Skip to main content

London Film Festival · 2015

London Film Festival 2015

Debate

Programme

20 films · 11 reviews

Jump to a film

The Apostate (El apóstata)

Review preview for The Apostate

It's light tone and sprightly 80-minute length belie the depth of Veiroj's film, which is almost bursting at the seams with ideas about self-definition.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The tale of a man desperate to escape the faith passed down from his parents as he looks back over his past, his scars, the marks left by guilt and desire.

(Country: France, Spain, Uruguay; Year: 2015; Director: Federico Veiroj; Writer: Gonzalo Delgado, Álvaro Ogalla, Nicolás Saad, Federico Veiroj; Stars: Alvaro Ogalla, Bárbara Lennie, Marta Larralde, Vicky Peña, Joaquín Climent, Jaime Chávarri, Kaiet Rodríguez, Juan Calot, Alvaro Ogalla, Israel Fernández, Rafael Rodríguez Hidalgo)

Full review

Arianna

As a new year dawns, a woman living in a fishing village decides to start a new life.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2013; Director: Alessandro Scippa; Writer: Alessandro Scippa, Antonio Cervellino; Stars: Giovanna Giuliani, Nanni Mayer, Cloris Brosca )

Chronic

The story of a home care nurse working with terminally ill people.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Michel Franco; Writer: Michel Franco; Stars: Tim Roth, Bitsie Tulloch, David Dastmalchian, Claire van der Boom, Sarah Sutherland, Tate Ellington, Joe Santos)

The Club (El Club)

Review preview for The Club

Larraín's judgement when it comes is fiercely Old Testament - harsh, unexpected and fast.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A group of priests of various ages lives together with Mónica, a nun, in a house on the Chilean coast. When they are not praying and atoning for their sins, they train their greyhound for the next race.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2015; Director: Pablo Larraín; Writer: Guillermo Calderón, Daniel Villalobos; Stars: Roberto Farías, Antonia Zegers, Alfredo Castro, Alejandro Goic, Alejandro Sieveking, Jaime Vadell, Marcelo Alonso, Jose Soza) , Trailer

Full review

Dégradé

Comedy set in a beauty parlour on the Gaza Strip.

(Country: France, Lebanon, Occupied Palestinian Territory; Year: 2015; Director: Arab Nasser, Tarzan Nasser; Writer: Arab Nasser, Tarzan Nasser; Stars: Hiam Abbass, Raya Khatib, Maisa Abdelhadi, Dina Simon, Raneem Daoud, Manal Awad)

The Hard Stop

Review preview for The Hard Stop

Two docs for the price of one? Both would have been better on their own

Angus Wolfe Murray · 2.5 out of 5
Documentary about the death of Mark Duggan and the difficulty of finding work for young black men in Tottenham

(Country: UK; Year: 2015; Director: George Amponsah; Writer: George Amponsah, Dionne Walker; Stars: Marcus Knox Hooke, Kurtis Henville)

Full review

Man For All Seasons

The story of Thomas More.

(Country: UK; Year: 1966; Director: Fred Zinnemann; Writer: Robert Bolt, Robert Bolt; Stars: Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern, Robert Shaw, Orson Welles, Susannah York, Nigel Davenport, John Hurt, Corin Redgrave, Colin Blakely, Cyril Luckham, Jack Gwillim, Thomas Heathcote, Yootha Joyce, Anthony Nicholls)

The Measure Of A Man (La Loi Du marché, A Simple Man)

Review preview for The Measure Of A Man

Stephane Brizé is a master of films that appear to say very little but actually speak volumes.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A supermarket guard faces a moral quandry.

(Country: France; Year: 2015; Director: Stéphane Brizé; Writer: Stéphane Brizé, Olivier Gorce; Stars: Vincent Lindon, Karine de Mirbeck, Matthieu Schaller)

Full review See: Interview with Vincent Lindon about The Measure Of A Man , Interview with Vincent Lindon about his career

Mediterranea

Drama tracking African migrants in Italy.

(Country: Germany, US, UK, France, Italy; Year: 2015; Director: Jonas Carpignano; Writer: Jonas Carpignano; Stars: Koudous Seihon, Alassane Sy, Joy Odundia, Vincenzina Siciliano, Sinka Bourehima, Mimma Papasergio, Koffi Appiah, Annalisa Spirli, Pomodoro, Susannah Amato, Pio Amato, Aisha, Adam Gnegne, Ernest Zire, Mary Elizabeth Innocence)

The Memory Of Justice (Nicht schuldig?)

Documentary exploring wartime atrocities.

(Country: UK, US, France, West Germany; Year: 1976; Director: Marcel Ophüls; Writer: Marcel Ophüls; Stars: Joan Baez, Karl Dönitz, Edgar Faure, John Kenneth Galbraith, Hermann Göring, Johanna Hofer, Beate Klarsfeld, Serge Klarsfeld, Eugen Kogon, Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff, Yehudi Menuhin, Alexander Mitscherlich, Margarete Mitscherlich-Nielsen, Albert Speer, Telford Taylor)

Much Loved

Marrakech today. Noha, Randa, Soukaina, Hlima and others live a life of ‘love for sale’.

