Flare: Let your colours burst

The 35th BFI Flare continues to run online this year, and it's a bit sad to think of BFI Southbank being so empty these days, without lively screenings, special events and of course the parties. At least the smaller number of films in the programme have been uniformly strong, a terrific mix of entertainment and more pointed themes. I've even been able to do a couple of interviews with actors and filmmakers (using webcams of course). Everything is available online this year at BFI FLARE until March 28th, with timed-ticketed screenings of the features and free access to the shorts, including this year's Five Films for Freedom. More on those here next week. In the meantime, here are a few more feature highlights, including my favourite festival film so far...

Colors of Tobi [Tobi Színei]
dir Alexa Bakony; with Tobias Benjamin Tuza, Eva Ildiko Tuza, 21/Hun ****
This Hungarian fly-on-the-wall documentary observes the life of a trans teen and his impact on his family and community. While noting the vicious public homophobia this young person faces, the film centres on parents and friends who are genuinely working through issues to support him. The film is sharply well-edited, bringing out resonance that highlights bigger themes, while filmmaker Alexa Bakony recounts a powerful story in a straightforward, compelling way. FULL REVIEW >

Cowboys
dir-scr Anna Kerrigan; with Steve Zahn, Jillian Bell 20/US ****
Spectacular Montana landscapes add natural beauty to this modern-day Western, which takes on complex issues with sensitivity and big-hearted humour. Writer-director Anna Kerrigan tells the story with beautifully observed style, quietly catching the perspective of a child who's looking for someone to see him for who he is. The story perhaps bites off more than it can chew, overcomplicating an already important central theme. But it's involving and strikingly well-made. FULL REVIEW >

Sweetheart
dir-scr Marley Morrison; with Nell Barlow, Jo Hartley 21/UK ****.
Packed with jaggedly witty observations, this British comedy gets into the mind of a teen who thinks her life couldn't get any worse. Writer-director Marley Morrison tells a hugely engaging story about a character brought to vivid life by gifted actor Nell Barlow. The pacing may meander in the middle, but this is a breathtaking feature debut, and one of the most astute movies about adolescence in recent memory. FULL REVIEW >

The Obituary of Tunde Johnson
dir Ali LeRoi; with Steven Silver, Spencer Neville 19/US ****
Taking on enormous issues in an inventive way, this brightly well-made drama is superbly directed by Ali LeRoi from an astute script by Stanley Kalu. The film takes on huge things things people face in seemingly perfect lives, hinging on the experience of a wealthy Black teen. It's long and a little scattershot in its approach, but the vivid characterisations make it riveting. And the raw urgency is breathtaking. FULL REVIEW >

Note that all full reviews will be linked on the site's BFI FLARE page.

Critical Week: Land of the midnight sun

This week's most anticipated screening was for Midsommar, the new sun-drenched horror from Ari Aster (Hereditary). And it certainly didn't disappoint: terrifying on several layers, Aster gleefully torments the audience without resorting to cliches. And the cast is simply awesome, including Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor and Will Poulter. Sylvester Stallone was back for Escape Plan: The Extractors [aka Escape Plan 3], which is more like another Rambo movie than part of this series. Yes, it's rather simplistic, relegating his returning costars (Dave Bautista, Curtis Jackson) to much smaller roles. And the true adventure/tragedy Kursk: The Last Mission also has an all-star cast, including Colin Firth, Matthias Schoenaerts and Max Von Sydow, but it leaves the Russian nature of the story aside for a Euro-pudding production that never quite feels real.

Less starry films included Brittany Runs a Marathon, a Sundance winner featuring Jillian Bell as a woman trying to get her life into shape. Although the plot plays to the usual structure, the film is very, very funny and then engagingly emotional. Germany's stunning Oscar-nominated epic drama Never Look Away is the complex, involving story of an artist who feels the impact of world events in his work. And the documentary/essay Varda by Agnes is a final gem from the masterful Agnes Varda as she traces her career, inspiration and motivation. It should be essential viewing in all film schools. There was also this documentary, which landed in cinemas last Friday...

Penny Slinger: Out of the Shadows
dir-scr Richard Kovitch
with Penny Slinger, Peter Whitehead, Susanka Fraey, Jack Bond, Michael Bracewell, Jane & Louise Wilson, Antony Penrose, Maxa Zoller
release UK 28.Jun.19 • 17/UK 1h38 ***.

A fascinating trip into London's art world in the 1960s and 1970s, this documentary explores Penny Slinger's haunting, surreal work: paintings, photos, collages, sculptures, performance and film. It's packed with her imagery, plus revealing interviews with her, her collaborators, friends and experts. Slinger's work is deliberately provocative, as she rejects the status quo and sets out to shock people with her statements about how women are seen in society. "I'm not necessarily feminist," she says, "but I hope I've been helpful in liberating the feminine." Documentary filmmaker Richard Kovitch traces her life and career chronologically, from painting as a child to attending art school in 1960s London, covering her striking projects over the years, all of which seem far ahead of her time. From the start, she played with faces and bodies in her work, creating a boldly female punk sensibility.

While it may feel a little dry, this doc is loaded with her powerful images, extensive footage from her rare films and clips of her art shows. And everything is accompanied with personal comments from Slinger, as well as collaborative artists like Fraey and filmmakers Whitehead and Bond. It's an eye-catching film, assembled with a reverence to her distinctive style, packed with intriguing observations about both Slinger and the art world in general, including what it says about culture at large. As Slinger says, life itself is a work of art, and her pieces are just an emblem of that. So it's intriguing how in the 1980s, disillusioned with how art had become too proscriptive and academic, she chose to disappear from the public eye. Her art continues to be exhibited, as fresh and resonant as ever. And she continues to evolve as a person engaged to the world around her.

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Coming up this next week, we have Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista in the buddy action comedy Stuber, Jim Jarmusch's star-packed zombie romp The Dead Don't Die, Gurinder Chadha's Springsteen-themed musical Blinded by the Light, the ensemble comedy Summer Night, the shorts collection The Heat of the Night, and Coppola's so-called "final cut" of Apocalypse Now, a movie I never miss a chance to watch on a big screen.