EIFF Day 8

Our 8th day at the festival and the penultimate one for us provided to be one of the longest and best so far. Our first film, Namikibashi Shorts started at 14:45 and consisted of a number of hilarious short movies introducing Japanese customs in a tongue in cheek manner. After a short hour and a bit wait we headed to our second movie, I'm a cyborg: But that's ok. Directed by vengeance trilogy director Park Chan-Wook, it was a very dark romantic comedy about a young woman who believes herself to be a Cyborg. Almost directly after I'm a Cyborg ... was the World War II drama The Counterfeiters, which was excellent. A post film Q&A with Adolf Burger on whose memoirs the film was partially based was very insightful. We finished up back at the Filmhouse at 22:30 for our last show, Mirrorball : Made in Japan. A collection of Japanese music videos and shorts, Mirrorball is always entertaining and vibrant even if most of the music in the music videos is pretty poor. It did open with a Polysics video though, so not all the music was bad.

EIFF Day 7

Day 7 and aside from the Irn Bru retrospective, only two movies. The first was the pretty hard going Korean surrealist The Last Dining Table, second up was the excellent Spanish thriller Yo.

Irn Bru: Phenomenal Advertising

This year, the EIFF held a special event, a retrospective of past Irn Bru adverts, accompanied by a Q&A from those involved in comissioning and making the adverts. Tickets "sold out" pretty fast (not surprising since it was in a small screen and they were free) but I managed to get a couple. It was pretty good to see the adverts again, some of which I've not seen in a while and they were all as funny as they have ever been. The Q&A was insightful, but it would have been nice to have a few more adverts. Anyway, the free Irn Bru we got was worth it alone.

EIFF Day 6

Day 6 of the Film Festival and things were slowing a bit today, only 2 films, starting at just after 7 and finishing before 11. First up was serial killer thriller WΔZ which was reasonable, but could have been better. Second up with the pretty good Breath, a strange tale of a Seoul housewife and a prisoner on death row.

EIFF Day 5

Now that our 5th day is over, we're half way through the festival but still have slightly more than half the amount of films still to see. Yesterday saw comedy mockumentary Razzle Dazzle and French musical Les Chansons d'Amour.

EIFF Day 4

Day 4 and we saw 3 really good films, South Korean political drama The Old Garden; Argentinian coming of age hermaphrodite tale XXY and Russian fantasy blockbuster Day Watch.

The Rutland goes posh!

I used to be quite a regular visitor of the West end's Rutland pub, going there for a few drinks after work on a Thursday or Friday night, but last night after our second movie we were looking for somewhere to go for a pint and decided to go into the Rutland. That wasn't going to happen because the bouncer refused us entry because we were "A bit too casual for tonight". If my money's not good enough for them, then I'll go elsewhere, it's not like there is a shortage of pubs in Edinburgh to spend my money in.

EIFF Day 3

Another 2 films yesterday, a very slowly paced Japanese road movie, Aria and a documentary about a 15 year old high school loner, Billy the Kid. With no less than 3 films tonight, the 10 day movie marathon is in full swing now.

EIFF Day 2

Second night at the EIFF and we had two films lined up, although the first didn't start till 10pm. After drinking some Red Bull to ensure we stayed alert, we watched German "chick flick" Twisted Sister. We couldn't stay for the Q&A with the director afterwards because we had to rush to the Cameo for our next movie. (Although it started late in the end). More Red Bull and we were ready for the Horror Comedy, Teeth.

EIFF Opening Night Gala

Last night was the opening night of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, so we went to see the opening night film Hallam Foe. The film was pretty good (read the review for more info!) and set in Edinburgh which was pretty cool.

Things to look out for: Kate lives on the top floor flat of 15 Cockburn Street, I wonder who actually owns that flat? Also, the staff Entrance for the Balmoral as shown in the film seems to be at the West End of Princes Street on Rutland Square which is the completely other end from the actual hotel!

Anyway, 1 film down, only 21 more to go!

Gamarjobat

Gamarjobat are two Japanese guys who do a 2 man comedy mime show. Regulars at the Fringe, this year their show is called "rock 'n' roll penguin" and after seeing a preview at the fringe opening party I bought tickets to see the show.

Their show consists of a range of visual comedy, slapstick and audience participation and is at times absolutely hilarious. Split into two parts the first sees the duo dressed as two penguins in a band. Bass and guitar playing accompany the comedy. The second half is their more traditional affair, and in my opinion was a lot funnier than the first half.

Overall great entertainment and well worth seeing of you can.

Fuerzabruta

More free Fringe tickets, and this time Rosie won them in a competition at work :) Last night we went to see Fuerzabruta, I couldn't find much information about the show on the net after a quick search so didn't really know what to expect. We turned up at Ocean Terminal in Leith, were a huge black tent has been erected. After initially going into a smaller bar tent which was pretty funky but pricey, we were finally ushered into the main tent.

The entire show is standing and as we stood in the middle of the floor of this huge tent, lit only by red lights and slowly filling with dry ice the anticipation was killing me. Finally once a suitable number of people had been crammed in, the lights went out and the show began. Starting with a man on stage running on a conveyer belt, it seemed like he was getting closer to us, which was when I realised the whole thing was being moved out into the centre of the crowd.

The show is designed in such a way that the action takes place in the crowd, as different parts come and go, you have to move around to make way for the gadgets and gizmos they bring in. Saying much more about the content will probably spoil it for anyone who wants to go, but I'll sum it up by saying it's a bit like a cross between a rave, a circus, being in a movie and a big stage show. Smoke, dust, water, blood packs and even a dance number make for something unique and unforgettable.

The only reason I wouldn't 100% recommend it is that full price tickets are a little expensive at £25 each, but aside from that, Fuerzabruta is an amazing experience.

Edinburgh Fringe Opening Party 2007

Sunday night, Rosie was working at the opening party for the Fringe, so Neil and I got free tickets to head along! Although it was pretty wet, it was great fun and some of the acts from the fringe were on stage performing excerpts from their shows for our enjoyment. Highlights included the Aska drum troupe; hilarious physical comedy from Japan's Gamarjobat; the guys from breakout doing some breakdancing and beatboxing and Orkestra del Sol's upbeat "brass carnival".

All in all, a great night was had by all. Some terrible mobile phone photos below.

Breakdancing from "Break Out"

More Breakdancing from "Break Out"

Orkestra del Sol

Edinburgh Festivals 2007

Well, the Edinburgh Festivals are well underway and last night we went to our first show. The Korean Breakdancing comedy show "Break Out". After two years of performing the amazing Jump, the team are back with a new show which tells the story of a group of prisoners trying to escape from prison and a magic book which causes everyone in the vicinity to start breakdancing or beatboxing.

Hilarious in places and with some highly talented beat boxers and break dancers, Break Out is a visual treat. Some of the scenes seemed a little poor in comparison to the better ones and visually I found Jump's martial arts more entertaining than the Breakdancing, but overall, definately worth seeing.