Our verdict: three stars
For those keen to know what departing Daily Show host Jon Stewart might do next, the Glasgow Film Festival tonight offered a clue by hosting the Scottish premiere of Rosewater, Stewart's debut as a film director.
Rosewater is a dramatised version of a story covered by The Daily Show and many other outlets. Its central figure, played by Gael Garcia Bernal, is Maziar Bahari, an Iranian born journalist who left his home and pregnant partner in London to cover the 2009 elections in Iran.
Just another job, thought Bahari, home in a week. But the Revolutionary Guard, not being big fans of the freedom of the press, had a different view and threw him in jail, falsely accusing him of being a spy.
Stewart and Bernal lead the audience through what happened in prison, and in particular during his one to one sessions with an interrogator (played by Kim Bodnia).
Stewart makes some of the errors one might expect of a debut director, including characters who are more one dimensional than three, and dialogue that tends towards the earnest and expositional.
But there is no doubting that he has an eye for an arresting image - with not much in the way of a budget he works wonders - and a flair for telling a story with intelligence, heart, and, yes, humour.
Stewart's admirers should fear not: The Daily Show's loss is cinema's gain.
STOP PRESS: WILLIAM MCILVANNEY
Due to the demand for tickets, the William McIlvanney: Living with Words event on Monday, February 23, at 18.30, has been moved from GFT Cinema 2 to the much larger Cinema 1. More tickets are now on sale, so if you missed out first time here is your chance to see a profile of the author and hear him in conversation after.
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