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London Film Festival · 2014

London Film Festival 2014

Thrill

Also showing is short film showcase All Or Nothing.

Programme

17 films · 8 reviews

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Betibú

Conspiracy thriller hinging on murder.

(Country: Argentina, Spain; Year: 2014; Director: Miguel Cohan; Writer: Ana Cohan, Miguel Cohan, Claudia Piñeiro; Stars: Mercedes Morán, Daniel Fanego, Alberto Ammann, José Coronado, Marina Bellati, Norman Briski, Lito Cruz, Osmar Núñez, Mario Pasik, Carola Reyna, Gerardo Romano)

Black Coal, Thin Ice (Bai ri yan huo)

Review preview for Black Coal, Thin Ice

A painstakingly deliberate neo-noir, heavy on atmosphere and taking its time to build.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A detective falls in love with a woman linked to the murder victims of his current investigation.

(Country: China; Year: 2014; Director: Yi'nan Diao; Writer: Yi'nan Diao; Stars: Lun Mei Gwei, Fan Liao, Xuebing Wang)

Full review

Black Souls (Anime nere)

Review preview for Black Souls

What Black Souls does very well is to recapture the essential primitivism of conflicts based upon honour, fear of insult and the desire for revenge.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Mafia tale, based on a true story.

(Country: Italy, France; Year: 2014; Director: Francesco Munzi; Writer: Gioacchino Criaco, Francesco Munzi, Fabrizio Ruggirello, Maurizio Braucci; Stars: Barbora Bobulova, Fabrizio Ferracane, Anna Ferruzzo, Giuseppe Fumo, Marco Leonardi, Peppino Mazzotta, Aurora Quattrocchi, Pasquale Romeo, Manuela Ventura)

Full review

The Dead Lands

Review preview for The Dead Lands

A corking action film.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A young Maori man sets out to avenge the death of his father.

(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2014; Director: Toa Fraser; Writer: Glenn Standring; Stars: James Rolleston, Lawrence Makoare, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Xavier Horan, Raukura Turei, George Henare, Pana Hema Taylor, Rena Owen)

Full review

Dragon Inn (Long men kezhan)

The Ming Emperor’s chief eunuch sends his secret police on a mission to kill off the children of a political rival.

(Country: Taiwan; Year: 1967; Director: King Hu; Writer: King Hu; Stars: Shi Jun, Shang Kuan Ling-Feng, Bai Ying)

The Drop

Review preview for The Drop

Bob may have the beefed up body of a bouncer but Hardy continually emphasises his softer, hesitant side, his body language screaming flight even though he is built to fight.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A barman finds himself embroiled in mob trouble after a robbery and facing personal threat after finding a puppy in a dustbin.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: Michaël R Roskam; Writer: Dennis Lehane; Stars: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, James Gandolfini, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Erin Darke, James Frecheville, Matthias Schoenaerts, John Ortiz, Jeremy Bobb, Patricia Squire, Michael Aronov, Michael Esper, James Colby, Morgan Spector, Alex Ziwak)

Full review

El Niño

A detective chases drug traffickers in the Gibraltar Straits.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2014; Director: Daniel Monzón; Writer: Jorge Guerricaechevarría, Daniel Monzón; Stars: Ian McShane, Luis Tosar, Sergi López, Jesús Castro, Bárbara Lennie, Mariam Bachir, Eduard Fernández, Jesús Carroza, Moussa Maaskri, Mario de la Rosa, Saed Chatiby, Ales Furundarena, José Manuel Poga, Somaya Taoufiki, Juan Carlos Villanueva)

French Riviera (L'homme qu'on aimait trop, In The Name Of My Daughter)

Review preview for French Riviera

Production designer Olivier Radot and costume designer Pascaline Chavanne revel in the colors and textures of Seventies casino ambiance.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 3.5 out of 5
Nice, 1976, Following the failure of her marriage, Agnès Le Roux returns from Africa to her mother Renée, owner of the Casino Le Palais de la Méditerranée and falls in love with Renée's confidant, Maurice Agnelet.

