LLGFF 1: Simply Divine

The British Film Institute's 27th London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival kicked off Thursday night with the international premiere of Jeffrey Schwarz's documentary I Am Divine, celebrating the unforgettable star of Pink Flamingoes and Hairspray. Jeffrey was on hand to introduce the film and answer questions afterwards at BFI Southbank, then mix with the opening night crowd at the big party on HMS President, just down the river. The festival is one of the biggest in the UK, and the next 10 days promise a wide range of fascinating films addressing issues of diversity, gender and sexuality from every conceivable angle. Here are a couple of highlights from the first few days, including revivals of two recent releases for appreciative audiences...

I Am Divine
dir Jeffrey Schwarz; with John Waters, Ricki Lake 13/US ****
This fast-paced documentary tells the story of an important artist who changed cinema, music and the theatre forever, but died far too early at age 42 in 1988. Divine (aka Harris Glenn Milstead) was a childhood friend of filmmaker John Waters in Baltimore, and together they took the underground cinema world by storm. As his career grew, Divine's work as an actor became increasingly sophisticated, with breakout roles in Alan Rudolph's Trouble in Mind before the crossover success of Hairspray. Schwarz documents this with energy and plenty of trashy style, interviewing family, friends and costars while also letting us see lots of fabulous film clips, glimpses behind the scenes, archive interviews and never-before-seen performance footage. It's an engaging, funny and surprisingly moving doc that never tries to be anything more than the celebration of an icon.

White Night
dir-scr Leesong Hee-il; with Won Tae-hee, Lee Li-kyung12/Kor ***.
With minimal dialog, this is a film about feelings, focussing intently on its central character's dark reckoning with his own vengeful soul. Wongyu (Won) is a flight attendant based in Germany who returns home to Seoul for the first time in two years to see his ex-boyfriend. But their meeting doesn't go as planned, leaving Won to stew alone over a violent homophobic attack they experienced years earlier. While he plots revenge against the thugs, who have just been released from prison, he has an anonymous sexual encounter with Taejun (Lee) that takes a series of surprising twists over one long night. The film is beautifully shot and edited to force us inside the minds of the characters. This makes the story strongly evocative as these two young men bristle against each other, bringing up sharp, painful memories as well as some tenderness and hope. It's the kind of film that isn't too obsessed with plotting, instead letting the story meander in ways that leave us thinking.

Laurence Anyways
dir Xavier Dolan; with Melvil Poupaud, Suzanne Clement 12/Can ***. 
With each feature, 23-year-old Dolan gets more ambitious. This third time out, the unusually gifted filmmaker pushes things just over the edge into self-parody, but still tells a powerfully provocative story with a strong emotional undercurrent... REVIEW >

Keep the Lights On
dir Ira Sachs; with Thure Lindhardt, Zachary Booth 12/US ****
This gorgeously shot and edited film is an incisive exploration of two people struggling to make a relationship work over nearly a decade. Its honest perspective makes it thoroughly involving, even if it turns dreary in the final act... REVIEW >

LFF 2: Nose to nose

A couple more days down in the 56th BFI London Film Festival and sleep-deprivation has already set in. On Friday, I was in cinemas from 9am to 10pm - and three of the films I saw were 2.5 hours long. That's excessive even for a film junkie like me. It's turned quite cold in London, but the rain has held off for the most part, which helps of course with all the red carpet premieres. Stars on hand over the past couple of days have included Quvenzhane Wallis (below, attending with her film Beasts of the Southern Wild); Marion Cotillard (Rust & Bone); Gillian Anderson, Martin Compston and Lea Seydoux (Sister); Jason Biggs (Grassroots); Mads Mikkelsen (Teddy Bear), Elle Fanning (Ginger & Rosa); and Melvil Poupaud and Suzanne Clement (Laurence Anyways). Here are some film highlights...

Robot & Frank
dir Jake Schreier; with Frank Langella, Peter Sarsgaard 12/US ***.
A warm tone masks the sharp edges of this film's script. It feels like a heartwarming story about an old man and his mechanical sidekick, but is actually about much more than that. It's often also very funny as it follows feisty retired cat burglar Frank struggling to get used to the robot his son (James Marsden) bought to help take care of him. But as he gets used to the idea, Frank starts teaching the robot his old trade, which sparks his imagine that maybe he can get back in the game as well as perhaps woo the local librarian (Susan Sarandon). The gentle pace understates the comedy and makes it feel a little light and goofy. But it's also engaging and entertaining, and reminds us that getting old doesn't mean giving up on life.

