60th BFI London Film Festival
October 5th-16th, 2016
Various London Venues
by Joanna Orland
The 60th BFI London Film Festival played like a ‘Best Of’ the 2016 international film festivals. Opening with Amma Asante’s A United Kingdom and closing with Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire, the festival showcased some of the year’s most buzzed about films. From Cannes Film Festival there was The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook), Paterson (Jim Jarmusch), Graduation (Cristian Mungiu), The Salesman (Asghar Farhadi), Personal Shopper (Olivier Assayas), It’s Only the End of the World (Xavier Dolan), American Honey (Andrea Arnold), Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade), Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho), The Unknown Girl (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne) and Ma’ Rosa (Brillante Mendoza). From Berlinale there was Chi-Raq (Spike Lee), A Quiet Passion (Terence Davies), Creepy (Kiyoshi Kurosawa), The Bacchus Lady (E J-yong) and Don’t Blink – Robert Frank (Laura Israel). From Venice there was La La Land (Damien Chazelle), Arrival (Denis Villeneuve), Brimstone (Martin Koolhoven), Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford), Frantz (Francois Ozon) and Planetarium (Rebecca Zlotowski). From Sundance there was Christine (Antonio Campos), Kate Plays Christine (Robert Greene), Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt), Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan) and The Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker). From Toronto there were too many films to name, but this year’s London Film Festival screened all of the main highlights.
What this lineup demonstrates is that while the BFI London Film Festival may not be hosting much original material, what it is doing is showcasing the best films of the year. This year’s upcoming Oscar winners are surely on the bill. You don’t need to go to Cannes, Venice or Toronto when the highlights make their way to London every autumn. It’s not just the films that come to the UK capitol, but the talent come in droves to support and promote their films. This year was no less star-studded than previous with the likes of Liam Neeson, Sigourney Weaver, Miles Teller, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Xavier Dolan, Marion Cotillard, Lea Seydoux, Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, David Oyelowo, Damien Chazelle, Park Chan-wook, Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Isabelle Huppert, Lupita Nyong’o, Ben Mendelsohn, Michael Winterbottom, Christopher Guest, Cynthia Nixon, Ben Wheatley, Cillian Murphy, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Nicole Kidman, Dev Patel, Tom Ford, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Werner Herzog, Michael Fassbender, Oliver Stone, Jim Broadbent and the legendary Christopher Lloyd. And that is but to name a few.
View our 60th BFI London Film Festival Video Gallery and Photo Gallery
Below is our coverage of the 60th BFI London Film Festival:
BFI London Film Festival 2016 reviews by Amanda Farley, Richard Hamer and Joanna Orland
Venice Film Festival 2016 reviews by Jenny Donoghue and Laura Patricia Jones
Cannes Film Festival 2016 reviews by Joanna Orland
Berlinale 2016 reviews by Malin Arvidsson and Joanna Orland
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After the Storm (Umi yori mo Mada Fukaku)
Directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu
Starring Abe Hiroshi, Maki Yoko and Yoshizawa Taiyo
Writer/director Hirokazu Koreeda is a master of the understated family drama. Charting a course through I Wish, Our Little Sister and the heartbreaking Like Father, Like Son – among many others – he’s established a style of filmmaking broad and contemporary in its themes, quiet and reflective in its delivery. After The Storm continues this tradition famously; a portrait of the regrets of age and the disappointments of life both wonderfully acted and artfully staged… read more
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Arrival
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
Starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker and Michael Stuhlbarg
At its core, Arrival is an evocative existentialist drama. In the guise of an alien invasion Sci Fi movie, the film is an emotional exploration of the meaning of time, memory and identity. Many complex ideas are executed beautifully by director Denis Villeneuve as he creates a visually stunning, comprehensive cinematic achievement… read more
Read our alternative review from Venice Film Festival
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Barakah Meets Barakah (Barakah yoqabil Barakah)
Directed by Mahmoud Sabbagh
Starring Hisham Fageeh and Fatima AlBanawi
(reviewed at Berlinale 2016)
Saudi Arabia would probably be one of the last countries you would expect a romantic comedy from. But Barakah Meets Barakah, which is the first feature film from Saudi Arabia ever to be shown at the Berlinale, is just that!
