The Week in Film: 11 - 17 July

It’s a quieter week for the humble blockbuster, with Mamma Mia! the biggest film hitting town. The adaptation of the ABBA musical, about a bride-to-be who tries to find her real father, stars Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep.

Brendan Fraser mugs for the camera in Journey to the Centre of the Earth, the first full-length, live action feature shot in digital 3D. What plot there revolves around Trevor Anderson’s (Fraser) quest to find his missing brother, somewhere at the centre of the Earth presumably...

Trailer: Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Luckily Edinburgh’s Filmhouse is bursting with cinematic delights this week: there are three festivals currently underway, another due to start this Sunday and a number of “regular” films showing at the same time. The Burt Lancaster season continues with the rollicking Western Vera Cruz (Friday and Saturday) while Apache (Sunday and Monday) is another Western starring Lancaster as an Indian brave. The Modernity and Tradition festival screens the Hungarian film Hortobagy (Monday) and German film The Blue Light (Wednesday) from acclaimed director Leni Riefenstahl.

The annual London Australian Film Festival arrived in town on Tuesday, with opening film, the comedy My Friends Are All Leaving Brisbane, a sell-out. Bringing the best recent Australian films to a wider audience, this is definitely worth checking out. The final season opening this week is Contemporary Polish Cinema, four recent and very diverse films from the titular country. It opens on Sunday with comedy Midnight Talks and again offers local an opportunity to see something a bit different from the norm. Finally a quick shout out for The Spy Who Loved Me, showing on Sunday in a glorious new digital print.

Trailer: The Spy Who Loved Me

Opening at the Cameo this week is Savage Grace, described by Vogue as “like Death in Venice meets The Great Gatsby on the Psycho lot”. It’s based on a real-life crime story as a son starts to get too close to his mother. Acclaimed documentary Terror’s Advocate  also opens while a recording of Don Giovanni  from the San Francisco Opera is showing on Sunday and Tuesday. There’s also a Sienna Miller double bill on Sunday with Interview and Factory Girl.

Glasgow’s GFT is still showing Thomas McCarthy’s The Visitor, while French film Female Agents is on for most of the week. Special screenings include Romulus, My Father, part of the London Australian Film Festival also showing in Edinburgh, while the classic Rock Hudson movie, Magnificent Obsession from 1954, is playing on Monday evening.

Trailer: Female Agents

Cliff Richard’s Summer Holiday brightens up the Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre between Monday and Thursday, with the legendary David Lean’s In Which We Serve also showing on those days.