BFI Fellowship Award Recipient: Cate Blanchett
by Joanna Orland
The BFI London Film Festival has come to a close for another year. The 59th edition had quite an impressive selection of 240 films in its lineup including opening gala Suffragette, closing gala Steve Jobs and other memorable movies such as The Lobster, Youth, Room, Beasts of No Nation, Son of Saul, Black Mass, Brooklyn, High-Rise, Truth, The Lady in the Van, Trumbo and Carol but to name a few. I attempted to narrow it down to my top five picks:
1. The Lobster – Not just my favourite film of the festival, but my favourite of the year. This film strongly appeals to the cynic in me.
2. Room – I nearly cried about five times in this harrowing drama about a relationship between mother and son who are held captive in a room. Jacob Tremblay is a remarkable young actor!
3. Son of Saul – Clearly the best film of the year, but such a harrowing watch that I can’t put it in the top place. It is by far the most profound, immersive holocaust film ever made.
4. Youth – My immediate reaction to this film was – GIVE IT ALL THE PRIZES! But having calmed down a bit, I see its flaws…. many many flaws… but I choose not to care. Classic Sorrentino directorial style and a moving performance from Michael Caine, this film riled my emotions, fully engaged me, and was a clear standout of all the drabness of the other festival films when I saw it in Cannes. I absolutely loved it.
5. High-Rise – A dark examination of social breakdown, set to the backdrop of a dystopian 1970’s high-rise. As a work, it possibly surpasses the J.G. Ballard novel it’s based on.
It was a tough list to narrow down, so a special mention has to go to the film festival’s closing gala Steve Jobs which I may regret not putting in my top 5 once I’ve had some time to digest it.
It wasn’t just screenings that kept me busy at this year’s LFF. Red carpets, screen talks, and other industry events were thriving at this year’s festival. It’s all a bit of a blur on day twelve, but here we’ve captured all of our 59th BFI London Film Festival coverage, divided by the same categories that the festival classifies its film into:
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View all of our videos from the 59th BFI London Film Festival.
View our 59th BFI London Film Festival photo gallery.
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OFFICIAL COMPETITION
Beasts of No Nation
Directed by Cary Fukunaga
Starring Idris Elba and Abraham Attah
by Joanna Orland
Beasts of No Nation is a disturbing depiction of the plight of child soldiers in Africa, told from the perspective of a young boy named Agu. The film is the first of Netflix’s original movies to stream on the site, and with its success in the festival circuit, it is immediately establishing Netflix as a contender in the film awards race.
Director Cary Fukunaga’s background in the bleak most recently comes from his work on season one of True Detective. The slow-paced drama and focus on characters translates to his latest work Beasts of No Nation as the slow film remains steady as a harrowing portrait of life as a child soldier for Agu, alongside the charismatic and terrifying Commandant played by Idris Elba. Elba’s performance is reminiscent of Forest Whitaker’s Oscar-winning turn as Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, although without any of the occasional dark humour and charm that Whitaker brought to his role.
Abraham Attah as the young Agu is quite the find, immediately establishing himself as a fine young talent. Agu’s plight is heartbreaking and chilling as he’s forced into life as a child soldier after losing his family in civil war. The film is told through his eyes as his narration threads the story together, revealing his inner thoughts after each pivotal moment. The harshest of moments is his first kill, when Elba’s commander forces him to fully leave his childhood behind him.
The story is not just about these two characters or the horrors of war, it is primarily about the loss of innocence, particularly childhood innocence in war zones and impoverished areas. The children are not only turned into brutalized killing machines, they are also given heroin to keep them fighting. They become more vacant animals than they do adults as their childhoods are stripped from them, while Agu is all too aware that his childhood is lost forever, and will not return even if the war is to come to an end.
The slow pace, droning score, sedate feel and harrowing content make Beasts of No Nation a very heavy film to watch. I personally didn’t fully engage with it, but I fully appreciate its story and performances.
3 stars
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Desierto
Directed by Jonás Cuarón
Starring Gael García Bernal and Jeffrey Dean Morgan
by Joanna Orland
Jonás Cuarón demonstrates that he has inherited some of his father’s skill for building tension and depicting beautiful visuals, but Desierto lacks the story and substance to make this a truly spectacular film.
As a group of migrant workers cross the U.S.-Mexican border, they are picked off one by one in a brutal fashion by a misguided patriotic racist American man (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) who decides to take patrolling the border into his own hands. Gael García Bernal is the last man standing as he fights for survival in this tense thriller set in a beautiful desert landscape.
The desert itself is the main star of this film. The young Cuarón has an eye for detail and framing, and has worked with a talented cinematographer to capture the beauty and desolation of the desert. Nearly every shot of the landscape could be turned into a poster, and in fact, when the title “Desierto” comes on screen behind the desert scenery, I imagined this shot to be perfect for the poster of this film. The landscape doesn’t merely serve as a pretty backdrop, but the harsh realities of the desert are also a huge obstacle for Moises (Bernal) and his companions as they flee for their lives from a sniper. The sniper not only knows the terrain better than the migrant workers, but he also has a vicious dog with him who is able to dash across the treacherous land quicker than any human. The threat keeps mounting against Moises as he fights for his life in an attempt to escape and survive to reunite with his family in America.
