Critical Week: It's party time

The 68th BFI London Film Festival kicked off this week, just as my two-month stint on a television series wrapped, so there's been no time to kill! But I'm taking the festival more lightly this year, with just one or two films per day. I'll catch up with other movies later. Meanwhile, awards season is fully underway in London, with Q&A screenings most evenings. And over the next week many of these are also in the festival. This week's screenings included Sean Baker's Palme d'Or winner Anora, a lively romantic comedy that spins into something even more interesting as it goes along. It's a proper stunner.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Transformers One
We Live in Time
ALL REVIEWS >

LFF opened with Steve McQueen's Blitz, a gorgeously produced recreation of 1940 London under attack, starring Saoirse Ronan and Elliott Heffernan. The story doesn't quite work, but it looks astonishing. Ralph Fiennes leads a strong cast in Conclave, Edward Berger's drama about the selection of a new Pope. It's smart, nuanced and riveting. John David Washington, Samuel L Jackson and Danielle Deadwyler lead an adaptation of August Wilson's play The Piano Lesson, which is beefy and intense, but remains rather stagebound. Mike Leigh is back with Hard Truths, an edgy family drama starring the terrific Marianne Jean-Baptists and Michele Austin. And apart from LFF/awards season, the lively Hong Kong action movie Stuntman pays playful and sometimes melodramatic homage to the stunt performing community. I also caught Chicos Mambo's amusing live show Tutu at the Peacock. 

Most films I'm watching this coming week are also screening at LFF, including the animated adventure The Wild Robot, the SNL romp Saturday Night, Angelina Jolie in Maria, Amy Adams in Nightbitch, Thomasin McKenzie in Joy, Kieran Culkin in A Real Pain, the Indian comedy Superboys of Malegaon and the psychic doc Look Into My Eye. There's also Alex Wolff in The Line, Mark Cousins' A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things and the doc Studio One Forever, plus Fillibuster at Jackson's Lane. 

Critical Week: Change the system

I've been playing catch-up since the festival ended, trying to watch things I'd been putting off, which means that several of the screening links have expired (why do they so rarely tell us there's an expiry date?). Oh well, I don't have time to watch everything, especially with two more festivals incoming.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK: 
Summer of 85 • The Climb
David Byrne's American Utopia
The Secret Garden
PERHAPS AVOID:
Honest Thief
Max Winslow & House of Secrets 
FULL REVIEWS >

Two movies I watched this past week star Sacha Baron Cohen, who gives a serious Oscar-contending performance in The Trial of the Chicago 7, Aaron Sorkin's smart, all-star dramatisation of the events surrounding the 1968 Democratic Convention Riots. It's very dense but also riveting, and the film couldn't be much more timely. Baron Cohen's other movie is Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, in which he reprises his role as the bumbling Kazakh journalist. His schtick isn't as fresh this time, which is probably why it plays more like a scripted comedy. But he still manages to expose some shocking stuff.

Anne Hathaway goes for broke in The Witches, a new adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic novel. It's more gleeful than actually nasty, but still good fun. Malin Akerman stars in Friendsgiving, a chaotic holiday comedy that almost writes itself, but has some very nice touches. The Sundance hit The Climb is a terrific exploration of a long friendship between two rather dopey men, so it's very funny in between the emotional bits. The kids' fantasy Max Winslow and the House of Secrets has its moments but never quite finds anything fresh or new in the formula. David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet is a beautiful, powerful documentary that's trying to be hopeful about how we can stop destroying the planet. But it feels pretty bleak. And The Italian Boys is a collection of five thoughtful, sharply well-made shorts about men and boys trying to make sense of their inner desires.

I've got more catching up to do next week, including Elizabeth Debicki in The Burnt Orange Heresy, Jaeden Martell in The True Adventures of Wolfboy, the British drama Philophobia, the Peruvian drama Song Without a Name, the Argentine drama Young Hunter and the doc Boys State, plus some titles for both FrightFest and Raindance. 

LFF: Stay safe

There was an actual red carpet premiere at the London Film Festival last night for the lucky few who managed to get tickets to the socially distanced screening: that's writer-director Harry Macqueen and actor Colin Firth (briefly removing his mask) presenting their British drama Supernova. It's looking increasingly like I won't get to attend a single in-person event at this year's festival, but at least most of the films are screening on the press portal. Better get back to watching them! Here are a few highlights for Monday...

Supernova

dir-scr Harry Macqueen; with Colin Firth, Stanley Tucci 20/UK ****

Beautifully photographed by Dick Pope, this British drama unfolds as a travelogue both through the countryside and within a long-term relationship. It may have a few big topics at its centre, but it's a sensitive, intimate film brought to life in deeply felt performances from Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci. Writer-director Harry Macqueen lets the story unfold in a refreshingly open-handed way, with added moments of unfiltered emotion... FULL REVIEW >

200 Meters

dir-scr Ameen Nayfeh; with Ali Suliman, Anna Unterberger 20/Pal ***.

There's an everyday authenticity to this Palestinian drama, about a family divided by a series of degrading obstacles. In its specific story, the film reflects difficulties of normal life in this part of the world. Both the family drama and a harrowing road trip are thoroughly engaging, even if plot points and issues are sometimes over-egged. With his first feature, filmmaker Ameen Nayfeh clearly has a lot to say... FULL REVIEW >

Genus, Pan

dir-scr Lav Diaz; with Don Melvin Boongaling, Nanding Josef 20/Ph ***.

