LFF: Blow the roof off

I'm covering the 66th London Film Festival a little differently than usual. Opting out of purchasing accreditation this year (for several pointed reasons), I am watching films from the outside this time around, which means I'll be seeing fewer of the big blockbuster gala movies (which I'll see anyway) and focussing on smaller offbeat things. So it should be rather good fun. I'll be posting every other day here, so keep an eye out for little gems as well as a few heavy hitters. Here are some highlights for the first couple of days...

Klondike
dir-scr Maryna Er Gorbach; with Oksana Cherkashyna, Serhii Shadrin 22/Ukr ****
Set during Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2014, this earthy and gorgeously shot drama is infused with pitch-black irony. The setting is reminiscent of the American West, with isolated farms and endless horizons, but writer-director Maryna Er Gorbach fills scene with present-day attitudes and feelings that are more timely than she could have imagined. Seen through a woman's eyes, it's a gripping mix of personal drama and punchy themes... FULL REVIEW >

Hidden Letters
dir Violet Du Feng; with Hu Xin, Wu Simu 22/Chn ****
Beautifully shot and edited, this fascinating documentary finds a sharply knowing perspective on a little-known way women learned to express themselves throughout China's history. Because she keeps things specific and personal, director Violet Du Feng finds enormously powerful echoes in the wider world. It's a riveting, moving film, assembled with a remarkable fluidity to make its important points almost subliminally. And the observations are unusually complex and nuanced.

These four films, which I saw at Venice Film Festival, are also playing in London...

Argentina, 1985
dir Santiago Mitre; with Ricardo Darin, Peter Lanzani 22/Arg ****
Including a heavy dose of sharp humour in the screenplay helps make this rather momentous true story unusually accessible. So while it hinges on a procedural investigation and historical courtroom trial, director-cowriter Santiago Mitre continually reveals the humanity of the characters, pulling us in deeper. And the case itself is harrowing, a landmark moment when a military dictatorship went on trial for its horrific crimes against the people... FULL REVIEW >

Bones and All
dir Luca Guadagnino; with Taylor Russell, Timothee Chalamet 22/US ****
Essentially a romantic horror road movie, this offbeat drama delights in provoking extreme reactions with its vampiric premise. But it's also almost jarringly grounded, with authentic situations and characters who may not be likeable but are strongly sympthetic. Director Luca Guadagnino is always terrific at cutting through surfaces to find human connections and deeper societal truths. So while this film gets very grisly indeed, it remains surprisingly sweet... FULL REVIEW >

Casa Susanna
dir-scr Sebastien Lifshitz; with Katherine Cummings, Diana Merry-Shapiro 22/Fr ****
Illustrated with a wonderful collection of home movies and snapshots, plus some terrific scene-setting newsreel footage, this quietly observational documentary offers a glimpse into a secret society from the early 1960s where cross-dressers could gather without fear. Director Sebastien Lifshitz gets out of the way and simply allows these people and their children tell the story with colourful anecdotes, big feelings and a lovely sense of nostalgia... FULL REVIEW >

Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
dir Alejandro G Inarritu; with Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani 22/Mex **.
It would be hard to imagine a more indulgent, rambling, throw-everything-at-the-screen kind of movie. But Alejandro G Inarritu isn't a filmmaker you can dismiss, as each sequence is skilfully laced with moments of visual brilliance, thematic provocations and darkly emotional honesty. Channelling Fellini at his most flamboyant, Inarritu pours personal and artistic energy into this epic Mexican odyssey. Although a leaner, earthier approach would have been more effective... FULL REVIEW >

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

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C R I T I C A L   W E E K

Outside of the festival, I watched Christian Bale and Margot Robbie in Amsterdam, Sally Hawkins and Steve Coogan in The Lost King, Mila Kunis in Luckiest Girl Alive, the lively Bronte biopic Emily, BJ Novak's offbeat comedy Vengeance, the independent comedy All Sorts, the Chilean ghost rom-com Phantom Project and the Sadler's Wells dance/choreo comedy Nora the Many.

This coming week's films include Shawn Mendes as Lyle Lyle Crocodile, Eva Green in Nocebo, Noomi Rapace in You Won't Be Alone and Hero Fiennes Tiffin in The Loneliest Boy in the World. Plus of course rather a lot of festival movies.

