Critical Week: Nice kitty

While many critics are darting off to Venice this week for the film festival there, I'm holding the fort in London. I had been hoping things would be a bit quieter here than usual, but that's not the case next week. There were two big last-minute screenings for films opening this week. Austin Butler stars in Darren Aronofsky's entertaining action romp Caught Stealing, which is funny and darkly violent. The acting and storytelling are often exhilarating. Meanwhile, Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch star in Jay Roach's new take on The Roses, which is both more British and less bitter than the 1989 classic adaptation The War of the Roses. But its characters and dialog are sharp and hilarious.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Young Mothers • Big Boys
Caught Stealing • Motel Destino
ALL REVIEWS >

Theodore Pellerin and Archie Madekwe are excellent in Lurker, a riveting dissection of celebrity culture as a young ruy worms his way into the entourage of a rising star musician. It's engaging and utterly riveting. The Japanese drama Happyend, follows a group of teens who are rebelling against both the school and national leaders who are wanting to watch and control them. Huge issues and engaging characters make this well worth a look. And the newly restored 1980 thriller Night of the Juggler is one of the grittiest, most ripping New York action movies I've ever seen. It stars James Brolin and Cliff Gorman and takes no prisoners. I also watched rather a lot of FrightFest movies over the long weekend, reported here in earlier posts.

This coming week I'll be watching Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in The Conjuring: Last Rites, Denzel Washington in Highest 2 Lowest, Benedict Cumberbatch in The Thing With Feathers, Cooper Hoffman in The Long Walk, dog's-eye-view horror Good Boy and British drama Brides.

Critical Week: Say no more

Working long days as part of a TV series crew doesn't leave a lot of time for watching movies, so I've only seen a handful of films this week - either late at night or on days off. Alicia Vikander stars as Katherine Parr in Firebrand opposite Jude Law as a particularly corpulent Henry VIII. It's a very well made film, if a bit on the dry side for such a, ahem, beefy tale. Michael Keaton is back 35 years later for more ghostly hijinks in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, as are Winona Ryder and Catherine O'Hara. Tim Burton brings a robust energy to the film, although as before there's not much to it.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Apollo Thirteen: Survival
His Three Daughters
ALL REVIEWS >

Ian McKellen gleefully munches the scenery as the title character in The Critic, set in London's theatre world in 1934, with strong support from Gemma Arterton and Mark Strong. The dialog crackles, but the plot gets bogged down in corny twists. Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark are excellent as always in the British folk horror thriller Starve Acre, which is superbly creepy and very yucky, if never terribly scary. And I revisited one of my very favourite films for its 50th anniversary: Young Frankenstein is perhaps Mel Brooks' finest movie, a warm homage that's packed with classic hilarious moments featuring the ace Gene Wilder, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Teri Garr, Peter Boyle and Madeline Kahn. I could happily watch this movie every day, forever.

This coming week, I'm watching James McAvoy in Speak No Evil, whistleblower biopic Winner, Scottish thriller Kill and teen anime Trapezium, plus anything else I can find time to watch while working long days. 

London Film Fest: Take the prize

It's been another long, busy day at the 63rd BFI London Film Festival, going from film screening to epic-length queue to film screening, and repeat. I'm kind of losing the will to live at this point, as the films begin to blur a bit as actors pop up in multiple movies (Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, even Udo Kier). But at least all three films today were superb - easily four stars (two are below). And because we're all a bit punchy, there's a lot of camaraderie while standing in line. So I'm sure we'll all cheer each other on through the next three days of crack-of-dawn screenings to the finish line on Sunday. Here are Thursday highlights...

Le Mans '66 [aka Ford v Ferrari]
dir James Mangold; with Matt Damon, Christian Bale 19/US ***
There are plenty of exhilarating racing sequences in this revved-up drama about Ford's quest to best Ferrari at the iconic 24-hour French race. Director James Mangold captures the energy of the mid-60s period, and the lively personalities of the men involved in this story. But the script is badly out of balance, creating a corny movie villain simply to add some tension, while ignoring Ferrari completely.

Official Secrets
dir Gavin Hood; with Keira Knightley, Matt Smith 19/UK ****
Based on a true story, this riveting political thriller carries both a strong thematic punch and some powerful emotional elements. It's a strikingly well-made film that moves at a gripping pace to uncover a horrific violation of trust by the US and UK governments. It's also an urgent story that needs to be told now, and filmmaker Gavin Hood makes sure it feels darkly relevant at every step.

