LFF2: Never let me in

Andrew Garfield, Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley hit the red carpet last night for the opening film Never Let Me G0, a fine display of rising-star British talent. Then today we had the first full day of the 54th London Film Festival, with screenings both in Leicester Square and at BFI Southbank. Tonight's big premiere was for Let Me In, attended by director Matt Reeves and stars Chloe Grace Moretz and Kodi-Smit McPhee. Here are some films showing at the festival tomorrow...

The Arbor
dir Clio Barnard; with Manjinder Virk, Neil Dudgeon 10/UK *****

With this bracingly original debut feature, artist Barnard creates one of the most involving and moving documentaries in memory. Stylistically mixing filmmaking approaches, she engulfs us in a fiercely inventive movie experience... MORE >

In Our Name
dir-scr Brian Welsh; with Joanne Froggatt, Mel Raido 10/UK ***
This sharply well-made film explores the troubled experiences of soldiers trying to reintegrate into life back home after a tour of duty. It's harsh and realistic for the most part, but starts to feel a little pushy in the final act. Fortunately, the cast is hugely dedicated to their roles, investing them with authenticity and dark emotional resonance, so even when the story becomes a little too orchestrated, the film still holds our attention. Filmmaker Welsh should be commended for highlighting such a serious issue with such bracing honesty.

Conviction
dir Tony Goldwyn; with Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell 10/US ***

This true story is told with emotion and skill, giving Swank another terrific lead role to sink her skilled teeth into. As a woman desperate to help prove her brother's innocence, she gives us a lot to think about. Rockwell is superb as the shattered convict, and there's fine support from Minnie Driver, Peter Gallagher, Juliette Lewis (best she's been in years), Clea DuVall and Melissa Leo. But even with all of the talent behind and in front of the camera, there's a nagging feeling that this is really a TV movie. Although it's the kind that would sweep the Emmys.

LFF1: Get the party started

The celebrities are returning to that Leicester Square red carpet every night over the next 15 days for the 54th London Film Festival, and it kicked off tonight with the glitzy opening film, Never Let Me Go. Director Mark Romanek, writer Alex Garland and novelist Kazuo Ishiguro were accompanied by cast members Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightly, who had performed for the press earlier in the day.

Of course, as the festival continues, I still have to see normal releases as well, so my viewing schedule is both hectic and eclectic over the next three weeks, with an average of three films a day. I'll be running red carpet photos here every day as well as notes on the films of the day and previews of tomorrow's films. Here's one from tonight and one showing tomorrow to get us going...

Never Let Me Go

dir Mark Romanek; with Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield 10/UK ****

Based on the Kazuo Ishiguro novel, this haunting drama may be set in a parallel reality, but what it has to say about human hopes and societal ambition is deeply relevant. It's also beautifully directed and acted... MORE >

Let Me In

dir Matt Reeves; with Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Grace Moretz 10/US ****

While there was no way this would recapture the magic of the 2008 original Let the Right One In, this remake is a decent film in its own right. Moody and atmospheric, the film subverts expectations by mixing darkly introspective drama with full-on horror... MORE >

Critical Week: Cardiff calling

I'm off to Wales this morning for the 4th Iris Prize Festival, where I'll be serving on the jury. This is a competitive event for short films dealing with issues of gender and sexuality, and there are also several intriguing events on the programme, as well as a few features and of course parties.

As for this past week's films, it's been a busy one since press screenings are underway for the London Film Festival, which starts next week. Star power was in force for The American (George Clooney), Conviction (Hilary Swank), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Michael Douglas), Death & Life of Charlie St Cloud (Zac Efron) and Everything Must Go (Will Ferrell). The best of that bunch, surprisingly, was the Will Ferrell movie.

Off the beaten path, we had the rather impenetrable Thai Palme d'Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, the frantic Hong Kong horror Dream Home, the artful doc Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow. And my two favourite films were Xavier Beauvais' haunting and powerful drama Of Gods and Men and the young Xavier Dolan's bold romantic drama Heartbeats.

Besides the films at Iris, this coming week I'm looking forward to James Franco in Danny Boyle's 127 Hours, Russell Crowe in the thriller remake The Next Three Days and the Mexican thriller We Are What We Are. But first, I have a train to catch...

