury

Set in 1984, at the height of the miners’ strike, Pride tells the true-life story of Mark Ashton (Ben Schnetzer), a young gay activist who manages to persuade a group of like-minded friends to form LGSM (Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners). They start to collect money on behalf of one particular group of strikers in South Wales and are so successful, it’s not long before the group meets up with likeable Union man, Dai (Paddy Considine).

He invites them to the sleepy village of Onllwyn, to meet the miners in person – where inevitably, they encounter resistance from some of the more reactionary inhabitants. But after a frosty initial reception, they start to find allies in some rather unlikely places…

Pride is simply irresistible. Cut from the same cloth as films like The Full Monty and Brassed Off, it features a terrific ensemble – Bill Nighy, George MacKay, Imelda Staunton and Dominic West are undoubted highlights, but the overall casting is note-perfect. While it occasionally plays for easy laughs (‘Dai, your gays have arrived!’), it’s never less than entertaining and also takes the opportunity to slip in some genuinely thought-provoking moments.

It would be a cold heart indeed that doesn’t shed tears at the film’s emotional conclusion. Like most ‘true-life’ stories, there remains the conviction that a little dramatic licence may have been exercised on some of the actual events, but nevertheless, this is a successful slice of drama, snappily directed by Matthew Warchus, wittily scripted by Stephen Beresford and one that manages to keep itself just the right side of sentimentality.

4.5 stars

Philip Caveney

Kinds of Kindness

28/06/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

You have to hand it to Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos – he doesn’t let the grass grow. His sublime adaptation of Poor Things only aired in January, bringing with it a well-deserved Oscar for Emma Stone – and already, here’s his next creation, a more stripped-back, contemporary tale: a kind of portmanteau featuring three different stories with the same actors playing different roles.

Kinds of Kindness, co-written by Lanthimos with long-time collaborator Efthiminus Filippou, begins with The Death of RMF. This is the story of Robert (Jesse Plemons), a submissive office worker who is compelled by his ruthless boss, Raymond (Willem Dafoe), to carry out a series of humiliating duties. He finally baulks at committing an extraordinary act of violence and is consequently cast out of Raymond’s orbit. Seeking solace, he attempts to forge a relationship with chance encounter, Rita (Emma Stone), but soon makes an unsettling discovery…

In the second tale, RMF is Flying, Plemons plays cop Daniel, whose wife, Liz (Stone), is missing, shipwrecked on a desert island. When she finally returns, Daniel starts to notice changes in her character and, in order to test her, he asks her to to prove her love for him.

In the concluding story RMF Eats a Sandwich, Plemons and Stone play Emily and Andrew, disciples in a weird cult run by Omi (Dafoe again). The two of them have been assigned a difficult task – to locate a mysterious woman who has the power to re-animate the now dead RMF (Yorgos Stefanakos). Could veterinarian Ruth (Margaret Qualley) be the woman to accomplish the impossible?

If this all sounds incomprehensible on paper, fear not, because Lanthimos takes enough time to delineate every character arc with such skill that there is never any confusion about what’s happening onscreen, even when it’s totally mind boggling. These stories are allegories focusing on three of life’s greatest preoccupations: work, marriage and religion – and, as the bizarre events unfold, audiences are led fearlessly through a series of interactions that alternate between harsh reality and haunting dreamscapes.

If I claimed I understood everything that happens here I’d be lying. I only know that this is exciting, unpredictable filmmaking, and – as I was with Poor Things – I’m fascinated to see large numbers of people turning out to see what Lanthimos has come up with. I can think of few other directors who have this ability to push boundaries and simultaneously satisfy the box office. I’m already excited to see what he will come up with next.

While this may not be the exquisite slice of cinematic perfection that was its predecessor, it’s nonetheless the work of a gifted director at the top of his game. Don’t miss it.