Earthquake Bird
dir-scr Wash Westmoreland; with Alicia Vikander, Riley Keough 19/Jpn ****
There's a wonderfully disorienting tone to this dramatic thriller, which gives the audience the perspective of a woman who may be losing her mind. Is someone trying to get her, or is she the killer? With Hitchcockian overtones, writer-director Wash Westmoreland crafts a mystery that snakes around in ways that are intriguing, sexy and also rather scary. And it feels even more involving because of its offbeat setting and characters.

Judy & Punch
dir-scr Mirrah Foulkes; with Mia Wasikowska, Damon Herriman 18/Aus ***
There's an ambitious artistry behind this raucous Australian-made film about jolly olde Englande. Taking on the tradition of those iconic battling puppets, filmmaker Mirrah Foulkes flips the legend on its head to make a colourful, blackly comical revenge thriller. The plot meanders all over the place, and the pacing is rather uneven, but it carries a fierce a kick of righteous anger about some big issues.

Pink Wall
dir-scr Tom Cullen; with Tatiana Maslany, Jay Duplass 19/UK ****
For his feature debut, actor Tom Cullen takes a remarkably ambitious approach, letting actors improvise within a clearly devised structure. The result is a film that feels almost unnervingly authentic, with characters and dialog that tell a specific, structured story while also capturing loosely disconnected rhythms of real life. Told out of sequence, it's the impressionistic story of a six-year relationship between Americans in Britain. It's warm, funny, sexy and moving.

Links:
Shadows LONDON FILM FEST homepage (full reviews will be linked here) 
Official LONDON FILM FEST site 

Flare: Party all night

Just as the final weekend kicks off, I'm already feeling pretty partied out by the 33rd edition of BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival. But I've had a couple of early evenings, so hopefully I'll make it through the weekend's rather intense schedule of screenings, meetings and, yes, parties. It all wraps up tomorrow night with JT Leroy (my final blog post will be on Monday). Meanwhile, here are more highlights, including longer reviews of two documentaries below, including a stunner from the archive...

Knife + Heart [Un Couteau Dans le Coeur]
dir Yann Gonzalez; with Vanessa Paradis, Nicolas Maury
18/Fr ***
Lurid colours and bold stylistic flourishes add interest to this offbeat French thriller. Director-cowriter Yann Gonzalez floods the screen with primary colours, bleached blonde hair, fantasy sex and grisly murder, merrily blurring lines in the films within the film. It's rather too melodramatic to take seriously as a slasher horror, but the lively, camp approach keeps the audience entertained, especially in its more playful moments. And there are some elements that provoke deeper thought as well.

Sunburn [Golpe de Sol]
dir-scr Vicente Alves do O; with Ricardo Pereira, Oceana Basilio 18/Por ***.
There's an intriguing fluidity to this sunny Portuguese drama in which four friends go on holiday at an isolated villa. Filmmaker Vincente Alves do O cleverly drops little touches into each scene, often using experimental styles and bold imagery as he reveals details of attitudes and connections. The story may be somewhat elusive and melodramatic, but the film is a fiercely observant look at the complex nature of human connections.

Mapplethorpe
dir-scr Ondi Timoner; with Matt Smith, Marianne Rendon 18/US ****
Writer-director Ondi Timoner spent more than a decade getting this biopic made, and her attention to detail shows. This is a boldly told story, skilfully capturing the style of the period as it recounts the life of iconic photographic artist Robert Mapplethorpe. And Matt Smith gives a strikingly loose, authentic performance as a man who, instead of adapting for the mainstream, brought the fringe right out into the spotlight, finding beauty in every corner of his life... FULL REVIEW >

