Critical Week: A colourful life

I ended last year watching Federico Fellini's masterpiece La Dolce Vita, and then this week caught his earlier I Vitelloni as part of the Fellini retrospective at BFI Southbank. All of which confirms Fellini as my favourite all-time filmmaker: his way of capturing the energy of life on-screen is unparalleled. I Vitelloni (which essentially translates as The Young Bucks) is a powerful 1953 drama about a group of lazy, life-loving guys in their late-20s, grappling with thoughts about their future. Marriages, affairs, capers, relationships and some provocative personal issues make the film vivid and intensely engaging. The cast is terrific, and it's so cool that it's almost overpowering. A great reminder to see classics on the big screen whenever possible.

There were only two press screenings for me this week. The Runaways is a gently paced British adventure about three kids and two donkeys travelling across Yorkshire to find their mother. It's beautifully shot, and surprisingly dark. And The Uncertain Kingdom is a collection of 20 short films (they screened 9 for us) that highlight the turbulence in British culture at the moment - beautifully made dramas, comedies and documentaries looking at income inequality, racism and bigotry, government apathy and of course Brexit.

In addition, I had a chance to revisit two films. First was Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which I needed to see as a fan (the first time felt like work), and I had the same reaction: it's both hugely entertaining and naggingly disappointing. And I attended the premiere of The Host, a British-Dutch thriller that riffs on the premise of Psycho, with some added twists. It was fun to host the post-screening Q&A with actors Mike Beckingham, Maryam Hassouni, Suan-Li Ong, Nigel Barber, Togo Igawa and the awesome Ruby Turner, plus producer extraordinaire Zachary Weckstein and gifted cinematographer Oona Menges.

I've only got one press screening in the diary this coming week, James Norton as a journalist in the true story Mr Jones. I'm sure other things will come up, and in the meantime I've got a lot of work to do producing the London Critics' Circle Film Awards at the end of the month.