While the thrill and the landscape are well developed, the film lacks substance. While a timely piece on the dehumanization of Mexican migrants (thanks Donald Trump), Desierto is no more than a straightforward predator vs prey chase thriller. The stakes are high because everyone in the audience is familiar with Gael García Bernal as a protagonist, and would never root for his demise in any film, least of all in a film where people are being so brutally dehumanized.
Beyond the thrill of the chase, Desierto is nearly as barren as the desert itself.
2 stars
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Room
Directed by Lenny Abrahamson
Starring Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay
by Ruth Thomson
The room in question is small, cramped, dirty, lit only by a skylight, and aesthetically unpleasant in every imaginable way. It’s home to five year old Jack (Jacob Tremblay) and his mother Joy (Brie Larson), or ‘Ma’ as she’s commonly known throughout the film. Both are pale, malnourished, and blue lipped when the heating’s turned off, and yet they seem to have a way of life with some hallmarks of normality. Apart from when ‘Old Nick’ (Sean Bridgers) turns up, seemingly the only outsider to enter their universe – at which point Jack hides in the wardrobe with only the noises of Nick and Ma’s union for company. For the opening portion of the film we’re none the wiser as to why Jack and Ma live in such an unpleasant environment. Believe me, when the penny drops, it’s not good…
Directed by Lenny Abrahamson, Room is an adaptation of the award-winning 2010 novel by Irish-Canadian author Emma Donoghue who also wrote the screenplay. Donoghue wrote the original novel after hearing about the five year old child called Felix at the centre of the Josef Fritzl case: which will cast some light on the aforementioned penny. Although not entirely told in the voice of Jack (as is the case with the novel), the five year old’s perspective permeates the film, and his incredulity when Ma tells him that there is life (complete with dogs, trees and people) outside of Room, is heart-breaking.
The film is very much in two halves, and the scene that marks their distinction had my heart pounding so hard it almost smashed through my chest. As Jack makes it into the outside world for the first time, the suspense and jeopardy of his situation is flooded with an incredible optimistic feeling of rebirth, as he sees for the first time the enormity of the blue sky above him. The energy shifts very slightly in the second half of the film as other characters come into the mix: dependably well played by Joan Allen, William H Macy and Tom McCamus. There are occasional moments which feel like they’re teetering on the edge of sentimentality and social comment, like the interview Joy/Ma endures at the hands of insensitive Oprah-esque talk show host Wendy Crewson.
Overall, Room packs a massive emotional punch which leaves you reflecting on the brutality of such situations at the same time as the incredible innocence and optimism of childhood. As Abrahamson says, at the heart of the film is a happy child with a loving mother (terrifically played by Tremblay and Larson), and that bond can overcome even the most horrific circumstances.
5 stars
Room: Brie Larson
Our interviews with Brie Larson and director Lenny Abrahamson.
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Son of Saul
Directed by László Nemes
Starring Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár and Urs Rechn
by Joanna Orland
Son of Saul is by far the most profound, immersive Holocaust film ever made. It is completely unbelievable that this is director László Nemes’ first feature film. It is a true masterpiece.
The film is a harrowing watch, and what makes it so is not the story, but the immersion. While most Holocaust films use the war as a backdrop for their story, Son of Saul makes the Holocaust the story – not by bringing it to the audience on screen, but by putting the audience in the middle of the experience. I’d always thought it impossible to gain a true sense of the atrocities of what happened in concentration camps, the closest I’ve come to it was when I visited Auschwitz to see for myself the ghosts of the past. By no means am I saying that any film could even come close to demonstrating the horrors of what happened, but Son of Saul comes as close as cinematically possible to depicting a sense of what life must have been like for Jews and other prisoners of World War II.
The story is rather ‘simple’ – Saul has found the body of his son and rather than lose him among the ashes of burnt bodies, he wants to give him a proper Jewish burial. This is Saul’s mission, and we follow him on this journey as he tries to find a Rabbi to help him. The true story of this film is not about Saul, it is about his surroundings and the heinousness of what is going on around him. This film is a portrait of life in a concentration camp and the visuals and sound masterfully paint this picture.
The camerawork in Son of Saul is genius. The camera closely follows Saul in the foreground while the horrors around him are all out of focus, strongly implied rather than seen. We see what Saul sees, what he is focusing on. This not only immediately creates empathy for Saul, but it is also a stunning metaphor for the need to tune out the atrociousness that surrounds a prisoner. Sound is also used in a rather alluding way with dialogue, screams, whispers all in various untranslated languages in surround sound, entrapping the audience in this terrifying world.
Son of Saul won the Grand Prix at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. After having seen it for myself, I am united with the other flabbergasted journalists who can’t believe it didn’t win the top prize of the Palme d’Or. There is no better film at the moment, no more powerful war film, no better a reminder that humanity can be cruel, but the human spirit must prevail.
