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London Film Festival · 2013

London Film Festival 2013

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Programme

24 films · 11 reviews

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An Episode In The Life Of An Iron Picker (Epizoda U Zivotu Beraca Zeljeza)

Review preview for An Episode In The Life Of An Iron Picker

Drawing from real life events, Tanic's docudrama gains its power from the emotionally stirring scenario and all-round naturalistic performances, which feel infused with greater honesty given that a version of this nightmare has been played out in real lif

Owen Van Spall · 3 out of 5
Life becomes desperate for a scrap merchant when his pregnant wife needs medical help they can't afford.

(Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Slovenia, Italy; Year: 2013; Director: Danis Tanovic; Writer: Danis Tanovic; Stars: Nazif Mujic, Senada Alimanovic, Semsa Mujic)

Full review

As I Lay Dying

Review preview for As I Lay Dying

As I Lay Dying looks and sounds great, and offers many individual moments of heightened intensity.

Anton Bitel · 3 out of 5
The death of a family matriarch and her loved ones' efforts to have her buried according to her wishes.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: James Franco; Writer: James Franco, Matt Rager, based on the book by William Faulkner; Stars: mes Franco, Logan Marshall-Green, Beth Grant, Tim Blake Nelson, Ahna O'Reilly, Jim Parrack, Brady Parmenter, Danny McBride)

Full review

Camille Claudel, 1915

Review preview for Camille Claudel, 1915

An inward, austere examination of ideas of madness, empathy and the creative impulse.

Jeff Robson · 4 out of 5
Confined to an asylum, the former mistress of sculptor Auguste Rodin tries desperately to obtain a release.

(Country: France; Year: 2013; Director: Bruno Dumont; Writer: Bruno Dumont; Stars: Juliette Binoche, Jean-Luc Vincent, Emmanuel Kauffman, Marion Keller)

Full review See: Interview with Bruno Dumont

Eastern Boys

Review preview for Eastern Boys

Campillo keeps the questions coming.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Story about a solitary Parisian and a young Ukrainian migrant.

(Country: France; Year: 2013; Director: Robin Campillo; Writer: Robin Campillo; Stars: Olivier Rabourdin, Kirill Emelyanov, Daniil Vorobyov, Edéa Darcque, Camila Chanirova, Beka Markozashvili, Bislan Yakhiaev, Mohamed Doukouzov, Aitor Bourgade)

Full review

Exhibition

Review preview for Exhibition

The scripting is loose and Albertine - best known as the former guitarist with punk group The Slits - and real-life conceptual artist Gillick have the rawness that comes with first-time acting.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Examination of the relationship between a middle-aged couple who are planning a move.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Joanna Hogg; Writer: Joanna Hogg; Stars: Viv Albertine, Liam Gillick, Tom Hiddleston)

Full review See: Interview with Liam Gillick about Exhibition , Joanna Hogg on Exhibition

Exhibits Or Stories From The Castle (Exponáty Alebo Príbehy Z Kaštieľa )

A mosaic portraying the fate of people “who have lost everything; all they have left is life.”

(Country: Slovak Republic; Year: 2013; Director: Pavol Korec)

The Fear

A boy struggles with domestic violence.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2013; Director: Jordi Cadena; Stars: Igor Szpakowski, Roser Camí, Ramon Madaula)

The Golden Dream (La Jaula De Oro)

Review preview for The Golden Dream

A flowing, lyrical film, at times startlingly beautiful, The Golden Dream hypnotises the viewer with its constant movement, its unceasing rhythm.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A group of Guatemalan teenagers tries to make it to the US.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2013; Director: Diego Quemada-Diez; Writer: Diego Quemada-Diez, Lucia Carreras, Gibrán Portela; Stars: Carlos Chajon, Rodolfo Domínguez, Brandon López, Karen Martínez)

Full review

Half Of A Yellow Sun

Review preview for Half Of A Yellow Sun

A film worth shouting about.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Civil war shatters the comfortable illusions of Nigeria’s middle class in this 1960s-set love story.

(Country: Nigeria, UK; Year: 2013; Director: Biyi Bandele; Writer: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Biyi Bandele; Stars: Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anika Noni Rose, Joseph Mawle, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, John Boyega, Rob David, Babou Ceesay, Genevieve Nnaji, O.C. Ukeje, Paul Hampshire, Zack Orji, Susan Wokoma, Onyeka Onwenu)

Full review

Harmony Lessons (Uroki Garmonii)

A brutally bullied teenager struggles to avoid getting drawn into a cycle of violence.

