61st BFI London Film Festival
61st BFI London Film Festival
October 4th-15th, 2017
Various London Venues
by Joanna Orland and Richard Hamer
The 2017 BFI London Film Festival brought world famous movie stars, European premieres, and cinematic highlights from Cannes, Venice, TIFF and Sundance to the UK capital. Alongside showcasing a handful of the best from other fests, this year’s LFF held its own with its unique programming selection, particularly when featuring select British films.
The films on display featured a number of industry veterans, while the festival opened with Andy Serkis’ directorial debut Breathe. The highlights of the festival included The Shape of Water – Guillermo del Toro’s Golden Lion winning fairy tale, closing film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Martin McDonagh’s sharp comic drama, Call Me By Your Name – Luca Guadagnino’s lush love story, The Florida Project – Sean Baker’s hilarious yet harrowing Tangerine follow up, A Fantastic Woman – a subtle character and sociopolitical study, Ingrid Goes West – a scathing and hilarious satire, The Killing of a Sacred Deer – a masterful psychological horror by Yorgos Lanthimos, and Netflix’s The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected).
View our LFF photo gallery & video gallery
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120 BPM (Beats Per Minute)
120 Battements par minute
Directed by Robin Campillo
Starring Nahuel Perez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adele Haenel, Antoine Reinartz, Felix Maritaud, Ariel Borenstein…
Death is a part of life, but for the those diagnosed as HIV-positive in the early 90’s, death was an imminent part of life; an inevitable fate rushing towards them, taking their friends one by one. A powerful account of AIDS activist group ACT UP in Paris in the early 1990’s, 120 BPM was deservedly awarded the Grand Prix at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. Screenwriter turned director Robin Campillo draws from his personal experience to tell the story, with a vibrant ensemble cast and a harrowing portrayal of a modern day plague… read more
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A Fantastic Woman (Una Mujer Fantástica)
Directed by Sebastián Lelio
Starring Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes, Luis Gnecco, Aline Küppenheim, Nicolás Saavedra and Amparo Noguera
“Saying goodbye to a loved one when he dies is a basic human right, isn’t it?” Marina asks. As she is denied this right, an overt allegory of trans rights and treatment in modern society unfolds in A Fantastic Woman. It is a story not only of prejudice, but of grief, in which a transgender woman’s feelings are not only denied, but so is her right to exist… read more
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Abu
Directed by Arshad Khan
Abu is an ambitious documentary detailing filmmaker Arshad Khan’s life, as well as serving as an ode to his late father. Arshad’s background is rather complex, having faced the challenge of growing up gay in a Muslim family in Pakistan, later immigrating to Canada. Using footage of home movies alongside various film clips, Arshad’s narration is overlaid, recounting his entire personal history. There is so much to discuss it feels as if his story is actually too grand for an 80-minute documentary that’s supposed to be focused on his father, a subject from which it mostly strays… read more
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Bad Genius
Directed by Nattawut Poonpiriya
Starring Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying and Chanon Santinatornkul
There are certain movies where you can tell, from the premise alone, whether you’ll enjoy them. Bad Genius, for example, is a Thai, high-school heist thriller, except instead of trying to rob a bank, a bunch of kids are trying to cheat on their university entrance exams. If this conjures up fevered images of pulse-pounding, last minute exam paper switches and elaborate, hand-signal based mass-cheating systems, then you will love this movie… read more
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Blade of the Immortal (Mugen no jûnin)
Directed by Takashi Miike
Starring Takuya Kimura, Hana Sugisaki, Sota Fukushi, Ebizo Ichikawa, Hayato Ichihara, Erika Toda, Min Tanaka…
Marking Takashi Miike’s 100th film, Blade of the Immortal is a stylish swashbuckling samurai film which brings the Manga comic its adapted from to life. The story is reminiscent of Wolverine’s last outing Logan, in that Manji (Takuya Kimura) is a self-healing blade-wielding hero acting as a bodyguard to a young girl, one he sees as a surrogate sister. The similarities end there, as while Logan attempted to bring a seriousness to comic lore, Blade of the Immortal remains tongue in cheek… read more
