LFF: Talk it through

The 66th London Film Festival is powering along into its first weekend, and I'm trying to watch it from outside. But of course being in the business I have been sucked into various events and screenings. The best part of this is getting the chance to hang out with filmmakers and actors at various receptions, which ironically is something I've rarely done when I've been press accredited because I was too busy waiting in lines for screenings. This week I've had terrific chats with the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Florence Pugh and Letitia Wright, to name three amazing actresses. Here are some more hightlights...

Aisha
dir-scr Frank Berry; with Letitia Wright, Josh O'Connor 22/Ire ****
An almost overwhelming sense of realism floods through this moving drama, which follows a Nigerian refugee facing a series of obstacles as she seeks safety and stability in Ireland. It's clear that writer-director Frank Berry has exhaustively researched these characters and situations, so scenes are able to play out without the need for dialog, pushing the narrative forward through the power of the emotions that churn under the surface. It's an unusually delicate, understated film, and it packs a big punch.

My Father's Dragon
dir Nora Twomey; voices Jacob Tremblay, Gaten Matarazzo 22/Ire ***.
With the same colourfully hand-made quality as her previous animated films, like Wolfwalkers and The Secret of Kells, Nora Twomey's latest fantastical odyssey feels like it came from the mind of a particularly imaginative child. So young viewers are especially likely to enjoy its mix of goofy slapstick and gently thrilling action. There is also quite a bit of wildly outrageous anime-style nuttiness and dazzling visual panache running through this energetic romp.

Klokkenluider
dir-scr Neil Maskell; with Amit Shah, Sura Dohnke 22/UK 1h24 ***.
Using the Dutch word for whistleblower as its title, this blackly comical British thriller delights in putting its characters into awkwardly intense situations. Actor-turned-filmmaker Neil Maskell finds an array of sharp-edged detail in this collision between an offbeat group of people who are facing a situation that might be quite dangerous. Or maybe not. It's a very well-assembled little film, and its only weakness lies in how it remains so deliberately elusive.

Peter Von Kant
dir-scr Francois Ozon; with Denis Menochet, Isabelle Adjani 22/Fr ****
French filmmaker Francois Ozon returns to German maestro Rainer Werner Fassbinder, this time riffing on his 1972 drama The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Genders and much more are flipped around here, turning the film into a loose biopic about Fassbinder himself. With an eye-catching sense of style, the film is also entertaining for its visual panache, pitch-black wit and a provocatively lacerating look at the movie industry. Plus a collection of unforgettable characters.

Lynch/Oz 
dir-scr Alexandre O Philippe; with Karyn Kusama, John Waters 22/US ****
Taking a journey through American cinematic history, this entertaining documentary explores the resilience and timelessness of The Wizard of Oz, and how its story and iconography have had such a massive impact since its release in 1939. Cleverly weaving in hundreds of clips, filmmaker Alexandre O Philippe finds fascinating parallels everywhere, and especially in the films of David Lynch.

Fragments of Paradise
dir KD Davison; with Martin Scorsese, John Waters 22/US ****
Poet and avant-garde Lithuanian filmmaker Jonas Mekas recorded everyday life with his cameras for 70 years, from his arrival in New York in 1949 with his brother Adolfas until his death in 2019. Sifting through this footage, director KD Davison mixes clips with interviews and archival audio to create a striking account of the immigrant experience. And the film also a remarkably intimate look at Mekas himself and an undervalued aspect of the cinematic landscape.

And two films I'd seen earlier...

Living
dir Oliver Hermanus; with Bill Nighy, Alex Sharp 22/UK ****.
With a smart, delicate script by Kazuo Ishiguro and incisive direction by Oliver Hermanus, this remake of Kurosawa's 1952 classic Ikiru is skilfully shot in period style. Sensitive filmmaking and a punchy story tackle themes that feel powerfully relevant 70 years later, and everything is delivered in a subtle, understated way that's carefully tied in with the story's characters and setting. It also offers Bill Nighy a wonderful lead role... FULL REVIEW >

