Edinburgh - Day Six

'Mirrormask' blows Time Out away, while 'Rag Tale' proves to be a huge disappointment.

Aug 26 2005

Day six, and the changeable weather sees TO head for the 'videotheque', Edinburgh's useful library of many of the films playing at the festival.

With more than 100 features and shorts at our disposal, we therefore take the opportunity to catch up on two intriguing entries that we failed to catch earlier in the week.

First up is 'Rag Tale', an extremely disappointing satire of the newspaper business that stars Malcolm McDowell, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Rupert Graves and is written and directed by Mary McGuckian.

Set over the course of several chaotic days at a fictional newspaper called 'The Rag', the plot is clumsy, obvious and at times rather infantile but, as a brutal attack of the tabloid media, it's not without merit.

Stylistically however, the movie is a mess; a mish-mash of styles that makes for a headache-inducing two hours of misery.

Shaky camerawork, overlapping dialogue and other such 'artistic' devices are no doubt meant to represent the confusion and disorder of the average British newsroom.

Yet their only effect is to make this viewer feel nauseous and slightly annoyed throughout.

Next up is 'Mirrormask', another film in which style outstrips substance, but with far superior results.

A remarkable collaboration between writer Neil Gaiman and director Dave McKean, the film is a technological triumph that mixes live action and CGI in unique and spellbinding ways.

The story revolves around 15-year-old Helena, an unhappy child who would like nothing more than to run away from the circus her parents run.

When one evening her mother falls ill following a blazing row between the pair, Helena finds herself transported to a world where her feelings of grief, remorse and guilt reveal themselves in increasingly strange and unusual ways.

Anchored by an excellent performance from Stephanie Leonidas, 'Mirrormask' also features fine turns from Gina McKee and Rob Brydon, but it's the design and special effects that truly bring the film to life.

Clearly influenced by the likes of Lewis Carroll, L Frank Baum and HR Geiger, writer and director have created a breathtaking world of flying fish, talking chickens, monkey birds and human porcupines.

Part dream, part nightmare, their visual invention is jaw-dropping throughout, and the result is the most unusual and without doubt one of the best films of the festival thus far.

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