London Film Festival 2015

[ronglum]

Has anybody been to the Festival yet?

I saw the oddly funny, but also very odd The Lobster last night. Also The Lady in a Van which was very good.

[FBS]

Been quite a bit. Have seen:

High Rise - Boring
Listen To Me Marlon - Very interesting
The Assassin - Dull.
Room - Very intense
The Witch - Great first 40 minutes then no idea what to do with the rest of the film.
Brooklyn - Adored this. Funny, sweet, charming and very emotional.

[kevinknapman]

Saw quite a lot of films this year, probably the first time in a while when I didn't have a day off from it.


Started in impressive, if slightly depressing, style with the very moving and self-assured debut feature James White.
A film about a young man struggling to care for his terminally ill mother and his own self destructive behaviour.
Extraordinary performances from Christopher Abbott and Cynthia Nixon with surprisingly good support from Scott 'Kid Cudi' Mescudi (who also did the excellent score).


Next up was the gala screening of Trumbo. Jay Roach's conventional but enjoyable biopic of the blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.
Bryan Cranston is excellent in the title role, never too hammy but larger than life and always entertaining.
He's backed up by a great cast that includes Diane Lane as his wife Cleo, Louis CK and Alan Tudyk as fellow blacklisted writers, Helen Mirren as gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, Michael Stuhlbarg as Edward G Robinson and, most memorably, John Goodman and Stephen Root as B-movie studio bosses the King Brothers. The Hobbit's Dean O'Gorman even manages a half-decent approximation of Kirk Douglas.
It's not a particularly memorably made film and Meet the Parents/Austin Powers director Jay Roach is clearly more comfortable with the more humorous elements of the script than the more dramatic stuff. The humour is welcome (who wouldn't want to see Louis CK being funny on the big screen) but you do occasionally long for the film to be a little more angry and impassioned (oddly Louis CK gets the most opportunity to deliver this aspect after Cranston).
It's still worth seeing though, thanks to the great cast.


Another day, another gala at the LFF.
This time it was Ben Wheatley's superbly black and brutal social satire High-Rise adapted by Wheatley and wife Amy Jump from the JG Ballard novel.
Set in a state of the art apartment block with, unsurprisingly, the rich at the top and the poor at the bottom. Somewhere in between is Tom Hiddleston's Dr Robert Laing. As the power constantly fails and tensions between the floors and social classes increases, Laing finds himself caught in the middle.
Beginning with Tom Hiddleston roasting a dog on his apartment balcony and getting progressively weirder, High-Rise is the kind of film that will alienate and baffle as many audiences as it delights and enthralls. A typical Ben Wheatley film then.
Thankfully I'm firmly in the latter camp and enjoyed every chaotic, insane minute of it. That I spent an awful lot of it with a stupid grin on my face probably says a lot about me but there you go.


One of the joys of the LFF and one I'd failed to take advantage of until recently, is the 'Treasures' section of the festival. The chance to see restored classics on the big screen.
So I was up early to see Luchino Visconti's 3hr masterpiece Rocco and his Brothers. A film that, until today, I was aware of but had never seen. A film about a widow and her five sons who make the move from the south of Italy to Milan in search of a better life.
Impeccably directed with stunning cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno and a great score by The Godfather composer Nino Rota. It also features the gorgeous Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon at his most ridiculously beautiful.
A little long admittedly but with its mix of Italian family, love, tragedy and boxing you can see why Martin Scorsese rates it so highly. The restoration (overseen by the now 92 Rotunno) looked amazing on the NFT1 screen.


Next was a South African film called Ayanda. Not a film I would have normally gone for but I managed to win tickets through the Mobo twitter page. It turned out to be quite an enjoyable watch.
It's the story of a young woman in Johannesburg struggling to keep her late father's garage business going.
It features a standout feature debut from Fulu Mugovhani in the title role who manages to make a flawed character extremely likeable and sympathetic.
Snapshots and testimonies of the city's residents and the occasional burst of stop-motion animation throughout add interesting colour and detail.


