Glory (Slava), Cineworld, Edinburgh International Film Festival

Tzanko Petrov is contented enough with his simple life. He loves his rabbits, he carries out his job as a railway linesman without drama, ignoring the petty of his co-workers, and his home, basic as it is, gives him the comforts he needs. Then one day his life changes.

Finding a considerable sum of money by the rails, he calls the police, only pocketing a couple of notes. The story comes to the attention of Julia Staykova, workaholic head of the PR unit for the Ministry of Transport, and desperate to present the world with a good news story that will deflect from the crisis of corruption and incompetence swamping the rail administration. Petrov is hailed as a working class hero and invited to a presentation by the Minister of Transport to reward his honesty.

His reward is a new watch, so Julia removes the old one, promising to return it later. When she fails to do so she whistles off a train of events that spiral into darker territory. Petrov finds himself being manipulated by politicos and journalists to serve their own ends, and loses control over his life. All because of the old Slava (Glory) watch his father had given him. As ever it's the little man in the story who suffers most.

Using a lot of hand held camera work and close ups, the movie has the feel of a documentary expose at times, and a sense of real events. Although very much targeted at corruption in Bulgarian government, the message is universal, and Tzanko could be any one of us, being used to deflect attention from real problems.

Glory was filmed on a budget of only €150 thousand and with only four professional actors. Margita Gosheva is excellent as Staykova, an obsessive without scruples, while Stefan Denolyubov plays the slow witted, stuttering Petrov as a long suffering man of dignity. Many of the cast were friends and family of the professional team, which only adds to the sense of realism.

A film that transcends it's limited resources, Glory is both very funny and emotionally affecting, and well worth seeking out.

The Last Word, Cineworld, Edinburgh International Film Festival

Harriet Lawler (Shirley MacLaine) is, or rather was, a success.  She rose high in the advertising industry, has made a lot of money, and is always very sure of herself.  She's also friendless, lonely, and makes a couple of half hearted attempts at suicide.  Her mindset changes when she reads some obituaries.  Of people she knew and disliked, but who had been made to sound like special human beings by the writer.

Determined to be remembered with such fondness, Harriet demands that the author, local journalist Anne (Amanda Seyfried), performs the same service for her - before she's dead.  When Anne is unable to find anyone with a good word for her subject (even the local priest hates her) Harriet is furious with the result.  So she comes back to Anne with a proposition - she's identified four qualities in every great obituary, so she wants Anne to help her through a series of new experiences that will enable the writer to say what a wonderful person she was.

Cue series of quirky, eccentric, amusing 'adventures'.  You can join the dots yourself for what happens next.  It's predictable, cliched and overly sentimental.  There's even a  road trip featuring grumpy old woman, young woman seeking to find herself, and cute and sassy kid.  Harriet will find redemption and her own humanity, Anne will find romance and herself.

All of which is true, but sells this movie short.  The great saving factor is Maclaine herself, who has a ball as both bitch and mentor.  She's still a strong screen presence, and moves with grace of the dancer she was.  The script does have its moments, like her gynecologist saying Lawler had "the angriest vagina this side of China".  It can be very funny at times.  Undemanding, but still enjoyable.

Rumble : The Indians Who Rocked The World, Cineworld, Edinburgh International Film Festival

A documentary looking at the considerable, and largely unacknowledged, influence of native Americans on the development of the US music scene.   Part history lesson, part musical celebration, with an array of talking heads interspersed with contemporary footage of artists and events, it goes along at a food pace and tells it's story in coherent fashion.

By the end of the nineteenth century it had become hard to admit to having Indian ancestry, as the government tried to eradicate all traces of native culture.  The massacre of Wounded Knee exemplified the genocidal approach adopted.  Early in the century that followed there was a project to record surviving native music, before it was expected to die out completely.  This old recordings are the key to the influence this culture exerted later, with the rhythms and singing styles being adopted by other music genres.  There are well thought through explanations of how Indian music was important to the origins of jazz, blues, R& B and rock, before moving into the history of some individual artists of importance.

Mildred Bailey, Link Wray, Jesse Ed Davis, Jimi Hendrix and more feature.  I'd always viewed Buffy Sainte Marie as an Indian artist, but had no idea that the great Robbie Robertson had native American roots.  So much influence, so little credit given.  Today the music of the indigenous people is having a revival and some of the musicians responsible were also shown.

Some great music (albeit too often cut cruelly short) and a surprising history lesson.  For anyone interested in the origins of modern music this film offers a fascinating insight.

Kaleidoscope, Cineworld, Edinburgh International Film Festival

Carl (Toby Jones) lives a quiet life in his bare beige flat, until he wakes one morning on the sofa, with no recall of the night before.  In the bathroom he finds the body of a young woman, Abby (Sinead Matthews), who he'd met through his first try at online dating.  What had happened, what had he done - and what does he do now?

Further complicating his life, his mother (Anne Reid), is threatening to visit, even though they haven't spoken for years.  Carl is attached to the kaleidoscope his father gave him when he was a child, and it's fractured images constant changes of pattern reflect the confusion in his mind.  It gradually becomes apparent that not everything Carl believes is reality.

