LFF: Visit the seaside on Day 5

It's been another busy day at the 61st BFI London Film Festival, with a range of unexpected movies. I'm thoroughly enjoying the chance to catch up with both some big titles as well as some smaller films from around the world. Although there are so many mainstream movies in this particular festival that it's sometimes difficult to find time to visit out-of-the-way ones. Anyway, here are some more highlights, including a double dose of the great Isabelle Huppert...

On Chesil Beach
dir Dominic Cooke; with Saoirse Ronan, Billy Howle 17/UK ***.
Author Ian McEwan adapts his own award-winning novel for the big screen, turning it into another beautifully produced story about those things that the English prefer not to talk about. Namely, class and sex. The film is both provocative and moving as it traces a relationship to a pivotal moment, and the two central characters are performed with raw honesty by Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle.

Last Flag Flying
dir Richard Linklater; with Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston 17/US ****
Richard Linklater pays his respects to The Last Detail in a funny and sensitive road movie that hits the emotions without forcing them. It's neither a sequel nor remake to Hal Ashby's 1973 classic, but there are loud echoes. As the central trio, Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston and Laurence Fishburne create vivid characters, middle-aged war veterans who have something important to say about patriotism and what it means to be a hero.

Pickups
dir Jamie Thraves; with Aidan Gillen, Antonia Campbell-Hughes 17/UK ***
A third improvisational collaboration between Jamie Thraves and Aidan Gillen, this is a playful comedy about a television star who dives into a dark role in an effort to get over his divorce. It's a meandering, relaxed story assembled from a series of lively, witty scenes, some of which tap into some surprisingly disturbing emotions. Parts of the film feel random or indulgently stretched out, but it gets under the skin... FULL REVIEW >

Happy End
dir-scr Michael Haneke; with Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant 17/Fr ****
This may be as close as we'll ever get to Michael Haneke lightening up. Although even if it's packed with offbeat wit and characters who verge on farce, there's no escaping that this is essentially a comedy about suicidal and murderous urges. Families don't get much more dysfunctional than the one depicted on-screen, and the film also taps into the current economic divide, being a story of the very wealthy in a place known for its population of desperate refugees.

Reinventing Marvin
dir Anne Fontaine; with Finnegan Oldfield, Catherine Salee 17/Fr ***.
The thoughtful story of a young artist's journey to self-expression, this film is sometimes brutally honest about the tension between so-called provincial attitudes and enlightened liberal sensibilities. The film may be in need of some judicial editing, but the material here is resonant and important. And it's also beautifully played by an intriguingly eclectic cast that includes Isabelle Huppert in a witty role as herself... FULL REVIEW >

Blade of the Immortal
dir Takashi Miike; with Takuya Kimura, Hana Sugisaki 17/Jpn ***.
With his tongue firmly in his cheek, Japanese master Takashi Miike brings Hiroaki Samura's manga to life, using a heavy dose of sharp humour to undercut the nonstop grisliness. It's also a remarkably involving story that blurs the lines between good and evil by adding layers of complexity to the characters. It may essentially be a story of revenge with a hint of redemption thrown in, but it's also a classic tale very well told.

LFF 1: Monster mash-up

Tim Burton hit the red carpet in Leicester Square last night, opening the 56th BFI London Film Festival with his new movie Frankenweenie. He was accompanied by cast members Martin Landau, Martin Short and Catherine O'Hara, plus the usual LFF luvvies. (Uninvited, I was at a screening of Argo with most critics.) Here are some highlights today...

Frankenweenie
dir Tim Burton; voices Winona Ryder, Martin Short 12/US ****.
Expanding his 30-minute 1984 short, Burton has created one of his most enjoyable movies in years. Not only is the adventure thoroughly engaging, but it's packed with references to great monster movies. In other words, it's the kind of classic you can watch over and over... FULL REVIEW >

Amour
dir Michael Haneke; with Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva 12/France ****Haneke never makes easy movies, and this is no exception. But as he explores the relationship between an ageing couple, Haneke avoids the bleakness that has characterised most of his films. And without even a hint of manipulation or sentimentality, he moves us deeply... FULL REVIEW >

The Hunt
dir Thomas Vinterberg; with Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen 12/Denmark ***.
This provocative, difficult film won three prizes at Cannes, including best actor for Mikkelsen. With its askance approach to the hot potato topic of child abuse, this is not the kind of film you can just ignore. Especially since it's actually about collective paranoia... FULL REVIEW >

Chakravyuh
dir Prakash Jha; with Arjun Rampal, Abhay Deol 12/India ***.
Since it's from Bollywood, this thriller feels somewhat overwrought and bombastic compared even to Hollywood's most ridiculous blockbusters. But it also has a story that works its way under the skin, daring to explore a complex moral dilemma that has remarkable relevance. Based on a true story, it's about two best pals (Rampal and Deol) who get involved in a grisly fight between police, the government, a multinational corporation and the rebels taking everyone on from their jungle hideout. The hitch is that one is a senior police officer in charge of tracking down the terrorists, and his friend goes undercover to help supply information, only to discover that the rebels are actually only trying to protect poor villagers from government and corporate greed. The emotional story is very punchy, and sometimes a bit corny, but the filmmaking is robust and energetic. There are even a few big musical numbers cleverly worked into the plot.

Dead Europe
dir Tony Krawitz; with Ewen Leslie, Marton Csokas 12/Aus ***
An intensely dark, foreboding tone is the best thing about this perplexing thriller. While playing around intriguingly with issues of race, religion and sexuality, the film gets under our skin even though we are never quite sure what's actually going on. Kind of like the central character himself. Leslie is terrific as an Australian photographer who has never been to Europe to see the old country, and when he finally gets to Greece with his father's ashes, everyone talks about an old family curse. He travels on to Paris and Budapest, discovering bits of information along the way while being haunted by the memory of a young boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) he failed to help in Athens. Oddly, the more people explain the situation, the less we feel like we understand it properly. So the conclusion feels enigmatic and more than a little sinister.

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CRITICAL WEEK: Along with festival films, I caught up with a few general releases over the past week, some of which are also in the LFF. These include Paul Thomas Anderson's fascinating but difficult The Master, Ben Affleck's raucously entertaining true thriller Argo, the beautifully played drama The Sessions, the lively black comedy Ruby Sparks, the sharp but uneven neighbourhood comedy-drama The Oranges, the enjoyable film-set documentary Radioman, the creepy-emotional Polish drama Suicide Room, and the spectacular 4K restoration of David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia.

Outside the LFF this coming week I'll also see the Wachowski's generational drama Cloud Atlas, and Chinese action epic The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate and, yes, the new James Bond movie Skyfall.