LFF: The usual suspects

The 66th London Film Festival wrapped up on Sunday night with the European premiere of Glass Onion, the Knives Out sequel. Most of the cast was on-stage to introduce the film and have a post-screening Q&A along with filmmaker Rian Johnson. This was follows by the first LFF closing party I've ever been invited to (thanks, Netflix!) - a huge event themed around the movie. In the end, I saw 40 festival films, which isn't bad at all for not being press accredited. And I have several more screening over the coming weeks. Here's a final list of highlights, plus the award winners and my favourites from the festival...

Glass Onion
dir-scr Rian Johnson; with Daniel Craig, Janelle Monae 22/US ****
After the gleeful chaos of Knives Out, writer-director Rian Johnson returns with another fiendishly well-constructed whodunit for Daniel Craig's lively sleuth Benoit Blanc. This film isn't quite as camp, but it's even funnier as the plot crashes through its crazy twists and turns, subverting the mystery genre itself before giving in to its more enjoyable pleasures: make everyone a suspect before unpeeling a satisfyingly thumping conclusion.

The Inspection
dir-scr Elegance Bratton; with Jeremy Pope, Gabrielle Union 22/US ****.
There's striking artistry in the way filmmaker Elegance Bratton recounts an autobiographical narrative about a Black gay man in US Marines boot camp during the "don't ask, don't tell" years. Never preachy, the film has an earthy, intensely internalised tone that puts its complex characters into a razor-sharp perspective. And its knowing authenticity adds both deep emotion and a textured, vital comment on the nature of bigotry

My Policeman
dir Michael Grandage; with Harry Styles, Emma Corrin 22/UK ***
Because there's such a compelling story at the centre of this British drama, it is packed with strikingly emotional and provocative moments. But the filmmaking is oddly timid, thinning the material in a way that makes it feel soapy. Set in two intriguing periods, the premise raises important issues that deserve attention. So more nuance in the characters and storytelling could have provided an even more potent kick... FULL REVIEW >

Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande
dir Tim MacKenzie-Smith; with Patrick Patterson, Sam Kelly 22/UK ***.
Unsung and hugely influential, the British group Cymande is overdue for a documentary, and this beautifully assembled film is a superb overview. Shot and edited with the same soulful groove the band injected into the music industry, the movie features an entertaining collection of interviews, music and archival film. Director Tim MacKenzie-Smith clearly has a lot of affection for the band. And so do we after watching his film.

A W A R D S

• Best Film: CORSAGE
• Audience Award: BLUE BAG LIFE
• Documentary: ALL THAT BREATHES
• First Feature: 1976
• Immersive: AS MINE EXACTLY
• Short Film: I HAVE NO LEGS AND I MUST RUN
• Audience Award - Short: DROP OUT
• Surprise film: THE MENU

R I C H ’ S   B E S T   O F   F E S T

1. NO BEARS
2. CAUSEWAY
3. DECISION TO LEAVE
4. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
5. LIVING
6. THE INSPECTION
7. ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED
8. TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
9. BLUE JEAN
   
10. GLASS ONION

As I have time, full reviews of London Film Festival films will be linked to SHADOWS' LFF PAGE >

Venezia79: Make it big

The 79th Venice Film Festival has powered through its first weekend, continuing an unusually strong lineup that is making it difficult to predict how the jury will award the winners on Saturday. I took much of Sunday off to roam around the city, eat too much food (including the three staples here: coffee, gelato and Aperol spritz) and watch the centuries-old traditional Regata Storica parade of elaborately decorated boats down the Grand Canal, followed by races between crews of standing rowers. Even so, I did see two films. Here are some highlights for Monday...

The Whale
dir Darren Aronofsky; with Brendan Fraser, Hong Chau 22/US ***.
Based on Samuel Hunter's play and retaining a stagey sense of claustrophobia, this extremely pointed drama is an unusually contained piece for Darren Aronofsky. It's a story about the power of people to impact each other for good and bad. And it is likely to divide viewers pretty much along lines of cynicism and optimism. Few viewers will be able to resist a startlingly winning performance from Brendan Fraser, even from within what's obviously an enormous fat suit. And the deeper ideas in the film deserve to strike a nerve.

Don't Worry Darling
dir Olivia Wilde; with Florence Pugh, Harry Styles 22/US ***
While this thriller is strikingly designed and directed, its story never quite digs deep enough to make the premise memorable. This is partly because the film harks back to far more nuanced variations on the theme, like The Truman Show or The Stepford Wives. But actor-director Olivia Wilde keeps things moving with a growing sense of intrigue, while deploying some properly dazzling imagery. And Florence Pugh delivers such a belting, involving central performance that everyone and everything around her pales by comparison.

Immensity [L'Immensità]
dir Emanuele Crialese; with Penelope Cruz, Luana Giuliani 22/It ****
There are lively ripples of meaning throughout this Italian drama, and because they are never shouted loudly they work their way under the skin. Recounting a clearly autobiographical story with evocative personal details, filmmaker Emanuele Crialese continues to be especially adept at isolating the identity of characters who are unable to be who they are in a society that crushes diversity. And it features a remarkably textured performance from young Luana Giuliani, who holds her own against the irresistible magic of Penelope Cruz.

Skin Deep [Aus Meiner Haut]
dir Alex Schaad; with Mala Emde, Jonas Dassler 22/Ger ****.
A sense of mystery infuses every scene in this film, with knowingly insinuating conversations and characters who clearly have tantalising secrets. And all of this is skilfully underplayed by the cast, while director Alex Schaad maintains an enticing visual sensibility that pulls the audience in further, even though the rather outrageous premise can be tricky to follow. Still, what the film has to say about how we define ourselves and each other is seriously profound, challenging us to take a fresh look at the human experience.

Full reviews will be linked at Shadows VENICE FILM FESTIVAL page, eventually! 

Critical Week: Land, sea, air and space

Two big movies this week were passion projects written and directed by top filmmakers. Luc Besson's Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is an almost outrageously colourful outer space romp starring Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne. It's visually fabulous, but never terribly thrilling. By contrast, Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk is so viscerally inventive that it pulls us into a cleverly splintered narrative - on land, sea and air - surrounding Britain's epic 1940 evacuation across the channel. Unlike any war movie you've seen, it's perhaps the year's best film so far. And it's especially powerful on the Imax screen.

Much sillier thrills were to be had at Captain Underpants, the riotously rude animated comedy centred on a friendship between two pranksters who convince their principal that he's a superhero. Frenetic but very funny. The Vault is a heist movie with supernatural horror overtones starring James Franco and Francesca Eastwood (comments are embargoed). Killing Ground is more straightforward grisly horror from Australia about two families who face scary locals in the woods. And the 1961 British classic Victim gets a welcome reissue to mark the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality. It's also still a great drama, with powerhouse performances from Dirk Bogarde and Sylvia Syms.

Coming up this next week are Kathryn Bigelow's 1960s riots drama Detroit, Bill Nighy's Victorian whodunit The Limehouse Golem, Jada Pinkett Smith and friends on a comical Girls Trip, Gerard Butler as A Family Man, a couple of women trapped 47 Metres Down, and the festival-winning On Body and Soul.