Critical Week: Backstage glamour

The 68th London Film Festival continues into this weekend with a range of terrific movies. I'm taking it easy this year, just seeing some of the top titles during these days, often including Q&As and receptions where we can chat with the filmmakers and actors. So it's been a lot of fun (see my Insta for pics!), and there's a bit more to come this weekend. One of the bigger titles was Jason Reitman's Saturday Night, a rollercoaster ride of a film recounting a tense 90 minutes before the first SNL show went live in October 1975. The cast is excellent, and it's skilfully written, shot and edited to be both funny and moving, although perhaps only for fans. It was also the surprise film at LFF this week.

Also this week, I finally caught up with the animated adventure The Wild Robot, which I saw preview footage from in June when I hung out with the creative team at Annecy Animation Film Fest. So expectations were very high, and the film more than lived up to them. It's one of the most gorgeously animated movies I've ever seen, and the story has unusual depth and textures.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Anora • The Wild Robot
The Crime Is Mine
The Summer With Carmen
 In Restless Dreams
ALL REVIEWS >

There were lots of good festival movies this week. Amy Adams goes for broke in Nightbitch, a seriously clever film that's deliberately uncomfortable. Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong are astonishing as Donald Trump and Roy Cohn in The Apprentice, a biopic that never takes a cheap shot but leaves us chilled. Thomasin McKenzie shines in Joy, a rather typical lively true British drama, this time about the development of IVF. Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin spark amazing chemistry as cousins in A Real Pain, a smart road movie set in Poland. The Indian comedy Superboys of Malegaon provides a lot of fun as a group of guys create a mini-film industry in their town. 

Outside LFF, there was the always watchable Alex Wolff in rather over-familiar fraternity drama The Line. And there were two docs: Mark Cousins' fascinating collage-style doc A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things, about artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, and the lively Studio One Forever, exploring the iconic Los Angeles nightclub.

Things are clearly getting back to normal for me, as I have a final flurry of LFF films this weekend: Elizabeth Banks' Skincare, the animated Memoir of a Snail, Walter Salles' I'm Still Here, Mati Diop's Dahomey, Indian drama All We Imagine as Light and more. Then next week it's Tom Hardy in Venom: The Last Dance, Eddie Redmayne in The Day of the Jackal and Jordana Brewster in Cellar Door.

Sundance: Make some noise

I completely missed last years Sundance Film Festival: London, because I was attending another festival at the time, so I'm enjoying getting stuck into the 11th edition of this mini festival, which shows a handful of highlights from January's festival over four days at Picturehouse Central, complete with filmmaker Q&As. The festival kicks off tonight with Kneecap, which goes straight in as one of my very best films of the year. Here are brief comments about that one and a few others. Plus Critical Week below...

Kneecap
dir-scr Rich Peppiatt; with Naoise O'Caireallain, Liam Og O'Hannaidh 24/Ire *****
An energising blast of fresh energy, this Irish comedy-drama fills the screen with characters who feel almost overpoweringly full of live. Rich Peppiatt writes and directs with an engaging urgency, propelling the audience through the narrative alongside these scrappy people, while at the same time making nuanced comments about important themes, personal issues and thorny political situations. This makes it an essential film for anyone worried about the future... FULL REVIEW >

I Saw the TV Glow
dir-scr Jane Schoenbrun; with Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine 24/US ***.
This surreal film is tricky to categorise, which is perhaps its greatest strength. It features elements of a coming-of-age drama and a wildly colourful sci-fi pastiche that's centred around a rather nutty vintage TV series. It's shot beautifully, with a gorgeous sense of light and colour straight from writer-director Jane Schoenbrun's imagination. And this moving and rather darkly powerful story explores how it feels to live outside of mainstream society, never quite knowing how to fit in. 

Sasquatch Sunset
dir David Zellner, Nathan Zellner; with Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough 24/US ***.
Defiantly offbeat, this is one of those one-off experimental movies that could only come from an extremely curious filmmaker. Make that plural, as brothers David and Nathan Zellner follow a bigfoot family over four momentous seasons. There's no dialog, although the creatures communicate with gestures, grunts and other noises. The film has a wonderfully deadpan sense of humour, even as the story turns dark and emotional. And the result is both involving and memorable.