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Brawl in Cell Block 99
Directed by S. Craig Zahler
Starring Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter, Don Johnson, Marc Blucas, Udo Kier and Fred Melamed
At first, I thought that Brawl in Cell Block 99 didn’t have enough brawls. Or if there were enough brawls – and don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of brawls – it’s that the average length, and number of opponents per brawl doesn’t ramp up over time in a sufficiently satisfactory manner. But in fact, the ratio of brawls to non-brawls isn’t a problem; it’s all part of a masterfully crafted trick. It’s the same trick that director S. Craig Zahler pulled in his previous outing Bone Tomahawk, and it’s the reason he’s one of the most exciting horror directors in Hollywood today: he takes his time… read more
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Breathe
Directed by Andy Serkis
Starring Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hollander and Tom Hollander
It goes against expectation that Andy Serkis has chosen Breathe as his directorial debut. Known primarily for his contribution to the art of performance capture, Serkis’ company The Imaginarium was founded on the idea of technology enhancing the future of storytelling, with Serkis’ rendition of The Jungle Book set to have been his directorial debut. But stories have a way of sneaking up on you, and as soon as Serkis read the script for Breathe, he knew it had to be his first project as director… read more
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Brigsby Bear
Directed by Dave McCary
Starring Kyle Mooney, Greg Kinnear, Matt Walsh, Michaela Watkins, Mark Hamill, Ryan Simpkins…
Brigsby Bear is an absurd movie that takes itself very seriously. Good Neighbor and SNL alumnus Kyle Mooney takes the lead in the film as James – a young man who’s spent his life unwittingly held captive by a couple pretending to be his parents (Mark Hamill and Jane Adams). His fake parents had created an elaborate lie to restrict James’ contact with the outside world, going to the extent of making a TV series called ‘Brigsby Bear’ to subdue and control him… read more
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Call Me By Your Name
Directed by Luca Guadagnino
Starring Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar, Esther Garrel and Victoire Du Bois
In 1983, 17-year-old Elio Perlman is living the charmed life alongside his parents as they spend their summers and Christmases in a picturesque region of Italy. A family of intellects who fluidly manoeuvre between the use of French, Italian and English; Elio’s father is a professor of archaeology and art history, his mother an aficionado of German poetry, and Elio himself spends his spare time transcribing classical piano scores. Every summer, the family host one of professor Perlman’s students at their idyllic villa, to assist him in his research. 1983 is the year of Oliver… read more
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Downsizing
Directed by Alexander Payne
Starring Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau, Kristen Wiig, Udo Kier, Jason Sudeikis, Laura Dern…
Downsizing is a peculiar film that seems to mesh what feels like three different movies into one sprawling piece of cinema. There are brilliant comedic moments and overt sociopolitical themes throughout, keeping in the same vain as director Alexander Payne’s previous work. While Payne’s distinct sense of humour is evident in Downsizing, the film lacks the soul of his last film, Nebraska, which remains his greatest achievement… read more
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Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
Directed by Paul McGuigan
Starring Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Kenneth Cranham, Stephen Graham and Frances Barber
In 1981, decades after Hollywood star Gloria Grahame’s heyday, the Oscar winning actress finds herself in Liverpool, as she intends to live out her few remaining days there, alongside younger lover Peter Turner. Based on the memoir by Turner, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool is a tender retelling of Gloria’s last days as well as her relationship with Peter… read more
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The talent behind Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool arrived on the red carpet to present their film at the 61st BFI London Film Festival.
View our red carpet coverage.
