Flare 1: Don't fence me in

The British Film Institute's 32nd annual Flare: London's LGBTQ+ Film Festival has kicked off on the Southbank, and runs for 10 days with a selection of intriguing, entertaining and provocative film. There seems to be an emphasis this year on controversial movies, with films about politics and religion along with a significant number of features and shorts exploring disability and identity. It was fun reconnecting with my annual Flare buddies at the opening night party on Wednesday - this is my 20th year covering this festival! Here are some highlights from the first days...

My Days of Mercy (opening night film)
dir Tali Shalom-Ezer; with Ellen Page, Kate Mara 17/US ****
Despite having a hugely contentious issue at the heart of its plot, this film remains remarkably centred on its characters, all of whom are played with an earthy authenticity that often feels improvised. Scenes are so raw that they continually take the audience aback. And while the narrative itself is a bit predictable, the character complexity more than makes up for it.

The Revival
dir Jennifer Gerber; with David Rysdahl, Zachary Booth 17/US ***
Adapted by Samuel Brett Williams from his own stage play, this drama is sharply well written and played, with knowing observations about the collision between religion and culture. When the plot kicks in for the final act, the film's honesty begins to feel contrived, badly muddying its message in a series of scenes that may ring true but say all the wrong things about the topics at hand.

Martyr
dir-scr Mazen Khaled; with Carol Abboud, Hamza Mekdad 17/Leb ***
An experimental exploration of masculinity and male friendship, this Lebanese film is very tactile as it follows a young man over the course of a fateful day. While touching on some social issues, the main focus is on his friends, who remain by his side through a very detailed ordeal. There isn't much plot, and very little sense of character for the actors to work with, so it never quite resonates emotionally as it should. But it's darkly involving. [VFF 2017]

Rift
dir-scr Erlingur Thoroddsen; with Bjorn Stefansson, Sigurdur Thor Oskarsson 17/Ice ****
Sleek and dark, this Icelandic thriller gets under the skin quickly with filmmaking that's enticingly mysterious. Writer-director Erlingur Thoroddsen skilfully shoots the film to catch deep colours while positioning characters against stunning landscapes, giving everything a powerfully visual kick while the story develops beneath the surfaces. It's overlong but beautifully made, and packed with fiendishly clever touches. FULL REVIEW >

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C R I T I C A L   W E E K

Films screened this past week included a few big blockbusters. Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One basically shows up virtually all other big effects-based movies for the empty spectacle that they are. This movie is utterly gripping - a great story and superb characters. As if to prove the point, we also saw Pacific Rim: Uprising, a robots-bashing-robots sequel no one really asked for and a movie that would be unwatchable without the wonderful John Boyega. A Wrinkle in Time is a disappointment, an important, ambitious adaptation of the classic Madeleine L'Engle novel that feels overdesigned. Much grittier, Unsane is Steven Soderbergh's edgy mental hospital nightmare thriller starring the amazing Claire Foy. Taraji P Henson brings the rather mindlessly violent Proud Mary to life. Agnes Jaoui is wonderful in the French comedy-drama I Got Life! And Attack of the Southern Fried Zombies, is pretty much what it sounds like: a bit of bonkers, and rather hilarious low-budget mayhem.

Non-festival films coming up include the parent-teen comedy Blockers, the Emily Blunt horror A Quiet Place, the action thriller The Hurricane Heist, the banking doc The Outsider, and a restoration of GW Pabst's 1929 silent classic Pandora's Box.

Sundance returns to London

After taking a break for a year, Sundance returns to London for 2016, this time in a much more accessible venue at the gorgeous Picturehouse Central in Piccadilly. Over the weekend, the 4th Sundance Film Festival: London is bringing 11 premiere features and a number of shorts, plus lots of events for aspiring filmmakers. It all kicked off tonight with Sian Heder's Tallulah (on-set pic above). Here are comments on the nine features I've seen...

Tallulah
dir Sian Heder; with Ellen Page, Allison Janney 16/US ****.
Skilfully written and directed by Sian Heder, this astute drama explores issues of parenthood from a variety of unexpected angles. The story is complex and gripping, and the characters are deeply engaging as they struggle to make the right decisions in tricky situations. Thankfully, Heder never resorts to glib answers, which makes the film both involving and powerfully moving.

Goat
dir Andrew Neel; with Ben Schnetzer, Nick Jonas 16/US ***.
Based on real events, this grim exploration of frat-house culture would be difficult to watch if it weren't for the strikingly realistic characters at the centre. Ben Schnetzer and Nick Jonas deliver involving performances as brothers with complex reactions to the unbridled masculinity they find themselves in the middle of. And they both provide a strong emotional kick.