Your Monster
dir-scr Caroline Lindy; with Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey 24/US ***
Mixing comedy, horror, romance and personal drama, this film by its very nature has an uneven tone. At least it's consistently enjoyable and engaging, recounting a funny-freaky narrative that takes on bigger themes surrounding loneliness, ambition and empowerment. But much of the story and many of the bigger moments feel a bit gimmicky due to the way they play on perceptions and fantasies. This means that the ideas resonate even if the characters and situations don't. 

Handling the Undead [Håndtering av Udøde]
dir Thea Hvistendahl; with Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie 24/Nor ***.
A meditation on grief and letting go, this film is steeped in Scandinavian gloom; it couldn't be much bleaker if it tried. And filmmaker Thea Hvistendahl certainly tries. Essentially a zombie arthouse movie, the script isolates three families in their singular experiences, dealing with the death of a loved one followed by an uncanny resurrection. The downbeat nature of the story means that this is not an easy film to watch, and it holds its nerve by never offering much hope. 

Never Look Away
dir Lucy Lawless; with Margaret Moth, Christiane Amanpour 24/NZ ****
With a quick pace and a blast of rock-chick energy, this biographical documentary about no-nonsense warzone journalist Margaret Moth is both entertaining and compelling. As a gifted camera operator with a larger-than-life persona, it seems odd that her story hasn't been told before. Actor-turned-director Lucy Lawless skilfully fuel the narrative with Moth's distinctive energy, which is reflected in interviews with colleagues, partners and family members, as well as her staggeringly unblinking footage.

My Sundance London reviews will be linked on the website's FESTIVAL PAGE >

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C R I T I C A L  W E E K

This week's big press screening was a UK gala for Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which sparked a party atmosphere before the barrage of Will Smith/Martin Lawrence action mayhem on an Imax screen. The plot is as inane as expected, but the stuntwork is solid. There was also the smart and enjoyably bristly comedy-drama Reverse the Curse, written, directed and costarring David Duchovny; the British road story Cottontail, a moving look at family connections; the extremely quirky and entertaining fairy tale-style children's adventure Riddle of Fire; the achingly slow but sharply observant British drama Sky Peals; and the gorgeously shot Belgian drama Here, about two beautifully underplayed immigrants.

There will be more Sundance movies until Sunday, and then I am off to France for a few days at the  Annecy International Film Festival, which specialises in animation. So it's appropriate that I will also be watching Netflix's Ultraman: Rising and Pixar's Inside Out 2 on very big screens.

Critical Week: I need a hug

I've tried to get outside more this past week, simply because after three months lockdown is doing my head in. A few days out in sunny weather were a welcome break from watching movies at home. This week also brought word that film production will begin again in the UK at the beginning of July, around the same time cinemas will be re-opening with some level of social distancing. And we also found out that awards season is being extended by two months, with the Oscars set for April.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Young Ahmed • Da 5 Bloods
On a Magical Night • The Painted Bird
WORTH A LOOK:
The King of Staten Island
7500 • Babyteeth
FULL REVIEWS >

The biggest films I watched this week included the warm and gently comical The King of Staten Island, Pete Davidson's fictionalised autobiography costarring Marisa Tomei (above). Spike Lee's powerful drama Da 5 Bloods follows four Vietnam vets back to the battleground 50 years later on a secret mission. It's staggeringly timely, hugely involving and strongly pointed. And Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried star in the horror thriller You Should Have Left, in which a family's holiday getaway becomes very darkly haunted. It's a bit thin, but sharply put together.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars in the German thriller 7500, a gritty, contained drama set in the cockpit of a plane that's hijacked. It's a little contrived, but very well-made, and Gordon-Levitt is excellent. Jesse Eisenberg stars in the German drama Resistance, which traces Marcel Marceau's involvement in the French Resistance during WWII. It's a great story, even if the filmmaking is somewhat standard. The indie American comedy horror Driven follows a cab driver who picks up a demon-slayer and spends the night trying to save the world. It's silly but very entertaining. And the Dardenne brothers' Young Ahmed is another fiercely well-observed drama, low-key and unnerving as it follows a teen who has fallen under the influence of an extremist imam in Belgium.

