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Leeds International Film Festival · 2024

Leeds International Film Festival 2024

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Programme

14 films · 10 reviews

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Animalia Paradoxa

Review preview for Animalia Paradoxa

There’s incredible world-building here.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A strange creature, Animalia, roams an abandoned building. Dressed in rags and gas mask she moves like an alien dancer, crawling and stretching across concrete, plastic waste. She collects and fills empty bottles for a modest bath.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2024; Director: Niles Atallah; Writer: Niles Atallah; Stars: Andrea Gomez, Daniela Ossa, Javiera Reyes, Hormazábal Rocío, Blanca Schlager, Ignacio Silva)

Full review

Chainsaws Were Singing

Review preview for Chainsaws Were Singing

Although most viewers will find themselves flagging before the end, there is a lot to enjoy here.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Adventures await when new lovers are separated by a chainsaw killer in this absurdist musical.

(Country: Estonia; Year: 2024; Director: Sander Maran; Writer: Sander Maran, Karl Ilves; Stars: Karl Ilves, Laura Niils, Martin Ruus, Janno Puusepp, Rita Rätsepp, Ra Ragnar Novod)

Full review See: Interview with Sander Maran and Peeter Maran about Chainsaws Were Singing

Cloud (Kuraudo)

Review preview for Cloud

Even though we’re essentially talking about a basic shot-reverse shot exchange, framed in creeping wide angles, juxtaposed with close-ups, the feeling is comparable to watching a getaway heist.

Nikola Jovic · 4 out of 5
An online scammer, reselling faulty products at preposterously high rates, is on the run after some of his customers decide to hit back.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2024; Director: Kurosawa Kiyoshi; Writer: Kurosawa Kiyoshi; Stars: Masaki Suda, Kotone Furukawa, Masataka Kubota)

Full review

Dark Match

A small-time wrestling company accepts a well-paying gig in a backwoods town only to learn, too late, that the community is run by a mysterious cult leader with devious plans for their match.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2024; Director: Lowell Dean; Writer: Lowell Dean; Stars: Steven Ogg, Sara Canning, Michael Eklund, Chris Jericho, Jonathan Cherry, Ayisha Issa)

Dead Mail

Review preview for Dead Mail

Everything here looks grimy, as if the film itself had been lying around in poor conditions for years, and colours and patterns are artfully mismatched.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
An ominous, bloody help note finds its way to the desk of a seasoned 'dead letter' investigator at a 1980's Midwestern post office, leading him down a violent, unforeseen path to a kidnapped keyboard engineer and his demented business associate.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Kyle McConaghy, Joe DeBoer; Writer: Kyle McConaghy, Joe DeBoer; Stars: Sterling Macer, Jr, John Fleck, Susan Priver, Micki Jackson, Nick Heyman, Tomas Boykin)

Full review

Dead Talents Society (Gui Cai Zhi Dao)

Ghosts who want to become the spookiest of urban legends and most successful and famous stars in the underworld compete through their scare tactics and performances amongst the living.

(Country: Taiwan; Year: 2024; Director: John Hsu; Writer: John Hsu, Kun-Lin Tsai; Stars: Chen Bo-lin, Sandrine Pinna, Wang Gingle, Pai Ching-i, Tseng Soso)

Escape From The 21st Century (Cong 21 Shi Ji An Quan Che Li)

The story follows three friends who discover they have the power to travel back and forth 20 years with a sneeze. However, the future is not as good as they hoped, and they need to take on the responsibility of saving the world.

(Country: China; Year: 2024; Director: Li Yang; Writer: Li Yang; Stars: Zhang Ruoyun, Zhong Elane, Song Yang, Wu Xiaoliang, Zhu Yanmanzi, Chen Yichen)

Fantastic Planet (La Planète sauvage)

Review preview for Fantastic Planet

Laloux has woven a dense tapestry of allegorical resonances that link the theological to the political to the anthropological.

