The Secret of Marrowbone (15) **
Dir: Sergio G Sánchez
With: George MacKay, Mia Goth
Runtime: 110 minutes
IN Sergio Sanchez’s directorial debut, Sunshine on Leith star George Mackay plays the head of a family that has ventured from England to America for a fresh start, only to be swiftly reminded that the past will not be left behind so easily. Sanchez, writer of The Orphanage, tries his hardest to keep the frights coming, and Mackay turns in his usual strong performance. The story jumps the rails early on, however, and never gets back on track. Come the garbled end there are more holes in the plot than there are in the rickety old house of the title.
First Reformed (15) **
Dir: Paul Schrader
With: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried
Runtime: 113 minutes
PAUL Schrader of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull fame, pulls a double shift as writer-director for this ecclesiastical drama set in upstate New York. Between Schrader’s presence, and Ethan Hawke starring as a troubled priest, you might well be tempted to take a leap of faith on this one. Mind how you go, though. Between his empty church, failing health, and lingering grief, the Reverend Ernst Toller (Hawke) does not have his troubles to seek, and that’s before a parishioner in need (Amanda Seyfried) adds to his woes. While Hawke is excellent, the film’s unrelenting bleakness makes for a punishing two hours.
GFT till July 26
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article