Wiener-Dog
dir Todd Solondz; with Greta Gerwig, Ellen Burstyn 16/US ****
Arthouse veteran Todd Solondz continues to slice through the artificiality of human interaction with a series of vignettes that centre around an adorable dachshund. The connections between the episodes kind of fall apart as the film continues, but the characters and relationships are startling all the way through. As are the film's observations about the nature of intelligence.

The Intervention
dir Clea DuVall; with Melanie Lynskey, Cobie Smulders 16/US ***
An engagingly twisted story and especially strong acting bring this ensemble comedy-drama to life, sparking a continual sense of uncomfortable recognition for the viewer. So even if the themes never seem particularly complex, and the gyrations of the plot never terribly revelatory, the film is thoroughly entertaining as it explores some nagging truths about relationships.

Other People
dir Chris Kelly; with Jesse Plemons, Molly Shannon 16/US ****
Themes of mortality and repression make this drama rather heavy-going, but there's a freshness to the ensemble cast that injects jagged humour into every scene. And filmmaker Chris Kelly keeps the tone awkward, which gives the film an improvised atmosphere to help avoid any obvious sermonising.

Indignation
dir James Schamus; with Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon 16/US ***.
Based on the Philip Roth novel, this tightly controlled film is an intriguing directing debut for writer-producer James Schamus. It certainly doesn't mirror the more free-spirited earthiness of his usual collaborator Ang Lee; this is a blackly pointed drama with intense characters whose actions carry punchy consequences. Which is the story's central theme.

The Greasy Strangler
dir Jim Hosking; with Michael St Michaels, Sky Elobar 16/US *.
With its relentlessly crude filmmaking, this gonzo horror-comedy feels like Beavis and Butt-Head tried to make a mash-up homage to John Waters and David Lynch. Except that the movie is never remotely funny or scary. And director James Hosking spends too much time wallowing in grotesque nudity and repeated catch-phrases to give the premise any kick.

Author: The JT LeRoy Story
dir Jeff Feuerzeig; with Laura Albert, Savannah Knoop 16/US ****
Inventively assembled to tell a story with humour and insight, this film documents the astonishing conundrum of hotshot author JT LeRoy, who turned out not to be a real person after his novel and stories had been published and adapted for film to great acclaim. Filmmaker Jeff Feuerzeig digs deep to tell the full story from the perspective of the woman at the centre of it all.

Weiner
dir Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg; with Anthony Weiner, Huma Abedin 16/US ***.
This is a fascinating documentary about a politician who desperately wants to get past a scandal of his own making. And since we're talking about Anthony Weiner, directors Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg have a seemingly endless supply of wickedly entertaining jokes to work with. Even as the filmmakers remain in fly-on-the-wall mode, the film snaps with energy and wit... FULL REVIEW >



Critical Week: The right stuff

It's been another odd collection of screenings for London critics. Julianne Moore and Ellen Page (above) give their usual storming performances in Freeheld, a true story about legal equality that feels a bit simplistic even with such strong characters. Chris Pine and Casey Affleck are excellent as quiet heroes in The Finest Hours, the true story of a 1952 ocean rescue that's told on an impressively grand scale. The British comedy Dad's Army brings the iconic 1970s TV series to the big screen with a terrific A-list cast but almost no comical energy. I'll See You in My Dreams is a nice but mopey and inconsequential romantic drama starring Blythe Danner, Sam Elliott and Martin Starr.

Further afield, Adrien Brody stars in Backtrack, a ghostly Aussie thriller that gets increasingly ridiculous as it goes along. Also from Australia, Oddball and the Penguins is the relentlessly charming and surprisingly important story of a big sheepdog that finds a new calling. From Greece, the acclaimed drama Xenia insightfully explores issues of immigration, community and sexuality through the eyes of two lively brothers. Battle Mountain is a properly inspirational doc about Scottish cycling champ Graeme Obree and his attempt to break a world record at age 48. And Peccadillo's latest collection, Boys on Film 14: Worlds Collide, features nine edgy, inventive short films from around the world, many dealing with political issues like class, homophobia and HIV.

Among this coming week's offerings, we have Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool, the Oscar-nominated Mustang, Freida Pinto in Desert Dancer and the Canadian drama Love in the Time of Civil War.

Sundance London: Day 2

As the Sundance London Film and Music Festival heads into the weekend, the schedule is getting crowded with narrative features, documentaries, shorts, live events, musical performances, workshops and just a lot of time hanging out with the filmmakers at the festival hub in the O2. Yesterday's big press event was a chance to meet the current lineup of the Eagles (Timothy Schmit, Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh, pictured) following the morning screening of their new documentary.

