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London Film Festival · 2014

London Film Festival 2014

Dare

Showing with short film programme Life, But Is It A Dream?

Programme

34 films · 13 reviews

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Beti And Amare

In 1930s Ethiopia, a young woman escapes Mussolini’s army and is almost attacked by bandits, were it not for the arrival of an otherworldly presence whom she befriends.

(Country: US, Spain, Romania, Germany, Canada, Ethiopia; Year: 2014; Director: Andy Siege; Writer: Andy Siege; Stars: Andy Siege, Pascal Dawson, Delelegne Sharwe, Hiwot Asres, Mahdere H Sisay, Atrsaw Wisenbet, Yonas An Kidane, Biniyam Kore)

A Blast

Black comedy drama sees a woman tries to win back control of her life.

(Country: Greece, Germany, Netherlands; Year: 2014; Director: Syllas Tzoumerkas; Writer: Youla Boudali, Syllas Tzoumerkas; Stars: Aggeliki Papoulia, Vassilis Doganis, Maria Filini, Themis Bazaka, Giorgos Biniaris, Efthymis Papadimitriou, Eleni Karagiorgi, Christoph Berlet, Haris Attonis, Nikolas Piperas, Manoussos Gakilazos, Alkis Zoupas, Marso Fili, Konstadinos Voudouris, Vassia Bakakou)

Blind

Having recently lost her sight, Ingrid retreats to the safety of her home - a place she can feel in control, alone with her husband and her thoughts. But Ingrid's real problems lie within, not beyond the walls of her apartment, and her deepest fears and repressed fantasies soon take over.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2014; Director: Eskil Vogt; Writer: Eskil Vogt; Stars: Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Vera Vitali, Henrik Rafaelsen)

Blood (Krov)

Portrait of Russian life following the work of a mobile transfusion service.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2013; Director: Alina Rudnitskaya; Writer: Sergey Vinokurov)

Bypass

Review preview for Bypass

Hopkins has an eye for a telling image and coaxes powerful, committed performances from his cast.

Jeff Robson · 3 out of 5
A young boy on a council estate turns to crime when he finds himself the sole provider in the house.

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Duane Hopkins; Writer: Duane Hopkins; Stars: George Mackay, Benjamin Dilloway, Lara Peake, Matt Cross, Charlotte Spencer)

Full review

The Colour Of Pomegranates (Sayat Nova)

Review preview for The Colour Of Pomegranates

It may be staggeringly beautiful and inventive, but it’s posturing nonsense all the same.

Robert Munro · 2 out of 5
Exploration of the life of Sayat Nova.

(Country: Armenia; Year: 1968; Director: Sergei Parajanov; Writer: Sayat Nova, Sergei Parajanov; Stars: Sofiko Chiaureli, Melkon Alekyan, Vilen Galstyan, Giorgi Gegechkori, Spartak Bagashvili, Medea Djaparidze, Hovhannes Minasyan, Onik Minasyan, Yuri Amiryan, I. Babayan, Medea Bibileishvili, T. Dvali, Aleksandr Dzhanshiyev, Guranda Gabunia, Zh. Gharibyan)

Full review

Corn Island (Simindis Kundzuli)

Review preview for Corn Island

Ovashvili tells the story with spare dialogue and absorbing attention to detail.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
An old peasant and his innocent 16-year-old granddaughter sow corn on an island in the middle of the Inguri River dividing Georgia from Abkhazia.

(Country: Georgia, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan; Year: 2014; Director: George Ovashvili; Writer: Roelof Jan Minneboo, George Ovashvili, Nugzar Shataidze; Stars: Ilyas Salman, Mariam Buturishvili, Irakli Samushia, Tamer Levent)

Full review

The Dinner (Het Diner)

Psychological thriller about a family plunged into crisis as their children are implicated in a murder.