United We Fan
dir-scr Michael Sparaga
with Nichelle Nichols, Scott Bakula, Zachary Levi, Amy Acker, Skeet Ulrich, Bjo Trimble, John Trimble, Dorothy Swanson, Rod Roddenberry, Donald P Bellisario, Harry Thomason, Barney Rosenzweig
18/US 1h37 ****
Focussing on fans who fight back when their favourite shows are cancelled, this is a documentary about hope. With a snappy pace and a cheeky sense of humour, it's also a treasure trove of stories, memorabilia and superb interviews with fans, stars and producers. Primarily aimed at geeks, the film has a lot to say about the state of the entertainment industry. The central figures are Bjo and John Trimble, who created the first fan action to save Star Trek in the 1960s (they also ran the campaign to get the first space shuttle named Enterprise). From here it traces projects aimed at shows like St Elsewhere, Quantum Leap, Cagney & Lacey, Designing Women, Person of Interest, Jericho (sending 25 tons of nuts) and Chuck (with star Zachary Levi making 600 sandwiches in London to encourage Subway as a sponsor). For Veronica Mars the fans used crowd-funding to get a movie made. Along the way, Dorothy Swanson founded Viewers for Quality Television in the early 1980s to mobilise the grass roots and demand that good shows aren't cancelled. Now the internet has taken this on, as fans are more visible than ever with hugely vocal online communities. This has led to some very creative campaigns over the years, not all of them successful (there's no mention of the one I got involved with, Operation Pine Weasel, which gave Twin Peaks another season). The film gets a bit sidetracked talking about the activists' personal lives, including marriage and sexuality issues, although this cleverly makes it impossible to dismiss them as nerds. It also highlights the passions of people who see themselves represented on television and don't want their show to go away. This leads to a fascinating exploration of "baiting", when producers put ethnic or gay characters into their shows to appeal to a specific audience. But the point is that the highest rated shows just don't have such passionate fans, because they appeal to everyone. And because of these trailblazers, TV is a little smarter today.

Tongues Untied
dir Marlon Riggs 
with Essex Hemphill, Marlon Riggs, Larry Duckette, Gideon Ferebee, Christopher Prince, Steve Langley, Michael Bell, Bernard Branner, Ben Callet, Gerald Davis, Kenneth R Dixon, Darnell Stephens-Durio
89/US 55m *****
Opening with the chant "brother to brother", this bold, rightly angry documentary confronts the persistent perception that all black men are thieves. Hinging on the fiercely evocative beat poetry of Essex Hemphill, the film features powerful images of black men as artists, dancers, friends and lovers. Made in 1989 and now restored, this is a kaleidoscopic stunner that packs a lot into its brief running time, including a range of amusing anecdotes with punchlines. It's edited with a pulsing rhythmic thump that catches the attitudes, music, humour and energy. Along the way, filmmaker Marlon Riggs recounts his own experiences growing up as a gay black man with torrents of abuse from every community he was in, and those he was outside as well. This remarkably textured, painful chronicle of the depths of prejudice in society, includes racial, religious, political and social elements. It's seriously chilling as it remarks how casual comments and jokes actually cut us down, making us feel less than worthless. But there's also the joy in discovering others like us, including love from unexpected places. Lighter moments include a trip to the Institute of Snap!thology, coaching the audience in the difference between the mini-snap and diva-snap. And there's a moving undercurrent of Aids awareness, which is especially strong since the film was made in the midst of the epidemic. The juxtaposition of images from civil rights marches with gay pride is particularly strong. In other words, the film's visual and verbal dexterity should make us angry too, as the men who are speaking here are simply expressing their deep feelings at the injustice and bigotry around them. "Anger unvented becomes pain ... rage ... violence." But ultimately, this doc is a heartfelt search for self. Provocative and moving, it deserves a prominent place in film history.

TIFF: It's all about perspective

The 59th Thessaloniki International Film Festival is winding down to its final weekend, and I've now seen almost all of the 27 candidates for the international critics' (Fipresci) prizes here. Our jury will be meeting tomorrow to pick two winners - one from the competition and one to a first-time Greek filmmaker. I think I've seen more Greek films in this past week than in my entire career before I came here. And beyond the jury candidates, I am also catching up with festival films I've had my eye on as they have done the rounds this year, such as Ondi Timoner's excellent Robert Mapplethorpe biopic, which still doesn't have a distributor anywhere. Here's another update on what I've been watching...

Mapplethorpe
dir-scr Ondi Timoner; with Matt Smith, Marianne Rendon 18/US ****
Writer-director Onti Timoner spent more than a decade getting this biopic made, and her attention to detail shows. This is a strikingly told story, skilfully capturing the style of the period as it recounts the life of iconic photographic artist Robert Mapplethorpe. And Matt Smith gives a strikingly loose, authentic performance as a man who, instead of adapting for the mainstream, brought the fringe right out into the spotlight, finding beauty in every corner of his life.