Venezia79: Back to nature

The 79th Venice Film Festival continues under sunny skies, as we look for ways to enjoy the location even as we scurry between cinemas and press rooms. I've made a pact to at least have one gelato per day (handy that the festival has its own gelateria), but getting that first coffee in has been trickier with long queues everywhere. But then I also have two 15-minute walks through old Venice each day and 20 minutes on a vaporetto to get some lovely scenery and fresh air. And yes, I remember that I'm here to watch movies. Here are a few more highlights...

Master Gardener

dir-scr Paul Schrader; with Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver 22/US ***
With his usual provocations about accepted morality, Paul Schrader heads to the Deep South for an intriguing drama that plays with a range big ideas while remaining tantalisingly out of reach. The characters are complex and full of their own private secrets, which creates a sense of mystery as the plot dabbles with the elements of a thriller. But this leaves the film feeling eerily incomplete, simply because the people remain so opaque.

Argentina, 1985

dir Santiago Mitre; with Ricardo Darin, Peter Lanzani 22/Arg ****
Including a heavy dose of sharp humour in the screenplay helps make this rather momentous true story unusually accessible. So while it hinges on a procedural investigation and historical courtroom trial, director-cowriter Santiago Mitre continually reveals the humanity of the characters, pulling us in deeper. The case itself is harrowing, a landmark moment when a military dictatorship went on trial for its horrific crimes against the people.

Ordinary Failures [Běžná Selhání]

dir Cristina Grosan; with Tatjana Medvecka, Nora Klimesova 22/Cz ****
Set in the very near future, this Czech drama will be instantly identifiable to anyone who feels like they are barely hanging on amid the varied pressures in their lives. And in this case, the world literally is collapsing around the characters. With Klara Vlasakova's insightful satirical script and Cristina Grosan's glacially sharp directing, the film quietly provokes the audience with a series of injustices, deliberate and accidental. All of this combines gorgeously to create a riveting story that has an important, timely and deeply moving impact.

Eismayer

dir-scr David Wagner; with Gerhard Liebmann, Luka Dimic 22/Aut ***.
Based on true events, this Austrian drama traces an unexpected relationship between two men at a military service boot camp. Filmmaker David Wagner traces the narrative with remarkable focus, avoiding distracting subplots to bring out details and intimate feelings. It may seem a little simplistic, but it's fascinating to see a story like this in a place where men have to be tough, without emotions or weaknesses. And later, when power and bravado begin to shift, this becomes an inspiring exploration of honesty, resilience and tenacity.

Full reviews will be linked at Shadows VENICE FILM FESTIVAL page, eventually! 

 

Critical Week: Isolation blues

It's becoming clear that this extended third lockdown is making Londoners a bit loopy, especially as it has no end in sight. Although we keep hoping that as the pandemic numbers improve slightly, relief is on the horizon. But being able to get back into a cinema seems like a distant hope! I've been rather swamped with preparations for the London Critics' Circle Film Awards on Sunday night, which has involved lots of email communication with Los Angeles - something an eight-hour time shift makes rather tricky. As a result, I only watched four movies this past week.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Falling • Another Round
Two of Us • Malcolm & Marie 
ALL REVIEWS >

By far the biggest film I saw was the Russo brothers' Cherry, starring Tom Holland (above) as an Army veteran who becomes a junkie to deal with his post-traumatic stress. It's 2 hours 20 minutes long, and feels like an operatic epic. It would look amazing on a big cinema screen. Ambitiously taking on the same theme in a very different way, Mike Cahill's Bliss stars Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek in a fantasy-style thriller about a parallel reality. It's provocative and engaging. The Australian remake of the Icelandic gem Rams stars the superb Sam Neill, Michael Caton and Miranda Richardson, and finds earthy humour in a dark situation. And the pitch-black Argentine thriller 4x4 traps lead actor Peter Lanzani inside an SUV, becoming a seriously harrowing ordeal.

Coming up this week, I need to catch up on quite a few films, including the true thriller Murderous Trance, the British comedy Running Naked, the Argentine romcom A Skeleton in the Closet, the Chinese drama Twilight's Kiss and the short film collection Desire in the Dark.

And if you want to watch the 41st London Critics' Circle Film Awards, our virtual ceremony goes live at 7pm Sunday night 7th Feb and will also be rewatchable on the CRITICS' CIRCLE YOUTUBE CHANNEL >