Those of us who might have used last week’s unseasonably warm weather to trick ourselves into thinking summer hadn’t quite slipped out the back door are going to have face facts sooner or later. With October already rapping at the front portico, the mercury’s sure to plummet soon enough – but not to worry, because the inviting environs of the Edinburgh Filmhouse are always a welcome haven from autumn’s vagaries. Highlights below, but check out the site above for a glance at the full programme.
Rupert Goold / UK / 2019 / 118 mins
This intimate biopic of Judy Garland features Renée Zellweger dishing out one of the most remarkable performances of her career, as the woman dubbed “the world’s greatest entertainer” embarks on a five-week sold-out show in London, 30 years after making her name in The Wizard of Oz. Plagued by exhaustion and homesickness, the eponymous star struggles to muddle through.
@ Edinburgh Filmhouse from Wed 2 Oct
Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje / UK / 2018 / 108 mins
With his Nigerian parents seeking to better themselves through academic study, Enitan (Damson Idris) is left in charge of the family farm in a British community hostile to his very presence. Facing significant identity struggles of his own, Enitan soon falls in the worst crowd imaginable in the shape of a gang of shaven-headed racists, with predictably troubling consequences.
@ Edinburgh Filmhouse from Fri 11 Oct
Olivier Assayas / France / 2018 / 107 mins
This French intrigue sees the reunion of director Assayas with two of his favourite leading stars, Juliette Binoche and Guillaume Canet, in a tale of sex, lies and literature. When a controversial novelist begins mining his own life experiences for new material – including a clandestine affair with the wife of his editor – all hell seeps loose.
@ Edinburgh Filmhouse from Fri 18 Oct
James Gray / USA, Brazil / 2019 / 114 mins
Brad Pitt plays the space-obsessed son of an astronaut (Tommy Lee Jones) who went AWOL in the stratosphere several decades previous. In the search to track down his dear old dad, he’ll unravel a store of secrets that threaten to disrupt the very survival of the human race. While much of the action takes place among the final frontier, the central themes of fatherhood and searching for elusive answers are very much terrestrial concerns.
@ Edinburgh Filmhouse from Fri 18 Oct
François Ozon / France, Belgium / 2018 / 138 mins
A story inspired by true events, this hard-hitting drama looks at the consequences of child abuse within the Catholic church. Focusing on three victims of sexual assault by a priest in their youth, the story reveals how the offender has still not been brought to justice or even removed from his post decades later – and the consequences of what happens when the truth finally outs.
@ Edinburgh Filmhouse from Fri 25 Oct