Skip to content
For Music Lovers
One film I’ve already seen – and full disclosure, it was produced by friends of mine – is Been So Long (above), starring the magnetic duo Michaela Coel (Black Earth Rising) and Arinze Kene, and based on Che Walker’s original musical play. Directed by Tinge Krishnan, with songs from Arthur Darvill, and featuring a mainly black British cast, plus the likes of George Mackay and Luke Norris, this is an utterly beguiling North London tale of star-crossed lovers with elements of La La Land. And I highly recommend you catch it!
Jessie Buckley, who was our hotly-tipped Breakthrough Star from last year’s amazing film Beast, stars as a budding country music singer in gala film Wild Rose, directed by Tom Harper (War And Peace), co-starring Julie Walters, and written by Nicole Taylor, who won a BAFTA for Three Girls. Remarkably, Buckley sings all the songs herself and tells me she’s determined to forge a new career in music.
Celebrating 50 years of the legendary label’s existence, and feeling so much more relevant in this Windrush fall-out era, Rudeboy: The Story Of Trojan Records looks like a cracking documentary with an ace soundtrack. I’ll try to catch Ethan Hawke’s passion project, Blaze, a biopic about folk singer Blaze Foley, which Hawke produced, co-wrote and directs; plus Bad Reputation, a documentary on rock icon, Joan Jett. Then there’s the confessional doc, I Used To Be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story, from Jessica Leski, and Dublin Oldschool, featuring Emmet Kirwan, and directed by Dave Tynan from the sold-out theatre production last seen at the National Theatre.
Korea Information
Anyone with a passion for a particular nation’s cinematic output will find much to love – just click through from the first link at the bottom of this preview to “Search countries (A-Z)”.
I, for one, will hunt down the five Korean movies at the festival, including Lee Chang-Dong’s thriller Burning, based on a Haruki Murakami story. Another thriller, Lee Hae-young’s Believer, remakes Johnnie To’s Drug War and looks great. Then there’s Little Forest, starring Kim Tae-ri of The Handmaiden, and directed by Yim Soon-rye; plus family drama Last Child, the debut from Shin Dong-seok, and true story, The Spy Gone North (above) about a South Korean spy, who got tight with the movers and shakers in the DPRK, right up to Kim Jong-il himself.
Main Competition
Which film will take home the big prize? Will it be the dark thriller Destroyer, starring Nicole Kidman, or The Old Man And The Gun (above) starring Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek and Casey Affleck? Or our own Ben Wheatley (Sightseers), with Happy New Year, Colin Burstead… maybe Zhang ‘Hero’ Yimou with Shadow? If you loved Peter Strickland’s The Duke of Burgundy, you’ll be relishing the prospect of his new film in contention, IN FABRIC, which has another strong female duo, this time Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Gwendoline Christie. And having already won an Academy Award for Son of Saul, you’d put László Nemes down as a strong contender with Sunset.
Others up for the main award are Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra’s Birds Of Passage; Alice Rohrwacher’s Happy As Lazzaro; Sudabeh Mortezai’s Joy about European sex trafficking; and Dominga Sotomayor’s Too Late To Die Young, set in post-Pinochet Chile. On pedigree, I’m tipping either Nemes or Strickland… (but haven’t seen either yet!)
First Feature Competition
This is the place to see the next-gen movie-makers as they make their start. Just getting nominated here is kudos enough. But imagine your first feature actually getting the top award… Let’s look at them alphabetically:
- The Chambermaid from Lila Avilés focuses on a Mexico City hotel-worker who dreams of something better.
The Day I Lost My Shadow from Syria’s Soudade Kaadan confronts the realities of war for ordinary people.
Dead Pigs from Cathy Yan has already won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance.
Girl from Lukas Dhont picked up the Golden Camera and Queer Palm Awards from Cannes and is a highly topical tale of a transgender, would-be ballet dancer.
Holiday from Isabella Eklöf is a gangster thriller set in Bodrum on the Turkish Riviera.
Journey To A Mother’s Room from Celia Rico Clavellino tackles the time when a daughter readies herself to leave home – and her mother – behind.
Only You from Brit Harry Wootliff is lucky with his stars, Josh O’Connor of God’s Own Country and Laia Costa from Victoria, who unexpectedly fall in love after their one-night stand.
Ray & Liz from award-winning UK artist Richard Billingham aims to follow in the footsteps of other artist-turned-filmmakers like Steve McQueen and Sam Taylor-Johnson.
Soni from Ivan Ayr takes on the minefield of class, feminism and policing in India.
Wildlife from actor Paul Dano has some pedigree: based on Richard Ford’s novel, and starring Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Doc Heaven
There’s plenty of documentary big-hitters in the main programme, including Michael Moore’s Trump doc, Fahrenheit 11/9, and of course, Frederick Wiseman’s latest doc Monrovia, Indiana focusing on a small town at the Crossroads of America. And the comic doc, Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned From A Mythical Man from director Tommy Avalone takes a closer look at the reclusive Groundhog Day/Ghostbusters star.
Then there are many treats in the documentary competition (here they are alphabetically):
- Bisbee ’17 from Robert Greene looks at an old mining town on the Arizona-Mexico border which deported 1200 immigrant miners 100 years ago and recreates its past.
Dream Away from co-directors Marouan Omara and Johanna Domke examines Sharm El Sheikh, three years after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution in the now-deserted holiday resort.
Evelyn from Virunga director Orlando von Einsiedel looks at grief in his own family.
John McEnroe: In The Realm Of Perfection from Julien Farau is about the mercurial tennis icon, and is narrated by Mathieu Amalric. I’m in!
The Plan That Came From The Bottom Up from Steve Sprung takes a 1976 job loss plan as its starting point to link to today.
Putin’s Witnesses from exiled Russian filmmaker Vitaly Mansky features his own footage of Boris Yeltsin, Mikhail Gorbachev and Vladimir Putin himself.
The Raft from Marcus Lindeen looks at a 1973 experiment now known as ‘Big Brother at sea’, and reunites the original participants.
Theatre Of War from Lola Arias is based on the multi-media theatrical performance that looked at Falklands vets from both sides 35 years on – which I saw at the Royal Court last year.
What You Gonna Do When The World’s On Fire? from Robert Minervini follows a Louisiana community after a devastating police shooting in the summer of 2017.
Young And Alive by Matthieu Bareyre looks at Paris youths changed by 2015’s terror attacks.
The BFI 62nd London Film Festival runs from October 10-21 2018.
Work your way around the festival here and download the complete festival programme here.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.