Beasts of the Southern Wild
dir Benh Zeitlin; with Quvenzhane Wallis, Dwight Henry 12/US ****
With a soaringly introspective style, this eerily dreamlike film is anchored on a thunderous performance from 6-year-old Wallis. Her tight perspective gives themes of inter-connectedness and perspective a startlingly childlike honesty... REVIEW >

Grassroots
dir Stephen Gyllenhaal; with Jason Biggs, Joel David Moore 12/US ***
Based on a true story, this film captures a real sense of underlying anger on the streets of America, as it traces how one offbeat campaign tapped into this passion. The characters are sharply drawn and well-played by a sparky cast, even if it feels a little too tidy in the end. It's set in 2001 Seattle, as Phil (Biggs) helps his rather nutty friend Grant (Moore) run for office against a long-time incumbent (Cedric the Entertainer). Their counter-culture campaign actually takes hold, and as election day approaches, things twist and turn - especially in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The film has a scruffy energy to it that holds out interest, and the actors are superb (including a nice supporting role for Lauren Ambrose). But the film kind of skirts around politics, never having the courage to nail its flag to the wall. So it's a good thing that, like Grant, the film has its heart in the right place. And that it's chaotic charm wins us over.

Ginger & Rosa
dir Sally Potter; with Elle Fanning, Alice Englert 12/UK **.
Set in 1962, this intensely personal drama captures the hysterical mood swings of youth in some surprising ways. But the fragmented structure makes it difficult to engage with, especially as the characters descend into dark melodrama... REVIEW >

Laurence Anyways
dir Xavier Dolan; with Melvil Poupaud, Suzanne Clement 12/Can ***.
With each feature, 23-year-old Dolan gets more ambitious. This third time out, the unusually gifted filmmaker pushes things just over the edge into self-parody, but still tells a powerfully provocative story with a strong emotional undercurrent... REVIEW >

Sister
dir Ursula Meier; with Kacey Mottet Klein, Lea Seydoux 12/Swi ****
This riveting, low-key drama has all kinds of dark corners but never feels bleak due to its honest approach to characters who are just trying to do the best they can. And as we get more involved in their life, the film becomes quietly moving... REVIEW >

Critical Week: Pitch-slapped

The most raucous screening last week was for the musical comedy Pitch Perfect - it's rare to hear film critics laughing so loudly all the way through a film. It stars Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson as members of a very competitive a capella university singing group. Less hilarious was goofy infertility comedy The Babymakers, which has a terrific lead couple in Olivia Munn and Paul Schneider but gets lost in a lame caper subplot. The tense British horror-thriller Tower Block also has a terrific cast led by Sheridan Smith, Russell Tovey and Jack O'Connell, but falls apart due to a hole-ridden script.

Foreign-language-wise, we had Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner Amour, a staggeringly well-observed drama about a couple facing their mortality; Xavier Dolan's Toronto award winner Laurence Anyways, an ambitious gender-bender starring the terrific Melvil Poupaud and Suzanne Clement; and the genial Swedish political rom-com Four More Years. There was also one doc: Hungarian Rhapsody, which includes rare interviews with Queen followed by a gorgeously shot film of their 1986 Budapest concert. And I caught up with two classics: Pier Paolo Pasolini's stunning version of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and Steven Spielberg's timeless adventure Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was simply fabulous to revisit on the Imax screen.

This coming week we have Mike Newell's take on Great Expectations, Liam Neeson in Taken 2, the Ferrell-Galifianakis comedy The Campaign, the Aussie crowdpleaser The Sapphires, the animated horror-comedy Hotel Transylvania, the Polish hip-hop drama You Are God and the British indie drama Love Tomorrow. And on Monday morning, press screenings begin for the 56th BFI London Film Festival (10-21 Oct), so I'll be catching up with the likes of the comedy Celeste & Jesse Forever, the Cannes-winner The Hunt, and the doc West of Memphis, among many others.