ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. HOLLYWOOD cannot resist a concerted tug at the heartstrings. Any film that tackles the joys and sorrows of life seems doomed to become little more than a supersized soap opera.    ‘Imaginary Heroes’ is no exception. The first feature from young screenwriter Dan Harris is very slick and self-assured. It […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. IS LIFE just a series of random, meaningless moments? Do we all live at the mercy of fate? Can one modest action have untold consequences for a total stranger? Those are the questions that inform ‘13 Conversations About One Thing’, a thoughtful ensemble drama with an all-star cast. Inspired by […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. A GIDDY MIXTURE of melodrama, soap opera and farce, ‘Kings and Queen’ is a freewheeling statement on the relationship between parents and children; the love that is given and the pain that is caused. Ten years ago, director Arnaud Desplechin made the three hour ‘Ma Vie Sexuelle’. ‘Kings And Queen’ […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. GRAPHIC NOVELS are an increasing source of inspiration for Hollywood blockbusters. The results have ranged from the muddled ‘League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ with Sean Connery to the electrifying new David Cronenberg thriller ‘A History Of Violence’. Based on three novels by Frank Miller, ‘Sin City’ takes the viewer on a […]

The acclaimed Nairn-based actress TILDA SWINTON talks to Northings about her unconventional film career, from her early ground-breaking association with Derek Jarman through to her role in the the forthcoming adaptation of C. S. Lewis’s ‘Chronicles of Narnia’

ALLAN HUNTER at the movies. AN ICE COOL Italian thriller, ‘The Consequences Of Love’ has the kind of steely intelligence and dry humour so often missing from its American counterparts. Reserved and detached like its central character, it sustains a sense of mystery that becomes more and more intriguing as the plot is revealed. It’s […]

GEORGINA COBURN investigates the enthusiastic world of the Highlands and Islands dedicated film clubs

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. WARMHEARTED and meticulously observed, A Common Thread announces a promising new talent in French writer-director Eleonore Faucher. The story of a rural teenager coming to terms with her pregnancy is simple and straightforward, but Faucher invests it with a wealthy of feeling. Sentimentality is kept at bay, the performances are […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. THE JACKET is a film that defies easy description. A mixture of love story, time-travel fantasy, murder mystery and B-movie shocker, it explodes in countless different directions like a catherine wheel. The result is often interesting but still leaves you scratching your head trying to make sense of it all. […]

ALLAN HUNTER at the movies. ANYONE WHO REMEMBERS Au Revoir Les Enfants should warm to Machuca. Like the Louis Malle classic, it is able to reflect a turbulent time in national history through the unlikely friendship of two schoolboys. Here, the setting is Chile in 1973 when the socialist government of Salvador Allende came under […]