Then it was the European premiere of Room, Lenny Abrahamson's powerful, emotional and occasionally heart-breaking film version of the best-selling novel by Emma Donoghue (who also wrote the screenplay).
The story of young boy who has lived in a small room all his life and knows nothing of the world outside is vividly brought to the big screen.
Making this interior world seem so real and immediate is largely thanks to two extraordinary performances from Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay as Ma and Jack. Tremblay in particular is on screen for the majority of the film and is a real find. While Larson continues to add to a body of impressive work.
An excellent film.


Made a fairly early start on the Monday for Spanish thriller Retribution.
A tense if occasionally implausible thriller about a banker and his kids stuck in a car ready to explode if they get out of their seats.
The main draw for me was the always reliable Luis Tosar (and his amazing eyebrows) and he doesn't disappoint.
It's not always entirely convincing as a thriller but he makes it worth a watch.


Then immediately followed by more vehicle-based mayhem.
This time Being Evel, a highly enjoyable documentary about Evel Knievel. A fascinating look at a man who wasn't always the nicest guy but whose achievements and influence are undeniable.
Some interesting talking heads and some great archive footage make this well worth a look.


Final LFF film of the Monday was the disquieting and brilliant horror of The Witch.
Set in New England in the 17th century it's the story of a family of English settlers who are banished from their community and set up a farm at the edge of a dense forest. Then the youngest child goes missing.
A highly accomplished debut from exciting, new filmmaker Robert Eggers. It's a film that has already picked up a lot of festival buzz, and deservedly so. A film with a sure and authentic sense of place that builds up an almost unbearable atmosphere of dread and suspicion.
An excellent cast includes Ralph (Finchy from The Office) Ineson and Kate Dickie as the parents. It's especially satisfying seeing an actor like Ineson tackle a significant lead role after many years as a dependable supporting player.
Anya Taylor-Joy and Harvey Scrimshaw are real finds as the two eldest children. In fact all four child actors are impressive, not a bad performance between them.
Out next year and essential viewing for those who like their horror with a bit more substance.


Predictably ended up seeing a film on what was supposed to be my day off from it, after I won tickets to see Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Cemetery of Splendour.
An odd dreamlike film about a group of soldiers in a small hospital suffering from a mysterious form of sleeping sickness.
On one level the film is typical arthouse fare. Slightly impenetrable and very slow moving. Not interested in over-explaining itself for the benefit of the audience.
But it also has a beautiful, lyrical quality that makes such concerns seem irrelevant.
A sly vein of humour throughout and very likeable performances from Jenjira Pongpas Widner and Banlop Lomnoi as a volunteer and the soldier she cares for, certainly help.
Beyond that I'm struggling to pinpoint exactly why I liked it so much. But I did.
It's that kind of film.


Another gala screening, this time Todd Haynes' Carol.
Based on the novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith it's the story of the relationship between a young department store clerk and an older, unhappily married woman.
Pretty much top of my must see list since it played at Cannes and another return to the era that Haynes has already impressively captured with Far From Heaven and Mildred Pierce, Carol is a sumptuous and deeply satisfying film from one of American cinema's finest directors.
Beautifully shot by Haynes regular DoP Edward Lachman it brings the 50s to life in precise and glorious detail. All set to a glorious Carter Burwell score.
Thankfully it's a film that is not only visually splendid but emotionally involving too. Much of that is due to two outstanding performances from Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara with undeniable chemistry that makes their relationship as convincing as it is inevitable. Blanchett delivers a less obvious and more subtle turn in the title role than the award-winning one she gave in Blue Jasmine but this feels like a much more accomplished performance. Though Mara is just as compelling as the naive and vulnerable Therese.
Excellent support also from Kyle Chandler and Sarah Paulson as Carol's husband and best friend. I was also thrilled by an all too brief appearance from Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein.
The kind of film likely to feature heavily come awards season (watch it hoover up those production & set design, costumes and hair & make up awards), Carol deserves all the attention it's likely to get. An extraordinarily beautiful piece of filmmaking.


