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Showing posts from 2016

BFI LFF 2016: HEAL THE LIVING - Dir. Katell Quillévéré

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A synopsis can sometimes do a film no favours and describing the story in Katell Quillévéré’s third feature would bring to mind any number of hospital dramas. The key to the film’s power lies in the Quillévéré’s execution: finding the small moments of humanity amongst the enormity of the situation the characters face. It’s life and death, but not as the movies know it. Adapted from an acclaimed novel by Maylis de Kerangal, Heal The Living introduces Simon (Gabin Verdet) climbing out of his girlfriend’s bedroom window to catch the early morning tide with two surfing friends. In strictest terms, he’s travelling through the night to stand in the sea on a slab of polyurethane, but it’s his passion for the surf that Quillévéré captures (through some quite breath-taking underwater and in water photography). Just hours later, Simon is declared brain dead after a severe car crash and his parents Marianne and Vincent (Emanuelle Seigner and Kool Shen) must decide whether to donate their so

BFI LFF 2016: UNA - Dir. Benedict Andrews

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The only thing I knew about Una beyond its main cast (the always interesting Rooney Mara and Ben Mendlsohn) was its origins as a play (Blackbird by David Harrower). Sadly, despite the best efforts of all involved, this story of sexual abuse can’t escape those origins to arrive on screen as a fully-fledged film.

BFI LFF 2016: WHAT'S IN THE DARKNESS - Dir. Wang Yichun

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With a rarely seen perspective on the murder mystery genre, Wang Yichun’s debut film feels disjointed at first but gradually breaks free of expected genre trappings to deliver an unsettling look at an insidious and repressed modern China. As a small rural town becomes engrossed by a spate of sexually motivated murders, teenage girl Jing (Su Xiaotong) begins to break free of her stilted family life and explore the wider world, stumbling across much that she isn’t ready for.

BFI LFF 2016: ON THE ROAD - Dir. Michael Winterbottom

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This late addition to the BFI London Film Festival line-up captures life on tour with London band Wolf Alice. Amongst the regular crew, Michael Winterbottom places a handful of actors to guide the audience along on the journey. The innovative approach breathes some fresh life into the rock tour doc but it ultimately paralyses the film from ever truly fulfilling its early promise. There’s a good reason that the film is called On The Road and not Wolf Alice or the name of one of their songs; Winterbottom’s aim here is to capture the life of a touring crew, charging up and down the motorways from one venue to the next. In that regard, this film is a success. Having worked (for a time) a somewhat similar life in television production, the convergence of work life and personal life was immediately recognisable.

BFI LFF 2016: ALL OF A SUDDEN - Dir. Azli Özge

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When the last guest at his house party dies in mysterious circumstances, Karsten (Sebastian Hülk) faces scrutiny from his friends, family and the police. More questions are raised when he learns that no one at the party knew who the woman was or why she was there. This premise could be the beginnings of a murder mystery but this finely crafted drama from writer/director Azli Özge examines the fallout from this one event and its widespread repercussions for those directly and indirectly involved.

BFI LFF 2016: LA LA LAND - Dir. Damien Chazelle

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In the opening of Damien Chazelle’s modern musical, the camera pans back along a traffic jam. A variety of modern notes and beats emerge from open car windows; travelling back through the years until the camera stops on the first soloist and kicks the film into life. It’s an opening that perfectly captures the film’s affection for the past but also acknowledging the passing of time since then. In the traffic jam are Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone); the former scanning his tape player for the right song, the latter practising lines for her latest audition. Their paths are destined to cross, though perhaps not as smoothly as they could. Since its Venice premiere, La La Land has been positioned as a firm Oscar favourite and it’s easy to see why. This is a top-tapping, finger clicking musical that was once the staple of Hollywood studios but is now normally reserved for the theatre. It gently mocks modern Hollywood whilst also showing a great reverence for it too. Y

BFI LFF 2016: THE NOONDAY WITCH (Polednice) - Dir. Jiri Sádek

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Furthering the return to prominence of the “folk-horror”, most notably with Ben Wheatley’s Kill List and Robert Eggers The VVitch , is the atmospheric The Noonday Witch . First time feature director Jiri Sádek delivers a captivating, if not entirely satisfying, blend of the supernatural and psychological to a story of a mother’s relationship with her daughter. Eliska (Anna Geislerová) has left the hustle and bustle of the big city for the rural Czech village where her husband grew up, hoping for a fresh start with her daughter Anetka (Karolína Lipowská). With the sun bearing down on the parched land, the weight of a secret takes its toll on their relationship and the threat of the Noonday Witch looms ever larger.