Barakah, a civil servant whose job it is to make sure other people follow the strict laws of the country, meets Bibi, an Instagram celebrity, and they take a liking to each other. This is a light-hearted story about two young people who try to find ways to date in spite of the strict laws that prevent unmarried women and men interacting in public spaces. The film is full of quirky jokes which you can understand even without knowing the culture of the country, but I can imagine that many young people from Saudi Arabia can identify themselves with the difficulties and frustrations that the two main characters are going through… read more
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Bleed For This
Directed by Ben Younger
Starring Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhart and Ciarán Hinds
Bleed for This is writer-director Ben Younger’s biopic of ‘The Pazmanian Devil’ boxing legend Vinny Pazienza (Miles Teller), a Rhode Island fighter whose refusal to be beaten by anything has made him a living legend… read more
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Brimstone
Directed by Martin Koolhoven
Starring Dakota Fanning, Guy Pearce, Emilia Jones, Carice Van Houten and Kit Harington
(reviewed at Venice Film Festival 2016)
If you like gore and enjoy a good two hours of the repeated and horrific oppression of helpless innocent women, Brimstone is certainly the film for you. Graphic from beginning to end, Dutch writer and director Martin Koolhoven’s Western thriller follows Frontier woman Liz, as she struggles against the misfortunes of being a woman among settlers in the New World (and any time, in the wrong circumstances, really) and the twists her life takes as she tries to escape her obsessed pursuer, an almost comically evil Reverend father, played by Guy Pearce… read more
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Christine
Directed by Antonio Campos
Starring Rebecca Hall, Michael C Hall and Tracy Letts
Christine is a character study of the real life news anchor Christine Chubbuck, famed for committing suicide during a live broadcast in the 1970’s. Rebecca Hall gives a brilliant performance in this tragic and bleak story, showing much restraint in moments that could have otherwise been filled with melodrama or caricature… read more
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Dog Eat Dog
Directed by Paul Schrader
Starring Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe and Matthew Cook
(reviewed at Cannes Film Festival 2016)
Once I realized that Dog Eat Dog director Paul Schrader is none other than THE Paul Schrader who directed The Canyons starring Lindsay Lohan, everything about this film made sense.
I was drawn to the screening of Dog Eat Dog as it was chosen as the closing film for the Director’s Fortnight (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs), an independent section held in parallel with the main Cannes Film Festival. I basically saw ‘closing film’, ‘Willem Dafoe’, ‘Nicolas Cage’ and that was enough to draw me in without any other knowledge of what was to come… read more
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Don’t Think Twice
Directed by Mike Birbiglia
Starring Keegan-Michael Key, Gillian Jacobs, Mike Birbiglia, Kate Micucci, Chris Gethard and Tami Sagher
New York improv troupe The Commune have been together for over a decade, but now one of its members is about to find success away from the group. When Jack (Keegan-Michael Key) lands a coveted role on Saturday Night Live style sketch show Weekend Live, each of the gang begins to question their destiny and even desire for comedic success… read more
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Elle
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Starring Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte and Anne Consigny
I’m not sure what to make of Elle – On one hand it’s a fantastic drama starring the captivating Isabelle Huppert. On the other, it is an insane black comedy revenge thriller about rape, but with a feminist core. I don’t even know how the latter is possible, but director Paul Verhoeven has made quite the unique and impressive film with Elle… read more
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Frantz
Directed by François Ozon
Starring Pierre Niney, Paula Beer, Ernst Stötzner and Marie Gruber
François Ozon’s latest film is a departure for the prolific French director. Frantz is set in the aftermath of World War I, filmed predominantly in German and presented largely in black and white, using colour sparingly and purposefully. Anna is mourning the loss of her fiancé Frantz until one day she discovers a mysterious visitor who has been calling at his grave. This visitor turns out to be Adrien, a Frenchman who claims to have been a good friend of Frantz during the fallen soldier’s prewar stay in Paris. Adrien pays a visit to Frantz’s mourning parents, the Hoffmeisters, who have taken in Anna as their own daughter. He tells them of his days with Frantz, clearly spinning lies which bring them reprieve from their mourning… read more