(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2013; Director: Menno Meyjes; Writer: Herman Koch, Menno Meyjes; Stars: Thekla Reuten, Kim van Kooten, Daan Schuurmans, Jacob Derwig, Jonas Smulders, Reinout Bussemaker, Sabine Soetanto, Andre Dongelmans, Dani Stauder, Harpert Michielsen, Serge Mensink, Dewi Morgaine, Hanne Arendzen, Camilla Meurer, Gusta Geleynse)

Ellie Lumme

A 'ghost story without a ghost'.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: Ignatiy Vishnevetsky; Writer: Ignatiy Vishnevetsky; Stars: Mariapaz Camargo, Hillary Clemens, Stephen Cone, Mallory Nees, Sadie Rogers, Allison Torem, Tracie Von Sande)

Showing as a double bill with The Princess Of France

Exit (Hui Guang Zou Ming Qu)

Review preview for Exit

With Chen brilliantly controlled in the central role, there is much that is fascinating simply in observing Ling as a character.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A woman struggling to cope with middle age makes an unexpected connection with an injured man.

(Country: Taiwan, Hong Kong; Year: 2014; Director: Hsiang Chienn; Writer: Hsiang Chienn; Stars: Shiang-chyi Chen, Easton Dong)

Full review See: Interview with Chen Shiang-Chyi about Exit

From What Is Before (Mula Sa Kung Ano Ang Noon)

The Philippines, 1972. Mysterious things are happening in a remote barrio.

(Country: Philippines; Year: 2014; Director: Lav Diaz; Writer: Lav Diaz; Stars: Perry Dizon, Roeder, Hazel Orencio, Karenina Haniel, Reynan Abcede, Mailes Kanapi, Ian Lomongo, Joel Saracho, Evelyn Vargas, Noel Sto. Domingo, Teng Mangansakan, Ching Valdes-Aran, Bambi Beltran, Dea Formacil, Kristian Chua)

Gett: The Trial Of Viviane Amsalem (Gett Le Proces)

A portrait of a bitterly contested divorce.

(Country: Israel, France, Germany; Year: 2014; Director: Viviane Amsalem Ronit, Shlomi El Kabetz; Writer: Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz; Stars: Simon Abkarian, Rami Danon, Ronit Elkabetz, Sasson Gabai, Eli Gornstein)

Goodbye To Language 3D (Adieu Au Langage)

Musings on relationship problems, betrayal and identity.

(Country: Switzerland; Year: 2013; Director: Jean-Luc Godard; Writer: Jean-Luc Godard; Stars: Kamel Abdeli, Dimitri Basil, Zoé Bruneau, Richard Chevallier)

Hard To Be A God (Trudno Byt Bogom)

A team of scientists is sent out to the planet Arkanar (still stuck in the Middle Ages) in order to set the local population on the right path to future development – but they are not to use violence.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2013; Director: Alexey German)

History Of Fear (Historia del Miedo)

A hot summer. A private district with an enormous park. An abandoned plot of land in the suburbs and an uncontrollable wave of smoke spark uncertainty and chaos.

(Country: Argentina, France, Germany, Uruguay; Year: 2014; Director: Benjamín Naishtat; Writer: Benjamín Naishtat; Stars: Jonathan Da Rosa, Tatiana Giménez, Mirella Pascual, Claudia Cantero, Francisco Lumerman, César Bordón, Valeria Lois, Elsa Bois, Edgardo Castro, Mara Bestelli, Daniel Leguizamón)

Honeytrap

A 15-year-old girl's desperate need for acceptance leads her to take part in a tragic act of violence.

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Rebecca Johnson; Writer: Rebecca Johnson; Stars: Jessica Sula, Lucien Laviscount, Ntonga Mwanza, Naomi Ryan, Danielle Vitalis, Lauren Johns, Tosin Cole, Savannah Gordon-Liburd, Modupe Adeyeye, Jerome Holder, Anjela Lauren Smith, Charles Mnene, Shane Hart, Javine Hylton, Ryan Calais Cameron)

The Kindergarten Teacher (Haganenet)

A teacher is determined to protect and support a young child with a gift for poetry.

(Country: Israel, France; Year: 2014; Director: Nadav Lapid)

The Lamb (Kuzu)

A mother's fatal joke turns a quiet village into a nightmare.

(Country: Germany, Turkey; Year: 2014; Director: Kutluğ Ataman; Writer: Kutluğ Ataman; Stars: Nesrin Cavadzade, Cahit Gök, Mert Taştan, Sıla Lara Cantürk, Nursel Köse)

Mommy

Review preview for Mommy

The energy and sheer visual bravura carry it along.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
A widowed single mother, raising her violent son alone, finds new hope when a mysterious neighbor insinuates herself into their household.

(Country: France, Canada; Year: 2014; Director: Xavier Dolan; Writer: Xavier Dolan; Stars: Anne Dorval, Antoine-Olivier Pilon, Suzanne Clément)

Full review

Dare gala

Métamorphoses

Review preview for Métamorphoses

Honoré is not afraid of magic and he has fun with grand gestures. Metamorphoses at heart is a defense of myths in all their offensive allure.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
Modern-day version of the Ovid tales of transformation.

(Country: France; Year: 2014; Director: Christophe Honoré; Writer: Christophe Honoré, based on the stories by Ovid; Stars: Amira Akili, Sébastien Hirel, Mélodie Richard, Damien Chapelle, George Babluani, Matthis Lebrun, Samantha Avrillaud, Coralie Rouet, Nadir Sonmez, Vincent Massimino, Olivier Müller, Myriam Guizani, Gabrielle Chuiton, Jean Courte, Rachid O.) , Official site

Full review See: Christophe Honoré in conversation on Métamorphoses, part 2 , Christophe Honoré in conversation on Métamorphoses, part 1

Nagima

The life of a young woman in post-socialist Kazakhstan.

(Country: Kazakhstan; Year: 2013; Director: Zhanna Issabayeva; Writer: Zhanna Issabayeva; Stars: Aidar Mukhametzhanov, Galina Pyanova, Dina Tukubayeva)

Near Death Experience

Blackly comic tale of a man who wants to commit suicide.

(Country: France; Year: 2014; Director: Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern; Writer: Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern; Stars: Michel Houellebecq, Marius Bertram, Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern, Manon Chancé)

Party Girl

Review preview for Party Girl

Amachoukeli-Barsacq, Burger and Theis direct with one voice, staying close to their characters and finding rhythm in the details of dance or a walk.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A nightclub hostess decides to settle down.

(Country: France; Year: 2014; Director: Marie Amachoukeli-Barsacq, Claire Burger, Samuel Theis; Writer: Marie Amachoukeli-Barsacq, Claire Burger, Samuel Theis; Stars: Angélique Litzenburger, Joseph Bour, Mario Theis, Samuel Theis, Séverine Litzenburger, Cynthia Litzenburger, Chantal Dechuet, Alyssia Litzenburger, Nathanaël Litzenburger, Meresia Litzenburger, Sébastien Roussel, Vincenza Vespa, Jenny Bussi, Zaina Benhabouche, Marguerite Duval)

Full review

Pasolini

Review preview for Pasolini

Pasolini's unfinished life remains painfully unresolved, as it should be.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
A look at the final day of Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini.

(Country: France, Italy, Belgium; Year: 2014; Director: Abel Ferrara; Writer: Abel Ferrara, Maurizio Braucci, Nicola Tranquillino; Stars: Willem Dafoe, Maria de Medeiros, Riccardo Scamarcio, Giada Colagrande, Salvatore Ruocco, Adriana Asti, Valerio Mastandrea, Roberto Zibetti, Tatiana Luter, Guillaume Rumiel Braun, Diego Pagotto)

Full review See: Abel Ferrara and Willem Dafoe in conversation on Pasolini feature

The Princess of France (La Princesa de francia)

Review preview for The Princess of France

It only lasts an economical 70 minutes but seems considerably longer

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
A year after his father’s death, Victor returns to Buenos Aires in order to reconquer the life he was forced to abandon. He brings a new project with him for his former theater company: a radio-play of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2014; Director: Matías Piñeiro; Stars: Julián Larquier Tellarini, Agustina Muñoz, Alessio Rigo de Righi, María Villar, Romina Paula, Laura Paredes, Elisa Carricajo, Gabi Saidón, Pablo Sigal, Julián Tello, Juan Chacón )

Full review

Showing as a double bill with Ellie Lumme

La Sapienza

A couple whose relationship is in crisis strike up a friendship with two teenagers.

(Country: France, Italy; Year: 2014; Director: Eugène Green; Writer: Eugène Green; Stars: Fabrizio Rongione, Christelle Prot, Ludovico Succio, Arianna Nastro, Hervé Compagne, Sabine Ponte, Gilles Tonnelé, Nathalie Chazeau, Irene Fittabile, Michele Franco, Jon Firman, Mario Bois, Clément Cogitore, Maria Chiara Malta, Sébastien Laudenbach)

A Second Chance (En Chance Til)

Review preview for A Second Chance

Everything feels contrived, overblown and - perhaps the worst sin you can lay at the door of a psychological thriller - utterly predictable.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
How far are decent people willing to go, when tragedy blurs the line between just and unjust?

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2014; Director: Susanne Bier; Writer: Anders Thomas Jensen; Stars: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Ulrich Thomsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Thomas Bo Larsen, Maria Bonnevie, Peter Haber, Molly Blixt Egelind, Ewa Fröling, Roland Møller, Charlotte Fich, Bodil Jørgensen, May Andersen, Mille Lehfeldt, Sarah Juel Werner, Frederik Meldal Nørgaard)

Full review

Shadow Days (Gui ri zi)

Trouble brews for a man and his pregnant girlfriend when they return to his remote birthplace.

(Country: China; Year: 2014; Director: Zhao Dayong; Writer: Zhao Dayong; Stars: Li Ziqian)

The Strange Familiar

A Singhalese couple and their families struggle to come to terms with the emotional wreckage caused by an extra-marital affair.

(Country: Sri Lanka; Year: 2014; Director: Malith Hegoda; Writer: Boopathy Nalin Wickramage; Stars: Samadhi Laksiri, Bimal Jayakodi, Jagath Manuwarna, Lakshman Mendis, Chamila Peiris, Kaushalaya Fernando, Dayadewa Edirisinghe, Prasanna Mahagamage, Kushenya Sayumi Fonseka, Dilshani Perera, Athula Pathirana, Nadee Kammellaweera, Ananda Premalal, Chaminda Sampath Jayaweera, Samanalee Fonseka)

Thou Wast Mild And Lovely

Review preview for Thou Wast Mild And Lovely

The plot may be clear and the tonal shifts from comedy to erotica and horror impressively handled but the character motivations are frustratingly fuzzy.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
Romance - and trouble - brew on a farm in Kentucky.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: Josephine Decker; Writer: David Barker, Josephine Decker, Josephine Decker; Stars: Joe Swanberg, Sophie Traub, Robert Longstreet, Kristin Slaysman, Matt Orme)

Full review

Titli

The youngest of a car-jacking gang plots to escape the business.

(Country: India; Year: 2014; Director: Kanu Behl; Writer: Kanu Behl, Sharat Katariya; Stars: Ranvir Shorey, Shashank Arora, Shivani Raghuvanshi, Amit Sial, Prashant Singh, Lalit Behl)

Two Shots Fired (Dos Disparos, Two Gunshots)

After a teenager shoots himself and survives, those around him must live with the consequences.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2014; Director: Martín Rejtman; Writer: Martín Rejtman)

White Bird In A Blizzard

Review preview for White Bird In A Blizzard

Araki never digs deep enough, wasting the opportunity to expose her resentments.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
A teenager's life is thrown into turmoil when her mother disappears.

(Country: France; Year: 2014; Director: Gregg Araki; Writer: Gregg Araki, based on the novel by Laura Kasischke; Stars: Shailene Woodley, Eva Green, Angela Bassett, Christopher Meloni, Gabourey Sidibe, Jacob Artist, Shiloh Fernandez, Dale Dickey, Sheryl Lee, Ava Acres, Mark Indelicato, Brenda Koo, Michael Patrick McGill, Colette Stone, Brandy Futch)

Full review

The World Of Kanako (Kawaki)

Review preview for The World Of Kanako

Despite some stylishly staged action sequences, a throat-grabbing powerhouse of a performance from the lead actor, and arresting editing and visuals, director Nakashima overcooks the pudding.

Owen Van Spall · 3 out of 5
A wayward ex-detective investigates his daughter’s disappearance.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2014; Director: Tetsuya Nakashima; Writer: Akio Fukamachi, Nobuhiro Monma, Tetsuya Nakashima, Miako Tadano; Stars: Kôji Yakusho, Nana Komatsu, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Jô Odagiri, Fumi Nikaidô, Ai Hashimoto, Jun Kunimura, Hiroya Shimizu, Miki Nakatani, Munetaka Aoki, Emma, Kanji Furutachi, Megumi Hataraya, Shôno Hayama, Jin Hoshino)

Full review