5 stars
Son of Saul: László Nemes
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GALAS
Black Mass
Directed by Scott Cooper
Starring Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rory Cochrane and Jesse Plemons
by Ruth Thomson
Black Mass is another gritty tale of Boston crime lords, gang warfare, and corrupt cops: but what makes it pack such a convincing punch is the fact that the incredible story of James ‘Whitey’ Bulger of the White Hill Gang (charged with racketeering, 19 counts of murder, extortion, narcotics distribution, money laundering, and shoplifting) and his brother Billy (esteemed politician and longest running President of the Massachusetts Senate) is true. That and Johnny Depp’s eyeliner and creepy coloured contact lens combo. Depp as Whitey conveys rare moments of tenderness to his mother, brother and young son, but largely is a swaggering psychotic, ready to snap murderously at any moment – director Scott Cooper (hats off, it’s only his third film) describes him as a cobra, and you can certainly see the similarities as he slithers threateningly around the wife of (increasingly corrupt) FBI agent John Connolly.
Whilst Depp’s is a hearty leading man performance (take note Ben Foster of The Program) the real stand out is Joel Edgerton as Connolly – the childhood friend of the Bulger brothers who initially offers Whitey protection in exchange for information about the rival Italian mafia at work in the city. As his involvement with Whitey increases, the noose around his own neck tightens. The real Connolly is currently serving 40 years for second degree murder. Edgerton’s performance is strangely heart-breaking as he progresses from idealistic youth to ultimately being part of the White Hill Gang, totally unable to overcome the loyalty and need for approval that has hung over him since childhood. Benedict Cumberbatch as Depp/Whitey’s brother Billy (yes really!) does a respectable job with his Boston accent, but the relationship at the heart of the film is entirely Whitey and John’s.
The film was shot almost entirely in all of the original locations of the true crimes – two of the henchmen portrayed in the film were on the set (having received shorter sentences, despite all those murders, for testifying against the main man) and a heavy sense of authenticity hangs over everything as a result. Locals who remember, and in some cases revere, the real Whitey were apparently stunned by the accuracy of Depp’s performance – quite something given that eye make-up which must have raised a few eyebrows on the mean streets of Boston. Terrific performances all round: just prepare yourselves for some extensive googling when you get home to discover what happened to the real Whitey…
4 stars
Black Mass: Johnny Depp
Black Mass: Johnny Depp & Benedict Cumberbatch
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Brooklyn
Directed by John Crowley
Written by Nick Hornby
Starring Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters
Brooklyn is a visually stunning film and touching story about a young Irish girl named Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) as she makes herself a new home away from Ireland. Saoirse Ronan is captivating as Eilis, as she transforms from a meek homesick girl from small-town Ireland into a strong woman confident in her decisions. The story is about the difficulty in choosing a path in life, and watching Eilis’ torment at the prospect is empathetically infatuating.
There are no opportunities left in Eilis’ small Irish town as the post-war economy is harsh and the suitors not coming out of the woodwork. Encouraged by her older sister Rose to find opportunity elsewhere, Eilis emigrates to Brooklyn, New York where she at first struggles to find her place. She struggles in her job working at a department store as her homesickness prevents her from mustering the positive attitude to get through routine conversations with customers. Her home life is more encouraging as she has a room in a house of other single Irish girls who are new to America, with matriarch landlady Mrs. Kehoe played hilariously by Julie Walters.
Eilis’ priest Father Flood (Jim Broadbent) enrolls her into a bookkeeping night course and things begin to take a turn for the better. Eilis not only begins to fill her nights with knowledge and job prospects, but she meets Italian suitor Tony (Emory Cohen) and falls in love. As things are looking prosperous for Eilis, tragedy brings her back to Ireland where she finds both job prospect and an ideal suitor in Jim (Domhnall Gleeson). Eilis must now choose where her heart belongs and where her home is.
As an immigrant myself (to the UK from Canada), I strongly empathize with Eilis’ dilemma. While I’ve not had a transatlantic love triangle to deal with, I’ve often deliberated where my true home is – London or Toronto. In this day and age it’s much easier to be transient in one’s residency thanks to the ease of air travel and Skype. But for Eilis in a post-war world, there is more permanence in her decision as a journey between Brooklyn and Ireland lasts at least two weeks by boat, and leaving her family behind in Ireland means leaving them behind without communication. I struggled enough in my decision to stay in London for the past 12 years, but without visiting Toronto twice a year and having phone and FaceTime to allow me to reach out when need be, my decision would have been much harder, and perhaps with a different outcome. This film is not for the homesick.
The fact that Saoirse Ronan is so engaging as Eilis makes this film even more empathetic to the viewer. There is a lot going on in her eyes alone, and she is a fascinating actress. The look of her as Eilis in these colourful 1950’s outfits is just beautiful, and the cinematography and set dressing equally so. This film is visually stunning as colours and shapes dance off the screen. I never so much wanted to live inside a movie’s world (except Back to the Future of course).
While Eilis is making all of the hard decisions, the audience’s is easy – go and see the elegant and captivating Brooklyn.