(Country: Morocco, France; Year: 2015; Director: Nabil Ayouch; Stars: Loubna Abidar, Asmaa Lazrak, Hlima Karaouane Sara, Elmhamdi Elalaoui)

My Nazi Legacy (A Nazi Legacy: What Our Fathers Did)

Review preview for My Nazi Legacy

Serves as a timely reminder of how keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive, and preventing another one from happening again, will require constant vigilance.

Owen Van Spall · 4 out of 5
A lawyer becomes fascinated with two men: both sons of famous Nazi Generals, and both with polar opposite views of their fathers’ hand in the war.

(Country: UK; Year: 2015; Director: David Evans; Writer: Philippe Sands)

Full review See: David Evans and Philippe Sands in conversation on My Nazi Legacy

Nasty Baby

Review preview for Nasty Baby

It either, depending on how open you are to it, completely goes off the rails in the final 20 minutes and destroys its credibility, or instead delivers a provocative moral twist

Owen Van Spall · 3 out of 5
A gay couple try to have a baby with the help of their best friend... but trouble lies ahead.

(Country: US, Chile; Year: 2015; Director: Sebastián Silva; Writer: Sebastián Silva; Stars: Kristen Wiig, Alia Shawkat, Mark Margolis, Reg E. Cathey, Judy Marte, Sebastián Silva, Toni D'Antonio, Anthony Chisholm, Agustín Silva, Neal Huff, Tunde Adebimpe, Cruz Rodriguez, William Oliver Watkins, Emily Ann Garcia) , Trailer

Full review See: Keeping score: Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurrians talk about Last Days In The Desert, Enemy and Wolfpack

Paulina (La Patota)

Review preview for Paulina

Fonzi's performance is perfectly judged.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A young woman survives a rape and her response confounds everyone around her.

(Country: Argentina, Brazil, France; Year: 2015; Director: Santiago Mitre; Writer: Eduardo Borrás, Mariano Llinás, Santiago Mitre, Daniel Tinayre; Stars: Dolores Fonzi, Oscar Martínez, Esteban Lamothe)

Full review

The People Vs Fritz Bauer (Der Staat Gegen Fritz Bauer)

Review preview for The People Vs Fritz Bauer

There are elements of courthouse film and elements of police procedural here, but the overall mood is closer to that of a Cold War spy thriller.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A portrait of Fritz Bauer, a man who defied his own government in working with Mossad to track down Adolf Eichmann.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2015; Director: Lars Kraume; Writer: Lars Kraume, Olivier Guez; Stars: Burghart Klaußner, Ronald Zehrfeld, Sebastian Blomberg)

Full review

The Program

Review preview for The Program

A clear, clean picture without tricks

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
A journalist tries to prove Lance Armstrong is a cheat.

(Country: UK, France; Year: 2015; Director: Stephen Frears; Writer: John Hodge, based on the book by David Walsh; Stars: Ben Foster, Chris O'Dowd, Jesse Plemons, Guillaume Canet, Dustin Hoffman, Lee Pace, Bryan Greenberg, Elaine Cassidy)

Full review

Salaam Bombay!

Story of a street kid abandoned by his mum.

(Country: UK, India, France; Year: 1988; Director: Mira Nair; Writer: Hriday Lani, Mira Nair, Sooni Taraporevala, Sooni Taraporevala; Stars: Shafiq Syed, Hansa Vithal, Chanda Sharma, Raghuvir Yadav, Anita Kanwar, Nana Patekar, Anjaan, Amrit Patel, Murari Sharma, Ram Moorti, Sarfuddin Qureshi, Raju Barnad, Irshad Hashmi, Mohanraj Babu, Chandrashekhar Naidu)

Taklub (Trap)

The story of the survivors of supertyphoon Yolanda in Tacloban

(Country: Philippines; Year: 2015; Director: Brillante Mendoza; Writer: Honee Alipio; Stars: Nora Aunor, Julio Diaz, Lou Veloso, Ruby Ruiz, Soliman Cruz, Romalito Mallari)

Taxi Tehran

Review preview for Taxi Tehran

It’s a wonderfully subversive act...but on its own merits (which I’m sure is how Panahi would want it to be judged) it seemed to me overlong, repetitive and self-indulgent.

Jeff Robson · 2.5 out of 5
An Iranian director forbidden to make movies works as a taxi driver, and installs hidden cameras in his cab…

(Country: Iran ; Year: 2015; Director: Jafar Pahani; Writer: Jafar Panahi; Stars: Jafar Panahi)

Full review

(T)error

Review preview for (T)error

What unfolds is a comedy of (t)errors with a central character who shifts very quickly between dubious but likeable guy, buffoon and sociopath.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
The first film to document on camera a covert counterterrorism sting as it unfolds.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Lyric R. Cabral, David Felix Sutcliffe)

Full review