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Free Fire
Directed by Ben Wheatley
Starring Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer, Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Jack Reynor, Babou Ceesay, Noah Taylor, Enzo Cilenti, Sam Riley and Michael Smiley
There’s not much to Ben Wheatley’s 90 minute shootout film Free Fire – what you see is what you get. And what you get is an exhilarating, visceral, hilarious throwaway movie that is brilliantly good fun… read more
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The Handmaiden
Directed by Park Chan-wook
Starring Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong, Kim Hae-sook and Moon So-ri
(reviewed at Cannes Film Festival 2016)
Part one of The Handmaiden may come as a surprise to those familiar with the work of director Park Chan-wook. The film which is set in 1930’s Korea during the period of Japanese occupation, begins as a tame tale of a young handmaiden (Sookee) who is hired to care for Japanese heiress Hideko who lives a secluded life in the countryside alongside her Uncle Kouzuki. Sookee is living a lie. The young handmaiden is really a thief who has been recruited by a con artist who needs her help to seduce the Lady and steal her fortune. Plans go awry as Sookee and Hideko begin a sensually erotic love affair… read more
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It’s Only the End of the World (Juste La Fin Du Monde)
Directed by Xavier Dolan
Starring Nathalie Baye, Vincent Cassel, Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux and Gaspard Ulliel
(reviewed at Cannes Film Festival 2016)
Xavier Dolan is a prodigy at age 27, with a more prolific directorial career than most seasoned filmmakers. His latest film Juste La Fin Du Monde sees the director team up with his most famous cast to date, leaving behind the Quebecois talent pool for a selection of what can undeniably be considered France’s most renowned actors. The well-known cast collectively play a highly dysfunctional family whose prodigal son Louis (Ulliel) returns home after an absence of twelve years. Louis plans on announcing his upcoming death to his family, but as the dysfunction unravels, so do his plans… read more
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King Cobra
Directed by Justin Kelly
Starring Garrett Clayton, Christian Slater, Alicia Silverstone, Molly Ringwald, Keegan Allen and James Franco
Justin Kelly’s first feature I Am Michael took a politically provocative subject matter and humanized the true story of Michael Glatze, the former gay rights activist turned heterosexual right-wing Christian. With Kelly’s second feature King Cobra, the subject matter is even more provocative as the film delves into the world of amateur gay porn, following the true story of porn star Brent Corrigan and the murder of his producer… read more
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Our interview with director Justin Kelly:
Director Justin Kelly discusses his films I Am Michael and King Cobra
Screenwriter and director Justin Kelly first garnered industry attention when his debut feature I Am Michael premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2015. His second film King Cobra continues the tradition set by I Am Michael, by being based on a true story. “I read about it online while researching my first film, I Am Michael,” Justin says about discovering the true events behind his latest film. “The more I read, the more fascinated I became by the stories, by the characters, and just thought it would make for a cool, wild movie.”… read more
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La La Land
Directed by Damien Chazelle
Starring Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend and JK Simmons
Garnering universal acclaim since its premiere at Venice Film Festival, La La Land is a festival darling and sure bet to make some waves at next year’s Oscars. While there are many aspects to La La Land which I admire, respect or am in awe of, there are just as many which I condemn and outright dislike. I am in the minority in my opinion as audiences and critics alike have been swept up in the nostalgia and spectacle of this glorified romcom in the guise of a musical… read more
Read our alternative review from Venice Film Festival
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Lion
Directed by Garth Davis
Starring Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, David Wenham, Nicole Kidman and Sunny Pawar
Lion is the true story of Saroo Brierley, the man who used Google Earth to find his lost childhood home in India.