Among the movies to watch this coming week, there's Penelope Cruz in Wasp Network, Maxine Peake in Fanny Lye Deliver'd, Teresa Palmer in Ride Like a Girl, the comedy thriller Homewrecker, the dance comedy Feel the Beat, the French thriller Lost Bullet, and the sexual assault documentary On the Record.

London Film Fest: Whatever happens, keep smiling

I may have only seen two movies today at the 63rd BFI London Film Festival, but I was in the cinema for five hours and 21 minutes (they were very long films). I also had a couple of filmmaker interviews, which is always good fun - End of the Century's Lucio Castro and Don't Look Down's Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau. And both of these involved a 15-min walk to the venue, so I got my steps in today. We've passed the halfway point now, so I can sense light in the end of the tunnel. Although the queues in the rain for 8am screenings are trying my patience. Here are Tuesday highlights...

Little Monsters
dir-scr Abe Forsythe; with Lupita Nyong'o, Alexander England 19/Aus ***.
Aussie filmmaker Abe Forsythe manages to find a new take on the zombie genre. With a contained Australian setting, he adds a buoyant sense of humour that takes over the entire movie. It's so disarmingly funny, that the audience is genuinely taken aback by how horrifically violent it gets. And even more impressive is how he also generates some properly sweet moments as well.

Bad Education
dir Cory Finley; with Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney 19/US ****
A terrific balance of smart writing, witty direction and skilfully layered performances elevate this true story into a fiendishly entertaining tale of financial malfeasance. Director Corey Finley cuts through the story without getting bogged down in the finely laid out details. He and writer Mike Makowsky also remember to keep the characters compelling even as their outrageous misdeeds are brought into the light.

Vivarium
dir Lorcan Finnegan; with Jesse Eisenberg, Imogen Poots 19/Ire ***
So overtly allegorical that there isn't much to discover, this enjoyably offbeat Irish thriller is compulsively watchable. Filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan creates such a distinctive look that the audience joins in, even if the story never manages a proper surprise. Still, it couldn't be much freakier, using everyday imagery to unhinged effect. And while it may not have much to say about the topic, at least it leaves us feeling queasy.

Matthias & Maxime
dir-scr Xavier Dolan; with Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas, Xavier Dolan 19/Can ***.
There's a bold, bracingly fresh idea at the centre of this film, and actor-filmmaker Xavier Dolan spends much of the running time avoiding it, just as his  characters do. The film is sharply written to catch the rhythms of a 30-something still working out where to go with their lives. And the central story of two lifelong friends has a strong kick, even if it comes a bit late.

The Painted Bird
dir-scr Vaclav Marhoul; with Petr Kotlar, Harvey Keitel 19/Cz ****
Based on the Jerzy Kosinski novel, this sprawling Czech epic takes the audience in an unforgettable odyssey through World War II. Shot in shimmering black and white, scenes look exquisite, giving the film an instantly classic tone. Each episode of this allegory carries an unexpected kick as it reflects real life in bracingly full-on ways. Writer-director Vaclav Marhoul keeps the explicit stuff off-camera, but he still leaves us shaken.

End of the Century [Fin de Siglo]
dir-scr Lucio Castro; with Juan Barberini, Ramon Pujol 19/Arg ****
Observationally shot and beautifully edited, this delicate drama by Argentine filmmaker Lucio Castro pulls the audience in slowly with its striking imagery and relaxed characters. The film's structure is ambitious, with time periods that overlap and echo in unexpected ways, and the enigmatic style of filmmaking makes it surprisingly involving as it plays with the idea of memory, the passage of time and alternate realities... FULL REVIEW >

Links:
Shadows LONDON FILM FEST homepage (full reviews will be linked here) 
Official LONDON FILM FEST site 

Critical Week(s): With a little help from my friends

I'm catching up on two weeks of film-watching here, since I took last week to write about theatre and TV instead, and also because screenings have been rather thin. There were two big sequels shown to UK critics: Finding Dory is an enjoyably colourful and slightly less satisfying follow-up to Disney/Pixar's 2003 hit, while Now You See Me 2 is an entertaining and somewhat convoluted continuation of the 2013 heist thriller about magicians. 

