Raindance: Dance the night away

Approaching closing night, the 33rd Raindance Film Festival continues with a range of fascinating independent films. I'm running a bit behind on reviewing them, but I'll catch up this weekend with a final post. Here are three films that take very different looks at love and community. And my Critical Week is below...

Somewhere in Love [Une Vie Rêvée]
dir-scr Morgan Simon; with Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Felix Lefebvre 24/Fr ***.
Warm and full of life, this French drama follows a woman who finds herself in a difficult situation but refuses to give up. Writer-director Morgan Simon sets this out as a slice-of-life character study about a mother and son, using a realistically sparky humour and emotions. The narrative structure contrives to create some drama, but there's something more intriguing, and remarkably hopeful, going on under the surface.

If You Should Leave Before Me
dir-scr The Andersons; with Shane P Allen, John Wilcox 25/US ***
While this low-budget comedy-drama feels rather deliberately offbeat, it's also warm and observant as it explores things that remain unspoken between a middle-aged couple. Filmmakers Boyd and Markus Anderson ambitiously use colourful hand-made effects, visual flourishes and goofy jokes to tell interwoven stories that touch on love and death. With its overriding existential afterlife narrative, there's plenty to chew on, even if the movie feels indulgent and overlong.

Flamingo Camp
dir Chris Coats; with Nova, Poe, Cecil, Emmit 25/US ***.
Chronicling life for a group of people who live far off the grid, this openly emotional documentary observes residents of a colourful queer community in the California desert. It starts as a slice of life before turning into something much darker and more intense, as an eerily predictable tragedy strains relationships and opens wounds. This creates a loose narrative that's fascinating, largely because the setting is so unusual.

Full reviews of festival films will be linked here in due course: SHADOWS @ RAINDANCE >

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C R I T I C A L  W E E K

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Sorry, Baby • Ponyboi
Rent Free • Wolf and Dog
ALL REVIEWS >

The big movie this week is F1 starring Brad Pitt and Damson Idris, a viscerally whizzy blockbuster with a script that never even remotely surprises us. River Gallo and Dylan O'Brien are excellent in the dark drama Ponyboi, even when it turns into a thriller. The indie comedy Rent Free takes an offbeat look at friendship that's funny and thought provoking. I also attended the premiere for the TV series Too Much, complete with a Q&A featuring creator Lena Dunham and stars Megamn Stalter and Will Sharpe, plus a very starry party. And I saw three live performances: Quadrophenia at Sadler's Wells, Jonah Non Grata at Soho Theatre and Botis Seva's Until We Sleep at Sadler's Wells East.

This coming week I'll be finishing up Raindance movies and also watching Charlize Theron in The Old Guard 2, Jon Cena and Idris Elba in Heads of State, David Cronenberg's The Shrouds, Sam Riley in Islands and a couple of live shows: Otto & Astrid: The Stage Tour at Jackson's Lane and Kiki & Herb Are Trying at Soho Theatre Walthamstow.

BFI Flare: Celebrate your roots

Coming into the final weekend of the 36th BFI Flare, I've tried to catch up a bit on sleep, simply because there are parties tonight and tomorrow - followed by the shift to Summer Time on Saturday night and then the Oscars on Sunday night, which runs until dawn here in Britain. I'll sleep next week. In the mean time, I'm enjoying hanging out with colleagues, filmmakers, actors and the friends I've made at this amazing festival over the past 20-some years. And the films just get better each year, with more subtly complex comments on queer themes. Here's another varied collection of highlights...

Wildhood
dir-scr Bretten Hannam; with Phillip Lewitski, Joshua Odjick 21/Can ****
Set in a Mi'Kma'Ki community in eastern Canada, this drama has an electrical charge of energy as it follows a teen trying to work out who he is. Bristling with attitude, the film revels in its youthful characters' loose physicality as they begin feeling freedom for the first time. Skilfully written and directed by two-spirit filmmaker Bretten Hannam, the film grabs hold with sharp characters and knowing details.

The Divide
dir Catherine Corsini; with Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Marina Fois 21/Fr ****
A blackly comical sensibility infuses this fast-paced French drama set in an overwhelmed public hospital. Set before the pandemic, the narrative is fuelled by personal issues and street demonstrations. Director-cowriter Catherine Corsini masterfully orchestrates complex ripples of relentless action and emotion, cleverly centring on the confused, frustrated, often annoying patients rather than the endlessly adept medical workers. It's so expertly written and assembled that it feels unnervingly real.

The Perfect David
dir Felipe Gomez Aparicio; with Mauricio Di Yorio, Umbra Colombo 21/Arg ****
Dark and insinuating, this fiercely clever Argentine drama explores masculinity through the rather extreme life of a 16-year-old bodybuilder. Much of the film is virtually silent, telling the story with the expressive physicality of the characters. And as a churning intensity rises up from within the narrative, filmmaker Felipe Gomez Aparicio makes some powerful observations about our toxic culture. It's a complex, provocative and ultimately moving story

Being BeBe
dir Emily Branham; with Nea Marshall Kudi Ngwa, Dimitra Ngwa 21/US ***.
The veryfirst winner of RuPaul's Drag Race is the subject of this fairly straightforward documentary. Filmmaker Emily Branham outlines 15 years in the life of BeBe Zahara Benet, while also highlighting the way his high profile has changed public perceptions in his home country Cameroon, even as homosexuality remains illegal there. Meanwhile, clips of BeBe's performances over the years remind us what a fabulous star he still is.

BEST OF YEAR
The World to Come
dir Mona Fastvold; with Katherine Waterston, Vanessa Kirby 20/US **.
Hushed to the point of being downright dour, this low-key period drama gets into the mind of a woman who finds unexpected purpose in her life. Norwegian director Mona Fastvold evokes a strong visual sensibility, vividly creating the time and place on-screen while slowly opening up options for the central character. This brings a welcome hint of lightness to the film, although the story structure is mopey and repetitive... REVIEW >

Full reviews will be linked to Shadows' BFI Flare ANCHOR PAGE 
For tickets and information, visit BFI FLARE