ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies AWARD-WINNING arthouse director Atom Egoyan takes an uncertain step towards the mainstream with the adult thriller ‘Where The Truth Lies’. A sordid showbusiness saga of dark deeds and guilty secrets, it has some of the style and polish of a Hollywood classic like ‘Sunset Boulevard’, but some very bizarre casting […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. SCOTTISH CINEMA has gained something of a reputation for gritty tales and dour realism. The world has come to see us through the eyes of films like ‘Trainspotting’ and ‘Young Adam’. ‘Dear Frankie’ is a modest attempt to redress the balance with an old-fashioned heartwarmer charting the unbreakable bond between […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies Dame Judi Dench is one of the few performers who really deserve the title national treasure. She has won every possible award from an Oscar to a BAFTA, and her performance in ‘Mrs Brown’ finally allowed her to make the leap from theatrical giant to genuine film star. Dench is […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies JULIAN FELLOWES’ career must serve as an encouragement to all of life’s late bloomers. The 56 year old is probably best known as Kilwillie in ‘Monarch Of The Glen’, but over the last five years he has blossomed into the Oscar-winning screenwriter of ‘Gosford Park’. He has also adapted the […]

Inverness, 2-6 November 2005

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies JOHN LE CARRÈ WRITES the kind of thrillers that match ingenious plots with moral outrage. In ‘The Constant Gardener’, he unleashed his wrath on multi-national drug companies and their shady dealings in parts of the world where nobody protects the poor and vulnerable. His novel blends a haunting love story […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies WHEN THE GAME of quadriplegic rugby was first devised it was called Murderball. It’s all too easy to see why. The specially adapted wheelchairs look like something out of ‘Mad Max’. The players hurl themselves across a court, smashing into their opponent and doing everything they can to inflict maximum […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies THE GUILTY LEGACY of the War years continues to provide a rich source of inspiration for contemporary German cinema. The award-winning ‘Downfall’ offered a powerful glimpse into the final days of Adolf Hitler. Now, the more modest ‘Sophie Scholl’ tells the true story of an idealistic young student who represented […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies AMERICAN DIRECTOR Jim Jarmusch made his reputation in the 1980s as the creator of quirky, deadpan delights like ‘Down By Law’ and ‘Mystery Train’. His career has taken some strange turns of late, but now he’s right back on form with ‘Broken Flowers’, a wonderfully lugubrious, sharply observed comedy with […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies IF YOU ARE a fan of 1970s American films like ‘M*A*S*H’ or ‘Catch-22’, then you should enjoy ‘Guy X’. The second feature from Scottish director Saul Metzstein is a handsome black comedy exploring the madness of the military from the farce of its petty bureaucracy to the horror of its […]