LEAFF: Baby it's cold outside

London East Asia Film Festival held its closing gala tonight in Leicester Square, with the UK premiere of the sci-fi action thriller Warriors of Future. It's been a terrific festival, packed with unexpected delights on the screen, plus some seriously fabulous curated food and cocktails at the sponsoring venues. Here in Part 2 of 2 are comments on six more features and three more documentaries, followed by the award winners. The jury I headed presented best film, best documentary and a special jury prize, and I was also involved in presenting all of the other awards on-stage...

Anima
dir-scr Cao Jinling; with Eric Wang, Qi Xi 21/Chn ****
Gorgeously shot in spectacular locations by ace cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-Bing, this Chinese drama taps into some moving elemental themes as it tells the story of an indigenous foundling who grows up without losing his connection to nature. First-time writer-director Cao Jinling sets the story over several decades in northern Inner Mongolia, filming in all four seasons, including extreme winters. And while the plot is simple, the deeper themes are complex and powerful.

Warriors of Future
dir Ng Yuen-Fai; with Louis Koo, Sean Lau 22/Chn ***
With high ambitions, this sci-fi action thriller from Hong Kong looks terrific, and has some cleverly quirky touches in its premise about plucky soldiers battling a planet-gobbling plant. But also it's let down by an under-developed, over-serious script that relies on trite cliches. Thankfully, actor-producer Louis Koo and his up-for-it costars keep things thrilling through a series of well-staged set-pieces, turning this into a solid guilty pleasure.

A Hundred Flowers
dir Genki Kawamura; with Masaki Suda, Mieko Harada 22/Jpn ***.
Dreamy and observant, this low-key Japanese drama digs deeply into the connections between its complex characters. With a distinctive visual style, filmmaker Genki Kawamura deploys inventive filmmaking touches, as the story deals with issues surrounding both dementia and past trauma. Keisuke Imamura's cinematography is particularly skilful, remaining close to characters to offer perspective and insight. So even if it meanders, this delicate and evocative film carries real emotional power.

Pretty Heart
dir Terry Ng Ka-Wai; with Jennifer Yu Heung-Ying, Vincent Wong 22/Chn ***
From Hong Kong, this witty romantic comedy has a snappy pace that blends a variety of plot elements, including an opposites-attract love story and a darker emotional drama touching on grief, illness, regret and resentment. Set in a school, it's a very talkative movie, loaded with barbed banter as educators clash about teaching methods. And while it gets rather melodramatic, it's also charming thanks to its lively characters and brisk direction from filmmaker Terry Ng Ka-Wai.

The Sparring Partner
dir Ho Cheuk-Tin; with Alan Yeung, Mak Pui-Tung 22/Chn ***.
A sensational real-life 2013 double murder case is brought to the screen with edgy style. Using spiralling flashbacks, director Ho Cheuk-Tin assembles pieces of the story with a bracing focus on the characters, getting into the minds of the killers before the crime and then following them through the trial. Along the way, sparky relatives, lawyers and jury members also engage as they take their own journeys. The level of detail is riveting, even if the film feels both rushed and overlong.

The Apartment With Two Women
dir-scr Kim Se-In; with Lym Ji-Ho, Yang Mal-Bok 21/Kor ***.
 Extremely detailed characters bring this prickly Korean mother-daughter drama to vivid life, allowing fine actors to sustain the interest across an over-extended running time. With her debut feature, writer-director Kim Se-In is exploring enormous psychological issues that extend beyond being a parent and child, including resentment, neediness and the yearning for love and acceptance. This is done with a lacerating sense of pitch-black humour and honesty that's sometimes jaw-dropping.

Far Away Eyes
dir-scr Wang Chun-Hong; with Wang Chun-Hong, Chen Yi-Ting 21/Tai ***.
Although this is categorised as a documentary, it feels more like a freeform narrative feature. So maybe it should be designated as a reality art film. Taiwanese writer-director Wang Chun-Hong puts himself at the centre, intimately observing himself as he deeply considers various challenges. Gorgeously shot in black and white with an inventive use of long takes and reflective images, the film looks fantastic. Although its melancholic mood and aimless structure may try the patience.