And then there are the pre-established properties: Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie brings the beloved sitcom characters to the big screen more than 20 years after they first appeared for a film that's better than anyone expected. And The Legend of Tarzan is an odd hybrid of a sweeping period epic and a silly action blockbuster, with an unusually strong cast. As for original stories, Ira Sach's Little Men is an exquisitely observed family drama, and Thomas Vinterberg's The Commune is a complex look at relationships in 1970s Denmark. I also caught up with the seriously stunning, unmissable Italian immigration doc Fire at Sea and the offbeat, segmented arthouse drama Like Cattle Towards Glow, exploring the link between lust, love and violence.

Coming up this week: the Ghostbusters remake starring Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig, the animated sequel Ice Age: Collision Course, Dave Franco and Emma Roberts in Nerve, Pedro Almodovar's new drama Julieta and Michel Gondry's Microbe and Gasoline.

LLF 6: That scene-steaing cat

The big red carpet premiere tonight at the 57th London Film Festival was for the Coen brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis, attended by Joel & Ethan Coen, Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan and John Goodman. But as far as I know, the film's feline scene-stealers weren't in attendance. Here are six more highlights...

Inside Llewyn Davis 
dir Joel Coen, Ethan Coen; with Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan 13/US **** 
In a whimsical mood, the Coens explore a musical movement through the eyes of someone who thinks he should cut his losses and run. On the other hand, he has nothing left to lose. Anchored by a hugely engaging performance by Isaac, the film is a meandering odyssey that's packed with great ideas and wonderful characters, leaving us smiling rather than thinking... FULL REVIEW >

Night Moves 
dir Kelly Reichardt; with Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning 13/US ***. 
Reichardt takes on eco-terrorism with her usual askance, original approach to filmmaking, avoiding big thrills for introspective drama and provocative moral dilemmas. Every layer of this film is subtle, which is remarkable when such a hot-potato topic is involved. But it's also a bit sleepy... FULL REVIEW >

Tom at the Farm 
dir Xavier Dolan; with Xavier Dolan, Pierre-Yves Cardinal 13/Can **** 
Dolan once again impresses with his robust filmmaking style, this time with a creepy twist on the Hitchcockian thriller. In addition to creating vivid, enticing characters, he keeps the atmosphere warm and witty, so we're not sure whether the next scene will make us laugh or chill us to the bone... FULL REVIEW >

Afternoon Delight 
dir Jill Soloway; with Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple 13/US ***. 
A comedy that travels to some startlingly dark, bleak places, this film takes an intriguingly messy look at sexuality and relationships. With solid performances, there are no easy resolutions here, as the characters essentially have to work out their own issues in order to get on with each other... FULL REVIEW >

Short Term 12 
dir-scr Destin Daniel Cretton; with Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr 13/US **** 
With documentary-style realism, filmmaker Cretton offers a bracingly honest exploration of the fallout from child abuse. But even though the film visits some extremely dark corners, it remains clear-eyed and hopeful about the future. Which helps us engage as we get deeply involved with the characters... FULL REVIEW >

The Last Impressario 
dir Gracie Otto; with Michael White, Lyndall Hobbs 13/UK **** 
This lively, engaging documentary profiles a dying breed. No, this kind of independent producer doesn't exist in the days of the multinational entertainment industry. But Michael White has changed the face of the arts with his resolutely progressive approach to projects. This hasn't made him rich, but he has scores of amazing famous friends... FULL REVIEW >

LFF 5: Ready for labour

Kate Winslet and her rather large baby bump braved the chilly red carpet tonight in Leicester Square for the UK premiere of her film Labor Day at the 57th London Film Festival. She was joined by costar Josh Brolin and writer-director Jason Reitman. And yes, the city is crawling with cinema celebrities at the moment. In addition to the Labor Day junket, I also attended a small press conference today for The Family (not showing at LFF) with Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Dianna Agron. But then, everyone seems to be in London at the moment. More festival highlights...

