LFF 2019 Highlights Part 1

It is about half way through this year’s BFI London Film Festival, and some wonderful films have been shown so far. Here are some LFF 2019 highlights from the first week…

LFF 2019 Highlights – Unmissable

The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Joe Talbot’s The Last Black Man in San Francisco is a funny, moving, thought-provoking, and outstanding debut. The film is an embarrassment of riches, boasting a wonderful script, strong direction, great performances, and thematic density.  READ MORE

Marriage Story

Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story is a top-drawer drama with outstanding performances from its leads. The film is heart-wrenching, observant, and very real. With Marriage Story, Baumbach once again proves to be a shrewd observer of the human condition.  READ MORE

LFF 2019 Highlights – Best of the Rest

The Lighthouse

With his nightmarish thriller The Lighthouse, Robert Eggers proves The Witch was no fluke. The Lighthouse is a downward spiral, with a jagged, disorientating descent. READ MORE

The Report

The Report is topical, engaging, and necessary viewing. A story about the compilation and attempted publication of a lengthy report could be considered quite a dry subject matter. Nevertheless, in writer and director Scott Z. Burns’ capable hands, The Report is always interesting, occasionally tense, and at times engrossing.  READ MORE

Saint Maud

Writer-director Rose Glass’ Saint Maud is a unnerving and intense gothic thriller. The filmmaker has delivered an atmospheric and striking debut. The backdrop provides the perfect setting for this exploration of psyche, religious fervour, and obsession. READ MORE

The Personal History of David Copperfield

Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield is a love letter to storytelling. The film is endearing and entertaining. A warm, amusing, and enjoyable adaptation. READ MORE

The Prince’s Voyage

Jean-François Laguionie and Xavier Picard’s The Prince’s Voyage (Le Voyage Du Prince) is an enchanting animated tale. With its bittersweet ending, the film doesn’t pander to its audience. READ MORE

The BFI London Film Festival runs from 2nd-13th October 2019. See the full programme here.

Film Review: The Report

The Report provides background and detail on a story that needs to be told. Scott Z. Burns does this in an entertaining and informative manner. 

Senate staffer Dan J. Jones is tasked with leading an investigation into CIA’s post-9/11 Detention and Interrogation programme. As he uncovers uncomfortable truths, some do not want his report to be published…

A story about the compilation and attempted publication of a lengthy report could be considered quite a dry subject matter. Nevertheless, in writer and director Scott Z. Burns’ capable hands, The Report is always interesting, occasionally tense, and at times engrossing. 

The narrative focuses on report author Dan Jones and the discoveries he and his team make when asked to compile a report on the CIA’s use of interrogation after 9/11. Based on real events, The Report does not necessarily reveal new information to those familiar with the well-covered story. However, what the film does is detail the story of how torture came to be used in interrogations, who approved of the techniques, and what the response was after details began to emerge. 

The protagonist is a mostly stoic figure; his methodical approach makes him a good entry point to view proceedings. Dan does lose his cool as his findings provoke a natural response, yet remains morally centred in a sea of self-interest and political manoeuvring. 

One of the highlights of The Report is how it represents Washington and these organisations which hold incredible power. Burns does not shy away from depicting the wrangling that went on behind closed doors, and the vested interests of powerful parties. Yet he is careful not to portray this simply as a cesspool with individuals fighting to cover their backs and get ahead. Credit is given to those who did stand up for what was right. The film focuses on a few senators (alongside some actual footage) to make this clear. 

Pacing in The Report is good. Burns provides a timeline on which the narrative takes place. There are flashbacks to some uncomfortable sequences, as well as the meetings that took place. This is necessary to flesh out the story; after all, the film could not have been two hours of a character reading documents in a basement. The film begins at a late point before jumping back to tell the story in a mostly chronological fashion. This opening gambit works well to create tension for the situation the protagonist finds himself in. 

Adam Driver delivers a strong performance. The cracks in his temperament come across as authentic. Annette Bening is also great as Dianne Fieldstein, while Scott Shepherd and Maura Tierney stand out among the supporting cast.

The Report is a solid investigative thriller. The film is topical, engaging, and necessary viewing. 

The Report is being screened at the BFI London Film Festival in October 2019.

BFI London Film Festival 2019 Launch

This morning saw the launch of the BFI London Film Festival 2019. In its 63rd year, the festival is screening 229 feature films, including 28 world premieres. Here are some highlights from the festival programme…

Headline Galas

The opening and closing films for the BFI London Film Festival 2019 had already been announced. The festival opens with the European premiere of Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield. An adaptation of the Dickens’ classic, the film stars Dev Patel, Tilda Swinton, and Hugh Laurie. Martin Scorsese‘s hotly-anticipated The Irishman closes the festival. There is an embarrassment of riches among the other headline galas, including Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, Marielle Heller’s (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, and Michael Winterbottom’s Greed, starring Steve Coogan and Isla Fisher.

