London Film Fest: Heavy is the head

As the 63rd BFI London Film Festival heads into its first weekend, the range of films continues to be astonishing - from children's adventures to freak-out horror, experimental art films, indie comedies and even a blockbuster or two. This doesn't actually feel so much like a festival as a particularly condensed film season at the British Film Institute. Basically, it's the greatest hits from Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Venice and Toronto, with a number of world premieres thrown in for fun. Critics are already run ragged by Day 2, with so many movies that it's impossible to even see half of our wish lists. But we'll give it a go. Here are Friday highlights...

The King
dir David Michod; with Timothee Chalamet, Joel Edgerton 19/UK ****
The gloomy intensity that floods through this British historical drama very nearly swamps the screen, leaving it rather murky and brooding. But the script is so sharp, and the actors so good at finding the textures of their characters, that the story comes to life with some surprising moments of modern-day resonance. And filmmaker David Michod stages both the tense conversations and muddy battles with gusto.

Luce
dir Julius Onah; with Kelvin Harrison Jr, Naomi Watts 19/US ****
Strikingly well written and directed, this drama has a powerhouse cast that brings huge themes strongly to life. Based on JC Lee's play, the film uses barbed dialog to grapple with a powerful issue, which makes it intimate and deeply unsettling. Director Julius Onah skilfully cuts through the heavily weighted story to focus on personal reactions and relationships, which helps the film deliver a number of pungent kicks... FULL REVIEW >

Little Joe
dir Jessica Hausner; with Emily Beecham, Ben Whishaw 19/Aut ***
There's a cleverly unnerving tone to this subtly artful thriller, which combines science-fiction elements with the undercurrents of an old-fashioned monster movie. Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner keeps the lights bright and the colours garish all the way through, yet still creates a relentless sense of tension as characters try to work out if something truly horrible is afoot.

Wounds
dir-scr Babak Anvari; with Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson 19/UK ****
Following on from his inventive Iranian horror Under the Shadow, filmmaker Babak Anvari breathes fresh life into an American-set scary movie. There's a energising, realistic scruffiness to this bonkers story of an everyman who discovers the hard way that there's nothing of depth in his life. This attention to darker themes marks this as much more than a gonzo freakout. But it's that too.

I Lost My Body [J'ai Perdu Mon Corps]
dir Jeremy Clapin; voices Hakim Faris, Victoire Du Bois 19/Fr *****
With a spectacular visual sensibility, this animated French thriller tells a strikingly original tale that inventively sparks the viewer's imagination. Offbeat and fiendishly clever, the film has been designed in a way that looks fully cinematic, offering vivid perspectives and a fully formed experience that appeals to all the senses. It's also a refreshingly grown up movie that will connect with the childish dreamer inside... FULL REVIEW >

Bacurau
dir-scr Kleber Mendonca Filho, Juliano Dornelles; with Barbara Colen, Thomas Aquino 19/Br ****
A staggering exploration of Brazil's past and present, this darkly satirical fable is witty, engaging and deeply disturbing. Filmmakers Kleber Mendonca Filho and Juliano Dornelles capture the matter-of-fact rhythms of a close community while also unflinchingly tapping into the violent impulses that come both within and from outside. And while there is a continual stream of humour, it's the violence that lingers. Mainly because of what it means.

Links:

Shadows LONDON FILM FEST homepage (full reviews will be linked here) 

Official LONDON FILM FEST site