Requisite Blog Photo: Plus a big fat gif!

30th Flare: Reaching out

The 30th BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival had a great weekend of screenings - it's an unusually strong programme this year, with beefy films that tackle big issues in inventive ways. For some reason, I haven't managed yet to attend a festival party since the opening night, but I'm hoping to rectify this over the next few days and the coming weekend. Here are some more highlights...

Nasty Baby 
dir Sebastian Silva; with Sebastian Silva (pictured above), Kristen Wiig 15/US *** 
Meandering through a series of messy events in the lives of a group of hapless people in Brooklyn, this film has a gripping authenticity to it that's both engaging and knowing. And then a momentous plot point kicks in, suddenly making it feel utterly fictitious as the characters suddenly become very different people. This is probably actor-filmmaker Sebastian Silva's point, but it's seriously jarring.

4th Man Out 
dir Andrew Nackman; with Evan Todd, Parker Young 15/US ****
With a very clever script, this is much more than the usual coming out comedy, as its focus is on the way a group of friends are forced to redefine their friendships when one of them reveals that he's gay. Intriguingly, the film is much more about how the straight world copes with homosexuality than the other way round. Which makes it both important and hilarious.

Beautiful Something 
dir Joseph Graham; with Brian Sheppard, Zack Ryan 15/US ***. 
Strikingly introspective and honest, this multi-strand drama is set amongst gay artists from various strata of society. Writer-director Joseph Graham invests the film with a poetic sensibility that taps in to deep feelings that will resonate with anyone in the audience. Although the structure feels artificial, the emotions are honest.

Theo and Hugo [Theo et Hugo Dans le Meme Bateau] 
dir Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau; with Geoffrey Couet, Francois Nambot 16/Fr ****. 
With striking honesty, this lovely Before Sunrise-style romance is bold and unflinching in the way it approaches the drama around the moment when two young men meet. As the events unfold in real time in the early morning, filmmakers Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau and actors Geoffrey Couet and Francois Nambot take a refreshingly realistic approach to some very big issues.

Women He's Undressed 
dir Gillian Armstrong; with Darren Gilshenan, Jane Fonda 15/Aus **.
This rather indulgent hybrid biopic/documentary is tagged as the story of someone "nobody has ever heard of". But triple Oscar winner Orry-Kelly is one of the greatest costume designers of all time. With some 300 films to his credit, he certainly made Hollywood's greatest actresses look fabulous. Although his personal life remains something of a mystery.

Requisite Blog Photo: The morning train

30th Flare: Taking pictures

The 30th BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival heads into its first weekend with strong crowds and lots of filmmakers in attendance. The selection this year is especially varied, with high-quality documentaries (that's Robert Mapplethorpe, above) and foreign films alongside dramas of every conceivable budget. Here are some more highlights...

Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures 
dir Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato; with Edward Mapplethorpe, Nancy Rooney 16/US **** 
In documenting the life of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato open with Senator Jesse Helms' hysterical rant in Congress in 1990: "Look at the pictures!" he screamed in outrage, demanding that they be censored. It's a clever approach that finely explores the line between art and pornography, skilfully painting a detailed portrait of a notorious figure.

Akron
dir Sasha King, Brian O'Donnell; with Matthew Frias, Edmund Donovan 15/US ****
With a bright, easy approach, this Midwestern drama never makes an issue of its central teen same-sex romance. Instead, this is a story about a wide range of people trying to overcome a shared past tragedy. It's a bit melodramatic, and also rather straightforward, but the characters are engagingly realistic and the message is important.

From Afar [Desde Alla]
dir Lorenzo Vigas; with Alfredo Castro, Luis Silva 15/Ven ****
Twisty and unexpected, this Venezuelan drama stars acclaimed Chilean actor Alfredo Castro as a lonely man who strikes up a tentative relationship with a young street thug. It's a remarkably involving film, because the characters have so many sides that they lead the audience on a quest for understanding. Equally impressive is how first-time filmmaker Lorenzo Vigas never sensationalises the subject matter... FULL REVIEW >

Girls Lost [Pojkarna] 
dir Alexandra-Therese Keining; with Tuva Jagell Louise Nyvall 15/Swe ***.
Gorgeously shot with a clever fairy-tale tinge to it, this Swedish teen drama explores the complex issue of gender identity from an offbeat angle that's both challenging and thoughtful. The plot kind of meanders off the rails along the way, but the themes and characters remain strongly resonant and vitally important.

B E S T   O F   Y E A R
Carol
dir Todd Haynes; with Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara 15/US *****
With delicate precision, this story unfolds in a way that's both true to its period and fully relevant now. A beautiful companion piece to director Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven and Mildred Pierce, this is based on a Patricia Highsmith novel about two women trying to live their lives the best they can, but finding themselves against the grain of society. And it carries a powerful kick... FULL REVIEW > 

30th Flare: Watching movies

The 30th BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival kicked off last night with the world premiere of The Pass in Leicester Square, followed by a terrific party at The May Fair Hotel with plenty of time to chat with the actors and filmmakers and catch up with my festival cohorts. The next nine days will play out on the Southbank with a flurry of screenings and events that explore gender, politics and lifestyle. This is one of the biggest film festivals in the UK, and the programme has grown stronger and stronger over the 19 years I have been covering it. Here are some highlights from the festival's first few days...