As a young boy in rural India, Saroo and his older brother Guddu seek out odd jobs and mischievous work in order to support their mother and sister. One night, the brothers get separated and Saroo finds himself on an out-of-service train, unwittingly traveling halfway across the country. Living on the streets as a five-year-old child, Saroo avoids danger, eating what he finds, and sleeping rough. Eventually he’s taken in by an orphanage and adopted by a kind Australian couple… read more
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Ma’ Rosa
Directed by Brillante Ma Mendoza
Starring Jaclyn Jose and Julio Diaz
Ma’ Rosa was a sensation at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, winning best acting accolades for lead actress Jaclyn Jose as matriarch Rosa. Auteur Filipino director Brillante Ma Mendoza harshly depicts what it means to be poor in this realist drama, filmed in the style of a fly-on-the-wall documentary… read more
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Manchester by the Sea
Directed by Kenneth Lonergan
Starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler and Lucas Hedges
‘Real life doesn’t know what genre it’s in’ – that’s what I have jotted down at the end of our screening of Kenneth Lonergan’s homecoming drama. It’s not often you come across a movie that so fully embodies the pain of grief and loss, but also recognises how such events don’t occur in a bubble of tragedy: That, in spite of it – even because of it – there is great humour and joy to be found in Manchester by the Sea. The result is a film so real, so richly textured in staging and performance, that its tragedy becomes all the more powerful for it, as potent as a thing personally felt… read more
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Mascots
Directed by Christopher Guest
Starring Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Christopher Guest, Fred Willard, Ed Begley, Jr., Christopher Moynihan, Don Lake, Zach Woods, Chris O’Dowd, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, Michael Hitchcock, John Michael Higgins, Tom Bennett, Jim Piddock and Maria Blasucc
It’s been a decade since Christopher Guests’ last mockumentary film For Your Consideration hit the big screen. The man responsible for such classics as Waiting for Guffman, Best In Show, A Mighty Wind and This Is Spinal Tap is now back with his latest, Mascots, a Netflix production due for the small screen October 13th… read more
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Mindhorn
Directed by Sean Foley
Starring Julian Barratt, Andrea Riseborough, Essie Davis, Russell Tovey, Simon Farnaby, Richard McCabe, David Schofield, Nicholas Farrell, Jessica Barden, Robin Morrissey, Harriet Walter, Simon Callow and Steve Coogan
In festival season, when there’s so much to see and so little time, there can be a dozen different reasons to choose one film to watch over another: Sometimes it’s because you’ve always been a fan of the director. Sometimes it’s the ‘Oscar buzz’ that develops around a title. And just sometimes, it’s because you’re randomly leafing through a programme guide and you find a movie with the premise: “A fading actor can redeem himself by reprising his 80s TV role as a sleuth with a robotic truth-telling eye”… read more
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Moonlight
Directed by Barry Jenkins
Starring Mahershala Ali, Shariff Earp, Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, Trevante Rhodes, Janelle Monáe, Naomie Harris, Jaden Piner, Jharrel Jerome and André Holland
Poignant, beautiful and relevant, Moonlight avoids falling into the melodramatic trap that it so easily could.
