The London Film Festival kicks off on 14th October, during which a multitude of brand new films will be showing at cinemas across the capital. I take a look at potential highlights...
An Education
Adapted from The Guardian journalist Lynn Barber’s memoir by Nick Hornby, this feature stars hotly-tipped newcomer Carey Mulligan as Jenny, a bright girl from a lower middle class family who is seduced by Peter Sarsgaard’s older man, David. Enticed by the fine things in life that David can provide for her, only school teachers (Emma Thompson and Olivia Williams) sense the danger Jenny may be entering.
The Road
Cormac McCarthy’s second scintillating novel to be made into a film, The Road stars Viggo Mortensen as a nameless survivor of a nameless apocalypse who is travelling across a scorched America with his young son. If director John Hillcoat has managed to convey even a fraction of the book’s grim vision, we could be on to a winner. Last showing is this afternoon though so hurry!
A Serious Man
The latest film from the Coen Brothers sees the nice and normal world of Larry Gopnik fall apart around him as he tries to maintain his virtuous existence. Some feel that Burn After Reading was a misfire after the much lauded No Country For Old Men; let’s hope A Serious Man can restore their faith in the ever surprising Coen’s catalogue.
Balibo
Balibo is based on the true story of five Australian journos who were killed whilst covering the 1975 genocide in East Timor (for more about that search YouTube for Noam Chomsky’s excellent documentary, Manufacturing Consent). The film has been described as tense, thrilling and affecting and should highlight a relatively little know 20th century tragedy.
Bunny and the Bull
The producers of this have described it as ‘Withnail & I for the mentally ill’. It boasts Paul King, director of the Mighty Boosh at its helm as well as stars Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt. It will probably be rather funny then. It concerns the tale of two friends who’ve had a trip around Europe so tumultuous; it’s left one of them house-bound for two months. Fielding and Barratt play an ex-matador and a tramp that the couple encounter on their trip. Expect surrealism.
American: The Bill Hicks Story
An inventive documentary from two UK filmmakers, American: The Bill Hicks Story combines stand-up footage, testimonies from close family members and animation techniques to tell the tale of one of the greatest comedians ever to grace a stage. Hick’s performances were audacious displays of articulate rage, unrelenting compassion and machete-sharp wit. Hopefully, the film will capture some of this and serve as a fitting memorial to the sadly missed stand-up.
The Scouting Book for Boys
Thomas Turgoose, the breakout star of Shane Meadow’s tour de force, This Is England, takes the lead as David in this compelling drama about two childhood friends who are separated when one goes missing. Apparently mixing the anxieties of teen-hood with the idylls of childhood in the summertime, this could be the film that turns Turgoose into a household name.
Metropia
“Downbeat animated sci-fi noir” describes this Scandinavian curiosity. Roger lives in a dystopian vision of the future in which all of Europe is connected by subterranean transport links and constantly monitored by CCTV and big corporations. Also, he’s hearing voices in his head. Is someone trying to control him? Who? And why? Or is he just mental? Sounds intriguing!
Women Without Men
Iranian director/artist Shirin Neshat adapts Shahrunsh Parsipar’s banned (in Iran) novel, in which we follow the stories of four women during the time of the 1953 coup (backed by us western buggers) in which Iran’s democratically elected PM was deposed by the shah. A heady mix of political, social, sexual and religious issues are discussed in this beautifully shot film.
Also showing at the festival are showcases of several short films, grouped by theme. ‘The Gothic and The Grotesque’, for example collects numerous macabre and creepy shorts including Little Red Hoodie, an update of a familiar Grimm tale and Touch of Red, a depiction of Edgar Allen Poe as he writes The Fall of the House of Usher. The ‘Landscape as Character’ set also contains many potential gems, such as A Whore and a Chick which features a cycling chicken man and John Wayne Hated Horses, about a father and son’s views on machismo.
There’s also the secret screening, in which the audience doesn’t know what they’re going to watch until the lights go out. In the past, punters have been treated to No Country For Old Men and The Wrestler. My money’s on Terry Gilliam and the late Heath Ledger’s The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus.
For more information, screening times and locations and tickets, visit www.bfi.org.uk/lff.
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