4 stars
Brooklyn: Emory Cohen & Saoirse Ronan
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Carol
Directed by Todd Haynes
Starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara
by Joanna Orland (reviewed at 68th Cannes Film Festival)
Todd Haynes beautifully directs this adaptation of author Patricia Highsmith’s 1950’s lesbian love story.
The visuals are stunning, with Carol clearly being an excellent companion piece to Haynes’ other works Far From Heaven and Mildred Pierce. The visuals alone provide enough of an impact to make Carol worth watching, but performances from Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are also garnering much buzz from the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
The physical performances of Blanchett and Mara are indeed mesmerizing. These women can act with merely their facial expressions, and do so for a lot of Carol. Mara is reminiscent of a young Audrey Hepburn while Blanchett emits an air of sophistication, an obvious draw for Mara’s character Therese who falls for the older married woman. While there are many visually engaging aspects of Carol, that is where the interest ends.
In spite of delivering good physical performances, there is something in the dialogue delivery of both Mara and Blanchett that feels stunted. The implied intense relationship between the two women almost isn’t believable as conversations are so imperfect and forced. The musical score adds to the dissonant feeling of this film as through its repetitiveness, I was lulled into a bit of a doze, while at the same time really wanting to stay engaged with the visuals. For such a highly stylized film, it seems that all of the effort has gone into the visuals at the expense of other, just as important aspects of storytelling.
Fans of Tom Ford’s A Single Man or another of Haynes’ films Far From Heaven should find Carol a light masterpiece. For me, these films boast their infallible style over substance, but even so, they result in something very pretty to look at.
3 stars
Carol: Rooney Mara
Our interviews with Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, writer Phyllis Nagy and producer Christine Vachon.
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Steve Jobs
Directed by Danny Boyle
Written by Aaron Sorkin
Starring Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels, Michael Stuhlbarg and Katherine Waterston
by Joanna Orland
What Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin have created with the Steve Jobs biopic can only be described as a Jobs well done. The film was initially tainted by a long and complicated development process, with director David Fincher (The Social Network) first attached to direct, and Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio among the stars rumoured to be vying for the title role. Eventually Sorkin’s script fell into the hands of Danny Boyle, with Michael Fassbender cast to give an outstanding performance as the man himself, Steve Jobs.
The script and the performances drive this film and make it the thrilling powerhouse drama that it is. Danny Boyle’s directing is solid and theatrical, but a slight mismatch to Sorkin’s writing style. I reckon I would have preferred this film with Fincher at the helm as his tone and style suit Sorkin’s more seamlessly. Even so, Boyle holds his own, his strongest idea being the filming style of the three acts of this film. The first act takes place in 1984 as Jobs prepares to unveil the Mac. This segment is shot on 16mm film to give a grainier, older look to the picture. The second act is set in 1988 as Jobs split from Apple to launch NeXT. This act is filmed on 35mm to represent Jobs’ progression. The final act is filmed in digital to represent how Jobs is about to revolutionize the technology industry in 1998 with the iMac.
What makes this biopic unique to others is that it is admittedly fiction. The characters and key events are true to life, but the dialogue and setups are fiction and exist merely to create a portrait of Steve Jobs, rather than to recount his life. By dividing the film into three acts and revisiting Jobs’ key relationships years apart, this dialogue-heavy film feels more like a theatrical production than a cinematic one. Sorkin gives a knowing nod to this fictionalized setup, as Jobs notes the uncanny similarities of his colleagues’ behaviour every time he’s about to give an important presentation.
The script is excellent. While touching upon some Apple geekery that perhaps only Apple fanboys and girls will appreciate, the film stretches beyond that to fully develop a depiction of Steve Jobs the man. The film is nearly wall to wall dialogue, and for the better as this script is very clever. And fascinating. And in the hands of these fantastic actors, it is brought to life in a compelling fashion.
Michael Fassbender has the charisma and power to fully embody the role of Steve Jobs. He captures the essence of the man, the genius and the megalomania perfectly, and I would be surprised if he wasn’t recognized for this achievement come awards season. Fassbender isn’t the only one to electrify Sorkin’s words, but the entire cast give outstanding performances. Kate Winslet as Joanna Hoffman is perfection as she holds her own as the only person able to stand up to Steve Jobs. Katherine Waterston is endearing as mother of Jobs’ child Lisa. Michael Stuhlbarg is hilariously charming as one of the two Andys, Hertzfeld. Jeff Daniels, who is an old hand at Aaron Sorkin acting, is wonderful as John Sculley. Seth Rogen is surprisingly the perfect casting choice as Steve Wozniak, with my main complaint being that there is not at all enough of the Woz in this film! Seth is clearly trying to show up his buddy Jonah Hill in the comedic actor turned dramatic department.
In spite of this odd pairing of Boyle and Sorkin, the script and performances thrive to paint a picture of one of the most important figures of our time.
4 stars
Steve Jobs: Michael Fassbender
Our Steve Jobs press conference coverage featuring audio, video and photo gallery.
