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London Film Festival · 2022

London Film Festival 2022

First Feature Competition

Programme

8 films · 4 reviews

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1976 (Chile, '76)

Review preview for 1976

Martelli carefully crafts an air of almost casual dread.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A woman finds herself dicing with danger after she is asked for help.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2022; Director: Manuela Martelli; Writer: Manuela Martelli, Alejandra Moffat; Stars: Aline Küppenheim, Alejandro Goic)

Full review See: Manuela Martelli on revisiting the past in 1976

Blue Jean

Review preview for Blue Jean

Everything about McEwen’s performance sings with stress, from the way she reacts to casual comments to the manner in which she lights increasing numbers of cigarettes.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A schoolteacher is forced to live a double life against the backdrop of Thatcher's Britain.

(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Georgia Oakley; Writer: Georgia Oakley; Stars: Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes, Lydia Page, Stacy Abalogun, Deka Walmsley, Amy Booth-Steel, Gavin Kitchen, Farrah Cave, Lucy Halliday, Lainey Shaw, Aoife Kennan, Elizabeth Shaw, Edmund Wiseman, Emily Fairweather, Kate Soulsby)

Full review

Jeong-Sun

A factory worker finds herself a victim of cyberbullying.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2022; Director: Jihye Jeong; Writer: Jihye Jeong; Stars: Geum-Soon Kim, Geumseona Yoon)

Joyland

Review preview for Joyland

It is not so much individual people who cause the problems but rather the constricting cultural circumstances that dictate everyone must play their allocated role.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
As the Ranas, a happily patriarchal joint family, yearn for the birth of a baby boy to continue the family line, their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theater and falls for an ambitious trans starlet. Their impossible love story illuminates the entire family's desire for a sexual rebellion.

(Country: Pakistan; Year: 2022; Director: Saim Sadiq; Writer: Saim Sadiq; Stars: Sana Jafri, Ali Junejo)

Full review See: Sounding it out - Nathan Ruyle on the new revolution in sound design , Oliver Ridge on Joyland and the Corner Office

Medusa Deluxe

Review preview for Medusa Deluxe

While the choreography of all this is audacious, Hardiman is equally interested in dialogue. He loves an intricately worked sentence as much as a finely coiffed barnet.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A murder mystery set in a competitive hairdressing competition.

(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Thomas Hardiman; Writer: Thomas Hardiman; Stars: Clare Perkins, Kayla Meikle, Darrell D'Silva, Anita-Joy Uwajeh, Kae Alexander, Heider Ali, Luke Pasqualino, Debris Stevenson, Lilit Lesser)

Full review

Our Lady Of The Chinese Shop

A plastic statue of the Virgin Mary creates unexpected changes to the lives of those who encounter it on the streets of Luanda.

(Country: Angola; Year: 2022; Director: Ery Claver; Writer: Ery Claver; Stars: Cláudia Púcuta, David Caracol, Willi Ribeiro, Meili Li)

Robe Of Gems

Isabel and her family take possession of her mother’s villa in rural Mexico where they reconnect with their long-time domestic worker Mari, whose sister has disappeared.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2022; Director: Natalia López; Writer: Natalia López; Stars: Nailea Norvind, Antonia Olivares, Mónica Poggio, Aida Roa, Juan Daniel García Treviño)

Rodeo

Drama about a young woman in an underground dirt bike community.

(Year: 2022; Director: Lola Quivoron)