In Your Hands (15)
HHH
Dir: Lola Doillon
With: Kristin Scott Thomas, Pio Marmai
Running time: 81 minutes
BRITAIN'S Kristin Scott Thomas shows once again why she's one of French cinema's strongest assets in this slick but puzzling drama. Scott Thomas plays Anna, a surgeon living in Paris. Kidnapped as she arrives home one night, Anna is to discover that what happens in the operating theatre cannot always be left behind at the end of a shift.
Lola Doilon's film brings some intriguing twists to a familiar story, and Scott Thomas turns in another elegant and commanding performance, but the story struggles to be convincing.
Glasgow Film Theatre, from tomorrow-July 26.
Personal Best (12A)
HHH
Dir: Sam Blair
Running time: 89 minutes
SAM Blair's documentary follows a group of British sprinters as they attempt to make it to the start line of top flight athletics. Filmed over four years, it is more of a marathon gaze than a sprinting glimpse of what it takes to succeed in British athletics. The lack of flash occasionally makes for a dull film, but the piece is ultimately more involving for being so measured. Here is the sport stripped of the race-night glamour, showing what a long haul, mentally as much as physically, is involved in becoming one of the few who make it to the top.
Filmhouse, Edinburgh, tomorrow-July 23.
Le Petit Nicolas (PG)
HHH
Dir: Laurent Tirard
With: Maxime Godart, Kad Merad
Running time: 90 minutes
BASED on the books by Rene Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempe, Le Petit Nicolas c'est un grand treat for lovers of whimsical French comedy. The Nicolas of the title, played to a T by Maxime Godart, begins the film by pronouncing what a swell life he has and how he doesn't ever want it to change.
Disaster duly strikes when he comes to believe the stork is about to deliver a little baby brother or sister to spoil his fun. Laurent Tirard's highly stylised comedy looks picture perfect, and it has plenty of japes, scrapes and misunderstandings to keep the indulgent smiles coming.
Filmhouse, Edinburgh, from tomorrow-August 2; DCA, Dundee, till Sunday; GFT, August 3-9.
The Giants (15)
HHH
Dir: Bouli Lanners
With: Martin Nissen, Paul Bartel
Running time: 84 minutes
TWO brothers abandoned by their mother, and another youngster being bullied by his older sibling, make up the three amigos who spend the summer together in this affecting Belgian drama.
With one exception they are surrounded by hopeless adults, forcing the trio to rely on each other for support. While one fears for their futures, Bouli Lanners's film steers clear of making this a predictable tale of youths lost in Lord of the Flies territory, instead delivering a nicely ambiguous coming-of-age story that makes one wonder, and care, what happens next.
Glasgow Film Theatre, tomorrow- July 26.
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