Edinburgh International Film Festival - Monday

Cedric Klapisch’s latest, Paris, could be described as the French Love, Actually, in that like Richard Curtis’ film it focuses on a handful of parallel stories – all taking place in the French capital, with one exception - and features a cast of some of the biggest names in Gallic cinema. There’s Juliette Binoche and Romain Duris as a brother and sister, Francois Cluzet (from breakout hit Tell No One) and Fabrice Luchini as another pair of siblings, and loads of other recognisable faces.

The similarities with Curtis’ blockbusting rom-com end there though, as Paris is a much more muddled film, which doesn’t ultimately amount to much. With elements of comedy, tragedy, existential enquiry and travelogue all thrown into the pot, Paris struggles to maintain momentum with any of its stories, and is actually far less satisfying than last year’s short film compendium Paris Je T’aime, which arguably looks at life and love in the city much more effectively.

Being the pre-eminent Scottish film festival, it’s only right that EIFF should feature some big new Scottish films in its line-up. The biggest this year is Stone of Destiny, the true story of how Glasgow Uni student Ian Hamilton and a handful of friends broke into Westminster Abbey and made off with the titular rock in 1950. It’s doubtful that the event had quite the national impact that this flag-waving (and at points unbearably cheesy) comedy drama portrays, but it still seems a story worthy of big screen treatment.

Charlie Cox plays Hamilton with a painfully bad Scottish accent but makes for a decent leading man, while Billy Boyd, almost 15 years older than Cox but still just about pulling off the ‘50s student look, brings his usual mix of cheeky charm and sense of drama to the proceedings. Robert Carlyle also turns up and almost destroys all the goodwill I had for him after his fantastic turn in Summer, inexplicably doing a an accent that rivals Cox’s in the grating stakes.

Still, at least the makers of Stone of Destiny realised that a few laughs go a long way, something that the makers of the painfully bleak and wilfully humourless Better Things could have done with remembering. It’s been billed as the most anticipated British debut of the year, but hit short film director Duane Hopkins’ eye for a nicely framed shot isn’t enough to make this soul-destroying tale of heroin addicts in middle England worth losing 90 minutes to. Avoid.

• Paris (6/10) is at Cineworld, Fountainbridge on Mon 23rd at 17.30
• Stone of Destiny (5/10) is at Cineworld, Fountainbridge on Mon 23rd at 18.15
• Better Things (2/10) is at Cameo, Home Street on Mon 23rd at 19.45

Edinburgh International Film Festival Diary

1. Wednesday - The Edge of Love
2. Thursday - Elegy, Before the Rains and Sleep furiously
3. Friday - Donkey Punch, The Wackness and Three Miles North of Molkom
4. Saturday - Somers Town and The Visitor
5. Sunday- Lemon Tree (Etz Limon) and Summer
6. Monday - Reviews of Paris, Stone of Destiny and Better Things
7. Tuesday - 'Married Life', 'Love and Other Crimes' and 'The Surprise Movie'
8. Wednesday - Dummy, Elite Squad and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
9. Thursday - The Wave, Sleep Dealer and The Fall
10. Friday - Let The Right One In and Man On Wire
11. Sunday - WALL-E Review

Posted by: Paul Gallagher from Screen Fever