Flare 5: Stand for what's right

The British Film Institute's 29th Flare: London LGBT Film Festival wrapped up last night with the documentary Out to Win, featuring young athletes Chandler Whitney and Conner Martens (above) and an array of famously open competitors including NBA player John Amaechi, who appeared on-stage with director Malcolm Ingram for a Q&A after the film. It's been another lively 10 days at BFI Southbank, with lively audiences, nightly parties, an unusually high standard of films and a global impact thanks to social media. Here are some highlights from the final weekend...

Out to Win 
dir Malcolm Ingram; with Billie Jean King, John Amaechi 15/US ***.
Exploring an important topic with some strikingly personal insight, this documentary feels long overdue. But it's pegged to a news event that's essentially an over-hyped non-story, which leaves the film without much compelling narrative momentum. Even so, it opens the door to discussing why professional sports has had such a difficult time accepting openly gay athletes.

Hidden Away
dir Mikel Rueda; with German Alcarazu, Adil Koukouh 14/Sp ****
A loose, ambiguous style makes this Spanish teen drama remarkably involving. It's a bit elusive about developing the central relationship, as much of it seems to be off-screen. But the film beautifully gets under the skin of the two central characters, teens struggling to admit that they don't fit in as expected.

Drunktown's Finest
dir-scr Sydney Freeland; with Jeremiah Bitsui, Carmen Moore 14/US ****
Filmmaker Freeland clearly knows the importance of the subject matter of this three-pronged drama, which skilfully explores a range of issues in a Native American community through stories that are easy to identify with. And the deep human connections bring this scruffy movie come to life, thanks to some understated performances and real-life interaction. Set on the edge of a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, the characters give insight into hapless crime, issues of identity and birthright, community connections, and even gender issues. But all of this emerges organically through characters that get under our skin simply because they seem just like people we know. So it's a bit surprising as the storylines continue and intersect to discover that the film has some bracingly strong things to say about America.

We Came to Sweat
dir Kate Kunath, Sasha Wortzel; with Dennis Parrot, Linda King 15/US ***
With a mixture of archive footage and a narrative urgency, this documentary explores the life of an unusual community venue struggling to survive against the odds. Important both in the past and present, the Starlite Lounge has been an oasis of openness in a constantly shifting Brooklyn neighbourhood. But this isn't a big statement film, it's a low-key look at a slice of history that's been lost forever.

Flare Short Films
There are always several very strong programmes of short films at BFI Flare - films in every conceivable genre that explore themes from a variety of angles. I only managed to catch 10 shorts this year (a small number for me!). Two higher profile shorts touched on issues of ethnicity and immigration: Chance (by Jake Graf) is an earnest, moving exploration of unexpected love, while the somewhat elusive drama Followers (by Tim Marshall) is an Iris Prize production about a religious woman who has a revelation in a very unexpected place. Other favourites included Caged (by Dylan and Lazlo Tonk), a beautifully shot and edited Dutch short about teen athletes grappling with self-discovery and peer pressure; Hole (by Martin Edralin), a bold, important drama about a physically disabled man who asks his carer for something that definitely crosses some sort of line; and Been Too Long at the Fair (by Todd Verow and Charles Lum), a witty, warm autobiographical documentary about an unusual cinema in Queens, New York, that managed to buck the trend for shutting down adult theatres.

Sundance London 1: Fine dining

The 3rd Sundance London Film and Music Festival kicked off tonight at the O2 in North Greenwich. Of course, the press has been here all week watching movies and attending special events (like a breakfast yesterday with the filmmakers), but there was a marked gear-shift today with the extremely noticeable arrival of an army of Americans brandishing lanyards. It'll be fun getting to know them over the next three days, and I've already recognised some from last year's festival. Although this year's event is a day shorter and I won't spend quite as much time over there. Here are some highlights...

The Trip to Italy
dir Michael Winterbottom; with Rob Brydon, Steve Coogan 14/UK ****
As with 2010's The Trip, this spoof doc sends Brydon and Coogan (pictured above) on a journey to visit and review a series of high-end rural restaurants, this time tracing the steps of Byron and Shelly in outrageously picturesque Italy. As before, it's being shown on British television in five 30-minute episodes, so I'm choosing to watch it that way instead of as a 108-minute movie at the festival. So I'm not quite at the end yet. But so far it's great to see these guys recapture that chemistry on-screen as heightened versions of themselves trying to out-do each other with their impersonations of iconic stars. Including each other. At the start, Coogan vows not to do any impressions and not to drink any wine. The first vow sticks for about 15 minutes, until a situation that simply demands Michael Caine. The second vow lasts into the second episode. Genius.

Blue Ruin 
dir-scr Jeremy Saulnier; with Macon Blair, Devin Ratray 13/US **** 
There's a moral complexity to this brutal, low-key revenge thriller that gets under our skin, even if the characters feel somewhat simplistic. But then, these are people whose reactions are based on emotions rather than deep consideration. And filmmaker Saulnier takes us into their world in some extremely harrowing ways... FULL REVIEW >

Drunktown's Finest
dir-scr Sydney Freeland; with Jeremiah Bitsui, Carmen Moore 14/US ****
Filmmaker Freeland clearly knows the importance of the subject matter of this three-pronged drama, which skilfully explores a range of issues in a Native American community through stories that are easy to identify with. And the deep human connections bring this scruffy movie come to life, thanks to some understated performances and real-life interaction. Set on the edge of a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, the characters give insight into hapless crime, issues of identity and birthright, community connections, and even gender issues. But all of this emerges organically through characters that get under our skin simply because they seem just like people we know. So it's a bit surprising as the storylines continue and intersect to discover that the film has some bracingly strong things to say about America.

Finding Fela
dir Alex Gibney; with Fela Kuti, Bill T Jones 14/US ***
This documentary tells such an important story that it's impossible to dismiss it just because the structure is so out of balance. As with The Armstrong Lie, filmmaker Gibney seems to lose the grip on his subject matter, trying to tell too many stories at the same time while failing to punch the most important notes. Above all, this is the story of Fela Kuti, one of the most important men in Africa over the last century: a musician and revolutionary who boldly stood up to Nigeria's oppressive government. As a result, the film is also a sharp outline of the past 50 years of the nation's history since independence. But it's told through the prism of a Broadway theatre group mounting a musical stage production on Fela's life. All of this is fascinating, and the stage sequences are terrific for adding musical moments and vivid depictions of some staggering events, which are also shown in extensive archival footage and stills. Then after taking nearly two hours to trace Fela's rise to fame, the film rushes through his final decade in a montage and never quite explains his legacy on the continent or around the globe. It seems oddly fudged for a skilled filmmaker like Gibney, and makes us wonder if there's a complete three-hour version out there somewhere.