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The London Film Festival 2011: Get booking, get queuing, but be sure to get tickets for the UK’s biggest film festival, says Helen M Jerome.
What do you want from the movies? Homegrown and international talent, far-flung locations and glamorous megastars, auteur directors making their first steps in film, restored classics and experimental shorts. The London Film Festival offers all these and more in a two-week big screen binge in movie houses from the Southbank and Leicester Square to more off-the-beaten-track places.
So get online, see what floats your boat, aim to be flexible about off-peak screening times, and be adventurous. Don’t give up if your targets are sold out – there may be returns, there may even be something even better if you look around… Be prepared to be surprised, entertained as your cultural levels get fired up!
1. Beginning & End
Opening this year’s festival is 360 (above-right), loosely based on the Arthur Schnitzler play La Ronde, with a screenplay by Peter (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) Morgan, and directed by Fernando (City of God, Constant Gardener) Meirelles, the film’s pedigree sounds pretty remarkable enough, before you even factor in the acting talent of Rachel Weisz, Jude Law and Anthony Hopkins. In truth, it’s a pretty good, but not great piece of work, which explores the interlocking lives and loves of disparate individuals across the world, mixed in with dollops of sex and occasional violence.
Possibly more likely to be a crowd-pleaser, and also based on a play, is the festival’s closing film THE DEEP BLUE SEA (right), again starring Rachel Weisz, but this time opposite Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russell Beale. And Terence Davies might just be the perfect director to bring his namesake, Terence Rattigan’s fifties-set classic to the big screen.
2. Big Fellas
So many films, so little time… But there are a few that look like dead certs. Like Ralph Fiennes making his directing debut with Shakespeare’s political play CORIOLANUS, starring himself, rising star Jessica Chastain, and Vanessa Redgrave with an award-worthy performance. Another update comes from Michael Winterbottom with TRISHNA, his version of Thomas Hardy’s timeless novel, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, here set in modern India.
Maybe David Cronenberg will be back on form with A DANGEROUS METHOD, with Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender, the latter also making a bid to be the new leading man of the festival by starring again in another Steve (Hunger) McQueen film, this time the controversial SHAME. And if you want something slightly more off-the-wall, then check out Sean Penn as an ageing, Robert Smith-style rock star in Paolo Sorrentino’s first English language feature film, THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, with a terrific cameo from Talking Heads’ frontman David Byrne as himself, plus Frances McDormand doing her usual scene-stealing as Penn’s wife.
3. Best of British
Yay! Some of the top homegrown directing talent is female this year. If you want to get a fresh take on Emily Bronte’s WUTHERING HEIGHTS, then Andrea (Red Road, Fish Tank) Arnold would seem to be the ideal woman at the helm – and by all accounts she’s made it into the youthful, wild, sexy story that the novelist intended when she wrote it over 150 years ago. If you’ve got a strong stomach, then Lynne Ramsay’s film of Lionel Shriver’s book, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (right), will no doubt be high on your To See list. Then there’s Carol Morley’s DREAMS OF A LIFE, based on the true story of a woman’s body discovered in Wood Green, north London, some three years after she’d died.
And making her directorial feature debut is promising Brit DR (Dictynna) Hood, with WRECKERS, starring Claire (Little Dorrit) Foy and Benedict (Sherlock) Cumberbatch. And there are some first-time male directors too (well done, lads!): Nick Murphy explores early 20th Century spiritualism and ghost lore in the spooky THE AWAKENING, boasting A-list Brit stars Dominic West, Rebecca Hall and Imelda Staunton; and actor Dexter Fletcher sits behind the lens for WILD BILL, with Charlie Creed-Miles in yet another fantastic and full-on leading role.
4. Clooney-watch
No sign of Kristin Scott Thomas in this festival, though she has been treading the boards just off Leicester Square this year, which is some consolation. But fans of ‘Gorgeous’ George Clooney will be in hog heaven, as not only is he starring in Alexander (Sideways) Payne’s THE DESCENDANTS, set in stunning Hawaii, but he is also directing political drama, THE IDES OF MARCH, featuring himself alongside 2011’s biggest breakout male star so far, Ryan Gosling. And both films are tipped for box office greatness…
5. Treats in Store
Europe is rich with comedy – including the broad and Farrelly-like KING CURLING from Norway, and the satire WE HAVE A POPE (right) from Italy’s brilliant and idiosyncratic Nanni Moretti. And there are brilliant thrillers like HEADHUNTERS, based on Scandinavian crime writer Jo Nesbo’s bestselling novel, plus thoughtful fare from Belgium’s Dardennes brothers, with THE KID ON A BIKE, from Germany with HUT IN THE WOODS, and from France in the shape of LOUISE WIMMER, respectively about a man and woman existing on the margins of society, once they’ve been abandoned by almost everyone.
If you liked Persepolis a couple of festivals back, then CHICKEN WITH PLUMS is from the same team and stars Mathieu Amalric, who also turns up directing THE SCREEN ILLUSION. Fans of the Danish thriller series, The Killing, will also want to see SHE MONKEYS, a Swedish coming-of-age movie which has the same director, Lisa Aschan, and revolves around two teenage girls competing in equestrian acrobatics (no, me neither!), while drawn towards each other.
You can see Jack Black in Richard Linklater’s BERNIE, and Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 50/50 if you want intelligently mainstream laughs. And there’s the quite brilliant NATURAL SELECTION from Robbie Pickering, which stirs together religious fervour, sperm donation and road movie into a deeply satisfying mix. Way more ‘out there’ and deliberately eccentric is Miranda July’s THE FUTURE.
For something a bit deeper and darker, there’s Roman Polanski’s CARNAGE, an adaptation of the Broadway smash hit, now boasting the starry quartet of Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, John C Reilly and Christoph Waltz. MISS BALA is a Mexican thriller packing heat and generating buzz. Then there’s Argentina’s BACK TO STAY, THE STUDENT, and MEDIANERAS, South Korea’s THE DAY HE ARRIVES, Japan’s MITSUKO DELIVERS, Hong Kong’s A SIMPLE LIFE, and China’s MR TREE.
And if it’s documentaries you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place. Nick Broomfield finds an easy target with SARAH PALIN: YOU BETCHA!, while Russia’s Marina Goldovskaya makes a bold film, A BITTER TASTE OF FREEDOM, about an even bolder woman, the murdered investigative journalist Anna Politskovskaya.
WOMEN WITH COWS is a heartfelt Swedish study of rural dedication, isolation, and the end of an era. And DARWIN looks at a ghost town that once had thousands living there, but now has only 35 rather oddball, yet likeable residents.
But you’ll find your own treats if you get going now – so be bold and brave with your choices!
Book your tickets online at bfi.org.uk/lff or by phone on: 020 7928 3232 – or in person, of course, at BFI Southbank.