The Harvesters [Die Stropers]
dir-scr Etienne Kallos; with Brent Vermeulen, Alex van Dyk 18/SA ***.
Evocative but elusive, this South African drama is a remarkable exploration of a subculture that is feeling threatened by societal shifts. It’s also an up-close character study, looking at two strikingly different teens dealing with their identities within a tight family. Filmmaker Etienne Kallos beautifully captures the undercurrents between the people in this strikingly beautiful place. But the implied deeper thoughts and feelings remain stubbornly undefined.

Meili
dir Zhou Zhou; scr Chi Yun, Zhou Zhou; with Chi Yun, Zhou Meiyan 18/Chn ***
A tough journey, this Chinese drama follows a young woman who faces a series of difficult setbacks that are made worse by her decisions and reactions. It’s a strikingly naturalistic film, directed with doc-like intensity by filmmaker Zhou Zhou. But the abrasive nature of the title character leaves the film fascinating rather than involving. We root for her, but don’t like her very much.

Pause
dir-scr Tonia Mishiali; with Stella Fyrogeni, Andreas Vasiliou 18/Gr ***.
There's a tricky perspective to this Greek drama that adds a layer both of black comedy and dark emotion. Writer-director Tonia Mishiali cleverly blues the lines between reality and fantasy, but makes sure that the status of women in this society is presented with a fiery honesty. This is a story about a middle-aged woman who finally gets fed up with being demeaned by her boorish jerk of a husband. The question is if she's only fantasising about getting rid of him or making a plan. 
8.Nov.18

The Right Pocket of the Robe
dir Yiannis Lapatas; scr Stella Vasilantonaki; with Thodoris Antoniadis, Gerasimos Skiadaresis 18/Gr ***.
A drama about the last, lonely monk at an isolated monastery doesn't sound like much fun. And indeed it's very slow, somewhat clumsily made and weighed down by an incessant voiceover. But as a story about a man and his dog, working out a plan for a changing future, it has a surprising amount of charm. And also some resonant insight that helps us identify with this likeable, well-played protagonist as he spins his entertaining little tales.
8.Nov.18

Her Job
dir Nikos Labot; scr Katerina Kleitsioti, Nikos Labot; with Marisha Triantafyllidou, Dimitris Imellos 18/Gr ***
Nicely directed and played, this  drama takes on the singular perspective of a provincial Greek women who has been suppressed her whole life by the system. But now that she needs to support her family, she finds untapped resolve to stand up for herself. The script is somewhat underwritten, never quite tackling the characters or situations in much depth, but the feelings resonate strongly, especially as the protagonist takes on misogyny and cold-hearted capitalism.
8.Nov.18

Still River
dir Angelos Frantzis; scr Angelos Frantzis, Spyros Kribalis; with Katia Goulioni, Andreas Konstantinou 18/Gr *.
Set in a mythical part of Russia where the snow stays on the ground for nine months but everyone frets about an overflowing river contaminating the drinking water, this Latvia-shot Greek film layers a marital drama with a gloom-laden mystery and religious wierdness to absolutely no effect. Overlong and indulgent, it's clear that filmmaker Angelos Frantzis has a lot on his mind, but he struggles to convey it in a way that might gross over to cinema audiences. This leaves the characters deeply unsympathetic and the film wildly melodramatic.

Critical Week: Mel's got a gun!

London critics were last week treated to a screening of Mel Gibson's new action romp, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, which isn't even being released in cinemas in the USA (where it's going straight to video with the title Get the Gringo). It's a mess, but fans of gratuitous, mindless violence will probably enjoy it. Speaking of mindless, filmmaker Todd Graff kind of wastes both his premise and cast in Joyful Noise, a church choir comedy starring Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton that's silly and warm but in dire need of some proper sass.

In the prestige department, we had director James Marsh's cool, steady-handed IRA thriller Shadow Dancer, starring Andrea Riseborough and Clive Owen; the cool, rather dull futuristic romance Clone, with Matt Smith and Eva Green; and the cool, sleekly unsettling Colombian thriller The Hidden Face. And there were three docs as well, including the comprehensive theatrical edit of the thoroughly entertaining Woody Allen: A Documentary, the hugely endearing real-life adventure Mission to Lars, and the harrowing privatisation horror-doc Catastroika.

This coming week we have another very late press screening of Tim Burton's Dark Shadows, just a few days before it opens. We'll also see the ensemble rom-com What to Expect When You're Expecting, the acclaimed horror The Innkeepers, the British comedy Fast Girls, the animated feature Top Cat: The Movie, the Nazis on the moon romp Iron Sky, the Japanese drama Mitsuko Delivers, and a documentary about Ping Pong.