#insideencounters

10.00, Wednesday 19th Cinema 3

Unfortunately for Inside Encounters (but most fortunate for Encounters as a festival) the first screening category "Loose Ends" for the Brief Encounters competition strand was a complete sell out this morning. A wonderful start to show a promising and popular week ahead! Eagerly anticipated and equally satisfying – Loose Ends showed an array of great Brits.

Are you carrying too much excess baggage? Are your relationships frayed at their ends? Or do you wish to cut all ties? Then the Loose Ends competition category at Encounters is for you.

Cutting Loose (Finlay Pretsell, Adrian McDowall, 2011)

13 years on from his BAFTA winning first feature, Adrian Mcdowall’s Cutting Loose proves the number is only unlucky for some. What can you do to reform a bunch of murderers, heroin addicts and misbehaving mobs? According to the Scottish Prison Service, the answer is an annual hairdressing competition. Place a pair of scissors or a razor into an inmate’s hand and trust him with your life? Anyone would be hesitant. But there should be no hesitation in going to see this beautiful and civilly obedient piece. Perhaps they are prisoners cooped in a cage, perhaps they made a mistake in the past but don’t we all? As Cutting Loose clips together the perfect amount of sympathy to accommodate a momentary lapse in judgement, it helps blow-dry away prejudice and and straightens out the fact they too are humans with aspirations and fears. A world with fresh air, outside of impenetrable walls ensnarled by barbed wire is the biggest fear for most. Without hairdressing the reigning champion, soon to be released Francis, would be “pure lost” but it’s not his third-time winner award he’s looking forward to...first prize would be walking out of those front gates. Interspliced with comic mug shots of clients’ new hairdos and a subtly crafted soundtrack that slices, snips and clips this observational peek behind the bars of a volatile environment is more than absorbing. But the cyclical narrative is troublesome. Will Francis stay out? Or like many of his fellow convicts, is he sentenced to repeat his mistakes?

Callum (Michael Van Der Put, 2011)

Sometimes less is more. In Callum this is so much the case that the emotionally devoid, stoic presence of the protagonist and the perfection through silence makes one wonder why there’s a need for conversation or scores to build tension. Through a series of intermittent memories playing on repeat we embark on a journey that takes homage from the five stages of grief. Stuck between seething guilt and a hard fisted bully Callum is haunted by the ghost train that struck his ex-girlfriend. This fictional work is a sentimental portrayal of facing up to your demons in order to do what is right. Michael Van Der Put’s first short and graduation film is nothing short of visually arresting so if you’re arriving at Encounters for inspiration make sure this is your first stop when you get off the platform.

Care (Amanda Boyle, 2012)

Can you care too much about someone? When should you intervene and when should you step back? These questions are explored in Care, the new drama from award winner and lead director of our home grown-Bristol based Skins Amanda Boyle. For Natalie (Gina McKee), a district nurse, caring is a routine that slowly deteriorates into a burden and allows her to let her own life decay. Disconnected from her partner of whom she speaks to only over the phone and more concerned about a little old dying dear than her dying marriage Natalie crosses the lives of two women that make her own existence worthwhile. Similar to In the Loop’s fly on the wall style, but without the putrid tongue that Mckee displayed there, the camera works to make an unpredictable climax unnerving. Alongside the haunting score by David Julyan, (Memento, The Prestige) with a rawness that chills, this film is definitely not one to neglect.

Natalie Smyth