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Foxtrot
Directed by Samuel Maoz
Starring Lior Ashkenazi, Sarah Adler and Yonatan Shiray
‘Foxtrot’ is not only a military code word, but a dance whose steps always lead back to the first position; so we are reminded by Michael Feldman (Ashkenazi) in the film of the same name. Taking the dance metaphor to heart, Foxtrot is a movie about an inevitable dance with destiny… read more
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Gemini
Directed by Aaron Katz
Starring Lola Kirke, Zoë Kravitz and John Cho
Jill (Lola Kirke) is personal assistant and best friend to movie star Heather (Zoë Kravitz). Perpetually doing Heather’s dirty work in both her personal and professional life, Jill even goes as far as lending Heather her gun when the star feels unsafe. But when Heather is found murdered by said gun, Jill finds herself at the heart of a police investigation, both as suspect and amateur detective… read more
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Golden Exits
Directed by Alex Ross Perry
Starring Emily Browning, Adam Horovitz, Jason Schwartzman, Chloë Sevigny, Mary-Louise Parker, Lily Rabe…
Alex Ross Perry’s Golden Exits feels beautifully intimate and well observed, emerging us into Brooklyn summertime. But as a film about normal people in normal scenarios who don’t really do a fat lot, it can feel a bit of a slog to get through… read more
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Good Manners (As boas maneiras)
Directed by Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra
Starring Isabél Zuaa, Marjorie Estiano and Miguel Lobo
Not quite a fairy tale, not quite a horror movie, Good Manners brings something new to the werewolf genre. Tonally uneven, you wouldn’t expect this movie to unravel as it does – not because it’s clever, but because it evolves rather drastically across its three acts… read more
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Good Time
Directed by Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie
Starring Robert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Buddy Duress and Barkhad Abdi
Robert Pattinson comes of age as an actor in Benny and Josh Safdie’s stylishly raw thriller Good Time… read more
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Ingrid Goes West
Directed by Matt Spicer
Starring Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Wyatt Russell and Billy Magnussen
Simple, smart and funny, this dark and scathing satire on Generation Instagram is remarkably on the nose. Single White Female for the social media age, Ingrid Goes West delves a bit deeper, examining not only how we use our phones as escapism, but also how the new technology-led hipster zeitgeist is destroying our souls. The film also shallowly touches upon why we might want to live in such an escapist world, but really it’s more of a commentary on our current vacuous society… read more
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Jailbreak
Directed by Jimmy Henderson
Starring Céline Tran, Jean Paul Ly and Tharoth Sam
Constantly comparing one film to another is usually bad form, and a little unfair to one – if not both – of the parties involved. In the case of Cambodian martial-arts romp Jailbreak, comparisons to The Raid aren’t just appropriate, they’re practically invited… read more
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Last Flag Flying
Directed by Richard Linklater
Starring Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston and Laurence Fishburne
A melancholic reflection on the cost of war, Last Flag Flying is a well-intentioned film that falls flat. Led by three great actors giving decent performances; the dialogue is droll at times, but as the narrative is weak, we are left with little to be amused by… read more
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Lean on Pete
Directed by Andrew Haigh
Starring Charlie Plummer, Steve Buscemi, Chloë Sevigny and Steve Zahn
Andrew Haigh’s follow up to 45 Years is a very different sort of film. Based on the novel of the same name, this Oregan-based story of a 15-year old runaway is as dark and serious a piece of American contemporary cinema as you can get; a thoroughly unsentimental journey through the heart of the Pacific Northwest… read more
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Loving Vincent
Directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman
Starring Douglas Booth, Robert Gulaczyk, Saoirse Ronan, Chris O’Dowd and Aidan Turner
Seven years in production, requiring the talent of 115 artists, painting over 65,000 frames of footage across 900 canvases, Loving Vincent is one of the greatest technical achievements in cinematic history. This is not to be disputed. Every fact you learn of its creation beggars belief: The numbers involved dizzying and impossible; 5000 artists applied to work on the movie. All of the 200+ successful candidates had to be trained to paint like Van Gogh. The opening shot took 18 months to create. It is a product of artistic obsession that Vincent himself would have appreciated… read more
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Memoir of a Murderer (Sal-in-ja-eu ki-eok-beob)
