LFF 1: Kick it off

The 59th BFI London Film Festival kicks off tonight with the red carpet European premiere of Sarah Gavron's Suffragette. Over the next 10 days, a busy programme of acclaimed films floods cinemas across the city, largely drawn from the premiere festivals Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Toronto and Venice. So this is a great chance for Londoners to see many of this year's awards hopefuls before they arrive in cinemas, plus a lot of superb smaller independent and foreign titles that will sadly never get UK distribution. Here are some highlights from the first two days...

Suffragette
dir Sarah Gavron; with Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter 15/UK ****
With a smart script by Abi Morgan, this drama about the British suffrage movement is challenging and deeply moving, avoiding cliches to find present day relevance in a fight that took place a century ago. And it's elevated by a full-throated performance from Carey Mulligan that never hits a false note... MORE >

Beasts of No Nation
dir Cary Joji Fukunaga;
with Abraham Attah, Idris Elba
15/US ***.
Strikingly well shot and edited, with rumbling, raw performances from its cast, this dark thriller immerses its audience in the chaotic horror of civil war in Africa, where young boys are pressed to participate in atrocities. And filmmaker Fukunaga's remarkable attention to detail just about sustains the story when it loses focus in the final third... MORE >

Grandma
dir Paul Weitz; with Lily Tomlin, Julia Garner 15/US ****
A sharp script and another beautifully measured performance from Lily Tomlin seamlessly mix comedy and pointed drama to tell an engaging story that isn't afraid to ruffle a few feathers along the way. It may feel both constructed and slight, but between the lines there's plenty of gristle to chew on... MORE >

James White
dir Josh Mond; with Christopher Abbott, Cynthia Nixon 15/US ***.
This is an unusually focussed character study, both in terms of script and camerawork, offering a seriously complex role for likeable actor Abbott. It sometimes gets bogged down in its central melodrama, almost sidelining the eponymous character's journey, but it continually catches the audience with its resonant themes and emotions... MORE >

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C R I T I C A L    W E E K

Non-festival films screening to London critics this week included Ryan Reynolds in the entertaining but thin Mississippi Grind; Patrick Stewart in the moving but melodramatic Match; Gaspar Noe's controversial and rather brilliant Love; nutty British animation for adults in The Big Knights; and the engaging astronomer doc Star Men. Everything else was festival related, as is my intensely overcrowded screening schedule over the next 10 days. The only two non-LFF titles are Guillermo Del Toro's Crimson Peak and the circus acrobat doc Grazing the Sky.

Critical Week: Women on top

Two big films screened to London press this week have strong female voices. Lily Tomlin stars in Grandma, as a sparky 70-year-old on a mission with her granddaughter (Julia Garner). It's a funny, involving film with unexpected depth. Much more overtly political, Suffragette explores the real events a century ago when women demanded that they should no longer be treated like slaves, beginning with the right to vote. It features a blistering performance by Carey Mulligan, plus strong support from Anne-Marie Duff, Helena Bonham Carter, Natalie Press and, in a cameo, Meryl Streep.

Women are also at the centre of the scruffy comedy Addicted to Fresno, starring Judy Greer and Natasha Lyonne as sisters who get involved in a silly caper. A Haunting in Cawdor is a moody horror thriller centres on a young woman (Shelby Young) in a summer work-release theatre camp. And the messy British comedy Convenience stars Vicky McClure as a savvy mini-mart clerk dealing with two idiotic robbers.

Both Grandma and Suffragette are screening in the London Film Festival, for which we also had press screenings including: Clemence Poesy and David Morrissey in The Ones Below, Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation, Mads Mikkelsen in Men & Chicken, Deepa Mehta's Beeba Boys, Marco Bellocchio's Blood of My Blood and the British addiction doc Chemsex. More comments on these as the festival gets underway.

Coming up this week we have Ryan Reynolds in Mississippi Grind controversial filmmaker Gaspar Noe's Love, the doc Listen to Me Marlon and the British animated romp The Big Knights. London Film Festival screenings include Truman, The Invitation and James White.