Fanatic
dir Oh Se-yeon; with Oh Se-yeon, Kim Eun-bin 21/Kor ***.
As Korea produces the world's biggest popstars, movies and television series, the global fanbase has become frighteningly impassioned. Filmmaker Oh Se-yeon, a former K-pop obsessive herself, follows a several fans as they unflinchingly support their idols even when caught in a scandal. With deadpan narration, this witty film's fly-on-the-wall style captures some hilarious moments as it highlights the absurdity of worshipping a public figure, and also how much joy and love it brings.

To: My Nineteen-Year-Old Self
dir Mabel Cheung; with Katie Long, Karen Lo 22/Chn ***
A decade in the making, this documentary follows a group of 11-year-old girls as they grow into young adults. Filmmaker Maggie Cheung uses this time-span to observe their changing aspirations and expectations in a fly-on-the-wall style. The indulgent running time includes rather a lot of unnecessary side detail, while nonstop chatter makes reading subtitles for so long a chore. But it's a fast-paced film packed with large personalities and hilarious moments. 

L E A F F   2 0 2 2   A W A R D S

Critics' Circle Award for Best Film: Anima - by Cao Jinling

Documentary: Virga - by Won Ho-Yeon, Jung Tae-Kyoung

Special Jury Prize: Mama Boy - by Arvin Chen

Performance: Lee Jung-Eun - Hommage

Rising Star: Yim Si-Wan - Emergency Declaration

Outstanding Achievement: Louis Koo - Warriors of Future

Honorary Award: Lee Jung-Jae - Hunt

Note that a longer review will appear on the site if a film gets a cinema release. 

LEAFF: If looks could kill

The London East Asia Film Festival is packed with terrific movies and events, bringing the culture of Korea, Thailand, Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to venues around town. I'm the head of this year's competition jury, which is made up of Critics' Circle members. And it's been great to watch a series of films that would otherwise be very difficult to find in the UK. Here's half of the competition programme, six narrative features and two docs. Part 2 of 2 will follow...

Hunt
dir Lee Jung-Jae; with Lee Jung-Jae, Jung Woo-Sung 22/Kor ***.
Acclaimed Squid Game star Lee Jung-Jae steps into directing duties for this action-packed political thriller. Set in a period of real-life political turmoil, the script adeptly weaves fictional conspiracies and counterplots that keep the audience guessing right to the end. And the smartest touch is to scramble motivations, questioning what makes someone a hero or villain. This adds something to think about during an adrenaline rush of a movie... FULL REVIEW >

Missing
dir Shinzo Katayama; with Jiro Sato, Aoi Ito 22/Jpn ****
Complex and twisty, this riveting Japanese drama centres on an offbeat father and daughter who become entangled with a friendly serial killer. Beautifully directed by Shinzo Katayama, the story unfolds in layers that reveal surprising motivations. It also defies expectations at every turn, bristling with messy connections and wrenching emotions, plus situations that have a blackly comical edge to them.

Mama Boy
dir Arvin Chen; with Kai Ko, Vivian Hsu 21/Tai ***.
Two mother-son relationships intertwine to find warm, witty connections in this offbeat Taiwanese drama. Filmmaker Arvin Chen creates vivid characters who transcend stereotypes to surprise each other and the audience, worming their way under our skin to elicit sympathy even when they do something thoughtless. It's an involving film that gets a bit melodramatic but remains charming to the end.

Virgin Blue
dir-scr Niu Xiaoyu; with Ye Zi, Shengzhi Zheng 22/Chn ***.
Thoughtful and evocative, this subdued drama has a striking visual sensibility that plays on perceptions to scramble time and relationships. It's a story about a woman with dementia and her cheeky granddaughter sharing a flat that's haunted by ghosts from the past. Colourful musical fantasy sequences add to feel that we're watching dreams within memories.