Moonlight follows Chiron through three stages of his young life as he comes to terms with his sexual identity. In 1980’s Miami, Chiron (Alex Hibbert) is merely a child, different from the others at school. His junkie mother (Naomie Harris) bullies him at home so he turns to his pseudo mentor, local drug kingpin Juan (Mahershala Ali) for the guidance and emotional support he can’t find at home or at school. Juan along with his girlfriend Teresa (Janelle Monae) take in Chiron as though he’s one of the family – often sitting around the dinner table, having conversations more emotionally open than the very quiet Chiron can have elsewhere… read more
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Neruda
Directed by Pablo Larraín
Starring Luis Gnecco, Gael García Bernal and Mercedes Morán
Blending fiction and truth, Neruda is not a biopic of Nobel Prize-winning poet and diplomat Pablo Neruda, but rather a surrealist expression examining the role of a writer. The main message being, it matters what an artist inspires, not who he is. In director Pablo Larraín’s film, Pablo Neruda is portrayed as a vain, champagne-guzzling, snobbish communist/poet. But what he inspires in society and the characters in this film is grand… read more
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Nocturnal Animals
Directed by Tom Ford
Starring Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Karl Glusman, Armie Hammer, Laura Linney, Andrea Riseborough and Michael Sheen
(reviewed at Venice Film Festival 2016)
Visually stunning cinematography, witty and gripping script, fast-paced narrative – it’s hard to know where to begin with fashion designer turned director / screenwriter Tom Ford’s latest offering… read more
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Paterson
Directed by Jim Jarmusch
Starring Adam Driver and Golshifteh Farahani
(reviewed at Cannes Film Festival 2016)
A dry yet slightly surreal character study of a bus driver with an inclination towards reading and writing poetry, Paterson is a minimalist observation of the everyday life of an everyday man. Adam Driver plays Paterson, a bus driver in the city of Paterson New Jersey. Paterson’s love of poetry is the grand metaphor of this film as his own observations provide inspiration for his poetry while his own life is filled with workaday prose. The abstract meets the ordinary in the life of this bus driver, as the audience is the observer of a week in the life of Paterson… read more
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Phantom Boy
Directed by Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol
Starring Jared Padalecki, Vincent D’Onofrio and Fred Armisen
With a simplistic animation style, Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol fail to bring depth and excitement to their second feature film collaboration Phantom Boy.
A follow up to their 2010 Oscar-nominated A Cat in Paris, Phantom Boy is the story of Leo – an 11-year-old boy whose serious illness allows him the power to leave his body. After meeting police officer Alex in hospital, the two team up to stop a skew-faced super villain from destroying New York… read more
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Planetarium
Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski
Starring Natalie Portman, Lily-Rose Depp, Emmanuel Salinger andLouis Garrel
(reviewed at Venice Film Festival 2016)
Pretty and pleasing, Rebecca Zlotowski’s supernatural period piece Planetarium is a stunning spectacle for the senses.
One thing to say about Zlotowski’s film is that it’s pretty, oh so very pretty. It takes two stunning actresses – Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp – throws them in 1930’s France, costumes them beautifully, splits the dialogue between French and English, shoots them in soft lighting – you’ve got something very gorgeous to watch… no matter what the content. Which is perhaps where I was led astray with the supernatural thriller which, much like my taste in men, is very nice to look at but lacks substance… read more
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A Quiet Passion
Directed by Terence Davies
Starring Cynthia Nixon and Jennifer Ehle
(From Berlinale 2016)
Director Terence Davies was joined by his leading ladies Cynthia Nixon and Jennifer Ehle to promote A Quiet Passion at the 66th Berlinale film festival. The cast and director were on hand to discuss the story of Emily Dickinson and her sister Lavinia… read more
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The Red Turtle
Directed by Michael Dudok de Wit
“This screening has proved unexpectedly popular,” says the woman working at BFI Southbank, as I squeeze into a seat at the small, packed venue. It can only mean one thing: the name ‘Studio Ghibli’ still carries its usual weight, the Japanese studio a high profile co-producer of this French/Belgian animation, director Michael Dudok de Wit’s first feature length picture. And with the name comes certain expectations of style and content, but be in no doubt: this is de Wit’s film, sparse, beguiling and so very ‘European’… read more
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Rock Dog
Directed by Ash Brannon
Starring Luke Wilson, J.K. Simmons and Eddie Izzard