4.6 stars

Philip Caveney

The Bikeriders

27/06/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

The poster for The Bikeriders might lead a viewer to expect something rather different from what this film actually is: a serious recreation of the misadventures of a motorcycle club, founded in the early 60s and initially memorialised in a 1967 book by photojournalist Danny Lyon.

In Jeff Nichols’ film, we see Danny (Mike Faist) conducting a series of interviews with Kathy (Jodie Comer). She’s the long-term girlfriend of Benny (Austin Butler), a member of `The Vandals’, a Chicago-based group of bike enthusiasts, created and led by Johnny (Tom Hardy). In its early days, the group has a rigid code of honour that none of its members will ever ignore. Indeed, when we first encounter Benny, he’s about to be badly beaten up by a couple of rednecks when he refuses to remove his ‘colours’ in a local bar.

But as the years move on and the Vandals’ numbers inevitably begin to swell, that original code becomes increasingly muddied by the raft of newcomers, each with their own agenda. They include The Kid (Toby Wallace), a tough young wannabe, who has set his sights on joining up and who isn’t about to let anything stand in his path.

While The Bikeriders is light on plot, it’s loaded with characterisation. Comer is extraordinary as Kathy, who chronicles the group’s history in an eerily impressive midwestern accent; and Hardy too is eminently watchable as their leader, channeling early Marlon Brando (at one point we even see Johnny watching The Wild One and virtually taking notes). He’s somewhat mystified to discover that the Vandals are increasingly like a runaway train that, once kicked into life, proves impossible to stop. As Benny, Butler has very little in the way of dialogue, but his chain-smoking, smouldering presence makes it easy to understand why Kathy is so obsessed with him.

The other members of the gang have their own opportunities to shine. Nichols’ regular muse, Michael Shannon, is effective as the dim-witted Zipco, a man who has been repeatedly passed over by society since childhood and who has found his spiritual home amongst this gang of misfits – and Emery Cohen is also effective as Cockroach, who is destined to ride a motorcycle in the future for an entirely different reason. The 60s and 70s settings are convincingly evoked and fans of vintage motorcycles will doubtless be drooling at the sight of scores of bikes thundering in formation along the highways. But the tone of the film is essentially an elegy, a lament for the many ways in which an original idea can be twisted and debased until its original aims have all but vanished.

This won’t be for everyone. There’s no denying that it glamourises thuggery and, with a running time of nearly two hours, it could perhaps have benefitted from a tighter edit, especially around its flabby midsection. Nichols has spent the best part of twenty years putting the film together and it feels very much like a labour of love. Those looking for thrills and action might prefer to look elsewhere. But if it’s classy performances you’re after, you’ve definitely chosen the right vehicle.

3. 8 stars

Philip Caveney

Bad Boys: Ride or Die

19/06/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

True confession. I’ve never watched a Bad Boys film. Until now.

And having watched one, I can never regain that feeling of being blissfully oblivious to the franchise. Here’s what happens: I find I have the opportunity to see a movie and the only one that starts at a convenient time is Bad Boys: Ride or Die. I know that the previous instalment, Bad Boys for Life, took a shitload of money at the box office, so I decide to book a ticket. After all, how bad can it be?

The answer to that is an unequivocal ‘very.’ It may have helped if I’d seen the previous instalment, but there’s not much I can do about that because nothing short of a hefty bribe will ever induce me to go back for a second helping of this nonsense. There is a plot and I will attempt to (briefly) explain it.

Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) gets married to Kelly (Vanessa Hudgens) and at the following knees-up, Mike’s sidekick, Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence), suffers a near-fatal heart attack. He manages to shrug it off (virtually overnight) and seems reinvigorated by the experience, to the extent that he starts throwing himself headlong into every situation like a teenager on steroids.

Then there’s bad news. The BB’s previous boss, Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano), who was shot dead in the last film, is being framed by ‘The Cartel.’ They are downloading millions of dollars into his bank account. (Full disclosure: I watch the film carefully but I honestly have no idea why they are doing this). Of course, Mike and Marcus love their ex-boss and so, when they receive videos featuring him – only to be watched in the event of his death – they vow to clear his name.

