- You Have Been Watching…The Wicker Man In the winter of 1977 the film magazine Cinefantastique dedicated an entire issue to a largely forgotten 1973 movie The Wicker Man, calling it ‘the Citizen Kane of horror movies’. With hindsight, this can be seen as the moment that the fortunes of The Wicker Man began to change and a film that was poorly […]
- You Have Been Watching…Local Hero We can quibble about what is Scotland’s greatest film or who is our greatest director, but it is difficult to refute that Bill Forsyth’s run of his four ‘Scottish’ films has never been equaled. From debut That Sinking Feeling, through Gregory’s Girl and Comfort and Joy before finishing off in fine style with Local Hero, […]
- You Have Been Watching… Shallow Grave Before Trainspotting there was Shallow Grave, Scotland’s filmic John the Baptist if you like. The 1980s had been pretty barren in terms of Scottish cinema, Bill Forsyth aside. Even those films that were being made, such as the previously featured Restless Natives and Soft Top, Hard Shoulder, did not do significant box office.
- You Have Been Watching… On A Clear Day Peter Mullan is Scotland’s best living actor. Discuss. Certainly there are few Scottish actors whose name I’m as glad to see appear on a film’s credits. It means that even if the film isn’t great, there will be something worth seeing.
- You Have Been Watching… Restless Natives The term cult film is really overused. Some claim that Reservoir Dogs or The Usual Suspects are cult films when they are really just critically appreciated successful films with a cool cast and/or soundtrack. A cult is something that demands devotion, even blind faith, and, by its nature, is often a well kept secret.
- You Have Been Watching… The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie This week’s featured film is a bona fide classic, and, like Muriel Spark’s 1961 novel from which it is adapted, much more subversive and controversial than many would give it credit for. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a film about loyalty, betrayal, guilt, duty, responsibility and questions of nature versus nurture.
- You Have Been Watching… Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself This week’s film is the wonderfully titled Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself. Set in present day Glasgow this 2002 movie is a real European affair, co-produced as it is by Scotland, France, Denmark and Sweden. This international feel stretches to a wonderfully eclectic cast which includes the always brilliant Shirley Henderson, Mads Mikkelsen (seen recently […]
- You Have Been Watching… Strictly Sinatra For some people, Scottish cinema consists of Trainspotting, Braveheart, Local Hero, Whisky Galore, whatever happens to be a particular favourite and little else. From early Powell and Pressburger and Ealing, through the madness of Brigadoon, the badness of the 1970s and the Forsyth dominated 1980s, to the renaissance of the last 20 years, this new […]