BFI LFF 2016: BARAKAH MEETS BARAKAH - Dir. Mahmoud Sabbagh

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You can be forgiven for not being able to recall the last Saudi Arabian film you watched, such is mere handful of films that have been made there (Hafiaa al-Mansour’s Wadjda is a recent example). Set about changing that is Mahmoud Sabbagh with his debut film Barakah Meets Barakah .

Hell or High Water - Dir. David Mackenzie

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Tales of cops and robbers have rarely been far from our cinema screens and at first glance, there’s an inherently timeworn look to David Mackenzie’s Hell or High Water . It doesn’t take long however for this neo-western to reveal its cynical and unmistakeably contemporary spin on bank robbers and dusty Texan landscapes. Having cared for his mother in her final weeks, Toby Howard (Chris Pine) sets into motion a plan to secure a future for his sons by robbing the same banks that are set to foreclose on his late mother’s mortgage. Helping him is his ex-con of a brother Tanner (Ben Foster), with Texas rangers Marcus (Jeff Bridges) and Alberto (Gil Birmingham) on their tail.

Jason Bourne - Dir. Paul Greengrass

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Jason Bourne has always been a man of few words, but he’s always been an interesting character and the films have always been about him first and foremost. Identity was about him learning that he was a trained assassin, Supremacy forced him to face up to the effect his work had on those left behind and Ultimatum saw him discovering who he really was. Click here to read the full review

Evolution - Dir. Lucile Hadzihalilovic

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The quiet tranquillity of the underwater opening of Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s Evolution is indicative of the dreamlike qualities of the story that follows, but doesn’t begin to hint at the entrancing horrors of this strange and captivating science-fiction tale. The tranquility of that opening is shattered when young boy Nicolas (Max Brebant) catches a glimpse of a body nestling in the clutches of the sea floor. He rushes home and tells his mother (Julie-Marie Parmentier), who sternly insists that he is mistaken.

John Wick - Dir. Chad Stahleski & David Leitch

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A thoroughly juvenile action bore that’s sole aim is to be described as “awesome” and “cool” as Keanu Reeves kills an undefined number of de facto bad guys. There’s a complete disinterest in story and characters that ultimately denotes the occasionally distinctive visuals as completely pointless.

Midnight Special - Dir. Jeff Nichols

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A s a genre, science-fiction is most often utilised as a vessel to challenge philosophical ideas or to channel observations of the present through a futuristic or alternate reality ( Ex Machina and High-Rise being two fine recent examples). Midnight Special isn’t either of these those things; it’s more comparable relative is something like Lost , where only what happened to the characters on a mysterious island is relevant and not the mystery behind the island itself. Midnight Special is a chase drama that happens to feature a child with superpowers.

Oscar Predictions (2016)

Some last minute predictions for tonight's Academy Awards. As per usual, some awards are all but sewn up whilst others are wide open. Picks for Will Win and Could Win choices are based on all nominated films, Should Win choices are only based on the films I have seen. Brief list of some of the films that I haven't seen:  The Big Short ,  Trumbo ,  The Danish Girl ,  Joy ,  Creed ,  Straight Outta Compton ,  Son of Saul. Best Film Will Win:  The Revenant Could Win:  The Big Short Should Win:  Spotlight Best Director Will Win: Alejandro G. Iñárritu ( The Revenant ) Could Win: George Miller ( Mad Max: Fury Road ) Should Win: George Miller ( Mad Max: Fury Road )

Spotlight - Dir. Tom McCarthy

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Its status as an ever present competitor in this year's awards season has perhaps caused the momentum behind Spotlight  to dwindle as the race reaches its end, which means it will likely lose to the much showier (and gruntier/more grunty/?) The Revenant .  That's a shame, not only because Spotlight  is one of the year's very best, but because it's a magnificent testimonial to the shrinking practice of long term journalism and a fascinating exploration of how the deep rooted influence of an institution such as the Catholic Church can directly and indirectly affect the people of Boston.