In this endeavour they are aided by Mike’s illegitimate son, Armando (Jacob Scipio), who was in jail but escapes after a helicopter crash. Armando is subsequently hunted by US Marshall Judy (Rhea Seehorn), who has sworn to kill him. (Again, I guess I needed to have seen For Ever to fully appreciate why. Or, I don’t know, maybe they could have put in a few flashbacks? Just saying.)

There ensues a series of shoot-outs in a variety of locations in Florida, where gangs of bad guys are punched, shot, stabbed or blown to smithereens but, since I don’t know anything about them, I don’t care – though I am strangely bewildered by their seeming ability to reproduce mid-action so that what seems like a handful at the start winds up as a veritable army. There’s also a climactic gun battle in an abandoned theme park (of course there is) that for no apparent reason features a gigantic albino alligator, who you just know is going to eat somebody.

Every so often, Mike and Marcus break off from killing people to have an improvised comedy conversation about life, or jelly beans, or… barbecues. I’m hoping it’s improvised because if screenwriters Chris Bremner and Will Beall actually scripted this, there’s little hope left for humanity. Smith keeps his performance relatively downbeat while Laurence acts like he’s still having that heart attack, gurning and dilating his eyes every time he speaks and, at one point, even shouting ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Motherfucker!’ which again, probably refers back to… something. I am somewhat saddened to see the excellent Seehorn (of Better Call Saul) reduced to running around in a bullet proof vest and looking angry, but at least she’s given more to do than the other female characters.

Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah give cinematographer Robrecht Heyvaert every opportunity to employ a whole battery of arty styles to every action sequence, so that even in the simplest punch-up it’s impossible to tell who is hitting who and why. One extended sequence plays out like a video game, with the camera freewheeling around an interior like a super-charged pinball.

The credits finally roll and I let out a long sigh of relief. Then I scuttle out, just in case there’s a Bad Boys post-credit sequence. I’ve seen enough of this franchise to last me a lifetime.

2 stars

Philip Caveney

Heron

16/06/24

Henderson Street, Leith

Birthdays are an opportunity to push the boat out and we’ve heard good things about Heron, a Michelin starred restaurant out in the culinary kingdom of The Shore. We like the sound of their tasting menus and decide the best way to work up an appetite for them (standard for me and pescatarian for Susan) will be to walk there via the Water of Leith. There’s a few light rain showers en route but we arrive right on time, order our drinks and settle down in the light and spacious dining room. We don’t have to wait long. The service here is prompt and attentive.

First up there’s something called cucumber (Heron, it turns out, has a gift for understatement). This is a bowl of chilled cucumber granita, vibrant with stem ginger and jalapeno. It’s closely followed by langoustine (mini cups of squid ink nori filled with the titular shellfish) and Isle of Wight tomato, light and sumptuous parcels stuffed with burrata. Pop these into your mouth and they sort of melt away in an explosion of pure flavour.

There are chunks of freshly baked sourdough with smooth crab butter, which I tell myself I shall eat slowly, but I fail, simply because it’s just too damned delicious.

Now comes mackerel, the salty fish liberally sprinkled with chunky hazelnuts, ponzu and blackcurrant leaf and I keep reminding myself I’m supposed to be critical but I’m too busy eating. Potato may be the most unassuming name given to a dish in the entire history of fine dining and yet this single new spud, cooked hasselback style, studded with crisps and sprinkled with orange roe, is a little wonder. It’s surrounded by a creamy oyster sauce that makes me reach for ever-more elaborate words to describe its joys. Scrumptious? Mouthwatering? De-fucking-licious? So far it’s the stand-out and it’s early yet.

Next there’s turbot, a chunk of perfectly-crisped fish, drizzled with white crab, lovage and thinly-sliced courgette, another inspired creation.

