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London Film Festival · 2017

London Film Festival 2017

Special Presentations

Programme

8 films · 4 reviews

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Dark River

Two siblings struggle to come to terms with their inheritance.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Clio Barnard; Writer: Clio Barnard, inspired by Rose Tremain's The Trespass; Stars: Ruth Wilson, Mark Stanley, Sean Bean, Esme Creed-Miles, Aiden McCullough, Shane Attwooll, Steve Garti, Una McNulty, Jonah Russell, Paul Roberson, William Travis, Chris Abe)

A Fantastic Woman (Una mujer fantástica)

Review preview for A Fantastic Woman

Lelio makes no bones about how he wants us to feel, to the point where it sometimes feels as though he is stating the obvious is six-foot neon letters.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A transgender woman fights for the right to grieve after the death of her partner.

(Country: Chile, Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Sebastián Lelio; Writer: Sebastián Lelio, Gonzalo Maza; Stars: Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes, Luis Gnecco, Aline Küppenheim, Amparo Noguera)

Full review

The Final Year

Review preview for The Final Year

At its best, this is a film that has something to say about democracy itself.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
The final year of President Obama's foreign policy administration.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Greg Barker)

Full review

Happy End

Review preview for Happy End

Haneke is a master of his material, revealing just enough to keep the viewer on tenterhooks but not enough to give an easy explanations.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
Story of a bourgeois family, set against the backdrop of the Calais refugee crisis.

(Country: France, Germany, Austria; Year: 2017; Director: Michael Haneke; Writer: Michael Haneke; Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Toby Jones, Mathieu Kassovitz, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Fantine Harduin, Loubna Abidar, Dominique Besnehard, Jack Claudany, Hassam Ghancy, Nabiha Akkari, Franck Andrieux, Jackee Toto)

Full review

Looking For Oum Kulthum

Mitra is an ambitious artist ho embarks on her dream project of making a film about the legendary Egyptian singer and diva Oum Kulthum.

(Country: Germany, Italy, Austria, Morocco; Year: 2017; Director: Shirin Neshat, Shoja Azari; Writer: Shoja Azari, Ahmad Diba, Shirin Neshat; Stars: Neda Rahmanian, Yasmin Raeis, Mehdi Moinzadeh, Kais Nashif, Soumaya Akaaboune, Rainer Guldener, Najia Skalli, Nadia Niazi, Nadia Benzakour, Eric Cuvelier, Rodin Hamidi, Jalil Tijani, Nour Kamar, Bandar Atifi, Mohammed Bouih)

Mindhunter

Crime procedural, based on the men who first coined the term 'serial killer'.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: David Fincher; Writer: John Douglas, Joe Penhall; Stars: Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, Anna Torv, Hannah Gross)

The Party

A celebration goes awry.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Sally Potter; Writer: Sally Potter; Stars: Cillian Murphy, Emily Mortimer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Timothy Spall, Patricia Clarkson, Cherry Jones, Bruno Ganz)

Zama

Review preview for Zama

This is a very particular film - one where particles of detail crystallise into observation, meaning and import accreting like nacre around grit, producing a pearl, a natural jewel.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A 17th century army officer in Ascuncion, awaits transfer to Buenos Aires.

(Country: Argentina, Spain, France, Netherlands, US, Brazil, Mexico, Portugal, Lebanon, Switzerland; Year: 2017; Director: Lucrecia Martel; Writer: Antonio Di Benedetto, Lucrecia Martel; Stars: Daniel Giménez Cacho, Lola Dueñas, Matheus Nachtergaele, Juan Minujín, Rafael Spregelburd, Nahuel Cano, Daniel Veronese, Mariana Nunes, Carlos Defeo)

Full review