Labor Day 
dir Jason Reitman; with Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin 13/US ***
While this drama starts off well, with another remarkably layered performance from Winslet and a growing sense of uneasy tension, it slowly transforms itself into a Nicholas Sparks-style sappy romance along the way. To say this is frustrating is an understatement, and by the time we make it to a series of deeply schmalzy epilogues, we wonder what happened to the Reitman of Up in the Air or Young Adult... [review coming soon]

Like Father, Like Son 
dir Hirokazu Kore-eda; with Masaharu Fukuyama, Machiko Ono 13/Jpn ****. 
Japanese filmmaker Kore-eda is an expert at telling sentimental stories in a way that's genuinely involving but never remotely sappy. By catching tiny details in characters who are cleverly underplayed by the cast, he draws us into the events in an uncanny way that's utterly disarming. And wonderful... FULL REVIEW >

Ida
dir Pawel Pawlikowski; with Agata Trzebuchowska, Agata Kulesza 13/Pol **** 
With pristine black and white photography and beautifully textured performances, this simple story overflows with big ideas about history and faith. And since the two central characters are so beautifully written and played, they are able to engage us on layers that go much deeper than we expect... [review coming soon]

The Double
dir Richard Ayoade; with Jesse Eisenberg, Mia Wasikowska 13/UK *** 
Dostoevsky's novella is adapted into a Gilliamesque black comedy that's packed with visual invention but never quite grabs hold narratively. Still, the cast is so good that we willingly go along with them on a surreal odyssey about a young man struggling to make sense of his own identity. And the surprise-packed cast is a lot of fun... [review coming soon]

The Selfish Giant
dir-scr Clio Barnard; with Conner Chapman, Shaun Thomas 13/UK **** 
After the brilliantly inventive drama-doc The Arbor, it's unsurprising to find that Barnard takes an original approach to a kids' story. This film was inspired by the Oscar Wilde tale, and the connections are askance at best. But there's such an intense blast of realism that it's utterly gripping, right to the shattering conclusion... FULL REVIEW >

Critical Week: Pick a card, any card

In a very busy screening week in London, we finally caught up with the magician heist thriller Now You See Me, which starts as an enjoyable romp with a terrific cast (including Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman) before turning very silly indeed. From here we move through the genres: romance came with Stuck in Love, a slick ensemble film (Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Connelly, Logan Lerman, Lily Cole) in which relationships are all very tidy; terror came from Ethan Hawke in the thoughtful and genuinely scary dystopic horror The Purge and the derivative but ultimately enjoyably nutty The Last Exorcism Part II; and topical thrills came from the oddly involving eco-terrorism drama The East and the darkly inventive human trafficking drama Eden.

Off the beaten path, we had the deeply charming coming-of-age drama The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom, the controversially explicit but darkly thoughtful gay drama I Want Your Love, and Ulrich Seidl's chilling and blackly comical sex-tourism drama Paradise: Love. And finally, there were three docs: Sarah Polley's staggeringly inventive and moving exploration of her own family history in Stories We Tell, Shane Meadows' beautifully assembled exploration of a rock band in The Stone Roses: Made of Stone, and a somewhat indulgent but fascinating look at Johnny Cash's manager in My Father and the Man in Black.

This coming week we have Brad Pitt in the zombie blockbuster World War Z, the prequel Monsters University, Tina Fey in Admission, the second part of Ulrich Seidl's trilogy Paradise: Faith, the Indonesia massacre documentary The Act of Killing, Irish filmmaker Pat Collins' aural documentary Silence, a special BFI presentation by James Franco of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, and the lavish restoration of Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra up on the big screen where it belongs.