The 20 films you must see at the London Film Festival
The 20 films you must see at the London Film Festival
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By Richard James. |  |
Saturday, 10, Oct 2009 11:51
Lewis Bazley on the future Oscar winners and cult favourites showing at the Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival.
The event runs from October 14th to 29th.
Click here to check out the schedule for the 2009 London Film Festival and buy tickets
American: The Bill Hicks Story
Fearless, fiercely intelligent and right about. well, everything, the late Bill Hicks was so much more than a comedian. Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas' innovative documentary approach to his tragically short life should remind every viewer to rage against the dying of the light of truth and justice.
The Road
Don't let that shifted release date fool you - this has got 'future best picture Oscar nominee' written all over it. An adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, John Hillcoat's film sees Viggo Mortensen and the freakishly adult child actor Kodi Smit-McPhee fighting for survival in a savage post-apocalyptic America.
Bunny and the Bull
The debut feature from The Mighty Boosh director Paul King, this oddball British comedy unsurprisingly features both Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt. But it's agoraphobic Stephen (Edward Hogg) and his enthusiastic best friend Bunny (Simon Farnaby) who take centre stage in a beautifully photographed, decidedly weird road trip.
Fantastic Mr Fox
After brief diversions into stop-motion in the underrated Life Aquatic, Wes Anderson goes all out for the opening night gala screening of this year's festival. With A-grade voice talent, (Clooney, Streep, Murray) and a marriage of Anderson's quirky wit and Roald Dahl's unparalled, this promises to be inventive and exuberant fun.
We Live in Public
A hugely important documentary, Ondi Timoner's follow-up to the superb Dig! tracks the rise and fall of early dotcom millionaire Josh Harris, a geek Nostradamus who all but predicted the advent of social networking and realityTV. Eye-opening and terrifying.
Kicks
Fish Tank meets football in an impressive debut feature from Lindy Heymann, developed as part of Liverpool's tenure as European Capital of Culture. Shy Liverpudlian teenager Nicole (Kerrie Hayes) meets aspiring WAG Jasmine (Nichola Burley) and together the pair try to hijack a planned move to Real Madrid for their favourite Liverpool player Lee Cassidy (Jamie Doyle).
45365
Set in a 20,000-population Ohio town - the title is the local zip code - Bill and Turner Ross find romance and sadness in the seemingly mundane lives of their fellow Sydney residents. A jury prize winner at the SXSW film festival, it could be one of the most affecting documentaries at this year's London bash.
Nowhere Boy
The eagerly awaited debut feature of British artist Sam Taylor-Wood, this year's closing night gala tells of the adolescence of John Lennon (Aaron Johnson), torn between the respectable world of his aunt Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas) and the anarchic approach of his absentee mother Julia (Anne-Marie Duff). Based on Lennon's sister's memoir and with a script from Control's Matt Greenhalgh, this could be the finest British film of the year.
The White Ribbon
The 2009 Palme d'Or winner, Michel Haneke's first film in German since the original Funny Games in 1997 is an elegiac and bewitching study of a small German town on the eve of the first world war. Through vignettes detailing the lives of the local doctor, pastor, baron and others, dark secrets and open questions emerge.
MICMACS
The first film in five years from Amelie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, this promises the visual invention of the likes of Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children as well as the flights of fancy so beloved by British audiences in Jeunet's crossover hit tale of Amelie Poulain. Bazil's (Dany Boon) life hangs in the balance when a stray bullet is lodged in his brain, but the possibility of becoming a vegetable won't prevent he and friends concocting a plan to destroy two weapons giants.
Cold Souls
Carl Jung, Anton Chekhov and Charlie Kaufman converge in this surprisingly sweet comedy about a mishap in the fictional international trade of human souls. The ever-excellent Paul Giamatti and David Straithairn star in the first film in three years from French writer-director Sophie Barthes.
The Limits of Control
As you'd expect from Jim Jarmusch, this hitman tale with a twist features a sterling cast, a script and soundtrack that leave you frantically searching for an encylopaedia and a central narrative that'll keep you coming back for more even when the free-form approach gets that little bit too daring.
Enter the Void
Provocateur sans parallel Gaspar Noé looks to challenge more audiences with his new so-called 'psychedelic melodrama', telling of a drug-dealing teen who watches over his stripper sister from the spirit world after he is killed in a police raid. With his earthly presence growing increasingly harrowing, expect audience reactions to match those to Noé's Irreversible.
Chloe
One of this year's Film on the Square gala screenings, Oscar nominee Atom Egoyan directs a sexually charged tale of suspicion and deceit, based on Anne Fontaine's novel Nathalie. Julianne Moore stars as doctor Catherine who, suspicious that her handsome music teacher spouse David (Liam Neeson) is cheating on her, sets up a honey trap using the sultry young Chloe (Amanda Seyfried).
The Informant!
Based on a true story, Steven Soderbergh puts a hilarious spin on the saga of Marc Whitacre, the highest-ranking corporate whistleblower in US history. A four-eyed and chunky Matt Damon is in superb form as the supremely deluded Whitacre whose imagination and self-importance get the better of his well-intentioned crusade.
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
A late addition to this year's programme, Werner Herzog's remake - he's been very clear that it's not a remake - of the dark Abel Ferrara classic could sink or swim on audience appreciation of its playful madness. Either way, it looks to be extremely funny, whether deliberate or not.
Paper Heart
You'll probably know her as the seemingly cretinous Jodie from Knocked Up but comedian and actress Charlyne Yi is the subject of this heart-warming documentary, a cross-country look at her quest for an understanding of romantic love. With Michael Cera playing himself and a ranging focus on idyllic love stories and Yi's own predicament, this should be a geek favourite for years to come.
Taking Woodstock
Another of this year's London offerings that can be quietly confident of some Oscar nominations, Ang Lee's meandering and charming look at the stilted beginnings of the iconic music festival features a brilliant break-out performance from stand-up Demetri Martin and willing support from Liev Schreiber and Emile Hirsch.
Starsuckers
After earning a Bafta nomination with Taking Liberties, his savage look at the erosion of civil freedoms in modern Britain, Chris Atkins turns his camera on our obsession with celebrity. With a focus on the psychological attractions and dangers of fame, Atkins reveals some of the dark arts behind making your name in the 21st century.
A Serious Man
Finally, the Coen Brothers reveal why they're one of the most vital presences in modern cinema with this darkly comic tale of one man's disintegration. With a little known cast and a trailer looped around the sound of a head being slammed into a wall, A Serious Man is an involving and intense character study, laced with schaudenfreude and unmistakably the work of the Coens.
Lewis Bazley