Directed by Won Shin-yun
Starring Sul Kyung-gu, Kim Nam-gil and Kim Seol-hyun
Byung-su is a serial killer; or at least, he used to be. 17 years after his last killing, and suffering from severe dementia, he is a haunted man, living uncertainly between his present life with daughter Eun-hee and his murderous past. When several girls Eun-hee’s age are found dead, Byung-su’s grip on his memory loosens further: Can he catch the killer before his daughter comes to harm, or is he the killer? What happens in those moments when the memory fades, and time seems to skip? Where does he go?… read more
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Nico, 1988
Directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli
Starring Trine Dyrholm, John Gordon Sinclair and Anamaria Marinca
While her collaboration with The Velvet Underground was short-lived, it shrouded the rest of Nico’s musical career with the curse of the iconic. Longing to be known by her birth name Christa Päffgen, the singer spent the bulk of her career trying to escape the shadow of the band that made her famous. A frustrated artist in every sense, Nico was a very flawed individual: Abrasive, blunt, destructive, egomaniacal and a heroin addict. Nico, 1988 explores these sides to her personality in a biopic about the last few years of her life… read more
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No Stone Unturned
Directed by Alex Gibney
On the 18th of June, 1994, six men were gunned down in a small, country pub in Northern Island while they sat to watch the World Cup. Despite several arrests, and the passage of more than 20 years, nobody has ever been charged – let alone convicted – for what became known as the ‘Loughinisland Massacre’. It was an act of brutality in a period of Irish history filled with brutality; one distinguished for both its seeming randomness, and the fact that it remains unsolved… read more
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Person to Person
Directed by Dustin Guy Defa
Starring Abbi Jacobson, Michael Cera, Tavi Gevinson, Bene Coopersmith, George Sample III, Philip Baker Hall, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Michaela Watkins, Olivia Luccardi, Ben Rosenfield, Buddy Duress, Eleonore Hendricks, Benny Safdie…
A meandering but sometimes amusing character vignette set in New York City, Person to Person fails to make an impact, but has a few laughs and heartwarming moments along the way. Shot on 16mm film, the visuals are not the only retro aspect of the movie, as a dated soundtrack and old-fashioned way of storytelling prevail throughout… read more
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Pickups
Directed by Jamie Thraves
Starring Aidan Gillen, Antonia Campbell-Hughes and Camille O’Sullivan
“I’m working with Jamie, making this weird film,” says fictional Aidan in Pickups, a film where real life crosses over into fiction and vice versa. Actor Aidan Gillen plays a variation of himself, in an intensely meta film that explores the darker side of fame and the difficulty of separating the actor from his characters… read more
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Stronger
Directed by David Gordon Green
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Maslany and Miranda Richardson
On paper, Stronger seems like perfect Oscar-bait: Based on a true story of overcoming tragedy in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, the film centres on real life “hero” Jeff Bauman. Contradictory to all expectations, Stronger is not the sappy melodrama of an American hero, but rather an exploration of what it means to be labelled a ‘hero’ when becoming a victim… read more
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The Breadwinner
Directed by Nora Twomey
Starring Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya and Laara Sadiq
Parvana is an 11-year-old girl, living in Taliban-controlled Kabul with her mother, father, sister and baby brother. The father loves to tell Parvana stories, and in turn Parvana tells them to the baby: Stories of their life, their history, or of more fantastical things altogether. But when her father is arrested by the Taliban, they find themselves in an impossible position: Under Taliban law, it is illegal for females of any age to leave the house unless accompanied by a man. With the only man in the family gone, they are unable to work, buy food or even fetch water. In desperation, Parvana cuts her hair, disguises herself as a boy, and heads out into the war-torn streets to make ends meet… read more
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The Cured
Directed by David Freyne
Starring Ellen Page, Sam Keeley and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor
The Cured sucks the fun out of the zombie genre with a dire and dark social exploration. The MAZE virus has plagued humans, but there is now a cure – those who have been cured are not fully integrated back into society as prejudice causes doubts about their humanity. The film examines social attitudes to marginalized groups, as a political allegory to the Irish troubles. It’s all a bit too grand in scope for a film that hasn’t even mastered the thrill of zombies… read more