(Country: Kazakhstan, Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Emir Baigazin; Writer: Emir Baigazin; Stars: Timur Aidarbekov)

Kalpana

(Country: India; Year: 1948; Director: Uday Shankar; Writer: Uday Shankar; Stars: Lakshmi Kanta, Usha Kiran, Amala Shankar, Uday Shankar)

Let The Fire Burn

Account of the incidents leading up to and during the 1985 standoff between the extremist African-American organization MOVE and Philadelphia authorities. The dramatic clash claimed eleven lives and literally and figuratively devastated an entire community.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Jason Osder)

A Long And Happy Life (Dolgaya Schastlivaya Zhizn)

A farmer struggles to hold onto his land in a changing Russia.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2013; Director: Boris Khlebnikov; Writer: Aleksandr Rodionov, Boris Khlebnikov; Stars: Anna Kotova, Yevgeni Syty, Aleksandr Yatsenko)

Norte, The End Of History (Norte, Hangganan Ng Kasaysayan)

The commission of a crime changes three lives forever.

(Country: Phillipines; Year: 2013; Director: Lav Diaz)

One Day When The Rain Falls

In three chapters, each played as a different genre (drama, horror, comedy), the secrets of an Indonesian family are revealed.

(Country: Indonesia; Year: 2013; Director: Ifa Isfansyah; Writer: Ifa Isfansyah; Stars: Tora Sudiro, Vino G Bastian, Tara Basro, Landung Simatupang, Jajang C Noer)

La Paz

A young man attempts to readjust to life after being released from a psychiatric hospital.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2013; Director: Santiago Loza; Stars: Lisandro Rodriguez, Andrea Strenitz, Fidelia Batallanos Michel, Ricardo Felix)

Shame

A half-crumbling military base in northern Russia is home to a community of women whose husbands are out at sea. The women patiently wait out the long days, hoping that their men will come back safely from their mission this time as well.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2013; Director: Yusup Razykov)

Stranger By The Lake (L'Inconnu Du Lac)

Review preview for Stranger By The Lake

The investigation has a surreal aspect to it that stretches credulity while the final resolution seems unsatisfactorily far-fetched.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
After a shocking incident takes place at a cruising spot, a young man is caught in the throes of a dangerous passion.

(Country: France; Year: 2013; Director: Alain Guiraudie; Writer: Alain Guiraudie; Stars: Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick d'Assumçao, Jérôme Chappatte, Mathieu Vervisch, Gilbert Traina, Emmanuel Daumas, Sébastien Badachaoui, Gilles Guérin, François-Renaud Labarthe, Claude Bellelle, Slawomir Cieminski, Jean-Marie Crémier, Bernard Delavaux, Bernard German)

Full review

Story Of My Death (Historia De La Meva Mort)

(Country: Spain, France; Year: 2013; Director: Albert Serra; Stars: Vincenc Altaio Morral, Lluis Massanellas Serrat, Clara Visa, Noelia Rodenas, Jordi Pau Costa)

A Touch Of Sin (Tian Zhu Ding)

Four characters represent different areas of China and different strata of contemporary society.

(Country: China; Year: 2013; Director: Jia Zhangke)

Violette

Biopic about feminist icon Violette Leduc.

(Country: France; Year: 2013; Director: Martin Provost; Writer: Martin Provost; Stars: Emmanuelle Devos, Sandrine Kiberlain, Olivier Gourmet, Frans Boyer, Audrey Quoturi)

Victim

Review preview for Victim

Daring, and well ahead of its time.

Shaun Davis · 4 out of 5
Damning revelations fill this forgotten Brit classic as a closeted lawyer tackles a group of blackmailers.

(Country: UK; Year: 1961; Director: Basil Dearden; Writer: Janet Green, John McCormick; Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Sylvia Syms, Dennis Price, Peter Copley, Derren Nesbitt, Donald Churchill, John Barrie)

Full review See: Interview with Steven Paul Davies about Out At The Movies

Young & Beautiful (Jeune et jolie, Jeune & Jolie)

Review preview for Young & Beautiful

Keeps holding out a promise of insight into its young protagonist's mentality and makeup, but ends up merely observing her from a cool distance, as if through the binoculars from the opening scene.

Anton Bitel · 3 out of 5
Portrait of a 17-year-old, who sells her body for cash.

(Country: France; Year: 2013; Director: François Ozon; Writer: François Ozon; Stars: Marine Vacth, Géraldine Palhas, Frédéric Pierrot, Fantan Ravat, Johan Leysen, Charlotte Rampling, Nathalie Richard, Djedje Apali, Lucas Prisor, Laurent Delbecque, Jeanne Ruff )

Full review