Blue Jean
dir-scr Georgia Oakley; with Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes 22/UK ****
Set in a northern English seaside town during the tumultuous Thatcher years, this drama has an earthy realism that finds timely themes almost 35 years ago. While the personal story is compelling and full of involving detail, it's not always easy to watch a film in which everyone is so miserable. Thankfully, writer-director Georgia Oakley finds moments of humour and joy along the way, and the cast is excellent... FULL REVIEW >

All London Film Festival reviews, once they're uploaded, will be linked to SHADOWS' LFF PAGE >

Critical Week: Take a load off

Returning home to London from Venice, I arrived in a nation in mourning, with a new monarch and prime minister. Meanwhile, I'm grappling with a backlog of festival reviews. Most are written in rough form, so I'm working to get them online bit by bit. And there are also new releases to keep up with.Confess, Fletch is the first film featuring the quick-thinking reporter since those two Chevy Chase movies in the '80s. This one is closer in tone to Gregory McDonald's Fletch novels (I've read a few of them), with Jon Hamm creating a more enjoyably deadpan and less silly take on the character. But the film is perhaps a bit underpowered to launch a new franchise.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Athena • In From the Side
Blonde • Strawberry Mansion
Funny Pages • Casablanca Beats
ALL REVIEWS >

I also caught up with Oliver Hermanus' superb Living, an inventive remake of Kurosawa's Ikiru with a terrific lead role for Bill Nighy as a 1950s London businessman who begins to see things from a new perspective.  There was another offbeat offering from Peter Strickland with the pointedly amusing Flux Gourmet, about musicians who mix sound with food. Asa Butterfield and Gwendoline Christie lead a terrific ensemble cast. Finally, there was the gonzo horror of The Retaliators, an increasingly violent revenge thriller that gleefully preaches a seriously unhelpful message.

Lined up to watch this next week are Viola Davis in The Woman King, George Clooney and Julia Roberts in Ticket to Paradise, Lesley Manville in Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, the British drama It Is In Us All, New Zealand drama The Justice of Bunny King, Korean drama In Front of Your Face, Japanese animation Inu-Oh and the movie club doc A Bunch of Amateurs.

Venezia79: Starting time

The 79th Venice Film Festival kicked off tonight on the Lido with the world premiere of Noah Baumbach's White Noise, just one of the movies I will miss at this year's festival! I arrived too late to catch it, but I'm already facing a full schedule, long days and, for the first time, an extended commute across the Lagoon to where I'm staying. Here's a first batch of highlights...

Living 
dir Oliver Hermanus;  with Bill Nighy, Aimee Lou Wood 22/UK ****
With a smart, delicate script by Kazuo Ishiguro and incisive direction by Oliver Hermanus, this remake of Kurosawa's 1952 classic Ikiru is skilfully shot in period style. Sensitive filmmaking and an incisive story tackle themes that still feel powerfully relevant nearly 70 years later, and everything is delivered in a subtle, understated way that's carefully tied in with the story's characters and setting. It also offers Bill Nighy a wonderful lead role. 

Blue Jean
dir-scr Georgia Oakley; with Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes 22/UK ****
Set in a northern English seaside town during the tumultuous Thatcher years, this drama has an earthy, kitchen-sink realism that finds timely themes in a story set almost 35 years ago. While the personal story is compelling and full of involving detail, it's also not always easy to watch a film in which everyone is so miserable. Thankfully, writer-director Georgia Oakley finds moments of humour and joy along the way, and the cast is excellent.

Three Nights a Week [Trois Nuits par Semaine]
dir Florent Gouelou; with Pablo Pauly, Romain Eck 22/Fr ***.
Beautifully shot with a lush sense of light and colour, this French drama spins around a warm, offbeat relationship that catches two people, and their friends, by surprise. The drawn-out narrative plays a bit like a gay fantasy, as that cute guy isn't as straight as he thinks he is. And the plot points sometimes feel very deliberate. But there are honest feelings running through each scene, finely played by the actors in a naturalistic way. And thankfully director Florent Gouelou isn't afraid to lean right into a feel-good moment.

