LFF: Find your feet

And that's a wrap on the 67th London Film Festival. I enjoyed taking a slightly less involved approach this year, seeing lots of great movies without trying to see everything I wanted to see. There are still several big titles I need to catch over the coming months before awards voting deadlines, so I have lots to look forward to. The closing night party was great fun too. Here are some final highlights, including the closing film The Kitchen. My favourites are below, along with the award winners...

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
dir Sam Fell; voices Thandiwe Newton, Zachary Levi 23/UK ****
After their great escape in the 2000 classic, the gang returns for an impossible mission. Every moment in the film is packed with throwaway gags, sharp comedy and thrills that riff on heist and action movies. Of course, Aardman's attention to detail shines in the painstaking stop-motion animation, as characters and sets overflow with personality. And the film reminds us to find the bravery to do the right thing.

Poor Things
dir Yorgos Lanthimos; with Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe 23/UK *****
Taking on another fantastical story, Yorgos Lanthimos grounds and deepens this wildly stylised fable with darkly provocative themes. It may be visually extravagant, often going wildly over the top with full-on performances from a daring cast of excellent actors, and yet everything remains grounded in sympathetic emotions. So what the story is saying about polite society becomes almost revolutionary, encouraging us to go against the grain and speak the truth.

The Kitchen
dir Kibwe Tavares, Daniel Kaluuya; with Kane Robinson, Jedaiah Bannerman 23/UK ***.
Set in the near-future, this British film combines elements of comedy, drama and thriller to tell the warm story of a father-son relationship between a man and a teen boy. It's a bit repetitive and takes its time getting to the point, but the characters are beautifully written and played, and the film is directed with understated skill by first-timers Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya. Brimming with energy, it's engaging and entertaining, with a sharp point.

Chasing Chasing Amy
dir-scr Sav Rodgers; with Sav Rodgers, Kevin Smith 23/US ***.
Kevin Smith's 1997 comedy Chasing Amy stars Ben Affleck as a comic writer who falls in love with a lesbian played by Joey Lauren Adams. It's been considered problematic for its gender politics, but filmmaker Sav Rodgers found it inspiring because of its honest depiction of openly queer people. So he made this documentary both to say thank you and to understand why the movie generated so much controversy.

All full festival reviews will be linked to Shadows' LFF PAGE >

RICH'S BEST OF THE FEST

1. 
   All of Us Strangers
2. Poor Things
3. The Zone of Interest
4. The Eternal Memory
5. Robot Dreams
6. In Restless Dreams
7. May December
8. In Camera
9. Saltburn
10. Tiger Stripes

Honourable mention: Nyad, Samsara, Totem, The Lost Boys, Fingernails, Shortcomings, Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry, Anselm, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget

OFFICIAL LFF AWARDS

• Best Film: Evil Does Not Exist
• Sutherland Award for First Feature: Mika Gustafson for Paradise Is Burning 
• Grierson Award for Documentary: Bye Bye Tiberias
• Audience Award: tbc