The Abandoned
dir Ying-Ting Tseng; with Janine Chun-Ning Chang, Ethan Juan 22/Tai ***
Set in a particularly rainy Taiwan, this relatively standard serial killer thriller is spiced up with deeper emotions. There's also some sharp topicality in the setting among undocumented workers and human trafficking. It's sharply written and directed to dig beneath the surface even as the plot follows the expected twisty route to its conclusion. And it gets very grisly indeed.

Manchurian Tiger
dir Geng Jun; with Zhang Yu, Ma Li 21/Chn ***
With minimalistic dialog, this blackly comical Chinese drama features an ensemble cast playing a range of eccentric people wrestling with the realities of modern life. Observational, the film moves at its own quirky pace, barely bothering to string a narrative together. Filmmaker Geng Jung has a terrific eye for detail, vividly capturing the culture of this wintry northeastern city. But the film is long and rambling.

Virga
dir Won Ho-Yeon, Jung Tae-Kyoung; with Shasha, Enzo, Jamie, James 22/Kor ****
A truly global documentary, this powerful film explores the situations for a variety of children who, because their parents are undocumented migrants, have no nationality of their own. Filming in several countries in Southeast Asia, directors Won Ho-Yeon and Jung Tae-Kyoung hone in on a handful of kids to tell their distinctly personal stories. The result is eye-opening, moving and staggeringly important.

Salute
dir Hung-i Yao; with Fang-yi Sheu, Ying-Hsuan Hsieh 22/Tai ***.
While it runs too long, this documentary about iconic dancer Fang-yi Sheu is packed with wonderfully inventive sequences, telling her story through music, dance and performance rather than interviews or voiceovers. It gorgeously traces the life of this gifted dancer from childhood to her late 40s, facing retirement but still going strong. Which makes the film both beautiful and inspiring.