Having grown up on their music, I found the film almost too nostalgic ... and then being in a room with them was almost too awesome for words. They chatted energetically about how their interaction as a band has mellowed with age (Henley: "Men grow up slowly." Frey: "If at all."), and they even took a poke at reality music competitions ("How can you call it art if it's a contest?") Of course, Walsh just punchlines to most comments; he entered carrying a fire extinguisher and when asked when he arrived in London replied, "I'm not here yet." Anyway, here are comments on that film, and a few others...

History of the Eagles: Part One
dir Alison Ellwood; with Don Henley, Glenn Frey 13/US ****
There's an astonishing level of detail in this documentary about one of the 1970s most iconic rock bands, including extensive archive footage, rare performances, vintage photos and new interviews to put everything into perspective. The story of the Eagles may not as outrageous as some other bands, but it's utterly gripping. Filmmaker Ellwood (working with producer Alex Gibney) goes back to Henley and Frey's childhoods and traces their love of music, early collaborations and the launch of the Eagles in the early 1970s. Over the next decade, the band's line-up changes subtly, refining the unique mix of rock, country and blues. But a band is like a marriage, and this five-man group struggles to hold thing together. Intriguingly, it's not the drugs, sex or hotel-room trashings that break them up. And while there's a sense that their interaction has been edited (what are we not seeing?), the simple facts are riveting. As are the amazing home movies and live music performances.

Touchy Feely
dir Lynn Shelton; with Rosemarie DeWitt, Josh Pais 13/US ***
Shelton once again tackles sensitive relationship issues in this observant comedy, which finds quiet resonance in the astute performances even if the script never really fills in the blanks. It's an enjoyable dark comedy, although it's also too awkward for its own good. The story centres on a massage therapist (DeWitt) who suddenly begins to recoil at the touch of human skin. Meanwhile, her dentist brother (Pais) discovers that he may have the ability to heal his patients. The tidy symmetry of the cast is a little frustrating, but the messy interaction keeps us engaged. Especially since it's so impeccably played by the superb cast, which includes Ellen Page, Allison Janney and Scoot McNairy.

In Fear
dir Jeremy Lovering; with Iain De Caestecker, Alice Englert 13/UK ***
A contained experiment in horror, this film's infuriatingly vague approach removes any chance for actual terror. It's extremely well shot and acted, creepy and atmospheric, with a moody sense of uncertainty and some nasty jolts. But making us jump isn't the same as putting our stomach in knots. There are only three people in the cast, as Tom and Lucy (De Caestecker and Englert) head off in search of a romantic getaway hotel in the middle of nowhere, then get hopelessly lost in a maze of country roads. As darkness sets in, they start to wonder if someone is messing with them by changing the roadsigns. Then they meet a terrified young man (Leech). The roles are pretty demanding, as the film is laced with subtext that's a lot more interesting than the plot itself. The best thing here is watching Tom and Lucy's young relationship be rattled to the breaking point right before our eyes. And writer-director Lovering does a great job creating a nasty atmosphere in the dark, rainy wilderness.

Blood Brother
dir Steve Hoover; with Rocky Braat, Steve Hoover 13/US ****.
What starts out as a profile by filmmaker Steve Hoover of his best pal Rocky turns into a remarkable journey into the human soul. Not only does Steve witness something unexpected about Rocky, but his own life is changed forever by the experience. And the film is beautifully shot and edited to make the story powerfully compelling. At the beginning, Steve finds it difficult to understand why Rocky has decided to move to India and live in a refuge full of children with Aids. So he travels there to see what it's all about. But even as he's shocked by the realities of a situation in which children die regularly, he begins to see how Rocky has given his heart to this rural community, finding purpose and meaning outside a more commercial, money-driven America. And while Rocky sometimes looks a bit saintly, the film also shows his doubts and frustrations. But it's in the dramatic events caught on camera that the film shakes us to the core, inspiring us to find meaning in our lives too.

Running From Crazy
dir Barbara Kopple; with Mariel Hemingway, Bobby Williams 13/US ***.
Mariel Hemingway takes us on a trip into her famous family in this sometimes too-intimate documentary. While it has a lot to say about mental illness and suicide, it's even more interesting as an exploration of one family's difficult journey. But the raw facts are almost overwhelming: Mariel has survived seven suicides in her family, including her iconic author grandfather Ernest and her model-actress sister Margaux. So now she dedicates her life to well-being and health, talking opening about everything in an attempt to help her daughters Langley and Dree escape the family "curse". Filmmaker Koople never flinches from anything, as Mariel talks openly about her troubled life. And a good chunk of the film consists of telling footage from Margaux's 1984 work to document the family. It's intimate and sometimes shocking, and very moving.