Our interview with director Ash Brannon:
Ash Brannon is a writer, animator and director who has worked on classic films including Pixar’s Toy Story and Toy Story 2, Dreamworks’ Over the Hedge, and the Oscar-nominated penguin film Surf’s Up. His latest film Rock Dog is a Chinese-American collaboration based on the graphic novel Tibetan Rock Dog by Zheng Jun. Featuring the voices of Luke Wilson, J.K. Simmons and Eddie Izzard, the film begins deep in the Himalayas as Bodi is being trained to become a warrior dog. Bodi’s heart truly lies in music, and he travels to the city in hopes of meeting his feline pop idol Angus Scattergood, played by Izzard… read more
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Our interview with Eddie Izzard:
Eddie Izzard discusses gender issues, politics and his new film Rock Dog
I met with stand-up comedian, actor and soon-to-be politician Eddie Izzard on a yacht parked outside of the Palais des Festivals at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Along with director Ash Brannon, Izzard was doing roundtable interviews for their new animated film Rock Dog, a Chinese-American collaboration based on the graphic novel Tibetan Rock Dog by Zheng Jun. In the film, Izzard voices the character of Angus Scattergood, a British rock legend of a cat who’s suffering from writer’s block… read more
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Toni Erdmann
Directed by Maren Ade
Starring Sandra Hüller and Peter Simonischek
It’s a measure of the sheer quality of Toni Erdmann that it can be a 162 minute long film, and not drag; be a 162 minute long comedy, and not only remain funny throughout, but in fact become more crazed and inventive as it goes along. A huge part of this success is due to the incredible central performances by Sandra Hüller and Peter Simonischek, confirming – as if it needed to be – that if your characters are drawn well enough you can watch them, enraptured, doing not much at all for quite a long time… read more
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Two Lovers and a Bear
Directed by Kim Nguyen
Starring Dane DeHaan and Tatiana Maslany
(reviewed at Cannes Film Festival 2016)
Two Lovers and a Bear is not your typical love story, obviously. Set in the Canadian Arctic, the film tells the story of Roman (DeHaan) and Lucy (Maslany), two lovers who find a connection in spite of, or perhaps because of, the issues each has with their father. Their love is a youthful naive one as they believe that love can conquer all – even their demons. What begins as the juvenile love story of Roman and Lucy strays into something much more interesting as the film dips its toe into a variety of genres, boldly taking influence directly from such films as The Thing and 127 Hours… read more
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Our interview with Dane DeHaan:
“I don’t think it’s really up to me to tell people what the bear is…”
Dane DeHaan has garnered quite a fan following, becoming one of the film industry’s most sought after actors of his generation. From his critically acclaimed performance as Lucien Carr in Kill Your Darlings to his turn as Green Goblin Harry Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, DeHaan has demonstrated a penchant and aptitude for taking on diverse roles. His latest is featured in director Kim Nguyen’s Two Lovers and a Bear, a darkly complex love story set in a small North Pole town… read more
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The Worthy
Directed by Ali F. Mostafa
Starring Mahmoud Atrash, Samer Almasri and Maisa Abd Elhadi
Set in a dystopian future, Ali F. Mostafa’s latest feature The Worthy sees an interesting departure from his earlier work. This post-apocalyptic thriller focuses on a mismatched group of survivors led by Shauib (Samer Al Masry). After the world’s water supplies were poisoned, they took refuge in an abandoned aeroplane hangar. Here they formed their own community protected by fences and with an uncontaminated water source… read more
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The Young Offenders
Directed by Peter Foott
Starring Alex Murphy, Chris Walley and Hilary Rose
Peter Foott’s debut feature is a welcome addition to the Irish film landscape. Set in Cork in 2007, The Young Offenders was shot on an impressively small budget and yet more than stands its ground against bigger budget films like The Stag (2013). Bringing together the comic genius of Chris Walley and Alex Murphy as Jock and Conor, The Young Offenders offers everything from farce to tragedy with a script that packs a punch and keeps the laughs coming… read more
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Your Name (Kimi no Na wa)
Directed by Makoto Shinkai
Starring Ryunosuke Kamiki and Mone Kamishiraishi
The works of Makoto Shinkai have always dealt with the ‘distance’ between people; that yearning, that sense of beautiful melancholy that is so very Japanese. Be it the physical distances of time and space in his debut Voices of a Distant Star, or the gulf of age and status in The Garden of Words, a common thread joins his films, one that he revisits once again in his latest… read more
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