Dodgy dealings in the art world

Edinburgh International Film Festival: Alison Rowat and Miles Fielder look at dark comedy and gentle drama and round up the highlights of this year�s film festival.

Boogie Woogie
Star rating: ****

Dir: Duncan Ward
With: Gillian Anderson, Alan Cumming, Heather Graham

This sardonic adaptation of Danny Moynihan's 2000 novel does for the art world what Robert Altman's caustic satire The Player did for Hollywood. Reworking his own book, Moynihan and director Duncan Ward, who has made a number of art-themed documentaries and who is married to a well-known curator, have made a fine job of relocating the action from New York to contemporary London.

In this post-YBA landscape, we meet a slew of shallow, self- centred, greedy and morally bankrupt individuals, all of whom shaft one another both figuratively and literally. Among them are Danny Huston's dealer and Heather Graham's disloyal PA, who are intent on purchasing one of Mondrian's Boogie Woogie paintings from Christopher Lee's elderly owner and conniving wife Joanna Lumley, Stellan Skarsgård's philandering collector and Gillian Anderson's equally adulterous trophy wife, and Jaime Winstone's up-and-coming video artist and the agent she unceremoniously dumps. That last is played by Alan Cumming, and it's telling that his character, along with Lee's art lover - the only half decent people in the film - end up sharing the same fate.

The ensemble cast have a blast playing a collection of utter swines, and although this is far too dark a portrait to be a laugh-out-loud comedy, it's nevertheless a deliciously nasty experience.

Friday, 7.30pm, Cameo; Saturday, 3.45pm, Cameo.

Adam
Star rating: ***
Dir: Max Mayer
With: Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne

FORREST Gump, Rain Man, Scent of a Woman - when Hollywood does disability it's usually a cue to head for the hills, or at least hide under the cinema seat to escape the orgy of over-acting and earnestness, albeit well-intentioned, coming your way. The subtle and entertaining Adam, the festival's closing gala, shows the industry has learned from its mistakes but has some way to go still.

Electronics engineer Adam (Hugh Dancy) has recently lost his father. A tough enough ordeal for most people, but Adam, who has Asperger Syndrome, is less equipped than most to cope with change. There's change of a more positive kind when a new neighbour, Beth (Rose Byrne of TV's Damages) moves into his Manhattan apartment block.

Max Mayer's comedy drama begins gently, allowing Beth and the audience to slowly pick up on Adam and his ways. After that, alas, the script starts to deal in megaphone diplomacy, as when Adam gazes upon a pair of racoons in Central Park and muses about them not really belonging there but they get along fine anyway. A billboard with 70ft high letters would have conveyed a more subtle message about difference and tolerance.

Mayer and his cast - Dancy in particular - have clearly done their homework about Asperger Syndrome, which makes it more of a pity that they go for an ending that comes perilously close to suggesting that such a complex condition can be smoothed away with a little extra effort.

Tomorrow, 9.30pm, Cineworld.

The First Day of the Rest of Your Life
Star rating: ***
Dir: Remi Bezancon
With: Jacques Gamblin, Deborah Francois

REMI Bezancon's family drama, a box office hit in its native France last year, plays out like high-end soap opera, with a glossy setting, attractive leads, and several dramatic peaks to liven up the otherwise familiar tale of siblings and their parents which stretches over the decades.

All Duval family life is here, from the loss of a beloved pet to leaving home for university and first love, first heartbreak.

Bezancon's picture is at its most enthralling when it focuses on the small details of family life, the in-jokes, the routine chaos and the simmering rivalry between siblings, in this case brothers. It's the lone sister, Fleur, played by Deborah Francois, who makes the biggest impression. Protected by her big brothers but determined to go her own way as much as possible, Fleur is an Everywoman for the age. A wonderful performance by Francois:another French film star is born.

Sunday, noon, Cameo.

Best of the Fest
The party's almost over, but there's still a chance to see again those films that sold out during the event, and the word of mouth hits. So, last couple of days, last chance to see, what to go for? The Herald recommends:

Ice Age 3. Find out how Scrat, Ellie, Diego and Sid are faring in the UK premiere of Ice Age 3. (tomorrow, 2.15pm, Cineworld).

Moon, the sci-fi drama from Duncan Jones, aka Zowie Bowie, soon to be known as one of the brightest prospects in British film for years (Sunday, 7.10pm, Filmhouse).