The Witch - Dir. Robert Eggers

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Independent or arthouse horror has had a couple of notable hits in the last year or two with The Babadook and It Follows and whilst it deserves to sit alongside the both of them as a terrific film, The Witch is very much it’s own beast and deserves to be approached as such. Aptly described as a New England Folk tale, The Witch transports us to 17 th century New England where an English family set up a new home for themselves on the edge of an imposing forest, after being expelled from the local township. The family unit soon begins to crack when their young baby is snatched from under the nose of eldest child Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy).

The Revenant - Dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu

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Moments of sheer beauty and raw brutality, but they’re simply not enough to make a great movie; let alone a film that’s 8 hours long (it is 8 hours long, right?). Ok so it’s only a little over 2 and a half hours, but boy does it feel like a whole lot more thanks to its minimal story. There’s nothing wrong with making a film that’s lighter on plot than your typical Christopher Nolan thriller, but the film’s running time should reflect that. The opening skirmish is great, as is the final fracas, but everything else is drawn out almost to the point of ridicule. What’s even more frustrating is that what little story there is, isn’t competently told. There’s no driving force to the film that leaves you feeling unsure of where the story is going next, but also arrives at what you instinctively feel is the right. Instead, The Revenant sticks with Hugh Glass (Leonardo di Caprio) as he grunts and slides his way across the wilderness, occasionally looking in on other supporting characte

Room - Dir. Lenny Abrahamson

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A film of two halves, both structurally and in terms of quality. The film is a mostly well-handled exploration of a most horrific situation; Ma (Brie Larson) raises her son Jack (Jacob Tremblay), conceived and born in the 10 foot by 10 foot space that they both call Room. Jack knows nothing of the outside world but when their captor, known only as Old Nick, begins to take an interest in Jack, Ma decides that the time has come to get out for good. It’s a near hopeless situation that Jack and Ma find themselves in but Ma’s love for Jack keeps her going, even if his youthful innocence and exuberance sometimes leaves her exhausted. The escape is a brilliantly tense sequence that leads to an overwhelming emotional release when Jack gets his first glimpse of the outside world; director Lenny Abrahamson beautifully captures the look of shock and wonder Jacob Tremblay’s face. It’s a high point that the film never comes close to matching, now matter how desperately it wants to. There’s

Amy - Dir. Asif Kapadia

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Yes it's good, but only to a point. Asif Kapadia's overlong documentary is ultimately hindered by its challenging structure and the production's relationship with Amy Winehouse's family. The use of interviews heard over home movie and footage and photos from public appearances gives the journey through Amy's early life an impeccable and raw authenticity but there are times, particularly towards the end, when I wanted to see the faces of those talking. We don't just express emotion through the intonations of speech and Kapadia denies us from the facial expression of those involved. A lot of the film is composed of paparazzi photographs and video used in magazines and news programmes that the film partially criticizes for the continued hounding of Amy Winehouse. It just about gets away with this for a while, but the use of footage from Amy's private funeral felt a little hypocritical and frankly uncomfortable. Kapadia and co. initially ha

Films of 2015 - The Top 10, the Honourable Mentions, the Hidden Gems and the Clunkers

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FILMS OF 2015 A quick look back at the films of 2015, from the good to the bad, the surprises to the disappointments and the memorable to the forgettable. The choices are taken from the list of 67 films I've seen this year with a UK 2015 release (hence the inclusion of Foxcatcher , Whiplash etc). The Top 10 10. THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY (Dir. Peter Strickland) In ditching the real world in favour of a fabricated one, Strickland has excised any aspects of reality (such as the existence of men) that would detract from his story of the evolving relationship between two female lepidopterists; instead, he crafts a context and setting that enhances and embellishes it. 9. CRIMSON PEAK (Dir. Guillermo del Toro) Guillermo del Toro's magnificent latest sees him return to the more overtly character driven dramas of his earlier Spanish language films. A resplendent gothic romance that embraces its melodramatic roots that are distinctly old-fashioned but aptly suit del T