So with the frantic furore of one imported American holiday and the comparative absence of fanfare surrounding a Scottish one, we trundle out of November and into the last month of the year. 2019’s already almost behind us, and what have we got to show for it? Well, a bumper pack of new releases at the Edinburgh Filmhouse and the Glasgow Film Theatre, for starters. Here are our highlights of what’s on offer in cinemas this December.
Edward Norton / USA / 2019 / 144 mins
A rookie private detective (Edward Norton) finds himself lonely and disillusioned with his choice of profession until an experienced veteran (Bruce Willis) takes him under his wing. However, the mentor’s murder leaves our hero with too many unanswered questions – and the paths to their answers will lead him to the heart of New York’s seedy criminal underbelly. Norton’s writing and directorial bow.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 6 Dec
Alma Har’el / USA / 2019 / 93 mins
Another directorial debut, Har’el turns a script written by star Shia Lebeouf into a charming piece of quirky but moving cinema. Semi-autobiographical in nature, the film chronicles Lebeouf’s early struggles as an actor flirting with alcoholism, trying to isolate the moments in his childhood and adolescence where things started to go wrong – and the figure of his unsympathetic father looms large.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 6 Dec
@ GFT from Fri 6 Dec
Rian Johnson / USA / 2019 / 130 mins
A modern take on the classic murder mystery, this whodunnit sees a private detective (Daniel Craig) summoned to a spookily gothic mansion slap bang in the middle of nowhere, where a wealthy author has suffered an untimely fate. Cue an elaborately shifty (and expensively assembled) cast of characters exchanging glances and clearing throats as the detective seeks to get to the bottom of the mystery before another victim is claimed.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 13 Dec
@ Filmhouse from Fri 30 Nov
Jennifer Kent / USA, Canada, Australia / 2018 / 136 mins
This unflinching look at Australia’s dark past focuses on events around the time of colonisation and deportation, as tensions between the Aboriginal population and those sent to tame both the land and their unwilling hosts reach boiling point. Set against this turbulent backdrop, The Nightingale focuses on Irish convict Clare, who vows vengeance on the cruel landowner who wronged her family, and enlists the help of a local tracker to help her in her efforts.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 20 Dec
@ GFT from Fri 27 Dec
Greta Gerwig / USA / 2019 / 135 mins
Fresh from the success of her Oscar-nominated debut Ladybird, director Greta Gerwig is back with her take on the Louisa May Alcott literary classic. Following the struggles of four sisters as they seek to grow and develop into very different people despite the claustrophobic physical confines of their household, the intensely loving bond that unites them and the expectations of a society which would prefer them to stay in their neat little boxes, it’s a love letter to sisterhood everywhere.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 27 Dec
@ GFT from Fri 27 Dec