At about the time I entered the EIFF Press Office, and with punctilious timing, the sun hid away behind the clouds and Edinburgh was once more basked in its characteristic grey. The sun is a distraction at this festival, and given the fact I will be spending much of the next fortnight in darkened cinemas, I can do without it. So, I suggest, can Edinburgh. According to director
Sylvain Chomet the light in Edinburgh and Scotland is almost unique he compares it to Provence. This is the sort of light glimpsed in
Local Hero the type that seems to emerge from, rather than reflect off, the scenery. Chomet is the celebrated animator behind
Belleville Rendezvous, a wonderfully weird, and weirdly wonderful, story of a determined cyclist and his grandmother. That film was shown at the festival in 2004 and Chomet was so taken with the city that he moved here. He has been trying to get his new film,
The Illusionist, made pretty much since then... It is based on an unfilmed script by
Jacques Tati, written in the late 60s, with the bulk of the story transported from Czechoslovakia to Edinburgh. It was one of the movies I was awaiting eagerly from this years programme, and I was not disappointed. I may be biased, but Ive always thought Edinburgh was underrepresented in the film world, and this movie redresses the balance: Edinburgh has never looked better in any medium, in any light.
The Illusionist opens the festival tonight (Wednesday); guests at the public screening are to include
Sir. Sean Connery and
Sir. Patrick Stewart. The latter is head of this years Jury, which also includes
Mike Hodges and
Britt Ekland. It is the perfect movie to open the festival, and its charms and almost complete lack of dialogue will make it accessible for all. I really struggle to imagine anyone not liking it. It was with a certain sense of duty that I made my way to my second movie, the Iraq-based
Son of Babylon. Unlike most movies set in Iraq, this one was actually filmed there, and offers a sad look at the state of the country just a few weeks after Saddam was removed from power. Baghdad is a mess; Babylon, once home of one of the worlds Seven Wonders, is now home to mass graves filled with the anonymous dead. The characters here are still recovering from the conflict with Kuwait, and their troubles keep piling up. They are not exactly filled with respect for their former leader:
Im off to say hello to Saddam! says one, before scooting off for a pee.
Saddam is a bastard, and the Americans are pigs he later adds. The film is a festival staple: beautifully shot, and slow. It is a bold movie, particularly given the risks taken just to film it, and it contains powerful moments. But I have to admit I did not ultimately find it a very powerful film. It is a movie that you want to, even feel obliged to, recommend but I felt my eyelids get heavy a few times. It is by no means an altogether bad movie: the central performances, of a young boy looking for his father and the stubborn grandmother who accompanies him, are strong and its a though- provoking movie. But it did not really resonate with me on an emotional level, and there you are.
The rest of the programme offers much to be excited about: there are new movies by
Herzog and
Soderbergh and performances from the likes of
Kevin Kline and
Bill Murray to look forward to. I chose
Son of Babylon over
Worlds Greatest Dad, the
Robin Williams movie, on the basis that it came out in the US last year. For all I know I may have enjoyed the latter more, but the avid festival goer has an obligation to be a little more adventurous. At this stage it is impossible to say anything about the festival except that, with
The Illusionist, it is off to a very good start.