BFI Flare: Spread the love

And that's a wrap on the 40th BFI Flare, closing the programme with the South African comedy Black Burns Fast and the usual epic party last night. Then today was the best-of day in the cinemas. I saw 25 features and 13 shorts (including the Five Films for Freedom) over the past 12 days - my favourites are below, after are my last three film highlights...

Black Burns Fast
dir-scr Sandulela Asanda; with Esihle Ndleleni, Muadi Ilung 26/SA ***
With a sassy sense of humour, colourful sets and costumes, and videogame-style graphic flourishes, this teen comedy from South Africa lands somewhere in the region of shows like Heartstopper, Sex Education and Never Have I Ever. It's enjoyable simply for what it is, and the writing is cute and often very funny. But it's never particularly pointed about the serious themes that are raised. So it ultimately feels somewhat simplistic.

Satisfaction
dir-scr Alex Burunova; with Emma Laird, Fionn Whitehead 25/UK ***.
Artful and moody, but set in sundrenched Greece, this romantic drama feels weighty from the start. Writer-director Alex Burunova flickers in time to intersperse the back-story with the main narrative, and each strand has its own visceral approach, cleverly contrasting the settings using emotions, colours and textures. This approach also drops in darkly disturbing revelations that give the film provocative edge. 

What Will I Become?
dir Lexie Bean, Logan Rozos; with Lexie Bean, Logan Rozos 26/US ****
Even with a very dark central topic, this documentary, is made with a sense of hopefulness. This is a clear-eyed, deliberately emotive look at why so many trans youth commit suicide, and directors Lexie Bean and Logan Rozos know this situation far too well. The fact is that more than half of trans teens try to take their own lives, largely because they can never be themselves. It's not an easy film to watch, but it's powerful, important and urgent.

RICH'S BEST OF FEST

1. Drunken Noodles (Lucio Castro, US)
2. Maspalomas (Aitor Arregi/Jose Mari Goenaga, Spain)
3. On the Sea (Helen Walsh, UK)
4. Perro Perro (Marco Berger, Argentina)
5. Cherri (Fabian Suarez, Cuba)
6. Keep Coming Back (Sergio De Leon, Uruguay)
7. Strange River (Jaume Claret Muxart, Spain)
8. The Last Guest of the Holloway Motel (Ramiel Petros/Nicholas Freeman, UK)
9. Lunar Sway (Nick Butler, Canada)
10. To Dance Is to Resist (Julian Lautenbacher, Ukraine)

Honourable mention: Can't Go Over It, I Am Going to Miss You, The Broken R, Big Girls Don't Cry, Hunky Jesus, 10s Across the Borders, Out Laws, What Will I Become? 

FAVOURITE SHORTS

1. Yellow Bucket (Simon Brooke, UK)
2. Magid/Zafar (Luis Hindman, UK)
3. Theo (Monica Palazzo/Jo Galvv, Brazil)
4. Kiloran Bay (Michael Bruce, UK)
5. I Hate Helen (Kate Lambert, UK)

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

Critical Week: At the movies

I saw fewer films this week for a variety of reasons, including extended celebrations of my birthday and a two-day trip to Brighton to visit a friend. It was nice to take a break from the screen and catch some (intermittent) sunshine for a change. But I was glad to be back in cinemas for a couple of high-profile press screenings. Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren star in the crowd-pleasing true story The Duke, which is perhaps fizzier than it should be, but audiences will love it. And Scarlett Johansson is back for her long-awaited lead role in Black Widow, an action movie livened up by deeper-than-expected filmmaking and performances. Florence Pugh particularly shines alongside Johansson, plus scene-stealers David Harbour and Rachel Weisz.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Martin Eden • Black Widow
The Truffle Hunters • The Surrogate
ALL REVIEWS >

More offbeat films included the horror thriller Son, an unnerving exploration of maternal excess that keeps us tense but struggles to stick the landing, and the Spanish romance Carmen & Lola, an involving and remarkably authentic story set in Madrid's Roma subculture. There was also the short film collection Upon Her Lips: Heartbeats, with eight mini-dramas exploring angles on female attraction.

This coming week I'll be watching Ewan McGregor in The Birthday Cake, Robert De Niro in The Comeback Trail, Karen Gillen in Gunpowder Milkshake, the award-winning French comedy Bye Bye Morons, the horror mystery The Boy Behind the Door and the Danish thriller Shorta.