Note that a longer review will appear on the site if a film gets a cinema release.

~~~~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~~ 

C R I T I C A L    W E E K

Non-festival films I've watched this week include the riotously inventive animated adventure-comedy Wendell & Wild, the offbeat and unnerving horror thriller Barbarian, the enjoyably camp 1950s drama Please Baby Please, the lavish biopic Hilma and the earthy Israeli drama Like Me.

This coming week, in addition to more Asian movies, I'll be watching the biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, action thriller Medieval, quirky horror Something in the Dirt and acclaimed foreign-language films Holy Spider and All Quiet on the Western Front.

Critical Week: We don't need another hero

October is a fairly insane month for a film critic in London, with several overlapping festivals at any given time, plus the onslaught of awards season screenings. The London Film Festival ended on Sunday night, and on Wednesday I was on-stage at the opening ceremony of the London East Asia Film Festival, where I'm heading up the jury. This means I have 16 East Asian movies to watch over the next 10 days, plus the usual releases. 

This past week's big movies included the darker-than-usual superhero adventure Black Adam, starring an unusually violent Dwayne Johnson. It's skilfully made, but everything else about the film feels familiar. Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne have meaty roles in The Good Nurse, a wrenching true story that's riveting and very disturbing. And Billy Eichner stars with Luke Macfarlane in Bros, a gay romcom that's a bit smug but also very funny and refreshingly honest about issues of insecurity and self-loathing. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Decision to Leave • Piggy
The Banshees of Inisherin
ALL REVIEWS >

Kicking off LEAFF was the brisk, adrenaline-pumping Korean thriller Hunt, starring Squid Game's Lee Jung-Jae, who also makes an impressive directing debut (I helped present him an honorary award at the opening ceremony). And then there was Voodoo Macbeth, a fascinating drama about Orson Welles' groundbreaking 1936 all-Black stage production of Shakespeare's Scottish play. Made by a crowd at USC Film School, it's an entertaining romp packed with pointed sideroads. Finally, Eternal Spring documents Chinese activists who audaciously hijacked state TV using eye-catching animation and powerful first-hand interviews.

Coming this next week are the horror hit Barbarians, the British drama Enys Men, animated adventure The Amazing Maurice and quite a few films from East Asia.

LFF: The usual suspects

The 66th London Film Festival wrapped up on Sunday night with the European premiere of Glass Onion, the Knives Out sequel. Most of the cast was on-stage to introduce the film and have a post-screening Q&A along with filmmaker Rian Johnson. This was follows by the first LFF closing party I've ever been invited to (thanks, Netflix!) - a huge event themed around the movie. In the end, I saw 40 festival films, which isn't bad at all for not being press accredited. And I have several more screening over the coming weeks. Here's a final list of highlights, plus the award winners and my favourites from the festival...

Glass Onion
dir-scr Rian Johnson; with Daniel Craig, Janelle Monae 22/US ****
After the gleeful chaos of Knives Out, writer-director Rian Johnson returns with another fiendishly well-constructed whodunit for Daniel Craig's lively sleuth Benoit Blanc. This film isn't quite as camp, but it's even funnier as the plot crashes through its crazy twists and turns, subverting the mystery genre itself before giving in to its more enjoyable pleasures: make everyone a suspect before unpeeling a satisfyingly thumping conclusion.

The Inspection
dir-scr Elegance Bratton; with Jeremy Pope, Gabrielle Union 22/US ****.
There's striking artistry in the way filmmaker Elegance Bratton recounts an autobiographical narrative about a Black gay man in US Marines boot camp during the "don't ask, don't tell" years. Never preachy, the film has an earthy, intensely internalised tone that puts its complex characters into a razor-sharp perspective. And its knowing authenticity adds both deep emotion and a textured, vital comment on the nature of bigotry

My Policeman
dir Michael Grandage; with Harry Styles, Emma Corrin 22/UK ***
Because there's such a compelling story at the centre of this British drama, it is packed with strikingly emotional and provocative moments. But the filmmaking is oddly timid, thinning the material in a way that makes it feel soapy. Set in two intriguing periods, the premise raises important issues that deserve attention. So more nuance in the characters and storytelling could have provided an even more potent kick... FULL REVIEW >

Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande
dir Tim MacKenzie-Smith; with Patrick Patterson, Sam Kelly 22/UK ***.
Unsung and hugely influential, the British group Cymande is overdue for a documentary, and this beautifully assembled film is a superb overview. Shot and edited with the same soulful groove the band injected into the music industry, the movie features an entertaining collection of interviews, music and archival film. Director Tim MacKenzie-Smith clearly has a lot of affection for the band. And so do we after watching his film.

A W A R D S

• Best Film: CORSAGE
• Audience Award: BLUE BAG LIFE
• Documentary: ALL THAT BREATHES
• First Feature: 1976
• Immersive: AS MINE EXACTLY
• Short Film: I HAVE NO LEGS AND I MUST RUN
• Audience Award - Short: DROP OUT
• Surprise film: THE MENU

R I C H ’ S   B E S T   O F   F E S T

1. NO BEARS
2. CAUSEWAY
3. DECISION TO LEAVE
4. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
5. LIVING
6. THE INSPECTION
7. ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED
8. TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
9. BLUE JEAN
   
10. GLASS ONION

As I have time, full reviews of London Film Festival films will be linked to SHADOWS' LFF PAGE >

Dance: Body consciousness

Enowate
director-choreographer-performer Dickson Mbi
composer Roger Goula
lighting Lee Curran