The Pass
dir Ben A Williams; with Russell Tovey, Arinze Kene 16/UK ****
A strikingly insightful exploration of the constraints of celebrity, this adaptation of John Donnelly's play retains its theatrical stylings, setting the action among four characters in three scenes over 10 years. But it's refreshingly complex, constantly challenging audience expectations and attitudes. And it's hugely boosted by a charismatic performance from Russell Tovey.

Naz & Maalik 
dir Jay Dockendorf; with Kerwin Johnson Jr, Curtiss Cook Jr 15/US ****
With a pointed, warm sense of humour, this wry comedy cleverly sets big themes against each other. Over the course of a single afternoon, writer-director Jay Dockendorf sends these gay Muslim teens on a small adventure that has big repercussions. It's an open-handed, hugely engaging film packed with small surprises.

Jason and Shirley
dir Stephen Winter; with Jack Waters, Sarah Schulman 15/US **
This cheeky fake documentary explores the making of the acclaimed 1967 doc Portrait of Jason. Shot with a homemade aesthetic, the film is clearly improvised, as if filmmaker Stephen Winter just pointed his camera at his actors, letting them play with the premise, then trying to make some sense of it in the editing. It may be intriguing, but this lack of structure leaves the film with no real momentum.

Inside the Chinese Closet
dir Sophia Luvara; with Andy, Cherry, Mei 15/Ned ****
This gentle, meandering documentary looks at the complexities of gay life in China, where young gay men try to blend in by marrying lesbians and adopting children. Without offering glib answers, filmmaker Sophia Luvara observes layers of issues in the generational gap, as new attitudes toward diversity strain against old traditions.

B E S T   O F   Y E A R
Grandma
dir Paul Weitz; with Lily Tomlin, Julia Garner 15/US ****
A sharp script and another beautifully measured performance from Lily Tomlin seamlessly mix comedy and pointed drama to tell an engaging story that isn't afraid to ruffle a few feathers along the way. It may feel both constructed and slight, but between the lines there's plenty of gristle to chew on... FULL REVIEW >

Critical Week: Home sweet home

UK critics had a late press screening of 10 Cloverfield Lane this past week. This is JJ Abrams' companion piece to the 2008 hit Cloverfield, and it's a superbly intense thriller. There were also screenings of two films based on the same true story: Florence Foster Jenkins stars Meryl Streep as the New York socialite who fancies herself an opera diva, but no one has the nerve to tell her that she can't sing. With a less-comical tone, Marguerite shifts the story to Paris with the marvellous Catherine Frot giving an award-winning performance in the lead role.

Further afield, we had two smaller British movies. Remainder is an insinuating, involving brain-bender starring Tom Sturridge, while The Call Up sends a team of video gamers into a nightmarish virtual reality game that's not as virtual as they'd like. Both are watchable but flawed. And Laurie Anderson's seriously offbeat performance-art movie Heart of a Dog plays out as an ode to her loveable rat terrier Lolabelle, pondering life, death, grief and rebirth.

BFI Flare kicks off on Wednesday night with the world premiere of the Russell Tovey drama The Pass at the Odeon Leicester Square, and over the next 10 days I'll be blogging about the films and the festivities. I've seen several Flare movies over the past few weeks, including The Pass, and I'll comment on all of them along the way.

I'll also have normal press screenings these days for things like the sequel My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, the animated comedy Zootropolis (aka Zootropia), the Scandinavian thriller The Absent One, the youthful romance Bang Gang and the documentary I Am Belfast.

Critical Week: Pandaemonium

Surprisingly, one of the best films screened to London press in the past week is the animated sequel Kung Fu Panda 3, which takes the saga of reluctant hero Po to a satisfying climax with wit, action and real emotion. Other sequels this week include the visually impressive third Divergent adventure Allegiant, which reverts to explanatory dialog and essentially pointless action. And Gerard Butler's lively follow-up action romp London Has Fallen is absolutely preposterous but thinks it's edgy and real.

It was also a mixed bag for prestige dramas this week. Tom Hiddleston is superb as Hank Williams in the choppy biopic I Saw the Light. Michael Shannon reunites with Jeff Nichols for Midnight Special, a blockbuster story cleverly told as an arthouse drama. Reese Ritchie and Freida Pinto are solid in the uneven Iran-set British drama Desert Dancer. And the ambitious Italian mob drama Suburra beautifully brings its complex plot strands together.

Documentaries included a fascinating look at a corner of cinema history in Peter de Rome: Grandfather of Gay Porn and the perhaps slightly too academic but harrowingly important The Brainwashing of My Dad. And I also caught up with Mexican Men, a collection of five visceral short films by Julian Hernandez and Roberto Fiesco.


Coming up this week, we have Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins, JJ Abrams' alien-attack spin-off 10 Cloverfield Lane, Russell Tovey in The Pass, Tom Sturridge in Remainder, the British gaming action thriller The Call Up, Laurie Anderson's Heart of a Dog and the photographer doc Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures.