LFF: Look closer on Day 9

Only a few days to go, the press screenings at the 61st BFI London Film Festival are increasingly looking like the parade of the living dead as us journalists push our sleep patterns to the limits to see as many movies as possible. But we're also enjoying every gem we uncover. Here are some more highlights, plus more below...

The Killing of a Sacred Deer
dir Yorgos Lanthimos; with Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman 17/UK ****
Possibly the least surreal thriller yet from Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, which isn't saying much, this movie verges on horror as it pushes its characters right to the brink. The story builds quietly, layering in a variety of issues that continually compel the audience to make decisions about the rather unhinged people on-screen. And while the ultimate message is perhaps a little muddled, it definitely gets us thinking.

Journeyman
dir-scr Paddy Considine; with Paddy Considine, Jodie Whittaker 17/UK ***
With a tightly focussed script, this film feels perhaps a bit slight, like a short stretched to feature length. But it skilfully captures a sense of real life for these characters caught in an extraordinary situation. And it avoids the usual boxing movie cliches for something much more internalised. Paddy Considine shines as writer, director and star, but it's a striking supporting performance from Jodie Whittaker that pulls the audience in.

The Boy Downstairs
dir-scr Sophie Brooks, with Zosia Mamet, Matthew Shear 17/US **.
A fairly straightforward rom-com livened up by some structural editing, this film takes the rather tired position that no young woman is complete until she finds the perfect man to grow old with. Otherwise, it's smart and engaging, with characters who are easy to identify with and a nice sense of awkward energy as they try to interact. Easy to watch, and never remotely challenging.

Angels Wear White
dir-scr Vivian Qu, with Wen Qi, Zhou Meijun 17/China ****
A slow-burning lament about corruption and injustice in China, Vivian Qu's dramatic thriller is warm, steely and packed with conflicted characters from a variety of generations. It's sometimes so morally complex that it makes the viewer's head spin, not because we don't know what's right, but because everyone is so good at sidestepping around it.

Custody
dir-scr Xavier Legrand; with Denis Menochet, Lea Drucker 17/Fr ****
A punchy drama that grips the audience with a complex situation and shifting characters, this French film only gradually reveals the truth about the dissolution of a marriage. Writer-director Xavier Legrand and his skilled cast take a bold and intense approach to a story that unfolds through a series of perspective-shifting encounters. It's often painful to watch, building to a confrontation that leaves us deeply shaken... FULL REVIEW>

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C R I T I C A L    W E E K
I only saw one regular press screening this week (for a non-LFF film), and that was the British period movie The Man Who Invented Christmas, starring Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens. It's light and entertaining, and once again proves the resilience of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. And then there was this world premiere, which oddly wasn't included in the LFF...

The Phantom of the Opera
dir Rupert Julian; with Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin 25/US *****
Written in 1993, Roy Budd's magnificent original score finally had its world premiere some 24 years later, performed live at the London Coliseum by the Docklands Sinfonia Orchestra with a print of the film that has been restored with its original colour-tinting. To call this screening a triumph is an understatement. It was the perfect combination of venue, live music and an iconic film that's still surprisingly freaky nearly a century after it was made.

Critical Week: Into the woods

It's been another very long week for me, with screenings of films both heading for regular cinemas and featuring in the forthcoming London Film Festival. Some movies fit in both categories, of course. One of the bigger ones was Goodbye Christopher Robin, the AA Milne biopic starring Domhnall Gleeson and Margot Robbie. It's gorgeously produced and thankfully much grittier than expected. Another surprise was Stronger, the biopic starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a man injured in the Boston Marathon bombing. Completely lacking in rah-rah patriotism, the film is a gruelling, expertly told story of a flawed man everyone called a hero.

Also heading for cinemas are the documentary Earth: One Amazing Day, which puts stunning footage from the BBC's Planet Earth II up on the big screen, with some added scenes. The Unseen is a British film set up as a Hitchcockian thriller about a couple haunted by the death of their son. Double Date is a British comedy thriller that's gleefully grisly and funny without being scary. And Furious Desires is a collection of lusty short films from Brazil, Mexico and Italy.

London Film Festival offerings included Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman in the surreal thriller The Killing of a Sacred Deer, the witty and pointed black comedy Brigsby Bear, Michael Haneke's offbeat comical drama Happy End, Aidan Gillen in the improvised comedy-drama Pickups, the simply gorgeous Chilean drama A Fantastic Woman, the powerfully moving French drama 120 Beats Per Minute, the cleverly scary Icelandic thriller Rift and the thoughtful Finnish romance A Moment in the Reeds. There were also two Israeli films: the sharply inventive Foxtrot and the gently moving romance The Cakemaker. More on those coming soon.

Up this week are Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049, Kate Winslet in The Mountain Between Us, Jessica Chastain in Molly's Game and Josh Hartnett in 6 Below. The 61st BFI London Film Festival officially kicks off on Wednesday, and press screenings include Julianne Moore in Wonderstruck, Emma Stone in Battle of the Sexes, Cate Blanchett in Manifesto, Carey Mulligan in Mudbound, Clio Barnard's Dark River, Sean Baker's The Florida Project and Michel Hazanavicius' Redoubtable. My daily LFF updates will start next Thursday.