September Film News

Edinburgh Filmhouse

Alongside a couple of literary adaptations in the shape of Keira Knightley’s latest costume drama The Duchess (Fri 5 Sep – Thu 2 Oct) and the moving WWII story of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Fri 12 Sep – Thurs 2 Oct), Edinburgh’s Filmhouse has a typically eclectic mix this month. Friday 5 and Saturday 6 sees them screen Japanese thriller Death Note, based on a manga work about a cursed notebook which conjures up a 10 foot demon, while Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 bring us the sequel Death Note: The Last Name, made back-to-back with the original.

Starting at the Filmhouse on Saturday 13 September is Take One: Action!, the UK’s first major film festival about people and movies that are changing the world. Celebrating Scotland’s global connections – from South Africa to Nicaragua - it explores global challenges in which Scotland has a vital role to play, from climate change to the rules about how poor nations trade. With 20 films, both new and classic, there should be something for everyone here – see www.takeoneaction.org.uk for full details.

Glasgow Film Theatre

Described by the New York Times as ‘unquestionably one of the best and most original series on television.’, HBO’s The Wire transfers to the big screen for one night only on Thursday 18 September at Glasgow’s GFT. Alongside an episode of the series, creator David Simon can be seen in conversation. A few days later on Tuesday 23 there will be a preview of the new film version of Brideshead Revisited starring Ben Wishaw and Emma Thompson, hopefully attended by the cast and crew. And for anyone who’s still humming tunes from Mamma Mia! (even the Pierce Brosnan ones) there’s a chance to see new digital prints of both ABBA: The Movie (Sun 14) and Grease (Wed 24).

The Cameo, Edinburgh

At Edinburgh’s Cameo, The Wackness (from 29 August), a new comedy set in New York in the summer of 1994, stars Ben Kingsley in a role almost as memorable as his gangster appearance in Sexy Beast, though a million miles away in tone. If word of the rumoured Sky One remake makes you queasy, head along to Ednburgh’s Cameo on Friday 26 for a screening of the original. Monday 18 sees a special screening of Get Real, Patrick Wilde’s coming-of-age drama in which two British schoolboys find themselves falling in love with each other – the film’s writer Patrick Wilde will introduce. There’s also a great double bill on Sunday 7 with Gone Baby Gone and Mystic River.

Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre

The DCA is showing Shane Meadows’ Somers Town from Friday 12 – Thursday 18 Sept, his follow up to 2006’s This is England. This new film has another star turn from young Thomas Turgoose and deserves as much success as it predecessor. Clint Eastwood stars as The Man With No Name in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly from Fri 5 – Mon 8.