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Suffragette
Directed by Sarah Gavron
Written by Abi Morgan
Starring Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne-Marie Duff, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw and Meryl Streep
Suffragette is a hugely important and relevant story, but bleak and hollow in its execution.
A movie made by women to highlight the struggles of inequality that women have gone through to get the vote in the UK, and continue to go through in modern society, Suffragette should have focused on the star players of this movement such as Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) or Emily Davison (Natalie Press). Instead, the film focuses on Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan) in what feels like a manufactured role whose purpose is to work as Oscar bait come awards season. While Maud is the focus, larger characters in the movement such as Davison and Pankhurst are reduced to a bit part and cameo appearance respectively. It’s hard to get on Maud’s side as Mulligan is a very meek actress, and while I feel empathy for the movement of the Suffragettes, I never feel the same way for the plight of Maud.
With bleak cinematography to accompany the contrived plotline, this film never fulfills its potential to tell the amazing story of how a group of strong women fought for us all, to allow women to lead the free lives they do today. In spite of not being a greatly realized film, what Suffragette should be proud of is helping to reignite a movement that is still relevant today. For example, the BFI London Film Festival gala screening of the film sparked a protest from Sisters Uncut, a feminist group who stand against domestic violence.
The spirit of the Suffragette movement is alive through this film’s existence, but it’s a true shame that we don’t have a better depiction of this important story and era.
3 stars
Suffragette: Carey Mulligan
Our interviews and coverage from the Suffragette Opening Gala at the 59th BFI London Film Festival.
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Trumbo
Directed by Jay Roach
Starring Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K., Elle Fanning and John Goodman
Trumbo is a biographical drama about the life of Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. Starring Bryan Cranston, John Goodman and Helen Mirren, the film was screened at the 59th BFI London Film Festival where we interviewed Bryan Cranston about playing the real-life Dalton Trumbo.
Trumbo: Bryan Cranston
Our interview with Bryan Cranston.
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High-Rise
Directed by Ben Wheatley
Starring Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, Elisabeth Moss and James Purefoy
by Joanna Orland
Taking on an adaptation of a J.G. Ballard novel is no easy feat. Known primarily for his dystopian portrayal of society, Ballard’s High-Rise is one of his more extreme takes on class division and societal breakdown.
Set in a dystopian 1970’s, residents of this particular high-rise living complex know their place. The floors represent the classes, the higher you live, the higher your social standing. High-Rise is a stylistic take on anarchy as the film explores how people in their places descend into brutalism in order to achieve their goals of social balance.
The high-rise is filled with many residents of different ilks, each a strong character in their own right, with performances immaculately honed. While Tom Hiddleston is perfectly cast as Dr. Robert Laing, the standout performance of High-Rise is Luke Evans as his neighbour Richard Wilder. Evans is merciless as the rabid resident documentary filmmaker who is out for social justice. In spite of playing a man who acts in a most savage way, Evans brings empathy to his performance, somehow getting Dr. Laing and even the audience on side. Wilder is pivotal in the events of the high-rise breakdown and Evans’ performance makes this film as beautiful and barbarous as it is.
The aesthetic of High-Rise fits perfectly with the concept, achieving a vivid 1970’s feel with strong dystopian undertones and a hint of modernity which alludes to the fact that this story is still relevant in today’s unbalanced society. The dark cinematography and visuals are heightened by the film’s score and soundtrack which innovatively uses Abba’s SOS through some interesting renditions.
As much as I am singing this film’s praises, it is not without its flaws. The film begins in the aftermath of the social breakdown as Dr. Robert Laing roams the destroyed corpse-filled building, tucking into a hearty meal of BBQed dog. The film then flashes back to three months previous as Laing moves into the high-rise and meets the residents. The descent into chaos begins to unfold nicely, but the key moments are portrayed in montage form, making pivotal points of this breakdown a non-event.
The other flaw of this film, which I personally do not regard as such, is its absolute alienation of a mainstream audience. A surefire cult hit, High-Rise will likely divide critics and repulse the mainstream. Ben Wheatley stays true to his directorial voice, expressing dark humour in situations that are primarily heinous. But, all is done with stylistic perfection and socio-political overtones that make this film feel more relevant than most cinema today.
4 stars
High-Rise: Ben Wheatley
Our interviews with director Ben Wheatley and stars Stacy Martin and Enzo Cilenti.
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The Lady in the Van
Directed by Nicholas Hytner
Written by Alan Bennett
Starring Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings, Jim Broadbent, Frances De La Tour, Roger Allam, Dominic Cooper and James Corden
Award-winning collaborators Nicholas Hytner and Alan Bennett (The Madness of King George, The History Boys), bring their latest fare The Lady in the Van to the 59th BFI London Film Festival. Our interviews from The Lady in the Van gala:
The Lady in the Van: Alan Bennett
Our interviews with Alan Bennett, Alex Jennings and the producers of The Lady in the Van.
