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London Film Festival · 2017

London Film Festival 2017

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Programme

24 films · 9 reviews

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9 Fingers

A man on the run falls in with a gang - becoming their hostage and accomplice.

(Country: France, Portugal; Year: 2017; Director: FJ Ossang; Writer: FJ Ossang; Stars: Damien Bonnard, Diogo Dória, Elvire, Pascal Greggory, Paul Hamy, Lisa Hartmann, Susana Afonso Lopes, Alexis Manenti, Lionel Tua, Gaspard Ulliel)

Abracadabra

A housewife struggles after her husband becomes possessed by a ghost.

(Country: Spain, France, Belgium; Year: 2017; Director: Pablo Berger; Writer: Pablo Berger; Stars: Maribel Verdú, Antonio de la Torre, Priscilla Delgado, Javier Antón, Bea de la Cruz, Rocío Calvo, José Mota, Nacho Marraco, Paco Churruca, Victoria Sáez, Fabia Castro, Mario Alonso, Josep Maria Pou, Malena Gutiérrez, Janfri Topera)

April's Daughter

After a teenager falls pregnant, her half-sister calls their long-absent mother, sparking trouble.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2017; Director: Michel Franco; Writer: Michel Franco; Stars: Emma Suárez, Hernán Mendoza, Joanna Larequi, Enrique Arrizon, Ivan Cortes)

Beach Rats

Review preview for Beach Rats

British actor Dickinson – surely on the first step to a lot more film roles – slides seamlessly into Frankie’s groove, the accent and the body language spot on.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A Brooklyn teen struggles with his sexuality.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Eliza Hittman; Writer: Eliza Hittman; Stars: Harris Dickinson, Madeline Weinstein, Kate Hodge, Neal Huff)

Full review

Casting

Drama about the casting of a Fassbinder remake.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Nicolas Wackerbarth; Writer: Johannes Held, Nicolas Wackerbarth; Stars: Andrea Sawatzki, Ursina Lardi, Andreas Lust, Corinna Kirchhoff, Markus von Lingen, Marie-Lou Sellem, Stephan Grossmann, Milena Dreißig, Victoria Trauttmansdorff, Toby Ashraf, Judith Engel)

The Ciambra (A Ciambra)

Review preview for The Ciambra

Carpignano is interested in the margins - and the fringes of those margins.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A teenager faces choices as he comes of age.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Jonas Carpignano; Writer: Jonas Carpignano; Stars: Pio Amato, Koudous Seihon, Damiano Amato, Francesco Pio Amato, Iolanda Amato, Patrizia Amato, Rocco Amato, Susanna Amato) , Trailer

Full review

El Mar La Mar

The Sonoran Desert between Mexico and the USA: 16mm footage of vegetation, weather phenomena, animals, people and the traces they leave behind merge with a polyphonic soundtrack to create a panoramic study of a highly politicised landscape.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Joshua Bonnetta, JP Sniadecki)

Funeral Parade Of Roses (Bara No Sôretsu)

Review preview for Funeral Parade Of Roses

A predictable twist on the old Greek legend.

Merlin Harries · 3 out of 5
Sixties Japanese avante garde take on the Oedipus legend.

(Country: Japan; Year: 1969; Director: Toshio Matsumoto; Writer: Toshio Matsumoto; Stars: Shotari Akiyama, Kiyoshi Awazu, Emiko Azuma, Chieko Kobayashi, Don Madrid, Osamu Ogasawaro, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Furamenko Umeji)

Full review

Giant (Handia)

Review preview for Giant

The story, built on the shifting relationship between the two brothers, holds considerable interest, even though the plot starts to ramble.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Two brothers find their relationship tested after one of them becomes a magnet for attention because of his gigantism.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2017; Director: Aitor Arregi, Jon Garano; Writer: Aitor Arregi, Jon Garano, Jose Mari Goenaga; Stars: Eneko Sagardoy, Joseba Usabiaga, Iñigo Aranburu, Ramon Agirre, Aia Kruse)

Full review

Grain (Bugday)

In a dystopian future, mankind faces extinction.

(Country: Turkey, Germany, France, Sweden; Year: 2017; Director: Semih Kaplanoglu; Writer: Leyla Ipekci, Semih Kaplanoglu; Stars: Jean-Marc Barr, Ermin Bravo, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Lubna Azabal, Cristina Flutur, Mila Böhning, Hal Yamanouchi, Jarreth J. Merz, Nike Maria Vassil, Rainer Steffen, Hoji Fortuna, Garrett Thierry, Brett Storm, LaTrallo Presley, Mehmet Yilmaz Ak)

Have A Nice Day (Hao ji le)

A bag containing a million yuan draws several people from diverse backgrounds with different personal motives into a bloody conflict.

(Country: China; Year: 2017; Director: Liu Jian)

The Hungry

Adaptation of Titus Andronicus set in modern New Delhi.

