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Festival coverage

London Film Festival

2009

London River, starring Sotigui Kouyaté and Brenda Blethyn
London River, starring Sotigui Kouyaté and Brenda Blethyn

The 53rd London Film Festival ran from Wednesday 14 October to Thursday 29 October 2009.

The Festival opened with Fantastic Mr. Fox and closed with Nowhere Boy.

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Other years (21)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Air Doll
    Review preview for Air Doll

    Delicately scored by Katsuhiko Maeda, the early part of the film has a real magic about it, its sweet-natured heroine conveying an infectious sense of wonder.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A blow-up sex doll develops a sense of self and begins to explore the world around her.
  • Little Indi
    Review preview for Little Indi

    Recha depicts a hardscrabble existence but finds fleeting moments of beauty, affection, and pleasure by focussing on the things that truly matter to Arnau.

    Rebecca Naughten · 4 out of 5
    Living on the outskirts of Barcelona, Arnau raises a menagerie of songbirds and tries to accumulate the funds to hire a lawyer for his imprisoned mother.
  • Polytechnique
    Review preview for Polytechnique

    This is no TV-movie style real life horror re-run. It's something whose focus is cultural, moral and - eventually - personal.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    Multi-textual examination of a mass-murder
  • American: The Bill Hicks Story
    Review preview for American: The Bill Hicks Story

    American: The Bill Hicks Story provides us with a wonderful glimpse behind the curtain of performance and lets us see the sensitive, warm, patriotic and fiercely intelligent man we all suspected lay beneath the act.

    Robert Munro · 5 out of 5
    Documentary examining the life and legacy of the controversial comic.
  • Plan B
    Review preview for Plan B

    Despite being slightly reductive, this low budget Argentinean film is still largely a sweet and honest portrayal of two men falling in love.

    Dan Hooper · 3 out of 5
    When a man is dumped by his girlfriend, he determines to win her back... even if he has to get her new man out of the way.
  • The French Kissers
    Review preview for The French Kissers

    It's an old story, but rarely has it been this appealingly told.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A geeky underachiever finds his life turning around when the prettiest girl in his class declares an interest in him - but both are nervous, and they soon discover that relationships are fragile things.
  • Trash Humpers
    Review preview for Trash Humpers

    The film is a purely visceral experience, which by and large does everything it sets out to do – repel, amuse, horrify, bore – with a sickening but punk-rock panache.

    David Graham · 5 out of 5
    A group of elderly people film themselves fornicating with the debris of society.
  • Enter The Void
    Review preview for Enter The Void

    A day-glo postmortem avant-garde mind-trip that for some will be enlightening, while others will find it to be little more than an endurance test.

    Andrew Grant · 4.5 out of 5
    A psychedelic journey into the afterlife.
  • When You're Strange
    Review preview for When You're Strange

    Seamlessly balances the scenes that made the band infamous, with the intimate moments and the atmosphere of an era.

    Daniel Hooper · 4 out of 5
    Documentary tracking the rise of The Doors, featuring rare footage of the band and Jim Morrison.
  • Wah Do Dem
    Review preview for Wah Do Dem

    If you’re in the mood for an original riff on a familiar tune, you could do worse than hop on board.

    Jeff Robson · 3 out of 5
    A young American tourist is robbed in Jamaica and his attempts to reach the American Embassy in Kingston turn into a surreal odyssey.

A–Z of London Film Festival 2009 reviews

Features

  • Behind the Milk Of Sorrow
    Claudia Llosa talks about Peru's history and the themes in her magic realist Golden Bear winning film.

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