BFI London Film Festival 2017 Preview - Part 2

A total of 242 feature films will screen at the 61st BFI London Film Festival in October; 242 films including 28 World premieres, 9 International premieres and 34 European premieres.



The previously announced Breathe and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri will bookend the festival and there are many treats in-store for the days in between. 

In Part 1, I looked at the films from the main competitions and gala screenings.

Outside of the competitions and galas, other films are placed in one of the following strands:


   LOVE                 DEBATE                 LAUGH


 DARE                  THRILL                   CULT


JOURNEY             CREATE                 FAMILY

 
EXPERIMENTA                            TREASURES



Click any of the strand names to explore each one if full on the BFI website. Here are some picks from my first perusal at the full line-up; click on the title of each film to go to the BFI festival page for the film.



GOLDEN EXITS - Dir. Alex Ross Perry


Another film about highly strung, affluent people bickering and arguing with each other, but writer/director Alex Ross Perry has shown (with Queen of Earth in particular) that he can breathe life into familiar situations with his effervescent writing and confident direction. He re-teams with Sean Price Williams for some more entrancing Super16 cinematography.

---


THE LIGHT OF THE MOON - Dir. Jessica M. Thompson


This debut feature from writer/director/editor Jessica M. Thompson looks set to warrant its place in this year's Debate strand. The Light of the Moon promises a complex and frank look at Bonnie (Stephanie Beatriz) and her relationships at work and at home in the six weeks after being sexually assaulted.

---

THE RIDER - Dir. Chloé Zhao


The sophomore feature from writer/director Chloé Zhao was snapped up quickly after taking the top prize in the Directors' fortnight at Cannes. The collection of non-actors draw on their own personal experiences in this story of a rodeo rider (Brady Jandreau) searching for a new future after a severe accident.

---

ABRACADABRA - Dir. Pablo Berger


Maribel Verdú stars as Carmen, a housewife trying to bring her husband out of a hypnosis, in this intriguing mix of genres and influences from Pablo Berger. It could be brilliant or it could be something less than that, but it certainly looks to be one to check out.

---

PRINCESS CYD - Dir. Stephen Cone


Having watched this latest feature from Chicago based filmmaker Stephen Cone, I can say that it's a wonderfully nuanced film about the summer that teenager Cyd spends living in Chicago with her estranged aunt Miranda, a famous novelist. Cone deftly portrays how these two very different people challenge each other on the way to finding a mutual level of respect.

---

BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 - Dir. S Craig Zahler


Anyone who saw S. Craig Zahler's funny and very violent western Bone Tomahawk will enter with cautious excitement at the prospect of a similar take on the prison drama. An unconventional role for Vince Vaughn as Bradley, a former boxer who finds himself incarcerated after a drug deal goes south.

---

The shimmering neon lights of New York provide the backdrop for this story of a thief (Robert Pattinson) attempting to free his brother from prison. The criminally underseen Heaven Knows What (which took nearly 2 years to reach the UK) was an impressive feature from this directing duo, who premiered Good Time at Cannes earlier this year.

---

BAD GENIUS - Dir. Nattawut Poonpiriya



Already a hit on home soil in Thailand, Bad Genius is a film you never knew you wanted: a high-school exam heist thriller. Featuring a star-making debut performance from Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying, Bad Genius is sprightly, exhilarating and has an insightful cultural specificity that any English language remake will struggle to recapture.

---

LUCKY - Dir. John Carroll Lynch


A chance to see the final lead performance from Harry Dean Stanton, who stars as a nonagenarian going about his daily life in a small New Mexico town. Destined to be a moving experience following Stanton's passing earlier this month, Lucky also marks the directorial debut of renowned actor John Carroll Lynch.

---


SUSPIRIA - Dir. Dario Argento


Showing in a new 4K restoration, Dario Argento's nightmarish classic returns to the big screen 40 years after its original release. This horror classic stars Jessica Harper as Suzi Bannion, a ballerina whose time studying at the Tanz Dance Academy in Germany doesn't quite go as planned.

---


Documentary filmmaker Eugene Jarecki drives across the USA in a Rolls Royce owned by Elvis Presley to chart the state of the USA then and in the present day, as the country transitions from the era of 44th President to the incumbent President. Jarecki's previous film, The House I Live In, was a clear and concise examination of the failings of The War on Drugs, so this road trip is sure to be one worth experiencing.

---


Click HERE to read Past 1 of my preview and find out which films I highlighted from the headline galas and official competitions.



For everything you need to know about the 61st BFI London Film Festival, head over to the official website HERE.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sunshine - Dir. Danny Boyle

Certain Women - Dir. Kelly Reichardt

John Wick - Dir. Chad Stahleski & David Leitch