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The Lobster
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Jessica Barden, Olivia Colman, Ashley Jensen, Ariane Labed, Angeliki Papoulia, John C. Reilly, Léa Seydoux and Ben Whishaw
by Joanna Orland (reviewed at 68th Cannes Film Festival)
The Lobster is a most cynical commentary on both romance and single life in modern society. No film can make you feel as brilliantly awful as this film does.
The premise is a strange one – single people are imprisoned in a hotel and are obliged to find a mate in 45 days. If they fail to do so, they are transformed into an animal and released into the wild. You only have four choices in the world of The Lobster – become an animal, become part of a couple, commit suicide, or run away into the woods to live with The Loners who are a feral society that forbids love. While this may sound slightly confusing and unbelievable, director Yorgos Lanthimos has built the world of The Lobster meticulously and interestingly that it is at once easy to embrace such an odd premise filled with just as odd characters, including Colin Farrell as the desperate David.
David, who weighs about 40lbs more than Colin Farrell, has recently become single. He checks into the hotel which is run by Hotel Manager, played brilliantly deadpan by Olivia Colman. He has mere days to find his partner, otherwise he must endure his fate which is to become an animal of his choosing – a lobster. His brother, now a dog, is his companion. He befriends Limping Man played earnestly by Ben Whishaw, and Lisping Man played empathetically by John C. Reilly. The female partners available to these men include Biscuit Woman (Ashley Jensen), Nosebleed Woman (Jessica Barden) and Heartless Woman (Angeliki Papoulia). Clearly a fine selection.
As much as the characters are not named but rather described, everything in The Lobster is literal and simplified. This is not due to a simple concept by director Lanthimos, but rather due to the director’s cynical outlook on humanity’s simple desires and strong desperation. Through the cynicism, the film is filled with humour of the darkest sort. Humour comes through the absurdity of the world built by Lanthimos as well as through the ease of which his characters unquestionably accept it. The disregard society has for a singleton’s life is comedically emphasized through dramatizations and the absurd pressures of finding a mate before resigning to a lower form of life as an animal. The film then flips this concept on its head by treating the idea of couplehood in an equally cynical and darkly humourous way.
Inevitably, David makes his way into the woods to encounter The Loners, which is foreshadowed early on in his stay at the hotel. At this point in the film, the focus now turns to the concept of couplehood, with bold sweeping commentary made on how desperate people are for love in modern society – willing to swiftly accept the superficial as substantial. The Loners are a very strict group with an even stricter leader played by Léa Seydoux. Loner Leader enforces the strict no love policy with a ban on flirtation, and even simple tasks of helping each other in daily life. To be a Loner, you must dig your own grave, as no one will do it for you.
The Lobster is currently my favourite of the In Competition strand at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. It is clever, cynical, humourous, brash and bold on so many levels – it will make you feel horrible for being single, and even worse for ever having fallen in love. Making me feel awful never felt so good.
5 stars
The Lobster: Colin Farrell (David)
Our interviews with Colin Farrell (David), Ariane Labed (The Maid), Jessica Barden (Nosebleed Woman), Michael Smiley (Loner Swimmer), Rachel Weisz (Short Sighted Woman) and Yorgos Lanthimos (the actual director of The Lobster).
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The Assassin (Nie Yinniang)
Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien
Starring Shu Qi, Chang Chen, Zhou Yun and Tsumabuki Satoshi
by Joanna Orland (reviewed at 68th Cannes Film Festival)
While I can certainly appreciate The Assassin‘s elegance, I sadly cannot enjoy it. The film excels in its beauty and grace, but completely neglects to engage its audience in this slow-burning but beautiful work by Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien.
The Assasin‘s visuals and tranquil soundscape are certainly a work of art, each shot masterfully composed and delicately filmed to both mesmerize and hypnotize. The cinematic portrayal of nature is stunning and almost belongs on canvas rather than on screen. The soundscape too is so serene and calming that while artfully enjoyable, it can also begin to dull the senses with its monotony. The martial arts scenes are beautifully choreographed in a similar vain to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon style of fighting, but Hsiao-hsien’s interpretation would likely find itself having more in common with a ballet rather than another film. These graceful scenes are the highlight in this very slow film, but are far too infrequent to make the film enjoyable as a whole.
Set in 9th century China, The Assassin focuses on Nie Yinniang who is taken into a nun’s custody and trained into an assassin, tasked with eliminating corrupt local rulers. After having one day failed at her task due to compassion, she is sent back to her birthland with orders to kill the man to whom she was once promised – a man who now leads the largest military region in North China. She struggles with the dilemma of killing this man that she once loved, or breaking forever with her sacred way of the assassins. Much of this plot unfolds in silence, making this film more ambient than plot-driven. Dialogue unfolds too realistically, often repeated and very factual, as characters inform each other of the threat of Nie Yinniang and the reason behind it. This dialogue and story are the weakest aspects of The Assassin.
The film may find its audience in those who are extremely patient and who enjoy watching an ambient mood piece that is masterfully filmed. For those looking for a martial arts drama, best to look elsewhere.
