Scottish Films

I went to see a couple of films over the weekend. They were both Scottish in setting. First up was Red Road. It’s been getting a lot of good reviews at the moment, The List hailing it as ‘the best British film of the year’. I’m not sure it’s quite that, though I can’t, off the top of my head, name another British film better than it.

It is very well shot, it looks great and its cast are very good. Personally I wasn’t 100% convinced by the story. It’s puzzling at times why characters make the choices that they do and the twist seems to have come about more by chance than the character’s design.

All in it takes 3 Tom stars. A decent enough film, but not the masterpiece a lot of people seem to be shouting about.

The other film I saw was Night People. Set in Edinburgh, at the moment the film doesn’t have a distributor. I was actually made aware of its limited release through an e-mail from the producer.

The film charts the lives of a group of people one night in October. There are a few storylines, some I enjoyed more than others. In a way it seems like an amalgam of half a dozen shorts. The stories range from a priest trying to help an HIV positive girl, to a drug dealing single Mum being forced to reappraise her life after she takes her daughter out to work with her.

It hits on a few movie clichés - all old men provide sage, life changing advice; all kids under 15 out after 10pm are magnets to paedophiles and single fathers aren’t as bright as their kids.

For all that though it’s reasonably entertaining, it’s shot very well and makes the most of its Edinburgh setting. There are also a few decent performances in there. Katrina Bryan as the drug dealing Mum is very good and Alan McCafferty, who you’ll probably recognise from loads of adverts, is pretty funny as the single father trying to make the best of his lot.

It lands a solid 3 Tom stars. It plays at the GFT tonight and tomorrow.