39th London Critics' Circle Film Awards: words and pics...

Yes, it was time for the London film critics to hold their annual gala red carpet event. And for the seventh year, I was the chair of the organising committee, which meant that I was involved in every aspect of the day's events. The 39th London Critics' Circle Film Awards, presented by Dover Street Entertainment at The May Fair Hotel, had a distinct tone this year - awash in diversity almost any way you looked at it. We had fewer high-wattage Hollywood stars, but we made up for that with humour, energy and some properly talented guests in attendance. It was a great celebration of film - and a fantastic party. Here are some photos to help tell the story...

Pedro Almodóvar was awarded our top honour, the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film. Tamsin Greig (left), who starred in the West End production of his classic Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, presented the award to him. At right, Critics' Circle Film Section Chair Anna Smith and I stand on either side of the evening's host, the fabulous British comic Judi Love.

Left to right: Richard E Grant accepts Supporting Actor for Can You Ever Forgive Me; writer-director Michael Pearce wins Breakthrough Filmmaker for Beast; producer Nicolas Celis accepts Film of the Year for Roma.

Pawel Pawlikowski's gorgeous Cold War won both Foreign-Language Film and the Technical Achievement Award for Lukasz Zal's cinematography; Rupert Everett sent his friend and costar Emily Watson to pick up his award for British/Irish Actor for The Happy Prince; Yorgos Lanthimos collects the prize for British/Irish Film of the Year for The Favourite.

One of my jobs was to chase down video thank yous from winners unable to be present (I knew the winners before anyone else). Both of these were shot in dressing rooms: Olivia Colman was on set filming The Crown and gave a witty thank you for Actress of the Year in The Favourite, and Ethan Hawke is in a play on Broadway, and made some clever, thoughtful observations as he collected Actor of the Year for First Reformed.

Alfonso Cuaron sent a video greeting as he won Director of the Year for Roma, while Agnès Varda spoke for herself and co-director JR to accept Documentary of the Year for Faces Places.

Rachel Weisz spoke from her kitchen to accept Supporting Actress for The Favourite, while Jessie Buckley was also stuck on-set on Sunday, offering a heartfelt thank you for British/Irish Actress in Beast, and hoping she'd finish early enough to come join the party (sadly, she couldn't).

Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara were on-hand to collect their award for Screenwriters of the Year for The Favourite, as were director Lara Zeidan and producer John Giordano, who won Short Film of the Year for Three Centimetres.

Molly Wright was wonderfully surprised when she won Young Performer of the Year for Apostasy (she also helped read out our nominations when they were announced last month); her director Daniel Kokotajlo was a nominee for Breakthrough Filmmaker; while Liv Hill was up for Young Performer for The Little Stranger.

Fionn Whitehead was nominated for Young Performer for the second year running, this time for The Children Act; Anya Taylor-Joy was also up for that award for her work in Thoroughbreds; and writer-director Deborah Haywood was up for Breakthrough for Pin Cushion. (She was one of three women we nominated for directing, along with Debra Granik and Lynne Ramsay in the Director category.)

Other guests included Gonzalo Maza, screenwriter of Foreign-Language Film nominee A Fantastic Woman; actress Muna Utaru (The Keeping Room); and filmmakers and diversity activists Hannah and Jake Graf.

I have spent the last six months working on this event, and it has completely taken over my life over the last six weeks (with a bit of a breather when all the publicists' offices closed over the holidays!). After we have a debrief and work out what we can do even better next year, we'll be able to forget about all the chaos until it begins cranking up again next summer. The 2020 event will be our 40th anniversary, so I think we need to plan something unexpected.

Critical Week: Here comes the judge

It's been a busy week, even if press screenings have been a little thin. The World Cup semifinal featuring England on Wednesday night erased all planned screenings that night. And Thursday was the summer party for the Critics' Circle - that was good fun. I'm the vice chair of the film section, so as one of the event hosts had to skip that evening's screening of Mission: Impossible - Fallout (I'll catch up on that in a week or so).

But I did see a few films. The Children Act stars Emma Thompson (above), who is simply devastating as a high court justice who gets caught up in a thorny case. Based on an Ian McEwan novel, it refreshingly refuses to simplify characters, plots or themes, and leaves us with a lot to think about. Conversely, Skyscraper is best watched with the brain disengaged: it's a preposterously stupid action thriller that's far too serious for its own good. Dwayne Johnson is, as usual, the best thing about it, but was clearly told to rein in his charm and wit.