A complex psychological drama, Kaleidoscope explores the fevered mind of a man suffering from the trauma in his past and losing his grip on the real world.  Panoramic shots of the vast block of flats serve to emphasis Carl's insignificance in the world.   It's slow (sometimes too slow), tense, with sudden explosions of action, and keeps the viewer wondering throughout.

Jones is brilliantly understated as Carl, trying to find a foothold on a shifting landscape, and Reid surprises with a sinister performance of insincerity and menace.  It's not always an easy watch, but this is a film you could see several times and still be finding new aspects to the plot and characterisation.

The King's Choice (Kongens Nei), Cineworld, Edinburgh International Film Festival

The opening titles explain that when Norway became independent in 1905 it chose as ceremonial head of state a member of the Danish royal family, who became King Hakkon VII.  Thirty five years later the now elderly monarch delights in playing with his grandchildren, but has concerns for the future of a country whose neutrality is being threatened by German belligerence.

Portraying events of the three days in April 1940 when the Germans invaded, the film shows little of the fighting, concentrating on the behind the scenes drama that brought Hakkon to face the toughest choice of his life.  The crown prince is demanding action.
 The government is weak and uncertain.  The German envoy (ambassador), an basically decent professional diplomat, wants to avoid further unnecessary deaths, but finds his authority diminished by the army.  Quisling, the Norwegian fascist leader, is trying to grab power.  And Hitler says he'll only negotiate with the king.  Hakkon has to choose between accepting Quisling, and surrendering to the invaders, or resisting, and supporting the side of democracy, in the knowledge that many Norwegians will die as a result.

There's some light relief from Hakkon's time with his family, and the snow covered landscapes add visual beauty, but the director maintains the tensions of those days effectively.  The royal family's escape north, a group of young soldiers protecting a roadblock, the disagreements in cabinet, the conflict between the Nazi military and civilian representatives, all maintain the sense of events spiralling out of control and uncertain outcomes.  Even the few combat scenes are as much about choice as action.  At over two hours this could have felt tedious, but it is so well directed, edited and acted that it never feels overlong.

Jesper Christensen is superb as the beleaguered monarch, a very human and warm presence recognising that he must face his duty alone, and feel the consequences of his own choice.  Special mention too to Karl Marcovics as German envoy Kurt Bräuer, a man conflicted between his job and his conscience, his discomfort evident.

The closing titles give something of what fates befell the main characters (Hakkon would spend most of the war in London).   War story, family drama, political intrigue and thriller combined, this is a wonderful film bringing to life a little known historical story.

Goodbye Berlin (Tschick), Cineworld, Edinburgh International Film Festival

Fourteen year old Maik is the classroom outcast, the weird kid nobody wants to know.  Until the arrival of a tall Russian kid know as Tschick whose strange behaviour makes even Maik wary of him.

When the summer holidays come it looks like being a lonely time for Maik.  His mother is at the "beauty farm" (in rehab to get some relief from her chronic alcoholism) and his dad is off on a "business trip" (on holiday with his young lover).  So when Tschick turns up with a stolen Lada he might as well go along with his fellow weirdo.

It's a fairly conventional road trip movie from then on, as the pair have unplanned adventures and meet up with some interesting characters.  There are chases, misunderstandings, thefts and even a bit of romance.  This could all turn out to be very predictable and dull, so it's to director Fatih Akin's credit that this is great entertainment.  It's kept light and played for laughs.  The filming makes imaginative use of the German countryside, and the closing scene in the swimming pool is wonderful.

It might not offer much novelty, but Goodbye Berlin is well made, well acted and full of laughs and the exuberance of teenagers exploring their own selves.  Worth a look.

Fog in August (Nebel im August), Cineworld, Edinburgh International Film Festival

A film based on real people and events in Germany in 1942-44.  Thirteen year old Ernst has been committed to a sanatorium because of his Yenish background and troublemaking tendencies.  His fellow inmates have a range of mental and physical health issues, or are 'undesirables' like him, with some confined to bed or ward.  The regime is austere, but appears to be interested in the wellbeing of the inmates.  Except for the regular bus that takes selected individuals away.  Ernst learns they are being sent to a euthanasia camp.

When Berlin decides that the programme is to be sped up, the power to choose who lives and dies is delegated to the sanatorium director, and he brings in the angelic looking nurse Kiefer to assist with the killing.  Ernst finds allies in both the staff and inmates in trying to frustrate these efforts, but it's a battle they can never hope to win.  Eventually Ernst realises the only hope he has is to escape, but can he get out with new found friend Nandl?

Despite the bleak subject matter this is a story with friendship at it's heart, and moments of humour along the way.  It's an important depiction of a little known aspect of the Nazi regime's madness in trying to cleanse the 'master race' of undesirable elements - which, to them, includes the disabled, and a story that should be more widely known.

Young Ivo Pietzcker is excellent as Ernst, a mix of cunning, compassion and mischief.  Although much of the action is shot indoors, there are some beautiful visual moments outside, notably on a moonlit lake and when Ernst finds himself astride the rooftop of the sanitorium, looking out over a landscape where freedom may lie.

The closing titles reveal what became of the film's main protagonists in real life.  A powerful history lesson and reminder of the essential inhumanity of the far right.
 Highly recommended.