Anton Bitel · 4.5 out of 5
Trippy, Seventies animated version of the biblical story of Exodus.

(Country: France, Czechoslovakia; Year: 1973; Director: René Laloux; Writer: Roland Topor and René Laloux, based on the book by Stefan Wul; Stars: (voices, French) Jennifer Drake, Sylvie Lenoir, Jean Topart, Jean Valmont; (voices, English) Barry Bostwick, Hubert de Lapparent, Mark Gruner, Nora Heflin, Marvin Millier, Monika Ramirez, Hal Smith, Olan Soule, Janet Waldo(voices, French) Jennifer Drake,)

Full review

The Killers

Four films about hitmen.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2024; Director: Kim Jong-kwan, Roh Deok, Chang Hang-jun, Lee Myung-Se)

A Samurai In Time

Review preview for A Samurai In Time

Two things elevate it. One is Yasuda’s commitment to looking in depth at the culture of the Edo period, rather than just cribbing from past jidaigeki and trying to distract us with swordplay. The other is seasoned jidaigeki actor Yamaguchi’s wonderfully sensitive and sincere performance.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A samurai who gets hit by lightning wakes up to find himself on a film set in the present day and starts to work as an extra on samurai films.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2023; Director: Jun'ichi Yasuda; Writer: Jun'ichi Yasuda; Stars: Norimasa Fuke, Yoshiharu Fukuda, Hajime Inoue, Ichiko Kurenai, Rantaro Mine)

Full review See: Interview with Yasuda Jun’ichi about A Samurai In Time

She Loved Blossoms More (Agapouse Ta Louloudia Perissotero)

Review preview for She Loved Blossoms More

The spectacular visual effects are less a product of slick new technology than of pure imagination, and they really are unforgettable.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Hoping to bring their dead mother back to life, three brothers build a time machine.

(Country: Greece, France, New Zealand; Year: 2024; Director: Yannis Veslemes; Writer: Dimitris Emmanouilidis, Yannis Veslemes; Stars: Dominique Pinon, Julio Katsis, Sandra Abuelghanam, Panos Papadopoulos, Aris Balis)

Full review

Sister Midnight

Review preview for Sister Midnight

Every frame feels like the product of conscious decision-making, with nothing merely carrying us from one point to another.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Black comedy about a woman trying to navigate a newly arranged marriage.

(Country: UK; Year: 2024; Director: Karan Kandhari; Writer: Karan Kandhari; Stars: Radhika Apte, Ashok Pathak, Dev Raaz)

Full review See: Interview with Karan Kandhari about Sister Midnight

Tim Travers And The Time Traveler's Paradox

Review preview for Tim Travers And The Time Traveler's Paradox

Successful films like this are few and far between, whilst the genre is littered with the bones of those that didn’t make it.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A scientist creates a time machine and kills his younger self to see what would happen. That self-obsessed, misanthrope, mad genius of a scientist is Tim Travers, and the universe was bad enough with only one of him.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Stimpson Snead; Writer: Stimpson Snead; Stars: Samuel Dunning, Felicia Day, Danny Trejo, JD McKee, Keith David, Nicole Murray)

Full review See: Interview with Felicia Day about Tim Travers And The Time Traveler's Paradox

Vulcanizadora

Review preview for Vulcanizadora

Although its characters are middle aged, their childish games in the first half signal a kind of coming of age; and yet unlike most films on that theme, which end when childhood is left behind, it keeps us there to explore what it means to be an adult.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Two friends embark on a disturbing mission in the Michigan woods. When their plan unravels, one must face the surreal and unsettling consequences back home.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Joel Potrykus; Writer: Joel Potrykus; Stars: Joel Potrykus, Joshua Burge, Sherryl Despres, Bill Vincent, Michael Saunders, Melissa Blanchard, Solo Potrykus, G. Foster II, Scott Ayotte, Dennis Grantz, Jaz Edwards)

Full review See: Interview with Joel Potrykus about Vulcanizadora