At two and a half hours, this is almost a short for Filipino auteur Lav Diaz. Shot in his usual silvery monochrome in extended busy takes, this is an insidiously vicious allegory about primal behaviour with a deliberately circuitous story structure. And it isn't particularly hopeful, either. So perhaps it's intentional that it's difficult to sympathise with characters who try but fail to be human to each other... FULL REVIEW >

NB. My anchor page for the LFF is HERE and full reviews will appear in between these daily blog entries. I'll get there eventually.

Critical Week: Here comes the judge

It's been a busy week, even if press screenings have been a little thin. The World Cup semifinal featuring England on Wednesday night erased all planned screenings that night. And Thursday was the summer party for the Critics' Circle - that was good fun. I'm the vice chair of the film section, so as one of the event hosts had to skip that evening's screening of Mission: Impossible - Fallout (I'll catch up on that in a week or so).

But I did see a few films. The Children Act stars Emma Thompson (above), who is simply devastating as a high court justice who gets caught up in a thorny case. Based on an Ian McEwan novel, it refreshingly refuses to simplify characters, plots or themes, and leaves us with a lot to think about. Conversely, Skyscraper is best watched with the brain disengaged: it's a preposterously stupid action thriller that's far too serious for its own good. Dwayne Johnson is, as usual, the best thing about it, but was clearly told to rein in his charm and wit.

Hearts Beat Loud is a moving, gorgeous drama starring Nick Offerman, Kiersey Clemons and Toni Collette. The story is interwoven with engaging, earthy songs, so it's involving even if it's a little over-crafted. And A Swingers Weekend is a loosely awkward comedy-drama about three couples trying to spark up their relationships at a lake house. The darker scenes are far more interesting than the rather tepid sexy silliness.

This coming week will be busy, with the all-star musical sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Jodie Foster in Hotel Artemis, Glenn Close in The Wife, Denzel Washington in The Equalizer 2, Sylvester Stallone in Escape Plan 2, Jonathan Rhys Meyers in Damascus Cover, Oona Chaplin in Anchor and Hope, and the costume designer doc Love, Cecil.

Requisite Blog Photos: Going to the dogs

Sunday morning screening with the kids and dogs...

And last Thursday's adventure, with my friend Ruhul...

35th London Critics' Circle Film Awards: words & pics

My third year as chair of the London Critics' Circle Film Awards at times felt like it might do me in, but after all the work, the night was another triumphant celebration of the year in cinema. On Sunday 18th January we gathered at The May Fair Hotel for our annual ceremony and party, joined by a smattering of wonderful guests.

Our ceremony hosts this year were Alice Lowe and Steve Oram (below left), who won our Breakthrough Filmmaker award two years ago for their Sightseers screenplay. They set the tone for the ceremony perfectly: irreverent humour mixed with a love of cinema. After the clatter of the red carpet (above with Miranda Richardson and below right with me and Richard Linklater), the ceremony felt intimate and almost conspiratorial because it was so much fun.

After a couple of introductions (from me and from our Film Section Chair Anna Smith), we were straight on to the awards themselves. Winners included Mica Levi (below left), who won the Technical Achievement Award for her score for Under the Skin, and Dirk Wilutzky and Mathilde Bonnefoy (below right), recently Oscar-nominated producers of the Documentary winner Citizenfour.

Three of our Young British Performer nominees were in the house, left to right: Corey McKinley ('71), Daniel Huttlestone (Into the Woods) and the winner Alex Lawther (The Imitation Game).

And we invited some potential future nominees along as well. Below left, that's Toby Sebastian (soon to be seen in Game of Thrones) and his sister Florence Pugh (star of Carol Morley's upcoming stunner The Falling). Below right are Ferdinand Kingsley (Dracula Untold) and Louise Brealey (Sherlock).

Quite a few British filmmakers were on hand, including Breakthrough Filmmaker nominees, left to right, Hossein Amini (The Two Faces of January), James Kent (Testament of Youth) and Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth (20,000 Days on Earth), here flanking director Jonathan Glazer, whose film Under the Skin won the Attenborough Award for British Film of the Year.

Breakthrough British Filmmaker was won by Yann Demange for '71 - he accepted his award by video (below right), as did Andrey Zvyagintsev (below left), whose Leviathan won Foreign-Language Film of the Year.

More video messages were sent by Michael Keaton (bringing down the house with a trouser-free acceptance of Actor of the Year for Birdman), Rosamund Pike (British Actress of the Year), Patricia Arquette (Supporting Actress for Boyhood) and Wes Anderson (Screenwriter for The Grand Budapest Hotel. Actress of the Year winner Julianne Moore (Still Alice) sent a generous written speech, while Supporting Actor winner JK Simmons (Whiplash) was conspicuously absent.

And Richard Linklater took to the stage twice for Boyhood, winning Director of the Year and Film of the Year (the award I presented). Finally, Stanley Tucci presented our biggest honour to the gorgeous Miranda Richardson - The Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film. Both gave speeches that combined sharp humour, warm friendship and a love of cinema.

Finally, at the after-party I was snapped in perhaps my luvviest picture of all time - with Miranda and our British Actor of the Year winner Timothy Spall. Darlings!

Photos by Dave Bennett

Requisite Blog Photo: Full of beans