BFI Flare: Let your light shine

The 40th BFI Flare kicked off on Wednesday night with a lively world premiere for Hunky Jesus at BFI Southbank, attended by many of the cast and crew, including several of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who ceremoniously conferred sainthood on the film's director on-stage. This was followed by a terrific party, as always running very late on a school night! And now the festival is up and running at full speed. This is my 30th year covering this event, and here is the first handful of notes about films I'm watching (Critical Week is below)...

Hunky Jesus
dir-scr Jennifer M Kroot; with Sister Roma, Sister Vish Knew 26/US ****
Recounting the story of San Francisco's iconic Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, this documentary is hugely entertaining on a variety of levels. Aside from being riotously funny and drenched in vibrant colours and joyous sunshine, the film is also remarkably informative as it both chronicles the sisters' history and explores their approach to life. Even more important is the way filmmaker Jennifer Kroot provides a series of pointed kicks.

Maspalomas
dir Aitor Arregi, Jose Mari Goenaga; with Jose Ramon Soroiz, Nagore Aranburu 25/Sp ****
With a pointed premise that's rarely depicted on screen, this Basque drama continually catches our attention with honest drama and realistic emotions surrounding an older gay man. Filmmakers Aitor Arregi and Jose Mari Goenaga take a superbly offhanded approach to the narrative and characters. Shot in an almost documentary style, the film relies more on unspoken interaction than dialog, which encourages the audience to engage more deeply.

10s Across the Borders
dir Chan Sze-Wei; with Xyza Pinklady Mizrahi, Teddy Oricci 25/Ph ****
Covering the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, this documentary captures the exuberant spark of queer young people who find a sense of belonging at voguing balls, carrying on the iconic New York tradition. Using fly-on-the-wall camerawork, filmmaker Chan Sze-Wei allows these bright stars to reveal their hopes and aspirations in conversation with each other. Their big personalities come through in everything they do, especially when they're striking provocative poses.

Uchronia
dir Fil Ieropoulos; with Kristof Lamp, Flomaria Papadaki 26/GR ***
Inspired by Arthur Rimbaud's poem A Season in Hell, experimental Greek filmmakers Fil Ieropoulos and Foivos Dousos take an outrageously surreal look at queer identity and legacy. Their multi-lingual approach inventively mixes documentary and drama, using a kaleidoscopic range of film clips. It's a bold film that continually takes jabs at how society pushes damaging ideas while compromising and commodifying messages. It's a hypnotic philosophical romp through history.

Full reviews will be linked to the SHADOWS @ BFI FLARE page.

~~~~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~~
C R I T I C A L  W E E K

Watching Oscars live in London on Sunday night, I enjoyed the show for the most part, even if it lacked the surprises I always love. At least there was a very rare tie (for live-action short). Michael B Jordan was a worthy winner, the largest cheer of the night, while Jessie Buckley gave far and away the best speech. And it was great to see Autumn Durald Arkapaw claim a trophy. Conan O'Brien was a funny but uneven host. Some gags were inspired, others felt corny. Reunions are fun: those Bridesmaids girls are hilarious, and it was lovely to see Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor mark 25 years since Moulin Rouge. On the other hand Avengers Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans were less fun. Highlights were the two big musical moments, with the dazzling Sinners extravaganza and a Golden K-pop moment. The extended in memorium segment went on a bit, but reminded us of the huge figures we lost last year. 

As for movies, I watched Aneurin Barnard and Jeremy Piven in the uneven thriller Past Life, the warm and scrappy five-strand Irish drama Abode, Christian Petzold's gorgeous German drama Mirrors No 3 starring Paula beer, the gorgeous and inventive Marianne Faithfull doc Broken English, and two excellent docs that were up for Oscars: Iran's moving Cutting Through Rocks and the blood-boiling The Alabama Solution. There was also a live performance of the drama Where There Is No Time at Seven Dials Theatre.

Coming up this next week, I'll be watching Zazie Beetz in They Will Kill You, Jude Law in The Wizard of the Kremlin, Miriam Margolyes in Holy Days, Gianfranco Rosi's Pompei: Below the Clouds, and the premiere of Riz Ahmed's new TV series Bait. Plus of course quite a lot more movies at BFI Flare.

Critical Week: Yet another night in

Aside from a certain royal interview and the evolving lockdown situation, the biggest news this week was the most diverse list of Bafta Film Awards nominations in history, a remarkably varied collection of movies, filmmakers and performances that breaks from their tradition of trying to predict Oscar. Attention to British gems and filmmakers outside the system is particularly notable this year, even with some surprising omissions. BAFTA 2021 NOMINEES >

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Human Voice
Judas and the Black Messiah
The Dissident • Verdict
ALL REVIEWS > 

As for movies this week, I caught up with two films recently out in US cinemas. Silk Road stars Jason Clarke and Nick Robinson (above with Alexandra Shipp) in a true story about the dark web that's fascinating but rather lacking in nuance. And Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley star in Doug Liman's conceptual sci-fi thriller Chaos Walking, a well-made Western-style adventure that fails to deepen its themes or characters.

Further afield, the prison drama Luz is an American independent film infused with Latin culture as it recounts an unusually introspective, tender romance between two inmates. From Germany, Undine is another seriously clever film by Christian Petzold starring Paula Beer and Franz Rogowski, this time a fantastical, whimsical, darkly moving romance. From Australia, Sequin in a Blue Room is an artful coming-of-age drama about a young man on a journey of self-discovery and connection.From Bosnia, Quo Vadis, Aida? is a flatly stunning, unmissable drama about the Srebrenica genocide told from a powerfully involving perspective. From the Philippines, Verdict is an absolutely riveting drama about a woman navigating a torturous legal system. And I decided to catch up with this documentary on the day it received its Bafta nomination...

My Octopus Teacher

dir-scr Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed

with Craig Foster, Tom Foster 

release US/UK 7.Sep.20

20/South Africa Netflix 1h25 *****

Beautifully shot and edited, this documentary recounts an involving story in a way that's enormously engaging as it traces the extraordinary connection between a man and an octopus over nearly a year. It's a riveting exploration of the nature of student and teacher, friend and foe, predator and prey. And as both of them transform their perceptions of each other, the film becomes both moving and inspirational.

Struggling with burn-out, and worried about his ability to be a good father to his teen son Tom, filmmaker Craig Foster turns to the ocean for inspiration, drawing on his childhood in the ocean near his home at the tip of South Africa. In an effort to feel amphibious and to eliminate barriers, he eschews a scuba tank or wetsuit and returns into the kelp forest every day. And he becomes fascinated by an octopus, building trust that leads to an unexpected back-and-forth relationship with her. Their ongoing adventures are simply awesome, revealing the inter-connections between living things.

Cinematographer Roger Horrocks gloriously captures how it feels to float through an underwater forest amid a wide range of creatures. This is augmented by Foster's own work behind the camera, revealing the extravagant diversity, balance and beauty under the sea. Meanwhile, the narrative is grabbing hold of us as we watch these two very different creatures begin to interact in unexpected ways. And the ultimate message is simple and provoctive: "She taught me to feel that I'm part of this place, not a visitor."

9.Mar.21

---

Next week's films include the new four-hour cut of Zack Snyder's Justice League, Robin Wright's Land, the romantic comedy Me You Madness, the comedy drama Shoplifters of the World and the acclaimed Russian drama Dear Comrades. There will also be press screenings for the forthcoming edition of BFI Flare, with the festival itself kicking off virtually on Wednesday 17th March. Reports to come!

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rich Jack Cline (@ukcline)