O Street’s Glasgow Film Festival 2023 Picks

If you’ve been anywhere near Glasgow, you’ll have seen that it’s almost time for Glasgow Film Festival—posters and banners can be seen all over the city! The film festival takes place at the beloved GFT and other venues from the 1st-12th of March. As always, it’s an incredible selection; we’ve narrowed down a few of our favourites below.

Anna – The Civil Dead

I’ve been looking forward to seeing The Civil Dead for a while now. I love understated mumblecore films that gently amble along focusing on seemingly mundane relationships with not a whole lot of action. The Civil Dead sounds like it’s gonna fit the bill perfectly as GFF says, it humorously ponders the importance of friendship over self-destructive loneliness—cute!

George – Driving Mum

An Icelandic comedy seems super intriguing – I love cinema as an insight into a culture different to your own, and comedy is especially good for this, as what other people find funny can be really revealing, unique but also universal. I love how Driving Mum undercuts the usually free and fun road trip genre with something as serious as death, and obligation to fulfil promises, it seems like the perfect setup for some deadpan laffs!

David – So I Married an Axe Murderer

I hold my hands up, it’s a pretty bad movie. It’s also probably not dated that well either. Mike Myers may have Scottish ancestry, but even through the lens of nostalgia, his Scottish accent is terrible. However, I still love it. It reminds me of a time before memes and YouTube. A time when your pals would be quoting the same bit from a movie because you had all put in the hard graft sitting through the full 1.5 hours, finding the same bits funny. We worked harder for our laughs back then, maybe because we all had ‘…huge noggins, like a virtual planetoid’. (also, honourable mention, but the soundtrack is still freakin’ awesome)

Tessa – God’s Creatures

Generally speaking, I’m a sucker for Paul Mescal, I mean, a rural thriller. With visceral gothic overtones emanating from the trailer alone, I’m intrigued. A dark story of sexual assault with all the complications of community, motherhood and blind loyalty thrown into the mix. I’m fully prepared to leave the cinema emotionally traumatised and haunted.

Bea – Riceboy Sleeps

A film that delves into human behaviour will always catch my attention. Whilst interpreting the beautiful struggle between a mother and son, this coming-of-age story touches on imperative topics of bullying, race and identity. I’m ready to be by Kim Dong-Hyun’s side as he chooses his Western Name and bleaches his hair in an attempt to feel comfortable in his own skin.

Susan – One Fine Morning

I cannot resist this kind of quiet, touching drama. Léa Seydoux portrays Sandra, a grown daughter dealing with difficult and deeply emotional decisions as her father’s health declines while juggling other ‘life stuff’. Complicated relationships, love and loss with Paris as the backdrop—I’m really looking forward to this one, tissues ready!

Neil – Cassius X: Becoming Ali

If it has anything to do with Muhammad Ali, I confess I’ll watch it. This documentary written by Stuart Cosgrove looks at the early part of Ali’s career where the insanely gifted teenager looked to define and redefine himself, both as a boxer and an individual, against a backdrop of racial tension, the black power movement and wider cultural and sporting expectations. This was to be a mesmerising period of transformation. Much like the grace, guile and sparkle of the great man himself.

Enjoy!

P.S. Stay tuned for a little update on our Glasgow Film Festival project post, including the work for this year’s festival, coming soon.