2 stars
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SURPRISE FILM
Anomalisa
Directed by Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson
Starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, David Thewlis, Tom Noonan
by Katharine Fry (reviewed at 72nd Venice Film Festival)
Anomalisa is the latest offering from Charlie Kaufman’s idiosyncratic mind. Our protagonist is Michael Stone – a name whispered on many lips as he touches down in Cincinnati and checks into the Fregoli hotel. What manor of celebrity is this grey, portly yet shrunken man who appears withdrawn and irascible?
Michael, it turns out, is a motivational speaker and bestselling author of How May I Help You Help Them? And the trick it seems, remember that every customer is also a person, unique with a day, and a hope and an ache of their own, and company productivity increases 90%. But who is allowed to be unique in Kaufman’s incredible stop-motion animation? (And you’ve never seen puppets like this before, real, sad, flabby, world weary and wanking) The cast consists of just three actors – David Thewlis (Michael Stone), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Lisa, a sales rep from Akron) and Tom Noonan (everyone else whether wife, former lover, hotel manager or sex shop worker).
The film unfolds for the most part in the claustrophobic environment of the hotel. Michael quickly moves from calling his wife and child to trying to reconnect with a lover he abandoned 11 years earlier. Neither of these options seem to satisfy him. Everything feels the same, everyone is the same – in line with the psychological Fregoli complex – until one voice rises above the others with all of its qualities of difference.
Cue Michael chasing through the hotel to track down the owner of this siren voice, the plain and gentle Lisa. What follows is the most beautiful and tender seduction scene known to puppetry, featuring a rendition of Cyndi Lauper that brought about rapturous spontaneous applause. It seems that once in a lifetime real love is finally at hand but Michael’s grey perspective dominates every scene and soon Lisa is just another of the same voices.
Originally a sound play with the same cast, Anomalisa deftly uses its puppets with identical faces and interchangeable bodies to play out the struggle for authenticity in a sea of mechanical people. At the press conference, many tried to find links between Kaufman’s turn to puppetry and what he might be trying to say about people. Is the use of the Fregoli complex a metaphor for self-involvement? Do the puppets’ removable faces speak to a rift between communicating with the mouth and following other instincts? To each prompt for insight, Kaufman only replies, “it’s a beautiful idea, it’s your experience, I’m not going to say anything.”
Strange, beautiful and moving.
4 stars
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LOVE
Dheepan
Directed by Jacques Audiard
Starring Jesuthasan Antonythasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan, Claudine Vinasithamby and Vincent Rottiers
by Joanna Orland (reviewed at 68th Cannes Film Festival)
Jacques Audiard’s latest film Dheepan is a powerful drama about three strangers who are brought together through the hardship of war. To escape war torn Sri Lanka, refugee Yalini finds nine year-old Illayaal to pose as her daughter in order to act as the family for former Tamil Tiger fighter Dheepan. Yalini and Illayaal take the place of Dheepan’s true wife and daughter who have perished in the fighting. Together, these three refugees need each other in order to build new lives for themselves in France.
Barely acquaintances, the newly formed family settle into a housing project outside of Paris, where Dheepan finds work as a caretaker, and Yalini as a caregiver to a severely disabled man. Illayaal is enrolled in a local school where she is placed in a special needs class as her level of French is not up to par. Each character in Dheepan is wrought with struggles. For Illayaal, it is not merely her not having any friends that plagues her, but it is also the loss of her true parents that she grieves. With Illayaal’s mother having been killed in the war, Yalini is proving no substitute as she herself is not comfortable with children, and even admits to being willing to leave Illayaal behind in a heartbeat if she saw the opportunity. Yalini herself never wanted to move to France, but longs to be in England with her cousin. She makes the most of the situation by finding work, but never feels fully accepted into French society with language as a barrier, and even her physicality making her feel like a standout. Dheepan struggles to keep his new family in order, but moreso finds life in the housing project overly familiar as gangs rule the estate and use the grounds as a base for their drug ring.
While each character is fully realized with their own complexities and stories, it is their relationship as a newly formed family which proves to be the heart of this film. Dheepan is far from a romance tale, but the dynamic between these three strangers is a beautiful story to witness unfold. Finding companionship with each other is one thing, but they grow to not just love each other, but to be reliant on each other to help them through adapting to their new lives while still dealing with the trauma which they endured during the war itself. Illayaal relies on Dheepan and Yalini to care for her as parental substitutes. Yalini while keeping Illayaal at arm’s length slowly warms to her while becoming more attached to Dheepan himself. Dheepan needs both girls in his life in order to seek refugee status in France, but grows emotionally dependent on them as well to help him overcome the PTSD that he suffers from post-war. Their mutual dependencies deepen as housing project gang leader Brahim (Rottiers) is released from prison, returning in order to regain control of his drug empire – a plot point which plunges the characters’ already dire plight into further chaos.
Rust and Bone, A Prophet, and The Beat That My Heart Skipped director Jacques Audiard has created something very special with Dheepan. He has managed to capture the complexities of the aftermath of war, but with a very human focus. While strangers to each other and the audience, these characters are so full of depth and richness that the audience feels fully invested in their daily lives and integration into French society. The acting is compelling and vulnerable with Srinivasan and Antonythasan in particular giving exceptional performances. The only minor flaw with this film is watching Dheepan go fully over the edge, letting his PTSD completely take over. At this point, the film becomes less thriller and more action movie, but Audiard is able to bring the character back into the now to once again be the empathetic protagonist that he is throughout the rest of the film.