Critical Week: It's raining again

The 18th Raindance Film Festival kicks off tonight in London, showcasing independent films for an audience that definitely needs to find someplace warm and dry for a few hours. For some reason the press office has limited journalists' access to films this year, so the only ones I've seen are those I saw elsewhere, including the opening night puppet-animation romp Jackboots on Whitehall (hilariously anarchic); the drama Huge, about British stand-up comedy (uneven and difficult); the surreal descent into mental dysfunction that is Ollie Kepler's Expanding Purple World (flashes of insight but ultimately a downer); the low-budget American horror romp Vacation! (a great premise completely falls apart); and the uber-grisly A Serbian Film (oddly intriguing), which is part of a special section on banned or censored films. Full reviews and a list of all the films is on the website.

Meanwhile, critics were shown two anxiously awaited biggies: the pre-teen vampire horror Let Me In and the Facebook biopic The Social Network. Even though both films are out elsewhere, British critics aren't allowed to say anything about them yet - I'll just mention that I liked one a lot better than the other.

Also screening were two horror films (the unhinged and very black Aussie comedy The Loved Ones and the much darker and creepier Irish freak-out Outcast), two small intimate movies (the British war veteran drama In Our Name and the Mexican sex-and-depression drama Leap Year), and two docs (homeless disabled musicians in the Congo in Benda Bilili! and an artful essay on economic decay in Robinson in Ruins).

This coming week we have Michael Douglas in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, George Clooney in The American, Zac Efron in Charlie St Cloud, Hilary Swank in Conviction, the Thai Palme d'Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, and the Hong Kong horror Dream Home. And then there's next week's film festival - the Iris Prize in Cardiff - for which I'm on the jury this year.

Critical Week: Secrets of success

Animation ruled this week, as two of the most enjoyable films I saw at press screenings were cartoons, namely the raucous and very silly 3D romp Despicable Me and the more intriguingly subtle and artful Oscar-nominee The Secret of Kells (pictured).

Three Hollywood movies were less successful simply because they were more formulaic and had most real life polished right out of them. Ben Affleck's The Town was well above average, as it at least has a genuinely introspective tone and enjoyably earthy action. Worst was Julia Roberts in the far too glossy find-yourself travelogue Eat Pray Love. Somewhere in between was the Heigl-Duhamel rom-com Life As We Know It.

And then there was the usual mixed bag of offbeat movies: Julian Schnabel's Israel drama Miral holds us enthralled until an abrupt final reel; British indie The Be All and End All honestly looks at mortality from a teenage perspective; and the lively road movie Africa United follows a group of kids hitchhiking from Rwanda to South Africa in the name of football while dealing off-handedly with some of the world's biggest issues. But the best film of the week, hands down, was the small French comedy My Afternoons With Margueritte, in which Gerard Depardieu gives a disarmingly astute performance as a simple middle-aged man discovering his own intellect for the first time.

This coming week, London critics will be watching the vampire remake Let Me In, teen horror-comedy The Loved Ones, Irish horror Outcast, British comedy-drama Fit, world music fairy tale Benda Bilili and British cinematic essay Robinson in Ruins.

Requisite Blog Photo: Despicable Rich

Critical Week(s): Censored!

Sorry about the delay, but sometimes you just need a holiday (and I needed sunshine after spending the summer months inside a cinema). And no, my sudden silence wasn't caused from watching the notoriously banned A Serbian Film (pictured), which the UK censors wanted to chop so harshly that it was pulled from last month's FrightFest. Yes, it's extremely full-on, taking a very graphic approach to its story, but it's also a surprisingly insightful horror movie.

More contained thrills were to be had with Buried, which locks Ryan Reynolds in an underground wooden box for 90 minutes of real-time squirming, although it's a little too mannered perhaps to really work. Burning Bright, meanwhile, traps Briana Evigan in a boarded-up house with a live tiger - all the more impressive and scary since it's not computer-animated.

From abroad, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest cleverly ties up the loose ends of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy; Olivier Assayas' ambitious Carlos tells the story of the notorious 70s terrorist with skill and detail (although at three hours long, I wondered if the full five-hour version told us even more); Chow Yun-Fat plays Confucius in a massive Chinese biopic that struggles to turn the philosopher into an action hero; and from Iran The Hunter is a chilling drama about urban angst.

But even with all of these thrills, Chris Smith's sharply well-made Collapse wins the award as the week's (or even the year's) most horrific film: a documentary that holds very little hope for the future of Western civilisation. So thankfully we also had the restored and reconstructed version of Fritz Lang's masterpiece Metropolis to make us gasp with wonder.

Coming up this week: Ben Affleck's The Town, Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love, Julian Schnabel's Miral, animated hits Despicable Me and The Secret of Kells, festival fave Africa United, and Brit indie The Be All and End All.