costumes Daniel Lismore
animation Nick Hillel & Adam Smith
voices Patrice Naiambana, Michael Ajao, Sapphire Jo
Sadler's Wells, London • 14-125.Oct.22

Inspired by a journey to his ancestral home in Cameroon, Dickson Mbi explores his multiple identities in a show that begins with some comical miming before turning moody and menacing, with animalistic imagery and aggressive movement. It's an intriguing trip from London's East End to the dark heart of Africa, accompanied by a wide range of music and imagery. 

With a title that means "truth stands" it's clear that Mbi has big ambitions for this show, and there are some indulgent touches along the way. But it's also remarkably visceral, capturing the audience on an almost subliminal level. As it opens, Mbi is lying in stripes of light on a blank stage, struggling to get his body moving, seemingly attached to the floor. Eventually it's just one hand that's not responding, resulting in some witty interaction with the audience, accompanied by the sounds of kids at play.

Then there's a blackout and things change dramatically. Emerging from a pinpoint of light is that renegade hand, and then Mbi's upper torso, bent forward head down, creating a shape that looks otherworldly, like an alien being or mythical sea creature. As spotlights flicker on and off, he appears all around the stage, as if this is an invading army, before taking a central position for some full-bodied movement and a finale that makes spectacular use of music and projected animation.

Through all of this, there are echoes of iconic artistic imagery, and the musical styles also shift through genres to both set the scene and alter the tone. The production is skilfully assembled, but it's Mbi's astonishing physicality that makes the show hypnotic, mixing his experience as a hip-hop performer with strength-based contemporary dance. It's both aggressive and softly moving. And while the meaning remains elusive, the feelings are intense.

photos by Nick Thornton Jones, Warren DuPreez
and Foteini Christofilopoulou • 14.Oct.22

LFF: Ground yourself

As the 66th London Film Festival comes into its final days, I know that not being press accredited has meant that I have missed quite a few of the big titles, but I've also been able to discover lots of smaller unexpected gems along the way. And I'll see the bigger films anyway when they are released (or in awards season screenings). I've also been just as busy each day, but without those nasty 8am starts. And I haven't been in a single queue. I've also, for the first time in 28 years, been invited to the closing night party, although the invite came from Netflix not the LFF. I'll have one last post on Monday with a few more films, the award winners and my best of the fest. In the meantime, here are more highlights...

You Won't Be Alone
dir-scr Goran Stolevski; with Anamaria Marinca, Alice Englert 22/Ser ****
Delighting in a particularly yucky grisliness, this dramatic horror film has a timeless quality to it, feeling almost like a tone poem as it explores elemental feelings in an almost primordial setting. Writer-director Goran Stolevski has a wonderfully original approach to building tension in mostly wordless scenes, playing with light and sound while dipping into some genuinely nasty imagery. And a deeper exploration of gender makes the film haunting.

Decision to Leave
dir Park Chan-wook; with Tang Wei, Park Hae-il 22/Kor ****.
Whizzy visual touches make this far more intriguing than the usual police procedural thriller. But then, master filmmaker Park Chan-wook doesn't make simplistic movies, and this churning mystery is packed with jagged humour, eerie violence and an understated but powerfully heated noir-style romance. It's a dazzling film that tightens its grip with an intricately constructed drama that's both witty and emotionally powerful.

Inland
dir-scr Fridtjof Ryder; with Rory Alexander, Mark Rylance 22/UK ***
Infused with moody atmospherics, this dark and insinuating British fairy tale has a densely wooded setting and characters who are driven by past events they may not understand. Using inventive, sometimes experimental filmmaking, writer-director Fridtjof Ryder keeps the tone otherworldly from the start, evoking primal emotionality and ancient pagan rituals. But the storytelling is so loose that details of the plot feel just out of reach.

The Blue Caftan [Le Bleu du Caftan]
dir-scr Maryam Touzani; with Lubna Azabal, Saleh Bakri 22/Mor ****
Opening on luxuriant folds of blue silk, this Moroccan drama maintains a fluid tone that pulls the audience deep inside. Writer-director Maryam Touzani beautifully depicts details that are disappearing in the modern world, where people are too impatient to wait for hand-crafted tailoring. And the narrative is unusually involving, weaving in personal themes that have a strong emotional impact.

Crows Are White
dir Ahsen Nadeem; with Ahsen Nadeem, Kamahori, Ryushin 22/US ****
Beautifully photographed in otherworldly locations that have been rarely seen by outsiders, this documentary has a compelling narrative structure as it explores the nature of faith and traditions in the present day, specifically looking at Buddhism and Islam. Set out as a personal journey, this complex odyssey centres on filmmaker Ahsen Nadeem as he explores extreme lengths people go to in search of enlightenment. The offbeat result is witty, personal, revealing and strongly resonant. 

Plus one of the best films I saw in Venice...

The Banshees of Inisherin
dir-scr Martin McDonagh; with Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson 22/Ire ****.
Focussing on seemingly inconsequential events, this witty Irish drama becomes a startlingly vivid look at human interaction. Writer-director Martin McDonagh has an uncanny ability to sharply capture connections in small communities while echoing larger themes. So this often absurdly funny film brings continually surprising textures and impacts, with a literal civil war taking place in the distance. And the contained story at the centre is almost criminally satisfying... FULL REVIEW >

All London Film Festival reviews, once they're uploaded, will be linked to SHADOWS' LFF PAGE >