(Country: France; Year: 2014; Director: André Téchiné; Writer: Cédric Anger, Jean-Charles Le Roux, André Téchiné; Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Guillaume Canet, Adèle Haenel, Pierre Michiels)

Full review See: Cédric Anger on working with André Téchiné

A Hard Day (Kkeut-kka-ji-gan-da)

When a detective tries to cover up his involvement in a car accident, he finds himself in trouble.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2014; Director: Seong-hoon Kim; Writer: Seong-hoon Kim; Stars: Seon-gyun Lee, Jin-woong Jo, Man-shik Jeong)

Hard To Get

Action romp through the Johannesburg underworld.

(Country: South Africa; Year: 2014; Director: Zee Ntuli; Writer: Thuso Sibisi; Stars: Pallance Dladla, Israel Makoe, Jerry Mofokeng, Thishiwe Ziqubu, Paka Zwedala)

Kill Me Three Times

Comedy thriller tale of blackmail, murder and revenge.

(Country: US, Australia; Year: 2014; Director: Kriv Stenders; Writer: James McFarland; Stars: Teresa Palmer, Simon Pegg, Sullivan Stapleton, Callan Mulvey, Alice Braga, Luke Hemsworth, Bryan Brown, Steve Le Marquand, Veronica Wayte, Roland van Zwol, Arthur Vaka, Tony Spencer, Andrew Bongiovanni, Isaac Griffiths, Antonio Barimen)

Monsters: Dark Continent

Review preview for Monsters: Dark Continent

Very much a film of two halves.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Sequel sees a soldier enter an infected zone in the Middle East to find his comrade.

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Tom Green; Writer: Jay Basu; Stars: Joe Dempsie, Sofia Boutella, Johnny Harris, Sam Keeley, Kyle Soller, Nicholas Pinnock, Uriel Emil, Parker Sawyers, Jesse Nagy, DeSean Whipple, Jeff Hill)

Full review

The Salvation

Review preview for The Salvation

War by any other name

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
A man who kills his family's murderer faces the wrath of a violent gang - with nobody to help him.

(Country: Denmark, UK, South Africa; Year: 2014; Director: Kristian Levring; Writer: Anders Thomas Jensen, Kristian Levring; Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Eric Cantona, Douglas Henshall, Jonathan Pryce, Michael Persbrandt, Michael Raymond-James, Sean Cameron Michael)

Full review

Thrill gala

Snow In Paradise

A petty criminal who converts to Islam finds he is haunted by his old life.

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Andrew Hulme; Writer: Martin Askew, Andrew Hulme; Stars: Frederick Schmidt, Martin Askew, David Spinx, Aymen Hamdouchi, Claire-Louise Cordwell, Ashley Chin, Joel Beckett, Clive Brunt, John Dagleish, Ann Theato, Daniel Godward, Joelle Koissi, Dan Burman, Marc Zammit, Mohammed Ali)

Stereo

A small-town motorcycle mechanic finds his past comes back to haunt him.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2014; Director: Maximilian Erlenwein; Writer: Maximilian Erlenwein; Stars: Jürgen Vogel, Moritz Bleibtreu, Petra Schmidt-Schaller, Georg Friedrich, Rainer Bock, Adrian Can)

Sunday Ball (Campo de jogo)

Review preview for Sunday Ball

I’ll stick my neck out, Brian, and predict that this young lad’s got a bright future as a director.

Jeff Robson · 3 out of 5
As the World Cup in Brazil reaches a climax, a very different final is taking place just down the road…

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2014; Director: Eryk Rocha; Writer: Juan Posadas, Eryk Rocha)

Full review

White God (Fehér isten)

A girl goes in search of her pet dog.

(Country: Hungary, Germany, Sweden; Year: 2014; Director: Kornél Mundruczó; Writer: Kornél Mundruczó, Viktória Petrányi, Kata Wéber; Stars: Zsófia Psotta, Sándor Zsótér, Lili Horváth, Szabolcs Thuróczy, Lili Monori, Gergely Bánki, Tamás Polgár, Orsolya Tóth, Kornél Mundruczó, Natasa Stork, János Derzsi, Péter Gothár, Ervin Nagy, Alexandra Gallusz, László Gálffi)