Critical Week: Have a laugh

The 69th London Film Fest continues this week, which means I am watching rather a lot of big awards-season titles, often with the filmmakers and actors in attendance.  Sometimes this even includes a chance to chat with them at a reception, which is always nice. One of these was Bradley Cooper's new movie Is This Thing On?, a romantic comedy-drama starring Will Arnett (above) and Laura Dern, based on the life of British stand-up comedian John Bishop. It's a terrific story, and the film is strikingly well shot and acted, without a single false note, which is like a miracle in this genre.

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Elsewhere, Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons were on hand for the premiere of Yorgos Lanthimos' Bugonia, a surprisingly punchy black comedy. Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri came along for Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt, an abrasive, challenging drama about morality. Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth turned up for Guillermo del Toro's superbly epic new version of Frankenstein. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal were on-stage for Chloe Zhao's utterly gorgeous Hamnet, one of the most emotional resonant movies in recent memory. 

And there's more! Colin Farrell showed up for Edward Berger's colourful, involving Macau odyssey Ballad of a Small Player. Tessa Thompson, Imogen Poots and Nina Hoss were resplendent at the screening of Nia DaCosta's inventive, spiky new adaptation of Hedda. Brendan Fraser was on hand for Hikari's beautiful comedy-drama Rental Family, which skilfully explores modern-day isolation through a strongly engaging story set in Tokyo. Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones attended for Clint Bentley's sumptuous lifelong saga Train Dreams. And Kaouther Ben Hania's harrowing The Voice of Hind Rajab mixes documentary elements with emotive dramatics in a true story from the Israel-Palestine war. I also attended a live performance of Hofesh Schechter's mesmerising Theatre of Dreams at Sadler's Wells.

Coming this next week are a few more London Film Fest movies, including Jafar Panahi's Palme d'Or winner It Was Just an Accident, Paolo Sorrentino's La Grazia, Annemarie Jacir's Palestine 36, Emirati horror thriller The Vile and the photography doc Love+War, plus the Navy Seal doc In Waves and War.