BFI Flare: Sing it out

We're in the final weekend of the 40th BFI Flare festival, with what will hopefully be an epic party tonight. There have been a lot of very good films here this year, and I still have a few to watch before my final post tomorrow night. Tomorrow is best-of-fest day, so screenings will feature sold-out films, top-rated ones and noted movies from the past year, as well as highlights from the festival's four decades, well worth catching again on a big screen surrounded by an appreciative queer audience. Meanwhile, here are five more festival highlights...

I Am Going to Miss You
[Eu Vou Ter Saudades de Você]
dir Daniel Ribeiro; with Alice Marcone, Gabriel Lodi 26/Br ****
Inventive Brazilian filmmaker Daniel Ribeiro creates an audacious twist on the soapy romantic drama by casting every role in the film with a trans actor, whether or not they're playing trans characters. So the film is making an important political statement simply by its very existence. It's also an involving story of a couple that realises that perhaps they have grown in different directions, even though they still love each other deeply.

Can't Go Over It
dir-scr Ethan Fuirst; with Susannah Perkins Taylor Trensch 26/US ****
Astutely exploring an offbeat friendship, this comedy drama follows two queer 30-somethings who worry that their friendship might have run its course. Much of the film consists of them walking through a forest chatting about random topics. But writer-director Ethan Fuirst brings out subtle shifts in their dynamic in very clever ways, gently touching on the way people grow and change at different rates, and what it takes to stick together. 

Drunken Noodles
dir-scr Lucio Castro; with Laith Khalifeh, Joel Isaac 25/US ****
As in his astute 2019 drama End of the Century, Argentine writer-director Lucio Castro opens this story with a young man arriving in a city and getting friendly with the local boys. Like that film, this is a complex exploration of how we connect with other people on a range of different levels, altering our life trajectory in the process. The story unfolds in chapters that are presented out of order, inventively creating a knowing wave of powerful emotion.

Cherri
dir-scr Fabian Suarez; with Juan Miguel Mas, Noslen Sanchez 25/Cub ****
There's an unusual optimism running through this Cuba drama, which centres around an overweight dancer who has absolutely no regrets. Cherri is a terrific, fully formed character who wins us over with his hopefulness and compassion, even if it sometimes feels misplaced. Actor Juan Miguel Mas and filmmaker Fabian Suarez have created something that's surprisingly thoughtful and tender, shattering stereotypes in the process. 

The Broken R [Rotacismo]
dir Ricardo Ruales Eguiguren; with Ricardo Ruales Eguiguren, Julio Ricardo Ruales 25/Ec ****
An autobiographical collage, this documentary is remarkably introspective as young Ecuadorian filmmaker Ricardo Ruales Eguiguren recounts the details of his unusual life. He's exploring a condition he inherited from his father and his struggle to accept his sexuality. What he comes up with is a hushed film that beautifully reflects his thoughtful personality. And it is packed with knowing observations that are easy to identify with.

Full reviews will be linked to the SHADOWS @ BFI FLARE page.

Critical Week: You're winding me up

After the Bafta Film Awards on Monday, the final stretch of this year's awards race is as unpredictable as ever. Apart from Zoe Saldaña and Kieran Culkin, most categories are still up in the air. A flurry of awards this weekend will further muddy the water before it all climaxes at Oscar on March 2nd. Meanwhile, movies are still arriving in cinemas, and this week's biggest was The Monkey, another enjoyably creepy film from Osgood Perkins, this time with Theo James as twin protagonists. It's funnier than it is scary. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
I'm Still Here
I Am Martin Parr
Picnic at Hanging Rock
ALL REVIEWS >

From the Netherlands, Invasion is a slickly made thriller set in sunny Caribbean locations as beefy marines take on an unexpected attack from a (fictional) rogue South American nation. It's fun but anticlimactic. The Brooklyn drama Barrio Boy is an involving depiction of Latino subculture with a story that explores homophobia in somewhat elusive ways. From China, the animated epic Chang'An is a spectacular mix of gorgeous imagery, visceral battles and moving poetry. And the entertaining, finely made documentary I Am Martin Parr explores the British photographer's inimitable career. I also attended the programme launch for the 39th BFI Flare film festival (coming 19-30 March), plus the monumental Vollmond at Sadler's Wells and the rhythmic Trash! at the Peacock.

This coming week I'll be watching Woody Harrelson in the underwater thriller Last Breath, Ralph Fiennes in The Return, Toby Jones in Mr Burton, Bruno Dumont's The Empire, Georgian drama April and the documentary Ernest Cole: Lost & Found.