Hearts Beat Loud is a moving, gorgeous drama starring Nick Offerman, Kiersey Clemons and Toni Collette. The story is interwoven with engaging, earthy songs, so it's involving even if it's a little over-crafted. And A Swingers Weekend is a loosely awkward comedy-drama about three couples trying to spark up their relationships at a lake house. The darker scenes are far more interesting than the rather tepid sexy silliness.

This coming week will be busy, with the all-star musical sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Jodie Foster in Hotel Artemis, Glenn Close in The Wife, Denzel Washington in The Equalizer 2, Sylvester Stallone in Escape Plan 2, Jonathan Rhys Meyers in Damascus Cover, Oona Chaplin in Anchor and Hope, and the costume designer doc Love, Cecil.

38th Critics' Circle Film Awards: words and pics...

As chair of the London Critics' Circle Film Awards, I get to be right on the frontline putting this event together. It's a lot of work, over about six months with especially intense days when voting starts in early December until the big night. Our 38th awards were handed out on Sunday 28th January at The May Fair Hotel, presented by Dover Street Entertainment. And since I have to get up at the start to thank our sponsors, I usually hand out the first award. This year's first honour went to Hugh Grant (above), named Supporting Actor of the Year for Paddington 2. He joked, "Well that's ludicrous. Trump, Brexit, and now me winning this. It's the end of days!"

The ceremony ended on a highlight, as Kate Winslet was presented the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film by her friend Jude Law. She gave an electric speech referencing the Time's Up movement from her own personal perspective. Kate started with, "It almost feels uncomfortable to receive an award at such a time." And she went on to reference the #MeToo issue: "I realised that I wouldn't be able to stand here this evening and keep to myself some bitter regrets that I have about poor decisions to work with individuals with whom I wish I had not."

These three men from Call Me By Your Name were in the house - Armie Hammer came along with his friends, nominees Luca Guadagnino (up for film and director) and Timothee Chalamet, who won Actor of the Year. Timothee thanked Luca ("Who basically gave me my career at this point") and his "tongue-wrestling partner" Armie.

Here's the team running the show: host Steve Oram, Critics' Circle President Anna Smith, host Alice Lowe and Critics' Circle Awards Chair Rich Cline. This was Steve and Alice's third year hosting the show - they're an awesome double act.

Winners for Breakthrough Filmmaker and Young Performer: Francis Lee for God's Own Country and Harris Dickinson for Beach Rats.

Lesley Manville was named Supporting Actress of the Year for Phantom Thread, while producer Daniel Battsek collected awards on behalf of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: for best film, screenwriter Martin McDonagh and actress Frances McDormand.

Writer-director Paul King and writer Simon Farnaby, both nominees for their work on Paddington 2, were in the house. Writer-director Dionne Edwards and producer Georgia Goggin won British/Irish Short Film of the Year for We Love Moses.

Supervising Art Director Paul Inglis accepted production designer Dennis Gassner's Technical Achievement Award for Blade Runner 2049. Noah Jupe (Suburbicon) and Dafne Keen (Logan) were nominees for Young Performer.

More nominees in the house: Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk), Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth), Josh O'Connor (God's Own Country) and Emily Beecham (Daphne).

Emma Willis was a nominee for her amazing hair and makeup in The Love Witch. Other guests included Alec Secareanu (God's Own Country), Jessica Barden and Jack Johns.

Four of our winners sent thank you videos. Clockwise from top-left: Martin McDonagh won Film and Screenwriter of the Year for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Daniel Kaluuya was named British/Irish Actor of the Year for Get Out; Paul Verhoeven won Foreign-Language Film of the Year for Elle; Sean Baker took Director of the Year for The Florida Project.

And finally, our former chair Jason Solomons presented a lovely In Memoriam segment for Barry Norman, one of Britain's best-loved film critics.

The awards were presented this year by Dover Street Entertainment. Our main sponsor was The May Fair Hotel. Award sponsors were Heaven Skincare, Cameo Productions and Millbank and CooperSearle Management. In-kind sponsors were Sacred Gin, Remy Martin, Voss Water and Audi.