79th Edinburgh International Film Festival - 2026
Reviews are divided based on categories as per the festival.
Capsized
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Feature Film (Narrative)
Film Production Company: Lost at Sea Films and Present Company
Rating: NR / Run Time: 105 minutes
Language: English
Director: Lindsey Ryan
Writer: Lindsey Ryan
Starring: Rhys Ifans, Lily Rabe, Sarah Catherine Hook, Griffin Gluck, Ada Bland,
Eli D. Goss and Joan Stein
“The O’Briens don’t adhere to time, they adhere to adventure.”
Meet the O’Briens — patriarchs Ray (Ifans) and Diane (Rabe) — and their five children, recently graduated twins Nicole (Hook) and Pat (Gluck), preteens Jack (Goss) and Ellie (Stein) and the young Maeve (Bland). Think your standard, middle-class family. Nice house in the suburbs of Long Island, New York, enjoying coastal living, a boat in the harbor, and just getting by. They are planning to go on a family vacation and take the boat out one last time before Nicole heads off to college.
It isn’t long before we learn that this may be the last major hurrah for the family, as they are about to face some hard times. We learn that, as a result of some poor investments made by Ray, the family was unable to pay the mortgage and they are being evicted from their home and need to plan their next steps. This also throws a wrench in Nicole’s plans, as she was hoping her family was going to be paying for her college tuition. It is on this boating trip that Ray and Diane hope to figure out what comes next.
As they venture off and try to make connections, they learn of a fishing contest in Maryland that could result in a big financial win, and thus they set off. However, this will not be without its challenges, as secrets come to the surface and the family is forced to reckon with decisions that were made and comments that were spoken that could have irrevocable damage moving forward. As the family heads to Maryland, competes and contemplates what comes next, it is safe to say that this is a summer that will change everyone.
In her feature film debut, writer/director Lindsey Ryan crafts a powerful story about family that almost everyone will be able to connect to. Each member, be they adult or child, has a personality trait that will either echo yourself or someone you know. We all have the younger child who mirrors the poor behaviors of adults, the child who sometimes has to grow up and care for the family when it isn’t meant to be their lot in life, or even the frazzled member who has to decide whether they made the right choice for themselves and others. However, at the end, it is a family, for better or worse.
Ryan has grouped a phenomenal ensemble of characters to play the O’Brien family, and taking them on the boat trip has echoes of the family road trip akin to Little Miss Sunshine, with all the pathos and chaos. It is blended nicely with strong turns by Ifans’ Ray, who is lovable one moment and then you are ready to throw him overboard the next, and especially the powerhouse performance of Hook’s Nicole — the moral center of this family who has just had enough.
With a majority of the film shot on water, cinematographer Joe Anderson helps capture the claustrophobic setting and allows the tension to rise as we go. As we follow the family, we root for them, aided by an effective and emotional score by Osei Essed. The thing that sets Capsized apart from other similar films is that it reminds us that all of life’s challenges aren’t always going to necessarily have a happy ending by the time the credits roll, and that’s life.
There are a few subplots that get introduced that make for some rich character development for select members of the family, but we needed a bit more time with some of these threads to really understand what is happening beneath the surface. That is particularly true as we watch the relationships within the family evolve. We see the frustrations, the arguments and the moments when it would be easy for someone to simply walk away, but when the family is truly tested, they continue to find ways to come together. That only makes the moments when they don't understand each other more interesting, and shows just how complicated family can be.
That said, it only shows that the world Ryan has created is one to spend time in. All in all, this touching family dramedy will remind us that choices are made for reasons; we may not agree with them, but we shouldn’t let them restrict us from moving forward.
