Film reviews: Mea Maxima Culpa | Good Vibrations | I Wish | In the House

SIOBHAN SYNNOT casts her eye over the latest cinematic releases.
By The Newsroom
Published 24th Mar 2013, 11:10 BST

Mea Maxima Culpa (15)

Rating: * * * *

Documentary maker Alex Gibney is perhaps best known for his timely examination of the Enron scandal. Here he hits the Zeitgeist again, with a film that follows five deaf men who struggled for decades to have their abuse at the hands of a predatory priest acknowledged. The fury is unmistakable, the story heartbreaking – 200 more deaf children may have been affected – and Gibney tracks a disgraceful cover-up within the Catholic church.

Selected release: Glasgow Film Theatre, 29–31 March; Edinburgh Filmhouse, 2-4 April

Good Vibrations (15)

Rating: * * *

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Irish biopic of Terri Hooley, a record shop owner who set up a record shop in Belfast’s most bombed street at the height of the Troubles and named it Good Vibrations. Directors Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn have got a good subject in the feckless, reckless Godfather of Ulster Punk, but their storytelling is predictable and pedestrian, and the film never gets to grips with Hooley’s frequent acts of self-sabotage. Also features a wasted performance by Jodie Whittaker as Mrs Hooley. High points include Hooley’s discovery and promotion of The Undertones. The low is the worst impersonation ever of John Peel.

Selected release: Glasgow Film Theatre, 29-31 March; Edinburgh Filmhouse, 29 March until 11 April

I Wish (PG)

Rating: * * *

Japanese drama about a young boy hoping to reunite his family by making a wish on a Japanese bullet train. The kids are great, but the film is on a slow and meandering track.

Selected release: Edinburgh Filmhouse, 29 March until 2 April

In The House (15)

Rating: * * *

François Ozon directs a drama about a quiet student (Ernst Umhauer) whose precocious essays strike a chord with a jaded French teacher (Fabrice Luchini). Seductive, playful and psychologically dark, but ultimately a piece of arthouse voyeurism. Kristin Scott Thomas gamely pretends to find this all an artful treat.

Selected release: Edinburgh Filmhouse, 29 March until 18 April; Glasgow Film Theatre, 29 March until 11 April