After that, Susan has spelt, an unprepossessing bowl of what looks suspiciously like porridge but which tastes of wild mushrooms and comes with a generous measure of summer truffle grated over it. And for me it’s East fortune pork, slices of slow-cooked belly meat, decorated with wild garlic, tonka and coffee.

Now to the ‘main courses’. Susan’s is red mullet; mine is Aberdeen Angus beef, perfectly cooked and accompanied by veal sweetbread, buckwheat, pepper dulse and girolle mushrooms, the whole thing liberally covered with a red wine jus. This is best described in three letters. O.M.G.

For puddings, first up is carrot – a powerfully flavoured dish, rich with ginger and pistachio. It’s hard to believe that such a little morsel can provide so much flavour.

And finally there’s lemon, something that looks every bit as fabulous as it tastes: a swirl of soft meringue, a scoop of basil sorbet, succulent pools of lemon curd, white chocolate and toasted almonds. If this meal has been a series of wonders then the last dish tops every delicious offering that has gone before.

I’m not sure there are enough accolades in the lexicon to adequately express how good this meal is. Put it this way: if you love adventurous cooking and you’re looking to celebrate a special occasion, I’d be hard pressed to think of anywhere better than Heron to spend your hard-earned cash. It’s ridiculously easy to see why it was awarded that much-coveted star and, if they keep up this kind of impeccable standard, a second surely won’t be long in coming.

5 stars

Philip Caveney

Inside Out 2

16/06/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

In 2015, Inside Out was a deserved hit for Pixar Animation, a clever and sophisticated story about the antics of the various emotions that dwell within a human being, helping them – and, for much of the time, hindering them. We awarded the film 5 stars and wondered if its creators would deem it worthy of a sequel. Nine years later, here it is and, while it might not be quite as perfect as its innovative predecessor, it’s nonetheless beautifully executed and full of glorious invention.

Riley (voiced by Kensington Tallman) is now thirteen years old, a promising ice hockey player who makes up a formidable sporting trio with her best friends, Grace (Grace Lu) and Bree (Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green.) Meanwhile, the inner team that maintains Riley’s everyday existence is being ably supervised by Joy (Amy Poehler), who manages to keep Fear (Tony Hale), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Liza Lapira) in check as Riley approaches adolescence.

But when she and her friends are invited to a weekend hockey camp by an influential coach, a puberty alarm goes off, and some new recruits promptly turn up to join the party. They are Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser.) Suddenly, Riley isn’t the calm, capable creature she used to be; she’s a nervous wreck – and Joy and her team are going to have a heck of a job getting her through the weekend…

There’s enough progression here to make this worth the price of the ticket, and screenwriters Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein have a lot of fun unleashing a whole torrent of problems for Joy and co. to deal with as best they can. We’re introduced to a bunch of eye-popping new locations, many of them built around puns. Ever tried drifting along the Stream of Memory whilst braving a Brainstorm? Here’s your opportunity.

As ever, the animation is bright and brash and beautifully detailed. Check out Grace’s chipped nail varnish for starters! I worried first time out that there might not be enough here to appeal to younger kids and this sequel seems even more intent on aiming for the teen market. The wee ones at the screening I attend seem to spend an awful lot of their time going back and forth for toilet breaks. Their parents on the other hand are doubtless having a field day playing ‘spot the movie reference’ and there’s enough inventive twists here to keep them on board. I love the repeated joke about sweet Grandmother figure, Nostalgia, who keeps making hopeful appearances only to be told to ‘come back in a few years.’ Clever. The ultimate message – of course there’s a message, there always is – manages to avoid being chock full of schmaltz and the ending is nicely handled.

Pixar have been in a bit of a slump in recent years, but despite that unadventurous title, Inside Out 2 puts them back where they belong, ahead of most of the Hollywood competition. Not sure there’s enough left to risk making this a trilogy, but we’ll see how that pans out. Meanwhile, the message remains the same. For best results, see it on a cinema screen!

4.5 stars

Philip Caveney

Sasquatch Sunset

15/06/24

Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh

There’s a charming idea at the heart of Sasquatch Sunset, which follows, season by season, a year in the lives of four sasquatches (sasqui?). They live in a remote forest somewhere in North America. There’s an alpha male (Nathan Zellner), a beta male (Jesse Eisenberg), a pregnant female (Riley Keough) and a child (Christophe Zajac-Denek) and the four of them amble around the forest, foraging for food, attempting to procreate and every night constructing a crude shelter in which to sleep. They also spend time thumping tree trunks with branches in an attempt to contact others of their species – with no success.

The conceit of this film, conceived and directed by Nathan and David Zellner, is to treat it with all the seriousness of a nature documentary and, as our four protagonists go about their shuffling business in the tranquility of various woodland settings, there are indeed moments of wry amusement and occasionally some suspense as they stumble into peril.

The creature makeup is pretty convincing – though the film’s budget clearly didn’t extend to making a new-born sasquatch look convincing – and there are surely some cogent observations about the process of survival that can easily be extended to endangered species in the real world. Sasquatch Sunset is, I suppose, an allegory and it doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to work out what it’s really about.

But ultimately, there isn’t really enough here to fill the film’s (relatively short) running time and, by the halfway mark, I find myself longing for some more progression. Though the film flirts with the possibility of the creatures encountering humans, this never happens. It would have made an excellent short but, to my mind at least, as a feature-length movie it feels like an interesting failure.

2.8 stars

Philip Caveney

Shirley Valentine

13/06/24

Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

In Edinburgh, the weather is dreich, the rain falling endlessly from grey skies – but in the welcoming environs of the Lyceum Theatre, the sun blazes down onto fine white sand and shimmering Mediterranean waters. It’s here that Shirley Valentine has just experienced a personal revelation. The clitoris really does exist! Who knew?

Willy Russell’s celebrated play gets a welcome revival in this delightful production from Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Many will be familiar with the 1989 film adaptation starring Pauline Collins, where the story is opened out to include the various other characters whom Shirley describes in such hilarious detail, but here it’s presented in its original form – a funny, acerbic monologue in three acts.

We first encounter Shirley (Sally Reid) as she prepares a dinner of “chips ‘n’ egg” for her husband, Joe, and considers the best way to inform him that she has fed the mince he’s expecting to a vegan dog. Meanwhile, she chats to her oldest friend, the wall. In the second act, she’s anxiously preparing to head off on the Greek holiday she has also neglected to tell Joe about.

And, in the final act, she’s there: on an idyllic island, getting to know boat owner, Costas, and coming to terms with a newly-discovered sense of personal freedom.

Of course, the play stands or falls on the strength of its performer and Sally Reid does a fabulous job here, encapsulating Shirley’s strengths and weaknesses, her ability to move from mocking good humour to tragedy in the blink of an eye, the beat of a heart. She also manages to nail a Scouse accent while convincingly frying eggs. No easy matter. And Russell manages that rare thing, a male playwright effortlessly capturing a female personality with what feels like absolute clarity, managing to find the humour in her weary worldview without ever making his subject feel like a caricature.

Emily James’ set design mirrors the play beautifully. Shirley’s Liverpool home is solid and brutally realistic, the walls constricting her. The Greek beach, however, comprises sequinned blocks, all shimmery and dreamlike – a mirrorball of possibilities. Director Elizabeth Newman keeps everything nicely nuanced throughout. I’ve seen other productions of the play that amp up the laughs until the bittersweet charm of it is all but swamped, but here is comes through loud and clear. Those looking for the perfect alternative to a disappointing summer need look no further than the stage of the Lyceum, where Shirley Valentine offers a warm and vibrant alternative.

4.6 stars

Philip Caveney