As with Luis Tosar, Ricardo Darin (Nine Queens, The Secret in their Eyes) is a dependable name to rely on when choosing tickets for the festival. So Truman was an easy choice for me.
Truman is named after the dog owned by actor Julian (Darin). Living in Madrid and facing the final stages of cancer, he is visited by one of his oldest friends Tomas (Javier Camara) who is now living in Canada. Together they spend a final four days together.
What sounds maudlin and depressing is anything but thanks to an amusing script and two fantastic performances from Darin and Camara. And a lovable one from the titular dog.
Worth a look.


Next was Green Room, Jeremy Saulnier's follow up to Blue Ruin.
A young punk band book a last minute gig in a neo-nazi venue. Finishing the gig itself without any trouble (despite kicking off with a cover of The Dead Kennedys 'Nazi Punks F*ck off!'), they stumble upon the aftermath of a violent act in the green room. A stand-off ensues with the band stuck in the venue surrounded by white supremacist skinheads.
Saulnier makes another smart stab at genre filmmaking with this almost unbearably tense and smartly written siege thriller. It's often brutal bursts of violence made more bearable by a sly vein of black humour running through it.
A fantastic cast on both sides elevate this above the usual b-movie fare this could easily have been. Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, Peaky Blinders' Joe Cole and Glue's Callum Turner impress as the punk band in over their heads, while amongst the venue's denizens, Blue Ruin's Macon Blair, Imogen Poots and Mark Webber are also excellent. Of course the main draw is likely to be Patrick Stewart as the venue's owner. An atypical bad guy role for Stewart, his softly spoken and menacing turn is definitely effective, though it does feel more of an extended cameo than a full role.
Destined to be a cult classic, Green Room makes impressive use of its cramped setting and hardcore punk rock soundtrack to deliver a thrilling and exhilarating film. It may lack depth but when a movie is as ridiculously entertaining and technically audacious as this, who cares.


So the LFF Surprise Film was Anomalisa.
Co-directors Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson's odd, unique, strangely moving and often very funny stop motion puppet film about loneliness and the difficulty in connecting with others.
Michael Stone is a motivational speaker specialising in customer service visiting Cincinnatti to deliver a speech at a conference. Surrounded by people with exactly the same face and voice (whether they are male or female, young or old), he struggles to find an emotional connection with anyone. Until he suddenly hears a completely different female voice outside his hotel room and runs to investigate.
7 years since his debut feature Synecdoche New York, It's very satisfying to see the return of Charlie Kaufman to the big screen. Fittingly, for a director and writer whose work is frequently bizarre and weird, he's chosen to return with an emotional drama b*ght to life with stop motion puppets. Which also includes the first big screen puppet sex scene since Team America. Naturally.
It's an approach that has already proved fairly decisive. I suspect it will alienate and baffle most, but beguile and intrigue many.
I'll opt for the latter. I thought it was a fascinating work. The stop motion animation by Starburns Industries Inc is outstanding, with the two main characters oddly expressive and lifelike. Although I did find the main puppet character's similarity to Nicholas Lyndhurst slightly distracting.
The voice cast is equally impressive. David Thewlis, a master at conveying depression and ennui, is exceptional as Michael while Jennifer Jason Leigh is also excellent as Lisa, the lone female voice, bringing a touching vulnerability to her character. While Tom Noonan, incredibly unsettling and creepy as the original Tooth Fairy in Manhunter, is equally unnerving here as the voice of everyone else.
It's also the second film of the festival (after Carol) to have an excellent Carter Burwell score.
Love it or hate it, you'll certainly not have seen anything like it before. Make of that what you will. Essential viewing for fans of Kaufman though.


