BFI Flare: Get the party started

The 39th BFI Flare kicked off last night on the Southbank, with the international premiere of the Sundance hit The Wedding Banquet, with the entire cast and crew on stage for an intro, then back for a hilarious Q&A. I also got a chance to talk to director Andrew Ahn at the party, which was nice. The next 10 days will be a flurry of excellent LGBTQIA+ films from all over the world. Here are comments on three films - full reviews will be posted on the site soon. And Critical Week is below...

The Wedding Banquet
dir Andrew Ahn; with Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone 25US ****
In reimagining of Ang Lee's breakthrough 1993 comedy, director-cowriter Andrew Ahn cleverly updates the topicality while also playing up the plot's farcical entanglements. The resulting film often feels very silly, but it is continually underscored by resonant themes and involving emotions. It's also thoroughly entertaining, with seven complex central characters who are beautifully played by an ensemble cast that's heavily stacked with adept scene-stealers.

Really Happy Someday
dir J Stevens; with Breton Lalama, Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah 24/Can ****
Quietly observational, this warm drama follows a young trans man who is struggling to redefine both himself and who he wants to be. Director J Stevens takes an offhanded approach, shooting scenes like a fly-on-the-wall documentary to add a striking sense of authenticity. It's also infused with Broadway songs that contain huge emotionality, allowing us to see into the soul of the lead character, who is played beautifully by cowriter Breton Lalama.

We Are Faheem & Karun
dir Onir; with Tawseef Mir, Akash Unnimenon 25/Ind ****
From India, this is the first Kashmiri film to openly explore sexuality. As with his 2023 drama Pine Cone, filmmaker Onir uses a gently understated tone to focus on the internalised thoughts and feelings the characters are grappling with. The film is strikingly well shot in spectacular locations, while the actors deliver warm, honest performances. So without overstating anything, the film creates a vivid sense of how a culture can sometimes feel like a prison.

Full reviews will be linked on Shadows' BFI Flare page when published.

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C R I T I C A L  W E E K

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Aside from Flare, this past week featured screenings of two films with Pedro Pascal. The multi-strand adventure Freaky Tales is clever and offbeat, while the comedy-drama The Uninvited is intriguing like an ensemble play. Disney's live-action Snow White was better than expected, although the animated dwarfs are all wrong. Robert De Niro gives two solid performances in The Alto Knights, which is otherwise a bit unremarkable. Alain Guiraudie's superb French drama Misericordia is complex and challenging. And the artificial intelligence doc The Thinking Game is brisk and eye-opening.

This coming week I'll be watching Jack Quaid in Novocaine, Jason Statham in A Working Man, Jason Isaacs in The Salt Path, the wartime drama Irena's Vow, the Andy Kaufman doc Thank You Very Much, and a lot more films at BFI Flare. Plus a few live stage performances.

On the Road: What's for dinner

I'm visiting family and friends in California for a couple of weeks, enjoying the bright sunshine and rather outrageous food. Yes, I went straight to In-n-Out from the airport, and have also had fish tacos most days. Plus an amazing brisket taco at the notorious Heritage Barbecue in San Juan Capistrano and a gorgeous short rib taco at personal favourite Amor y Tacos in Cerritos. And a church potluck. But it's not all about food. I finally saw a film in a cinema, plus catching up with a couple on the plane, and two more besides...

Killers of the Flower Moon
dir Martin Scorsese; with Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro 23/US *****
Martin Scorsese recounts a true story with a remarkable sense of scale, keeping events intimate while exploring the much larger issues and ramifications. It's a harrowing lesson in American history, highlighting the systemic injustice that peppers pretty much everything that happened once the Europeans claimed North America as their own. Expertly made on every level, the film never boils over, maintaining a riveting simmer of menace so urgent that we don't want to blink.

Moving On
dir-scr Paul Weitz; with Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin 23/US ***. 

There's a surprising edge to this comedy-drama reuniting Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in more serious roles than usual. As they confront an awful event from their distant past, they also grapple with where they are now. It's nostalgic, but never overplayed, and writer-director Paul Weitz keeps the film truthful and smart, with occasional hints of a breezy caper that seems a bit out of place with dark theme at the story's centre. Thankfully, strong writing and characterisations add more nuance than expected.  

Full Time [À Plein Temps]
dir-scr Eric Gravel; with Laure Calamy, Anne Suarez 21/Fr ****
With a riveting central performance by Laure Calamy and a nonstop running pace, this French drama has an electric kick in its exploration of the hectic pace of modern life. Writer-director Eric Gravel keeps the audience right with this single mother as she navigates a series of personal and professional issues amid a calamitous national strike. It's sometimes exhausting to watch her flail against these obstacles, but her tenacity is inspiring, and the film includes sharp humour and honest emotion.

Before leaving London, I caught up with William Oldroyd's period-style melodrama Eileen with Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway, which is finely produced but oddly underwritten. And I also watched Luc Besson's spy thriller Anna, which I'd somehow missed when it was released. Although it's such a familiar plot, even with its plot fragmented into a choppy mess, that it can't help but cause deja vu. Fun turns from Helen Mirren (as a gruff Russkie), Luke Evans and Cillian Murphy.

This coming week, I'll catch up with a few films at AFI Fest in Hollywood, namely Kate Winslet in Lee, Pater Sarsgaard in Memory, JA Bayona's Society of the Snow, and the festival season favourites Evil Does Not Exist  and Io, Capitano.

London Film Fest: Sleep with the fishes

And that's a wrap on my 22nd year covering the BFI London Film Festival. I haven't counted up the number of films I've seen this year, but it will still only be a fraction of the hundreds of movies that are programmed here. The closing night saw the international premiere of Martin Scorsese's new movie, and I actually walked right past Robert De Niro and Al Pacino at one point this afternoon, which was pretty cool. Then I saw all three of them, plus Harvey Keitel and Anna Paquin on the red carpet outside the Odeon this evening, mercifully under clear skies. I'm sure they're having a great party tonight. Here are my final few comments on movies, plus the festival award winners and my favourite films of the festival...

The Irishman 
dir Martin Scorsese; with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino 19/US *****
A thumping cinematic epic, this film deserves to be seen on the biggest screen available as it recounts a staggering true story that stretches over half a century. In addition to the expert writing, direction and acting, this is a pungent look at how American culture and politics have become so thoroughly enmeshed with criminality. This isn't shouted loudly, but it's impossible to miss as the story centres on a singular personal perspective.

The Lodge
dir Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala; with Riley Keough, Jaeden Martell 19/UK ***
There's a staggeringly bleak sensibility to this gothic horror movie. Without being particularly scary, it's a seriously unnerving freak-out simply because it gets under the skin. Austrian filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala throw all kinds of nasty things at the screen that add both intrigue and unease. It's skilfully shot and edited, with a terrific sense of the settings and a steady stream of inventive visual and thematic touches.

On a Magical Night [Chambre 212]
dir-scr Christophe Honore; with Chiara Mastroianni, Vincent Lacoste 19/Fr ****
French filmmaker Christophe Honore playfully uses magic (complete with Barry Manilow) to explore the nature of a long-term relationship. The story unfolds like A Christmas Carol played out as a French farce, with a collision of past, present and future that offers a jolt of insight into the way we grow and change (or not) within a relationship. It's surprisingly engaging, anchored by a wonderfully deadpan performance from Chiara Mastroianni.

Happy Birthday [Fête de Famille]
dir-scr Cedric Kahn; with Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Bercot 19/Fr ***
With a real-life mixture of comedy and drama, French filmmaker Cedric Kahn explores a variety of intriguing family dynamics. It's not an each film to connect with, because just as it pulls the audience in with some warm humour it veers off somewhere rather dark and disturbing. The superb actors keep up with these mood shifts, although they can be rather jarring for the audience, especially as characters take turns being the bad guy.

LFF Awards

• Best Film: MONOS
• Documentary: WHITE RIOT
• First Feature: Mati Diop (ATLANTICS)

Rich’s Best of the Fest

1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
2. The Irishman
3. I Lost My Body
4. The Report
5. Monsoon
6. Marriage Story
7. By the Grace of God
8. Bacurau
9. Luce
10. Monos

ALSO: The Kingmaker, Moffie, Invisible Life, Tremors, Martin Eden, Ema, Earthquake Bird, A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, And Then We Danced, The Painted Bird.


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

Critical Week: A winter's tale

Quentin Tarantino's latest epic The Hateful Eight has finally bowed to critics, and it's an oddly uneven film - an intriguing idea with moments of skilful inventiveness and a solid cast, but the nagging sense that it's all rather pointless and indulgent.

Also screening this week: Robert DeNiro and Zac Efron in the rude road comedy Dirty Grandpa, Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie in the enjoyably edgy rom-com Sleeping With Other People, Matthias Schoenaerts in the fiendishly clever and unsettling Belgian PTSD drama Disorder, and the irritatingly fragmented Romanian sculptor biopic Brancusi From Eternity.

Meanwhile, I still have a bunch of films to watch before the next round of voting in critics awards. Since I have no more press screenings until January 4th, I should have time to catch up with screeners of awards-worthy movies, plus binge-watching TV series I've been saving up. I'll also be finalising my year-end lists over the next week. So it should be a nice Christmas! Hope yours is good too...

Critical Week: What's up, Tiger Lily?

Several big movies have been screened to London critics this week, including Joe Wright's Peter Pan prequel Pan, a flashy, big-scale adventure starring Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard, Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily (above), Garrett Hedlund as Hook and newcomer Levi Miller as Peter. It's a lot of fun, but aimed squarely at young children.

Of three just as generically titled blockbusters, the best is Ridley Scott's The Martian, a thrilling space adventure with a terrific central role for Matt Damon, plus a weighty supporting cast who breathe some life into the film's edges. A lack of this is the only problem with Robert Zemeckis' The Walk, a whizzy, visually impressive dramatisation of the amazing story of Philippe Petit, which was documented memorably in the Oscar-winning Man on Wire. Joseph Gordon-Levitt brings cheeky mischief to the title role, but everyone else fades into the spectacular digital backdrops. And Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro are likeable in Nancy Meyers' warm, sentimentally manipulative comedy The Intern.

As for films from the upcoming London Film Festival, I caught up with the outrageously entertaining Bone Tomahawk, a Western starring Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson and a fantastic Richard Jenkins that shifts from comedy to horror. Terence Davies' Sunset Song is a gorgeous period epic with a lovely sense of the time and place (WWI Scotland) and the connection between people and the land. Pablo Larrain's The Club is a riveting, strikingly inventive drama taking on the Catholic Church's inability to tackle its paedophile problem. And Guy Maddin's The Forbidden Room is another typically manic, stylistically sumptuous pastiche, this time telling stories within stories within stories.

Most screenings this coming week are films that will also be showing at the London Film Festival, including Carey Mulligan in the opening movie Suffragette, Lily Tomlin in Grandma, Mads Mikkelsen in Men & Chicken, and the Indo-Canadian crime thriller Beeba Boys. There's also the American comedy This Is Happening, the British comedy Convenience, and the multistrand holiday offering A Christmas Horror Story.

Critical Week: Hanging with the boys

London critics got to see our first real 2014 movie (as opposed to a holdover from 2013) this week: That Awkward Moment seems to want to be a sex comedy but is actually a half-baked Richard Curtis-style multi-strand romantic comedy. At least the likeable Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B Jordan are front and centre. The other star-powered film was Grudge Match, an uber high-concept comedy-drama starring Sylvester Stallone and Robert DeNiro as has-been boxers setting up a rematch (get it?). It's ok, but played far too straight.

Off the beaten path we had the British comedy Svengali, about a wannabe music manager trying to launch a band in London against all odds; the implausible horror thriller The Banshee Chapter, about a journalist looking into illicit government drug trials in the 1960s; the astounding award-winning Greek drama Miss Violence, which might be the most unnervingly horrific movie you'll see all year; and the moving German drama Free Fall, which takes a Brokeback-style approach to sexuality in present-day Europe.

Coming this week: Chris Pine in the reboot Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston in Only Lovers Left Alive, the comedy G.B.F., the prison drama Jamesy Boy and Georgia's acclaimed drama In Bloom.

We also have the Oscar nominations coming tomorrow, kicking the awards season into high gear for the next six weeks. Follow the action at the Shadows Sweepstakes.

Critical Week: Chasing the rat pack

Post-London Film Festival, UK-based critics are now in catch-up mode with current releases, upcoming films and movies that are vying for our votes in year-end awards. Possibly the most starry movie screened to us this week was Last Vegas, featuring five Oscar winners: Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Robert DeNiro, Kevin Kline (pictured above) and Mary Steenburgen. Comments are embargoed until next week on this one. We also finally got to see Harrison Ford's new movie Ender's Game, which opens this week and is a pretty thrilling ride for 12-year-old boys in the audience. It's very watchable for everyone else too.

The rest of the week was pretty eclectic. Idris Elba is impressive in the biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, which is a little too clearly designed to be the definitive movie about the great man. And his story is genuinely moving. Ralph Fiennes stars in and directs another biopic, The Invisible Woman, about Charles Dickens' secret romance. It's eye-catching but a bit dull and wilfully repressed. Two other films were the polar extreme: the insanely lively and colourful, but unimaginatively titled Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 is a lot of fun but a bit less satisfying than the first film. And the oddly gentle Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa is packed with rude humour and raucous pranks, then surprises us with its sentimentality.

This coming week we will see the next Marvel movie, Thor: The Dark World, the animated adventure Free Birds, Lee Daniels' presidential drama The Butler, the Israeli comedy Cupcakes, the filmmaker doc Milius, and the nuclear power doc Pandora's Promise. And for awards consideration we have Mark Wahlberg in Lone Survivor and the Sundance winner Fruitvale Station. Among others....