Doug Eadie Movies

This adaptation of three stories from Irvine Welsh's short-story collection of the same name reunites Annie Louise Ross, Kevin McKidd, and Ewen Bremner from the author's previous cinematic success, Trainspotting, which was also set in the author's native North Edinburgh. In the Kafka-esque "The Granton Star Cause," a lazy amateur footballer (Stephen McCole) has a very, very bad day that culminates in God (Maurice Roeves) turning him into an insect. In "A Soft Touch," a young husband and father (McKidd) finds his life disrupted when a psychotic neighbor (Gary McCormack) takes up with his wife (Michelle Gomez) and invades his wretched tenement. And in "The Acid House," a druggie low-life (Bremner) experiences a Freaky Friday-style body switch with the infant son of a pair of self-involved yuppies. After "The Granton Star Cause" was screened separately at the Edinburgh Film Festival, the completed film was shown at Cannes in 1998. The title is a play on the term "acid house," a form of sinister dance music that emerged in Chicago in the mid-'80s and helped fuel the formative years of England's rave culture. Former Doctor Who actor Maurice Roeves, who plays God in "The Granton Star Cause," also has cameos in the other two segments. Jemma Redgrave, niece of Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave and cousin of Natasha and Joely Richardon, appears in the title segment and lends her Bjork-haired visage to the film's poster. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

The many small dramas that go on simultaneously on a small Gaelic-speaking island off the coast of Scotland are the subject of this affectionate drama. Callum (Iain F. Macleod) can't decide whether to study hard and wind up going to a big university or to slack off some and stick around so he can be with his first girlfriend, Kirsty. Meanwhile, retired schoolmaster McAllister (Ken Hutchison) is secretly in love with a young nurse (Wilma Kennedy) who is about to get married to a young man nearer her own age. McAllister amuses himself by keenly observing all the goings-on around his village, and is fascinated by a resident whose origins are unknown to anyone, who does not reveal anything about himself. English subtitles are provided when the dialog is in Gaelic. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi