One of our highlights of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, which ended yesterday, was meeting Ben Barnes, who plays Prince Caspian in the latest Chronicles Of Narnia film. But it was a bit unfortunate that we’d forgotten, when going over to congratulate him for his performance in new low-budget Brit flick Bigga Than Ben, that we’d described his Prince Caspian performance as “dreary” and “charmless” in our review in heat. Oops! Ben was very professional, although we heard from a third party he wasn’t very happy about the review. Don’t worry, Ben, we did really like you as a Russian scam artist in Bigga Than Ben, which is set to open in the UK this autumn. In the festival, Somers Town, directed by Shane Meadows (This Is England) won the jury prize for best film, while ace documentary Man On Wire – about Frenchman Philippe Petit, who walked on a tightrope between the World Trade Center Twin Towers in 1974 – won the audience award. The Rotten Tomatoes website’s Critical Consensus prize – voted by a panel of film critics including yours truly – deservedly went to Swedish teen vampire flick Let The Right One In.
Posted by Charles Gant, heat Film Editor