Casa Susanna
dir-scr Sebastien Lifshitz; with Kate, Diana, Susanna Valenti 22/Fr ****
Illustrated with a wonderful collection of home movies and snapshots, plus scene-setting newsreel footage, this quietly observational documentary offers a glimpse into a secret society from the early 1960s where cross-dressers could gather without fear. Director Sebastien Lifshitz gets out of the way and lets these people and their children tell the story with colourful anecdotes, big feelings and a lovely sense of nostalgia.

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

BFI Flare: Watching horizons

Here in lockdown, the 34th edition of BFI Flare continues to unfold virtually on the BFI Player (which has a free trial period). There are several films online, plus new titles added regularly along with filmmaker Q&As. Meanwhile, everyone in Britain is confined to their homes at the moment, only able to go out once a day for exercise and essential shopping. It feels more than a little like the apocalypse, but hopefully these drastic measures will help us calm the impact on the health system and return to some sort of normality soonish. Here are five more features from the festival's programme worth looking for, plus this year's Five Films for Freedom, a special selection of LGBTIQ+ shorts that are globally available online...

Monsoon
dir-scr Hong Khaou; with Henry Golding, Parker Sawyers 19/UK ****. 
Director Hong Khaou continues on from the delicate beauty of Lilting with this gentle, finely crafted exploration of personal history and identity. Set in Vietnam, it also centres around a death, but this time as a window into the past as the central character quietly allows his lost connection with his roots to wash over him and change him. It's a stunner of a film packed with moving moments... FULL REVIEW >

Moffie
dir Oliver Hermanus; with Kai Luke Brummer, Ryan de Villiers 19/SA ****
Strikingly well-made, and carrying a devastating emotional kick, this South African drama tells a deeply personal story that has much wider implications. Writer-director Oliver Hermanus creates gorgeous-looking films, and this one is augmented by beautiful cinematography and clever editing. It gets deep under the skin of a nation still grappling with its past, and offers a remarkably resonant look at issues of racism and homophobia... FULL REVIEW >

Don't Look Down [Haut Perchés]
dir-scr Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau; with Manika Auxire, Geoffrey Couet 19/Fr ***
Like a stage play, this film puts five characters in an apartment and watches them over the course of a single night as they talk to each other. French filmmakers Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau use deep colourful lighting to give the film a lush look and feel, and each of the cast members has a vivid sense of physicality. This is a seductive, mysterious little film that pulls the audience... FULL REVIEW >

For They Know Not What They Do
dir Daniel Karslake; with Sarah McBride, Elliot Porcher 19/US ****
In the wake of the Supreme Court decision recognising marriage equality, mainstream evangelicals worked with the Republican Party to initiate more than 200 discriminatory laws, stoking fear and emboldening bigotry. This open-hearted documentary follows a series of specific experiences as parents struggled to deal with children who didn't fit in with their religious leaders' teachings. And this beautifully assembled film makes their pain and hope feel universal... FULL REVIEW >

Portrait of a Lady on Fire [Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu]
dir-scr Celine Sciamma; with Noemie Merlant, Adele Haenel 19/Fr *****
With a staggeringly astute screenplay and sharply observant direction, French filmmaker Celine Sciamma breathes inventive life into this period drama. She fills scenes to the brim with subtext, and not only mines her richly layered story for resonant themes but also creates complex characters the audience can fall in love with. So the film's otherworldly beauty becomes a provocative depiction of both art and romance... FULL REVIEW >

Five Films for Freedom
The British Council and BFI Flare present a selection of shorts each year during the festival, inviting viewers from around the world to watch and share the films in solidarity with LGBTIQ+ communities in countries where freedom and equal rights are limited, under the tagline "Love is a human right". Over the past five years, almost 14 million people have watched these films in more than 200 nations. This year's strong selection includes dramas and docs from four countries... FIVE REVIEWS >
After That Party: dir Caio Scot 19/Br ****.
134: dir-scr Sarah Jane Drummey 19/Ire *****
Pxssy Palace: dir Laura Kirwan-Ashman 19/UK ****
Something in the Closet: dir Nosa Eke 19/UK ****
When Pride Comes to Town: dir Julia Dahr, Julie Lunde Lillesaeter 18/Nor ****.

Watch #FiveFilmsForFreedom