~~~~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~~

C R I T I C A L   W E E K

There were a few non festival movies this week, including Jamie Lee Curtis' final (supposedly) movie in the 40-year franchise, Halloween Ends, which is enjoyably grisly but not very scary; the silly and surprisingly sophisticated comedy adventure Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, with a singing-dancing Javier Bardem; the creepy and clever Irish horror-drama Nocebo; and the unexpectedly involving zombie pastiche The Loneliest Boy in the World.

Coming this next week are Dwayne Johnson in Black Adam, Billy Eichner in Bros and several more LFF movies, including Harry Styles in My Policeman and Daniel Craig in the closing movie Glass Onion, plus films for both the Iris Prize Festival and the London East Asia Film Festival, followed closely by Raindance. Yes, it's a festival traffic jam this month.

Stage: I wanna live forever

Fame Wh*re
writer-director Tom Ratcliffe
performer-lyricist Gigi Zahir
producer Sarah Allen
set Alys Whitehead
lighting Hugo Dodsworth
King's Head Theatre, Islington • 5-29.Oct.22

Cleverly riffing on the idea that today's youth believe that they deserve to be famous, this one-person show bristles with huge ideas relating to social media and reality television. And while it centres around a hilarious drag act, with a constant barrage of razor-sharp punchlines, it's ultimately a remarkably dark story that spirals into a series of painful emotions. Most importantly, writer Tom Ratcliffe never tries to elicit the audience's sympathy.

That job is left to performer Gigi Zahir, aka Crayola the Queen, who plays Becky Biro with an entitled sense of desperation. Becky knows that she will be a huge star, and that there's no way she won't land a spot on the hot reality competition show Drag Factor. In fact, her life can't be complete without this expected triumph. So it's galling to her that her friend and arch-rival Cindy has achieved that stardom without her. Becky has worked herself to the bone to be a success, and she's not going to be held back by her still-small number of social media followers. She has a plan to fix this, as long as it doesn't backfire.

Zahir bounds around the stage delivering earnest pleas to her followers, while offering cynical asides to the audience that reveal her deep insecurities. Although since it's in performed the round, there are a few long stretches where we're looking at the back of her huge blue wig. It's a full-bodied performance, complete with costume changes, and Zahir's boldest work is in scenes in which Becky's insincerity and self-loathing are on full display.

Becky is delusional about her importance in the world, and her friends aren't very loyal, including both Cindy and Becky's trans drag-king boyfriend Chris. These and other characters (all played by Zahir) appear on video projections that cleverly recreate FaceTime calls and a Zoom hearing of a drag council that determines Becky's fate.

In a brisk hour, Ratcliffe's script adeptly punctures the intense pressure wannabe influencers inflict on themselves about their social media status, veering from the highs of going viral to the lows of vicious trolling. To many young people, followers are the ultimate currency, and expectations are often unrealistic. There are also pointed references to cancel culture, online sex work, transphobia and violent assaults. 

