Nicolas Winding Refn has long been at odds with society. For his debut film, `Pusher', he moved into the dark world of the drugs dealers. Nick Hasted meets the clear-eyed `infiltrator'

In the summer months Britain becomes home for crowds of foreigners seeking a cool and damp change from the blazing sunshine at home. When they arrive here, they discover an unsuspected hazard: the English language. The trouble with the English language, many of them complain to me, is that it is not spoken the same way that it is taught at home, and is full of phrases like "Don't mind if I do" and "Brass monkey weather", which are quite inexplicable.

The creator of cult TV show 'This Life' never planned to be a writer. Now she's a hot new property, working with the best in British film

But 'Twin Town' isn't a film about male voice choirs or the death of the mining industry. And it's not a Welsh 'Trainspotting' either. Even if Danny Boyle was executive producer

A sharp 35-per-cent rise in film audiences in just the first three months of this year shows that British cinema is continuing to revive.

"Aw ... ah wanted the radge tae gist f--- off ootae ma visage, tae go oan his ain, n gist leave us wi Jean Claude. Oan the other hand, ah'd be getting sick tae before long, and if that c--- went n scored, he'd haud oot oan us."

From 'Cracker' to 'Trainspotting', Robert Carlyle is rarely off our screens. Nicholas Barber met him

SHOWBUSINESS lost one of its most enduring stars yesterday with the death of comedian George Burns, just a few weeks after his 100th birthday.

Movie culture is thriving north of the border, writes John Arlidge

First it was a best-selling novel, then a West End play. Now it's an acclaimed film. In a rare interview, Irvine Welsh, author of the phenomenal 'Trainspotting', talked to Kevin Macdonald about the journey from page to stage to screen

EVER since Erich Von Stroheim, cinema has grossed out on greed. Greed fed a whole avaricious genre: film noir, with its lust for money, lust for power and just plain lust. Von Stroheim's 1924 Greed is more topical than ever: it told of a friendshi p blown apart by the windfall of a lottery win. Many will read the new Brit- ish thriller Shallow Grave (18)

Newcomers steal from their elders, a veteran cannibalises himself. Adam Mars-Jones knows where the bodies are buried. Plus round-up

`I have this absolute belief bred into me that I can do anything, including act'

To Live (Filmhouse 1, 031-229 2550, 14 Aug). Zhang Yimou's latest is about stoicism and revolution, one man's resilience in the turmoil of China between the 1940s and the present day. With another luminous performance from Gong Li, Zhang's leading lady from Ju Dou onwards.