FLARE 3: Apples and oranges

On these mid-week days during the 28th BFI Flare film festival, I take a bit of a break from the festivities, watching films without indulging in the parties! I have to build my strength for the weekend that's coming, right? Here are some more programme highlights...

C.O.G.
dir-scr Kyle Patrick Alvarez; with Jonathan Groff, Denis O'Hare 13/US ***
Based on a David Sedaris essay, this isn't so much a coming-of-age story as an odyssey in which a young man takes himself apart and tries to reassemble himself into something new. It's warm and full of darkly suggestive shadows, but filmmaker Alvarez never gives us the puzzle pieces that would make it resonate... FULL REVIEW >

Age of Consent 
dir-scr Charles Lum, Todd Verow; with Kurt Striegler, Guy Patrick Irwin 14/UK ****
This hilariously deadpan doc opens the door on something most people would describe as obscene, exploring London's original fetish club The Hoist. But the filmmakers expand beyond the bar itself to grapple with legal issues in the UK and the impact of HIV and Aids on the gay subculture. And of course the bigger issue of a personal pursuit of happiness. Since 1996, The Hoist has offered Londoners a German-style industrial bar, and the filmmakers take us on a tour of the empty venue (with rather explicit cutaways showing us what goes on here). Each person interviewed talks in a matter-of-fact way about their job, their personal experiences and how society has slowly shifted around the venue, perhaps hinting that its days are numbered. The ultimate message is that we should enjoy our liberty while we have it. Which is a more provocative and far more important statement than we expect from a witty 88-minute documentary about a leather bar.

Big Words 
dir-scr Neil Drumming; with Dorian Missick, Gbenga Akinnagbe 13/US ***.
This sensitive, straight-talking drama is packed with strong comments on issues that are both deeply personal and hugely important in society. Without coming to any glib conclusions, filmmaker Drumming and his adept cast tackle the kinds of things most men are terrified to talk about. So while it's an engaging story, it's also pretty strong stuff. Set on election day in November 2008, the film follows three men who have lost touch with each other for 15 years. Formerly in a rap group together, they've never properly dealt with their feelings about what broke them apart. And it takes some outsiders to help them both confront each other and move on. Performances are raw and natural, with energetic spikiness (Yaya Alafia is particularly engaging as a brainy stripper who relentlessly challenges Missick's down-at-heel lyricist). All of this is perhaps a bit too on-the-nose, but the approach constantly challenges our preconceptions.

Rosie
dir Marcel Gisler; with Sibylle Brunner, Fabian Kruger 13/Swi ****
An intriguing exploration of past regrets and bad decisions in relationships, this Swiss drama drags on as it tells its story, but remains introspective and involving. And it has a lot to say about facing up to the truth and allowing yourself to move on with life. Rosie (Brunner) is a feisty woman who, after having a minor stroke, is suddenly back in the life of her busy children. Lorenz (Kruger) is a single gay novelist struggling to write something as brilliant as his debut, while Sophie (Judith Hoffmann) has a difficult husband and teen son to deal with. Most of Rosie's care falls to the 39-year-old Lorenz, who travels regularly to rural Switzerland from his home in Berlin. It takes quite a long time for each of these characters to realise what they really need to do to make their lives work, and the plot kind of meanders in circles before it finds focus in the final scenes. But it's thoughtful and introspective, with some surprisingly tough, darkly moving scenes along the way.

BEST OF YEAR:
Blue Is the Warmest Colour
dir Abdellatif Kechiche; with Adele Exarchopoulos, Lea Seydoux 13/Fr ****.
Food, art and sex are the three elements of life in this evocative French drama, which takes a generous three hours to tell its story. This is an almost unnervingly honest film that holds us in rapt attention, shaking us even if we have nothing in common with the characters. Because it's about something much deeper than what's on screen... FULL REVIEW >

LFF 8: Hello ladies

Joseph Gordon-Levitt was on hand at the 57th London Film Festival this week to present his writing-directing debut Don Jon, looking every bit the dude on the red carpet that his movie requires. There's definitely a sense that the festival is winding down, as film journalists are starting to wake up from their zombie-like states with the thought that they may get to sleep in a few days. Here are some more highlights...

Don Jon 
dir Joseph Gordon-Levitt; with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson 13/US **** 
Gordon-Levitt catches us off-guard with this remarkably assured writing-directing debut, which also gives him a chance to go against type as an actor. It's a warm and raucous comedy that wins us over as it reveals the soft side of a dedicated hard-man... FULL REVIEW >

Kill Your Darlings 
dir John Krokidas; with Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan 13/US ***.
Based on a shocking true story about celebrities before they were famous, this dark drama is strikingly written, directed and acted to recount a series of unnerving events while evoking a mood that would later grow into a movement. It's a clever approach to a complex group of artists, even if it feels somewhat mannered... FULL REVIEW >

Parkland
dir Peter Landesman with Zac Efron, James Badge Dale 13/US **.
With a documentary sense of detail, this film recounts JFK's assassination from a variety of previously unseen angles. It's skilfully made but lacks any sense of focus that might draw us in. There isn't a single well-developed character, and it oddly doesn't even centre on the hospital that gives the film its name... FULL REVIEW >

Blue Is the Warmest Colour 
dir Abdellatif Kechiche; with Adele Exarchopoulos, Lea Seydoux 13/Fr ****. 
Food, art and sex are the three elements of life in this evocative French drama, which takes a generous three hours to tell its story. This is an almost unnervingly honest film that holds us in rapt attention, shaking us even if we have nothing in common with the characters. Because it's about something much deeper than what's on screen... FULL REVIEW >

Tracks
dir John Curran; with Mia Wasikowska, Adam Driver 13/Aus *** 
As an account of an incredible journey, this film can't help but hold our interest, especially when the central figure is so beautifully played. But director Curran opts for glossy warmth rather than expansive nature, which leaves it feeling more like a movie and less like real life. [review coming soon]

Gloria
dir Sebastian Lelio; with Paulina Garcia, Sergio Hernandez 13/Chl **** 
This Chilean comedy-drama may have a rather meandering narrative, but it's packed with memorable scenes that bring its characters vividly to life. It's also a rare film that centres on a 50-something woman trying to make the most of life on her own terms... FULL REVIEW >

Critical Week: Into the blue

This week, London critics caught up with this year's Palme d'Or winner, Abdellatif Kechiche's Blue Is the Warmest Colour, a staggeringly involving romance starring Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. The film has had a lot of press for its three-hour running time and explicit lesbian sex scenes, but it's also an unnervingly honest relationship movie. It deserves the prizes. And there will be more to come.

More in the mainstream, we had a late-scheduled screening of the concert documentary One Direction: This Is Us, which is a lot of fun, and sharply well made, although calling it a documentary is stretching the definition of the word, as it's actually a 90-minute promo for Syco Records. Saoirse Ronan stars in How I Live Now, based on the book about teens trying to start their lives over in WWIII Britain (an embargo means I can't say more). Halle Berry stars in The Call, a more-involving than normal thriller about an emergency phone operator who gets caught up in a nightmare. The ending is contrived, but it's utterly riveting.

From Korea we had Pieta, the new drama from Kim Ki-duk, who delights in making audiences squirm - and this is no exception as it cleverly tells a twisted story of redemption and sacrifice centred on a mother and son. Sort of. From Britain, the Indian-subculture drama Jadoo is lively and engaging, and packed with delicious food from Leicester's Golden Mile. And we also saw the restored final cut of Robin Hardy's 1973 cult classic The Wicker Man, which hasn't really aged well but is still pretty freaky.

This coming week I've got: Robin Wright and Naomi Watts in Adore, Harrison Ford in the baseball drama 42, Ryan Reynolds in the ghostly action-comedy R.I.P.D., Hirokazu Kore-eda's acclaimed Like Father Like Son, the Seoul Olympics doc 9.79*, the Aids medication doc Fire in the Blood, and the BFI's restoration of the 1924 expedition doc The Epic of Everest. We also have the launch event for the 57th London Film Festival (9-20 Oct), where we'll finally get our hands on this year's programme.