Thankfully, the tone is lightened by a series of hilariously lacerating jokes and riotous pastiche songs like the bouncy Cheese Is Lovely, which Becky notes is, like her, both delicious and nutritious. So while we're hugely entertained, it's the complexity and depth of the material that leaves us with something to think about. 

photos by Charles Flint • 11.Oct.22

LFF: Own the night

It's odd to experience the 66th London Film Festival from the outside, after 28 years covering it as accredited press. I'm seeing as many films as usual, but the process is far less stressful, as I'm working with distributors and publicists who invite me to screenings, rather than queuing up for early morning press shows. It's still very busy, but it's remarkable how less stressful it is when you see whatever you can and don't worry about anything else. This has also provided some nice surprises this year so far. Here's another bunch of highlights...

Empire of Light
dir-scr Sam Mendes; with Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward 22/UK ****
Writer-director Sam Mendes packs perhaps too much into this personal 1980s drama. Infused with a love of cinema, the film's central storyline also takes on loneliness, racism, sexual harassment and mental illness. It's rather a lot for such a warmly beautiful film, but if any actress can bridge all of this material together it's Olivia Colman, who radiates emotional resonance that brings focus to each theme and makes this well worth a look.

Utama
dir-scr Alejandro Loayza Grisi; with Jose Calcina, Luisa Quispe 22/Bol ****
The title of this Bolivian drama is the Quechua word for "our home". Set in the highlands, it focusses on the details of life for an elderly couple that is grappling with an extended drought. Writer-director Alejandro Loayza Grisi assembles this in a documentary style, creating a vivid depiction of the local culture. It's a gorgeous slice of life with properly momentous undertones.

Rodeo
dir-scr Lola Quivoron; with Julie Ledru, Yannis Lafki 22/Fr ***
Diving headlong into a subculture, this French drama spirals around a young woman who is obsessed with riding off-road motorbikes in street gangs. There's little context to the characters or situations, and the script's plot feels rather over-familiar as it develops a series of moral conundrums. But writer-director Lola Quivoron blasts energy through each scene, which makes the film feel urgent and involving. And biker-turned-actress Julie Ledru has terrific screen presence.

And four films I saw previously...

Triangle of Sadness
dir-scr Ruben Ostlund; with Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean 22/Swe ****
Another lively provocation from Swedish filmmaker Ruben Ostlund, this pitch-black comedy overflows as big ideas are laced through an ambitiously epic tale. It's an exploration of the divisive nature of class, gender, race, disability and language. And as the plot spirals through its pointed chapters, the film can also be seen as a social media parable. It's messy, but the way it challenges the viewer is also exhilarating... FULL REVIEW >

The Whale
dir Darren Aronofsky; with Brendan Fraser, Hong Chau 22/US ***.
Based on Samuel Hunter's play and retaining a stagey claustrophobia, this pointed drama is unusually contained for Darren Aronofsky. It's about how people impact each other for good and bad, and is likely to divide viewers along lines of optimism and cynicism. Although few will be able to resist a startlingly winning performance from Brendan Fraser, even from within an enormous fat suit. And the deeper ideas strike a nerve... FULL REVIEW >

Butterfly Vision
dir Maksym Nakonechnyi; with Rita Burkovska, Liubomyr Valivots 22/Ukr ****
Beautifully observed with a sharp attention to detail, this Ukrainian film is packed with powerful issues but plays out matter-of-factly, without exaggerated melodrama. Set during Russia's long campaign in Donbas, before this year's invasion, the film is less timely than timeless, with scenes that are packed with complex issues and personal nuance. And as it takes on bigger ideas, this clear-eyed but over-serious film becomes often unnervingly resonant... FULL REVIEW >

The Damned Don't Cry [Les Damnés Ne Pleurent Pas]
dir-scr Fyzal Boulifa; with Aicha Tebbae, Abdellah El Hajjouji 22/Mor ****
Grounded and earthy, this Moroccan drama finds resonance in a complex relationship between a woman and her teen son. It's the kind of film in which the audience must work to discover deeper truths about the events depicted. The premise feels bracingly realistic, impossible to predict as it cycles through events that are hopeful and darkly troubling. And this authenticity in the story and characters bravely takes on the system... FULL REVIEW >

All London Film Festival reviews, once they're uploaded, will be linked to SHADOWS' LFF PAGE >