(Country: India; Year: 2017; Director: Bornila Chatterjee; Writer: Bornila Chatterjee, Tanaji Dasgupta, Kurban Kassam, Ashish Verma; Stars: Naseeruddin Shah, Tisca Chopra, Antonio Aakeel, Neeraj Kabi, Sayani Gupta, Arjun Gupta, Suraj Sharma, Karan Pandit, Jayant Kripalani, Savita Rani)

Life Guidance

The film is set in the near future, in a world of perfect capitalism. Society is sustained by a class of top achievers; meanwhile, so-called minimum recipients live under sedation in Fortresses of Sleep. But one day, one man begins to rebel.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2017; Director: Ruth Mader; Stars: Kristina Bangert, Rainer Egger, Arno Frisch, Nicolas Jarosch, Fritz Karl, Peter Knaack, Katharina Lorenz, Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, Petra Morzé, Martin Niedermair, Johann Adam Oest, Udo Samel, Alexander Stecher, Alexander Strobele, Florian Teichtmeister)

Little Crusader (Křižáček)

Little Jan, the only descendant of the knight Bořek (Karel Roden), has run away from home. His anxious father sets out to find him but his despair at the fruitless search gradually starts to overpower him.

(Country: Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Italy; Year: 2017; Director: Václav Kadrnka)

L'Amant Double (Double Lover)

Review preview for L'Amant Double

If there is rather more surface than substance and the ending is signposted, it is a surface full of intricacy and a signpost of admirable elegance.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A fragile young woman falls for her psychotherapist... and his twin.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: François Ozon; Writer: François Ozon; Stars: Jacqueline Bisset, Marine Vacth, Jérémie Renier)

Full review

Strand gala

The L-Shaped Room

A young pregnant woman finds companionship in a seedy London boarding house.

(Country: UK; Year: 1962; Director: Bryan Forbes; Writer: Lynne Reid Banks, Bryan Forbes; Stars: Leslie Caron, Anthony Booth, Avis Bunnage, Patricia Phoenix, Verity Edmett, Tom Bell, Cicely Courtneidge, Harry Locke, Ellen Dryden, Emlyn Williams, Jennifer White, Brock Peters, Gerry Duggan, Joan Ingram, Mark Eden)

Mademoiselle Paradis (Licht)

A blind pianist in 18th century Vienna faces a quandry as she tries to regain her sight.

(Country: Germany, Austria; Year: 2017; Director: Barbara Albert; Writer: Kathrin Resetarits, Alissa Walser; Stars: Susanne Wuest, Maria-Victoria Dragus, Devid Striesow, Stefanie Reinsperger, Lukas Miko, Theresa Martini, Sascha Merényi, Katja Kolm, Thomas Anton, Julia Pointner, Attila Beke)

Mutafukaz

Anime about a pizza delivery guy leaving in Dark Meat City.

(Country: Japan, France; Year: 2017; Director: Shoujirou Nishimi, Guillaume Renard; Writer: Guillaume Renard)

The Nothing Factory (A Fábrica De Nada)

One night, a group of workers realizes that the administration is stealing machines and raw materials from their own factory, forcing the staff to take a stand.

(Country: Portugal; Year: 2017; Director: Pedro Pinho; Writer: Tiago Hespanha, Luisa Homem, Leonor Noivo, Pedro Pinho, Jorge Silva Melo; Stars: Carla Galvão, Dinis Gomes, Américo Silva, José Smith Vargas)

So Help Me God (Ni juge, ni soumise)

Review preview for So Help Me God

A vivid illustration of just how close life can come to mockumentary when you start to scrutinise it.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
The extraordinary, offbeat judge Anne Gruwez takes us behind the scenes of real life criminal investigations.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2017; Director: Yves Hinant, Jean Libon; Writer: Yves Hinant, Jean Libon; Stars: Anne Gruwez)

Full review

Sicilian Ghost Story

Review preview for Sicilian Ghost Story

It avoids every cliche laid down in the history of search-and-rescue movies

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
When a boy disappears, a young girl goes looking for him in the dark world that has swallowed him.

(Country: Italy, France, Switzerland; Year: 2017; Director: Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza; Writer: Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza, based on a story from the book by Marco Mancassola; Stars: Julia Jedlikowska, Gaetano Fernandez, Corinne Musallari, Andrea Falzone, Frederico Finocchiaro, Lorenzo Amato, Filippo Luna)

Full review

A Skin So Soft (Ta peau si lisse)

Review preview for A Skin So Soft

By simply observing the men as they move around, the film avoids over-interpretation, working hard to leave space for each person watching to find their own narrative as to why each man might have chosen this sport.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Documentary about bodybuilders.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2017; Director: Denis Côté; Writer: Denis Côté; Stars: Jean-François Bouchard, Cédric Doyon, Benoit Lapierre, Maxim Lemire, Alexis Légaré, Ronald Yang)

Full review See: Denis Côté interview about Vic + Flo Saw A Bear

Tiger Girl

Margarete’s life is turned upside down when tough girl Tiger appears and starts saving her from pushy men... but things soon turn criminal.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Jakob Lass; Writer: Jakob Lass, Eva-Maria Reimer, Ines Schiller, Nicholas Woche; Stars: Ella Rumpf, Maria-Victoria Dragus, Enno Trebs, Orce Feldschau, Benjamin Lutzke, Franz Rogowski, Ulrik Bruchholz, Lana Cooper, Robert Gwisdek, Robert Maaser, Joshua Grothe, Eskindir Tesfay, Lucas Englander, Kristin Suckow, Franziska Arnold)

Western

Review preview for Western

It quite subtly toys with the iconography of the genre - poking at the outlying parts of it, the parts dealing with "foreigness" and "home" rather than the more dependable elements of right and wrong.

Rory Ford · 3.5 out of 5
A group of German construction workers on a job in Bulgaria begin to compete for the approval of the locals.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Valeska Grisebach; Writer: Valeska Grisebach; Stars: Meinhard Neumann, Reinhardt Wetrek, Waldemar Zang, Detlef Schaich)

Full review