A complex and powerful drama from director Jacques Audiard, Dheepan tells an important story of the traumatic aftermath of war, and the difficulties of rebuilding one’s life.
4 stars
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Heart of a Dog
Directed by Laurie Anderson
by Dana Jammal (reviewed at 72nd Venice Film Festival)
Heart of a Dog is Laurie Anderson’s latest work, an homage to her beloved dog Lolabelle, who passed away in 2011. This is Anderson’s first feature film since her 1986 concert film Home of the Brave and she certainly does a remarkable job at writing, directing, narrating and composing music for this film. While the film centres on Lolabelle, it explores broader themes of love and death, integrating many topics such as surveillance in a post 9/11 state, storytelling and Buddhist teachings of life after death. Laurie narrates the film in a way that feels both personal yet profoundly relatable – something that is quite rare in experimental film. As she recounts memories of her childhood and Lolabelle, her voice is soothing and her words are poetic, the atmosphere is haunting, lighthearted, melancholic and dreamlike.
There is a scene where hawks encircle a vulnerable Lolabelle and Anderson draws parallels to the dangers in the air to that of the dangers of 9/11 that came from the sky. Even her approach to such a historically talked about subject feels abstract and individual. Through a series of fragmented animation (which Anderson sketched herself), videos and stills, Heart of a Dog offers a unique window into Anderson’s consciousness.
Humor is woven into the narrative as she discusses Lolabelle’s career as an abstract painter, sculptor and pianist. Lou Reed is remembered as he appears in one of the scenes and his song “Turning Time Around” plays over the closing credits. Anderson also recalls her mother’s death as well as the near death experiences of her two siblings. During the press conference at La Biennale di Venezia, Anderson contrasts the westernised approach to death to that of eastern philosophies, in that the western perception is that one should feel no pain nor be in a state of consciousness. This comes up in the film where she recreates a scene of a veterinarian telling her that she should put a blind and ill Lolabelle to sleep in order for her not to feel any more pain. However she chooses to take her home and care for her instead during Lolabelle’s remaining time in this world. As Anderson references the Tibetan Book of the Dead, striking illustrations she had drawn of Lolabelle in the bardo begin to appear.
While the film is saturated with dense material, it also flows with a lucidness that feels meditative and even elevating at times. Anderson has managed to create a film that feels much like a series of visual anecdotes of her personal history, while at the same time one that poses important universal questions about love, loss and the afterlife.
4 stars
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My Skinny Sister (Min lilla syster)
Directed by Sanna Lenken
Starring Rebecka Josephson, Amy Deasismont, Annika Hallin, Henrik Norlén, Maxim Mehmet, Ellen Lindbom, Åsa Janson, Hugo Wijk and Karin de Frumerie
by Laura Patricia Jones (reviewed for 65th Berlinale)
Growing pains and teenage struggles are a bleak time that none of us would want to go back to. The melodramas of fitting in, body image and inappropriate crushes are something everyone can relate to on some level, but the darker realms of eating disorders and sibling rivalry are what takes the forefront in Swedish director Sanna Lenken’s coming of age tale.
My Skinny Sister tells the tale of two sisters told through the eyes of the youngest Stella, as she hits that awkward age between childhood and puberty, watching her elder sister Katja blossom into a slender figure skater. Stella is not a small child and her weight and awkwardness is taunted by her sister in amusing yet cruel gestures as she develops a crush on Katja’s attractive older skating coach. Sounds like just any tale of typical sibling rivalry, but as Stella discovers Katja’s hidden eating disorder, the relationship between the pair reaches breaking point. What is powerful about this story is the very ‘real’ portrayal of an eating disorder and how it can infect an entire family making victims out of everyone. Through Katja’s body dysmorphia, she takes out her suffering cruelly on Stella, picking on her body issues and triggering Stella to question a similar pattern herself, passing on food and purging. This behaviour can be a common cruel side effect between women who live with an anorexia suffer, even though it is rarely explored – something that makes Lenken’s tale all the more believable.
The film can make difficult viewing in places, which is down to the stark realism Lenken brings to the screen in her powerful portrayal. Moments of humour provide relief, but it’s the kind of film that sticks with you. Credit here goes to the amazing performances from Rebecka Josephson as Stella and Amy Deasismont as the epitome of teenage angst queen. What works well for the film is that although it’s set in modern day Sweden, it could really be anywhere, transcending a universal issue that speaks volumes. It’s an at times uncomfortable watch, but one that will certainly leave you thinking.
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Valley of Love
Directed by Guillaume Nicloux
Starring Gérard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert
by Joanna Orland (reviewed at 68th Cannes Film Festival)
With a contrived premise working against it, Valley of Love manages to withstand the heat due solely to heartfelt performances by Isabelle H