Next was the German thriller Victoria.
A 140 min film shot in one long continuous take with no cuts. Doing for real what Birdman pretended to do last year.
A young Spanish woman Victoria (Laia Costa) staying in Berlin meets Sonne (Frederick Lau) and his friends in a nightclub and agrees to hang out with them. What initially feels like the start of a love story soon takes a sharp turn into darker, more dangerous territory.
A technically thrilling and audacious piece of filmmaking, Victoria is the kind of film that doesn't get made very often and with good reason. Only the most foolhardy of directors would attempt such an undertaking, considering the many things that could go wrong at any moment and ruin the whole project. Luckily Sebastian Shipper is such a director. Crucially he was also the producer, so didn't have anyone to tell him it couldn't be done.
The finished film was captured on it's third take and is a real 'lightning in a bottle' experience.
Credit should also go to cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grovlen, who films late night/early morning Berlin in evocative style, no small feat considering the restrictive filming conditions. The two excellent and likeable performances from Costa and Lau also make you really care about these characters as the film progresses.
Victoria is a gripping thriller and a breathtakingly impressive achievement.
Out at the end of April 2016 and unreservedly recommended.


Managed to get tickets to My Golden Days through Showfilmfirst.
A decent coming of age drama with a couple of excellent performances from Quentin Dolmaire and Lou Roy-Lecollinet as the young lead characters Paul and Esther, with Mathieu Almaric reliably good as the older Paul.
A curious film in its structure but well directed by Arnaud Desplechin. There's a subplot involving Russia and espionage that another director might have spent more time on but overall I thought this was a likeable enough film.


"If she says your behavior is heinous, Kick her right in the Coriolanus"
Started my final day of the festival with another choice from the LFF Treasures section, the restored version of Kiss Me Kate (in 3D!).
A gloriously exuberant, high-kicking, old school MGM musical with some great tunes and witty lyrics courtesy of Cole Porter.


My final film at the London Film Festival was David Pablo's The Chosen Ones. A film about a young girl forced into the sex trade in Tijuana, Mexico.
14 year old Sofia is dating an older boy called Ulises. After meeting his family at a barbecue, Ulises confesses to Sofia that his father and brother run a prostitution ring and that she was supposed to be his first acquisition to the family business. Having fallen in love with her, he attempts to escape with her across the border into the US. But they are caught and Sofia ends up being forced to work in a brothel. Ulises asks his father to let Sofia go, he agrees but only if Ulises can find another girl to replace her.
The Chosen Ones is a very powerful and upsetting film that manages to treat a very difficult subject with sensitivity, avoiding any possible sense of exploitation.
No sex is actually shown relying instead on sound to convey the situation Sofia finds herself in. Not that this makes it any less of a difficult film to watch of course.
It's also a film that offers no easy answers or happy endings, just the stark reality of a trade that continues across the globe.
One of the more unsettling aspects is the depiction of the normality of the domestic life of Ulises and his family. A breakfast scene with several kids of about 1 or 2 years old becomes quite chilling when you realise that when the boys grow up they'll probably be expected to join the business too.
The two young actors in the lead roles of Sofia and Ulises are excellent. Nancy Talamantes tackles a difficult role with skill and maturity while Oscar Torres impressively conveys a young man who can see in his father and brother something he doesn't want to become but feels powerless to do anything about it. Leidi Gutierrez is also very good as Marta, the young woman Ulises chooses to replace Sofia.
The Chosen Ones is definitely a hard film to watch (rightly so) and liable to leave most audiences feeling shaken and angry but it also feels like an important depiction of a subject that isn't given the kind of attention it should have.


And finally the 2015 London Film Festival drew to a close after 18 films and 3 talks (Christopher Nolan, Tacita Dean and Alexander Horwath discussing the future of shooting on film. Plus Screen Talks by Saoirse Ronan and Todd Haynes)
Overall very happy with my choices. Seen some great films, some future cult classics and a few films I won tickets for that I wouldn't have normally chosen myself but liked anyway. Even better I didn't see any films I disliked or was disappointed in, which is rare.

For what it's worth here's my Top 5 (which I will probably change my mind about as soon as I've posted it):

1) Carol
2) The Witch
3) Green Room
4) Room
5) James White