Review by Cinephile Mike
The State of Us
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Feature Film (Narrative)
Film Production Companies: Noughty Pictures, Restless Pictures,
CrossDay, 48 Fourteen Films, Lipsync and Screen Yorkshire
Rating: NR / Run Time: 90 minutes
Language: English
Director(s): Ollie Gardner and Jake Harvey
Writer: Jake Harvey
Starring: Samuel Bottomley, Callum Scott Howells, , Safia Oakley-Green, Francesd Barber, Seamus O’Hara and Sunetra Sarker
“You’ve gotta find a way to live. Please give me that. Please.”
Frankie (Bottomley) is a young man who did not have the best childhood experience. Losing his mother to cancer at a young age, and his father making selective choices, he was raised by the parents of his best friend in the world, Taylor (Howells). They grew up together, and theirs is a friendship that has tested every bound. No matter how frustrating things got, they were there for one another, through the good and the bad.
It is the bad that they are now facing. Tragically, Taylor has been diagnosed with cancer and is not much longer for this mortal plane. Having been transferred to hospice, he is waiting out his time. While there, one of the people he has bonded with is Joan (Barber), an older woman who is fighting the last stages of brain cancer, who unconsciously thinks Taylor is her nephew, giving him a necklace almost nightly that Taylor sneaks back to her. The necklace will have an interesting plot of its own as we follow the boys through the night.
However, it is Frankie that Taylor has been missing for weeks.
One night, Frankie arrives. Breaking into the hospice after hours, he breaks Taylor out for one final big night. After sneaking out, the best friends, more brothers, head off into the night. Their festivities will take them to a local convenience store where they will “con” some liquor from the clerk, head to a house party, and ultimately spend time on an isolated park bench high on a hill for a fireworks display.
As we learn, this park, this bench, is an emotional touchpoint for these two, and it is here that certain feelings will be revealed. Frankie has been contemplating certain things, and he has a proposal for Taylor. This night wasn’t just about a last best mate’s night out, but a chance for a change. One that could have painful ramifications afterwards.
It is hard to say much more without spoiling Gardner and Harvey’s film, and this is one that, painful as it is within the context of the life events, is so powerful and poignant that you are hooked in from the first moment you see the interaction between Frankie and Taylor. As the boys who loved exploding fireworks as kids become young men on the edge of a precipice, you almost want to hop in the backseat and go for the ride with them.
Harvey, in his feature writing debut of a story based on a best friend, deftly understands nuance in the writing and fleshes out a script that almost feels like it would play out as a documentary. The “theatrical flourish” is stripped away, and you feel the authenticity in the writing. He balances the heavy issues of living with cancer, the impact it has on others, and, more importantly, presents the way that men may not always feel comfortable expressing themselves in relationships.
However, while this idea of addressing masculinity is present, it is not the focus. Instead, this is a tender love story about two friends who aren’t afraid to speak their minds, the good, the bad and the ugly to each other.
Gardner and Harvey, as directors, present a clear voice and picture in their lead pair, Bottomley and Howells, who have chemistry in spades. Regardless of whether or not these two actors have known each other for years or met on set, their chemistry is rock solid. Both of them have tremendous emotional arcs to execute, and they do so deftly without things feeling faked.
At times, it could have seen Bottomley and Howells drift to either side of the dramatic pendulum, but they keep everything grounded, thereby making select key moments pop and land. Additionally, as we watch these two on their journey, Tom Ogden incorporates a beautiful dimension to the story with his score that elevates the emotional stakes. And believe me, they are heightened.
The stunning authenticity and approach to the film makes it almost feel documentary-like, in that nothing is over-acted or overshadowed. When we get to the climax on the hill, I challenge you not to reach for a tissue when we see a particularly poignant moment where Frankie makes the purpose of the night clear to Taylor, and to us.
The craft with which the humor and the drama are balanced is quite refined, and it is exciting to see what comes next from the team of Harvey and Gardner. Ultimately, this is a love story. The love story of two friends who aren’t afraid to speak their minds and remind us that we need to hold certain people near. All in all, this is the rare film that can make you smile, break your heart and remind you just how important friendship can be.
Review by Cinephile Mike
