It can’t quite hang with the likes of Cannes and Sundance, but the London Film Festival (LFF) can still pack a punch with some intensely interesting films.
After our preview of the Toronto Film Festival proved so popular, we thought we’d check in on London’s own, as tickets go on sale this week. If you’re thinking of attending, remember who recommended all your favourite films of the festival and helped you sound super smart in front of your friends.
I’m talking about Cultured Vultures, if you didn’t get that. I didn’t think I had to spell it out. Here’s our picks of the festival.
1. Ayanda
Set in South African capital Johannesburg, this one follows young Afro-hipster Ayanda as she takes over her recently deceased father’s garage. In an effort not to go bust, Ayanda and her mechanic boyfriend decide to make refurbishing vintage cars the business’s major selling point.
Even from the trailerm there’s a lot to recommend about this film. Young lead Fulu Mugovhani, who according to IMDb counts this as her screen debut, looks like she might be something of a revelation. Meanwhile the garage, which could be boring and run-of-the-mill, manages to feel like a home to the interesting cast of characters that are set to pepper the movie.
According to the blurb on the LFF website, Ayanda is set in the multicultural Johannesburg suburb of Yeoville. Most interesting of all, Ayanda already has some high profile fans, with Selma director Ava DuVernay picking up the American distribution rights to the film. It’ll be hitting theatres in the US in November, so expect to hear more from this one.
2. The Lobster
Imagine a future where being single is outlawed. If you are single, you’re shipped off to a hotel and given 45 days to find a partner. You failed? Looks like you’re going to get turned into an animal. At least you get to pick what animal though, that’s something isn’t it?
This is the challenge that awaits the newly divorced David (Colin Farrell) as he arrives at the hotel. Its absurdity is reminiscent of a Terry Gilliam film, with a sprinkling of Wes Anderson thrown in. The cast, which also includes Olivia Coleman, Ben Whishaw, Rachel Weisz and John C. Reilly, looks to be fully committing to the dystopian ridiculousness of the whole affair.
The story will follow Farrell as he reaches desperation point and runs away into the woods, where he discovers a community committed to singledom. If True Detective wasn’t quite the career renaissance Farrell was looking for, The Lobster might put him back on track.
3. 3000 Nights
Award winning Palestinian filmmaker Mai Masri points a stark lens on an uncomfortable subject with this story of a West Bank school teacher, in her first non documentary feature. Layal is all set to move to Canada with her husband when she is falsely accused of helping a teenager attack a military checkpoint. It will consume the next eight years of her life.
It is obvious from the trailer that Masri is a gifted filmmaker, adept at creating scenes that pack a powerful emotional punch. Somehow she has managed to make us feel physically close to the action of her film and the women’s prison where it takes place.
Layal must negotiate this prison, a mix of Israeli inmates and Palestinian prisoners as she deals with her unexpected pregnancy. Set in 1980, the story follows the simmering tension and deteriorating conditions of incarceration.
4. Sunset Song
This adaptation of a famous 1932 novel is the only film on this list up for the LFF best film award. It follows the talented Chris Guthrie (up and comer Agyness Deyn) as she grows up in rural North East Scotland.
There’s conflict, as her abilities mean a liberating life as a teacher isn’t out of the question, unless her deeply religious father (Peter Mullan) gets in the way. Just as Chris’s family life starts to transform,
Europe is thrown into the horrifying mess of the First World War.
The book by prolific Scottish author Lewis Grassic Gibbon is considered a Scottish literary classic. Meanwhile the film is boosted by director Terence Davies, who has a history of successful adaptations. His 2011 film, The Deep Blue Sea, also nominated for the LFF best film award, was itself a film version of a 1950s play.
The trailer does a good job of hinting at Davies’ pedigree for this sort of flick, and it looks like the sort of historical drama that’s more thoughtful than swords and corsets. Straight off the bat we learn that Chris’s best friend is the daughter of a socialist, while her father is a slightly menacing religious zealot, puffing on his pipe.
Think Parade’s End, but in a more earthy and Scottish setting.
5. Grandma
Lily Tomlin is just the greatest. After the success of her recent Netflix team up with Jane Fonda (Grace and Frankie), Hollywood has somehow allowed her to star in a rare female-driven comedy. Normally, movie executives get all sweaty palmed at the very idea, but here their lapse seems to have paid off.
Tomlin stars as grandmother to her newly pregnant teenage granddaughter. It’s a road trip movie, which is normally a red flag for me, but Grandma doesn’t seem to be using this as a narrative crutch. Even so, it’s really Tomlin herself that seems to be elevating the material with her performance. She absolutely nails the curmudgeonly yet rebellious grandparent here, a role that’s too often given to a man in this sort of comedy.
The story follows grandmother and granddaughter as they find answers to their troubles on the road, which includes beating $630 out of a High School jock with a hockey stick to the groin. Laverne Cox, Julia Garner, Marcia Gay Harden and Judy Greer also star.
According to the LA Times, Grandma is Tomlin’s first lead role in a film since 1988. I wasn’t born in 1988. As someone who only recently discovered Tomlin’s genius, this 27 year gap makes me want to physically shake my fist at Hollywood.
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