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London Film Festival 2019 - press screenings - day eleven

30/9/2019

Beanpole

Color Out of Space

BEANPOLE ★★★★★
D: Kantemir Balagov.
S: Viktoria Miroschnichenko, Vasilisa Perelygina, Konstantin Balakirev, Andrey Bykov, Olga Dragunova.

The aftermath of the Second World War in Leningrad. Narratively dazzlingly, each scene is layered with revelations and emotion, while also circumventing anticipated outcomes. Sophisticated stuff.

COLOR OUT OF SPACE ★☆☆☆☆
D: Richard Stanley (The Island of Dr. Moreau).
S: Nicolas Cage, Q'orianka Kilcher, Joely Richardson.

Tired horror gubbins. Is this meant to be a pastiche? Anyhow, it's an annoying experience. Nic Cage's brand of acting causes a few chortles.

Marion Cotillard - birthday

30/9/2019

It is actor Marion Cotillard’s birthday. Her top 5 films:

- A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT
- INCEPTION
- LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
- RUST AND BONE
- TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT

Rust and Bone

Out To Own Today: Transit

30/9/2019

Out to own today:

Transit

“So I can only stay here if I can prove that I don’t want to stay?” Georg (Franz Rogowski)

TRANSIT is a cinematic study on the herculean effort required by the powerless to survive during war while simultaneously doing the right thing. Hugely ambitious, the story of an anonymous fascistic force moving across modern Europe is used to highlight the need to be ever-vigilant against authoritarianism while also shining a light on the current refugee crisis affecting the world. TRANSIT is an adroit mix of love story, war film, and immigration parable.
[To read more, click here.]

London Film Festival 2019 - press screenings - day ten

27/9/2019

Family Romance, LLC

The Report

FAMILY ROMANCE, LLC ★★★★☆
D: Werner Herzog (On Death Row, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Encounters at the End of the World, Fitzcarraldo; Aguirre, the Wrath of God).
S: Ishii Yuichi, Mahiro Tanimoto.

Paying for a family/friendship experience, by customers needing an emotional connection. Moving and with Herzog's humour. The ending shows him to still be a movie master, looking at life through a unique lens.

THE REPORT ★★★★★
D: Scott Z. Burns.
S: Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm.

To watch alongside:
-THE LOOMING TOWER
-TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE
-STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
-VICE, etc.
A powerful examination into the sanctioned use of torture.

London Film Festival 2019 - press screenings - day nine

26/9/2019

The Last Black Man In San Francisco

Axone

THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO ★★★★★
D: Joe Talbot.
S: Jimmie Fails, Jonathan Majors, Rob Morgan.

The best film of 2019 so far? In the Venn diagram of gentrification and race, this begins at the intersection. Witty, sensitive, stylish, heartbreaking. It is both intimate and grand.

AXONE [embargoed - world premiere]

LEAP OF FAITH: WILLIAM FRIEDKIN ON THE EXORCIST [documentary] ★★★½☆
D: Alexandre O. Philippe (The People vs. George Lucas).

Director William Friedkin talks articulately about his 46-year old masterwork, perhaps the greatest horror movie of all time, THE EXORCIST. 104 minutes in his company fly by.

Leap Of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist

London Film Festival 2019 - press screenings - day eight

25/9/2019

The Dude in Me / The Man Inside Me

The Whistlers

THE DUDE IN ME / THE MAN INSIDE ME ★★★★☆
D: Hyo-jin Kang.
S: Jinyoung Jung, Kwang-gyu Kim, Joon-Hyuk Lee.

Part body-swap comedy, part gangster actioner. On the surface entertaining fluff, below looks at darker subject matter on bullying across society. The ending has such a neat bow, perhaps too neat, yet unusually I'm not complaining.
(The film looks to have changed its name from THE DUDE IN ME to THE MAN INSIDE ME. I’m not convinced either title goes to the premise of a gangster in high school?)

THE WHISTLERS ★★★★☆
D: Corneliu Porumboiu (Police, Adjective; 12:08 East of Bucharest).
S: Vlad Ivanov, Catrinel Marlon, Rodica Lazar.

A gripping exercise in the crime genre, which keeps you guessing until the final smile. Refreshing to have all the characters devoid of innocence and moral superiority.

Catherine Zeta-Jones - birthday

25/9/2019

It is actor Catherine Zeta-Jones’s birthday. Her top 5 films:

- HIGH FIDELITY
- OCEAN’S 12
- RED 2
- THE REBOUND
- TRAFFIC

Red 2

London Film Festival 2019 - press screenings - day seven

24/9/2019

I Lost My Body

Bad Education

I LOST MY BODY ★★★½☆
D: Jérémy Clapin.
S: Hakim Faris, Victoire Du Bois, Patrick d'Assumçao.

Imaginative, exciting, tragic. A story filled with pain. Bleak, yet tries to offer hope (to mixed success). A contender for best animated film of the year.

BAD EDUCATION ★★★½☆
D: Corey Finley (Thoroughbreds).
S: Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Geraldine Viswanathan, Alex Wolff.

Director Corey Finley continues theme of sociopathy. Here hints at wider questions, but the film feels more a ride with gaslighters than anything particularly inquisitive. Allison Janney is a scene stealer extraordinaire.

THE ANTENNA ★☆☆☆☆
D: Orcun Behram.
S: Ihsan Önal, Gül Arici, Elif Cakman, Murat Saglam.

An amateurish, interminable horror flick. Is black tar meant to be scary/atmospheric? Is it meant to be profoundly allegorical? Abysmally executed on numerous levels.

The Antenna

Between Two Ferns

23/9/2019

BETWEEN TWO FERNS: THE MOVIE ★★★★☆
D: Scott Aukerman.
S: Zach Galifianakis, Will Ferrell, Matthew McConaughey, Lauren Lapkus, Jiavani Linayao, Ryan Gaul, Tiffany Haddish, Keanu Reeves.

This is so fudging hilarious! Zach Galifianakis's interview with Keanu Reeves in particular will have your jaw on the floor. Along with THE BREAKER UPPERERS, a contender for Netflix's funniest comedy movie so far.

London Film Festival 2019 - press screenings - day six

23/9/2019

The Lodge

Lara

THE LODGE ★★★½☆
Ds: Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz (Goodnight Mommy).
S: Riley Keough, Jaeden Martell, Richard Armitage, Alicia Silverstone.

Not as craftily meta as THE CABIN IN THE WOODS or TUCKER AND DALE. A myriad of seemingly intentional clichés give way (but not soon enough) to a gut-punch of a finale.

LARA ★★★★½
D: Jan Ole Gerster (A Coffee in Berlin).
S: Corinna Harfouch, Tom Schilling, Volkmar Kleinert.

A German anti-WHIPLASH, from the perspective of the narcissistic teacher. Worth the seven year wait for director Jan Ole Gerster's sophomore narrative feature.

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