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Festival coverage

London Film Festival

2 October – 13 October 2019

Returning for its 63rd edition from October 2 to 13, the London Film Festival opened with Armando Iannucci's The Personal History of David Copperfield and closes with Martin Scorcese's The Irishman. The full programme will be announced on August 29.

Other years (21)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom
    Review preview for Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom

    The sort of film that the word "charmer" was made for.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    A young teacher is sent to the most remote school in the world, where he finds himself undergoing a transformation.
  • The Deathless Woman
    Review preview for The Deathless Woman

    An opportunity for the Roma to take command of the telling of their own story.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Exploring the hidden history of the Nazi genocide of the Roma.
  • Our Ladies
    Review preview for Our Ladies

    It feels a bit like a box-ticking exercise at a funding body.

    Andrew Robertson · 2 out of 5
    Comedy drama sees a group of choirgirls on a day trip to Edinburgh.
  • Deerskin
    Review preview for Deerskin

    The director proves a master of the tragicomic as he observes one man's slip from midlife crisis to madness by way of obsession.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    Georges, 44, and his jacket, 100 per cent deerskin, have a plan.
  • Martin Eden
    Review preview for Martin Eden

    Luca Marinelli is excellent in the lead, balancing intensity with intelligence, convincing at every stage of Martin's journey.

    Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
    A man struggles to better his circumstances, motivated by his love for a woman from a bourgeois family.
  • Lingua Franca
    Review preview for Lingua Franca

    Ably performed all round, with a strong turn from Sandoval in the lead, this is a timely reflection on how it feels to be an outsider in the land of the free.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    An undocumented Filipina trans woman, who works as a caregiver in Brooklyn, develops a connection with the grandson of her employer.
  • Two Of Us
    Review preview for Two Of Us

    Two of Us jolts the senses - you can smell when the hot pan stays on the stove too long and want to interfere.

    Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
    Two retired women, who have been in a secret relationship for decades, find their relationship turned upside down when the truth begins to come out.
  • Savage
    Review preview for Savage

    Although as a genre cinema, Kelly's film fits into the current wave of new gangster cinema, one cannot help but feel that the creator wanted to put a little too much into his work.

    Mateusz Tarwacki · 2 out of 5
    Hard-hitting drama tracks the three decades that shaped the feared leader of a biker gang.
  • The Painted Bird
    Review preview for The Painted Bird

    Smutný gives us faces that will stories even when they're still, the weight of long experience etched into every line.

    Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
    A lone Jewish boy has to fend for himself in Nazi-occupied eastern Europe.
  • Color Out Of Space
    Review preview for Color Out Of Space

    The mood here is increasingly grim.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    A meteorite lands in the frontyard of a family who have moved to a farm... and begins to mutate everything it touches.

A–Z of London Film Festival 2019 reviews

Features

  • An imaginative journey
    Anthony McCarten on The Two Popes, Andy Warhol, and his worship trilogy
  • Looking for justice
    Jayro Bustamante in conversation on justice, Guatemala and the women in La Llorona
  • A Mayan princess
    Jayro Bustamante on seeing a legend differently in La Llorona
  • Secrets you know
    Barbara Sukowa and Filippo Meneghetti on Two Of Us
  • Hiding and seeking
    Filippo Meneghetti on Two Of Us and working with Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier
  • Another layer
    Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles on Udo Kier, Alli Willow and Bacurau
  • A heightened state
    Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles on Mad Max, Blade Runner and the politics of water in Bacurau
  • Immerse yourself
    Alla Kovgan on Merce Cunningham, Robert Rauschenberg, Rei Kawakubo and the 3D for Cunningham
  • The turning point
    Wendy Makkena on Tom Hanks, Chris Cooper and Matthew Rhys in A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood
  • Playing with the meanings
    Jan Komasa on Andrey Zvyagintsev, Corpus Christi, Bartosz Bielenia and Christopher Walken
  • Engaging Martin Scorsese
    Gay Talese on Martin Scorsese and The Irishman
  • A contemporary character
    Pietro Marcello on his film of Martin Eden and Jack London’s novel
  • Diversity Rocks
    Sarah Gavron and Theresa Ikoko on capturing the teenage spirit and pushing the industry forward
  • The making of a hybrid
    Bertrand Bonello on histories and Zombi Child
  • Celebrating sisterhood
    Theresa Ikoko and Sarah Gavron on developing Rocks
  • A world of friendship
    Nichola Burley and Roxanne Scrimshaw talk about living the dream and creating characters in Lynn + Lucy
  • Social insecurity
    Director Fyzal Boulifa on capturing a working-class world in Lynn + Lucy and street casting his star
  • Kisses from the baby
    Penélope Cruz, Édgar Ramírez and Olivier Assayas on baby kisses and Wasp Network
  • Fulfilling their destiny
    Sônia Braga on Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles' Bacurau
  • The life they're in
    Martin Scorsese on moral choices, human nature and The Irishman

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