Strand Galas and Special Presentations

This year, films screening as part of the Strand Galas include Robert Eggers’ (The Witch) The Lighthouse, starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson. The Dare Gala is Mirrah Folks’ debut feature Judy & Punch, a fairy tale starring Mia Wasikowska. Among the Special Presentations are Takashi Miike’s First Love, and Bombay Rose, a hand-drawn animated feature from Gitanjali Rao.

Official Competition

Among the ten features in Official Competition at the London Film Festival 2019 are Haifaa Al-Mansour’s (Wadjda) The Perfect Candidate, about a young doctor who challenges Saudi Arabia’s strict social codes. Thomas Clay’s Fanny Lye Deliver’d stars Maxine Peake and Charles Dance, and is about a woman living with her puritanical husband in 17th century Shropshire. The Documentary Competition features Rubika Shah’s White Riot, about the Rock Against Racism movement, and Lauren Greenfield The Kingmaker, which focuses on Imelda Marcos. The First Feature Competition includes Joe Talbot’s The Last Black Man in San Francisco and Shannon Murphy’s Babyteeth, a drama starring Eliza Scanlon and Ben Mendelsohn.

Strands

The eleven thematic programme strands are back once more at the London Film Festival 2019. The Love strand includes La Belle Époque, Nicolas Bedos’ drama about an illustrator who uses technology to replay the past, and Ga-young Jeong’s Heart. The Debate strand is particularly strong this year with Citizen K (Alex Gibney‘s documentary on Mikhail Khodorkovsky), Chinonye Chukwu’s Sundance winner Clemency, Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life, and Scott Z Burns’ The Report, starring Adam Driver. Comedies in the Laugh strand includes Billie Piper’s directorial debut Rare Beasts, whilst Wash Westmoreland’s Earthquake Bird in the Thrill strand stars Alicia Vikander in an 1980s Tokyo-set thriller. Cannes winner The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão is among the films in the Journey category.

The Dare strand features animated coming-of-age tale I Lost My Body and Václav Marhoul’s The Painted Bird, about a Jewish boy on a journey home during wartime. The Cult strand includes Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s The Lodge and Lorcan Finnegan’s Vivarium, with Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots. Also in this category is Richard Stanley’s Color Out of Space, a HP Lovecraft adaptation starring Nicolas Cage and Joely Richardson. The Experimenta strand includes Brad Butler and Noorafshan Mizra’s Ruptures, whilst Create includes Midge Costin’s documentary Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound. Two highlights of the Family strand are Edmunds Jansons’ Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs and Lorenzo Mattotti’s The Bears’ Famous Invasion. Finally, classics that are showing as part of the Treasures programme include David Lynch’s The Elephant Man and Roger Corman’s The Masque of the Red Death, starring Vincent Price.

The BFI London Film Festival 2019 runs from 2nd-13th October. The full programme can be viewed here.

Film Review: Contagion

Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion is a disturbingly plausible experiment. The film is successful because it is able to sustain a sense of tension throughout.

A woman returns from Hong Kong via Chicago feeling ill with flu-like symptoms. A man collapses on a bus in Tokyo, and a young model is found dead in her London hotel. These three and other people are displaying similar symptoms of a deadly illness that is spreading throughout the world. The CDC sends doctors across the globe to try and contain the outbreak…

Contagion is very timely in its release. After the various outbreaks in the last few years, Soderbergh’s film explores the potential outcomes if such an illness did spread globally. Although people have died from outbreaks such as swine flu, these have been contained to certain areas and casualties have been relatively low in number. What Contagion does is amplify fears of the worse case scenarios in these type of cases.

The film takes place in various different locations, reflecting just how global a crisis it is. The different stories work well overall, with writer Scott Z. Burns attempting to exhibit different aspects to such an outbreak. Contagion works on the personal civilian level, with stories such as Mitch and his family, as well as on a wide scale, focusing on one of the CDC’s main players. Some of these strands are given more depth and duration than others, which is a necessary format. All the stories appear realistic, even the blogger’s strand is plausible given the freedom and power of the internet.

The tone of Contagion is almost unrelentingly serious. This is necessary in order to sustain tension. There are a couple of moments in the film which are rather soppy, but Contagion delivers a stark atmosphere more generally. There are moments in the film which are chilling; the automated telephone options being the most memorable of these.

Contagion boasts an excellent cast, and performances are solid for the most part. Laurence Fishburne is well cast as Dr Cheever, while Matt Damon is believable as Mitch. Jude Law is rather hammy as blogger Alan, but others such as Marion Cotillard and Jennifer Ehle deliver strong performances.

With the themes of the film being matched by the sober palette, Soderbergh’s film has a distinctive feel. Contagion is a very competent film, even if it is likely to bring out Howard Hughes tendencies in viewers.