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The Florida Project
Directed by Sean Baker
Starring Willem Dafoe, Brooklynn Kimberly Prince, Bria Vinaite, Valeria Cotto, Christopher Rivera and Caleb Landry Jones
The Florida Project is a beautifully executed slice-of-life feature about children living below the poverty line. Not at all as gloomy as its premise may suggest, the film is as humourously uplifting as it is a gutting reminder of the unfortunate state of some of America’s youth. Moonee (Prince) is a blissfully happy 6 year old girl, with an unemployed mother, a motel room as a residence, and very little prospects in life. The joy and beauty of this film comes from Moonee’s own joy in life, as she and her friends don’t fully realize the direness of their situation… read more
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The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic and Alicia Silverstone
Beautifully shot with masterful tension building, The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a stunning, high end, art house horror. Director Yorgos Lanthimos carves out a unique cinematic world which falls in line with his previous The Lobster, while boldly standing on its own two feet (or four hooves if we’re going for the deer metaphor)… read more
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The Lovers
Directed by Azazel Jacobs
Starring Debra Winger, Tracy Letts, Aidan Gillen and Melora Walters
With a witty script and wonderful performances, The Lovers is a sharply observed film about love and relationships. Debra Winger and Tracy Letts star as Mary and Michael, a couple who have been married for decades and have fallen out of love with each other to the point of finding each other’s company awkward. Each are having their own affair with a younger lover, and each plan to end the marriage after a visit from their son. But, as there is clearly something attractive in the forbidden, their icy temperaments to each other begin to thaw and their relationship is passionately rekindled before it’s over… read more
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The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
Directed by Noah Baumbach
Starring Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Elizabeth Marvel, Grace Van Patten and Emma Thompson
Well written and wonderfully cast, Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) will perpetuate comparisons of the director to Woody Allen. But where Allen focuses his neuroses on romantic stories, Baumbach tends to channel his into the question of identity, and in the case of The Meyerowitz Stories – family dynamics’ role in defining who we are… read more
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Director Noah Baumbach and a select few from the cast of The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (Dustin Hoffman, Adam Sandler, Emma Thompson) visited London to present their film at the BFI London Film Festival.
View our press conference and red carpet coverage.
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The Party
Directed by Sally Potter
Starring Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz, Cherry Jones, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy, Kristin Scott Thomas…
With a running time of 71 minutes, I expected The Party to be short and sweet, not slow and acerbic. The theatrically staged film, shot in black and white, played out in real time, is not the sort of party you’d like to attend, but as an observer, it certainly is a riot… read more
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The Shape of Water
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Starring Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg and Octavia Spencer
After the unintentional knockabout comedy of Crimson Peak, and the slick blandness of Pacific Rim, it’s a pleasure to see Guillermo del Toro return to form in such triumphant fashion. While its creature design and staging evoke memories of Pan’s Labryinth or Hellboy, The Shape of Water is no retreat to past glories. Instead, it’s the work of a director who is still evolving, in a film imbued with qualities I wouldn’t necessarily associate with him: romance, sentimentality, and an almost lyrical storytelling… read more
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Thoroughbreds
Directed by Cory Finley
Starring Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy, Anton Yelchin, Paul Sparks, Francie Swift and Kaili Vernoff
An enigmatic modern noir, Thoroughbreds takes a story of teenage female friendship and turns it into something darkly fascinating. The film is carried by its two captivating leads Lily (Taylor-Joy) and Amanda (Cooke), both with strong screen presence and stoic grace. Anton Yelchin, in one of his last roles, reminds us of the lost potential his passing has left behind… read more
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Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Directed by Martin McDonagh
Starring Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, John Hawkes, Caleb Landry Jones…
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is by far Martin McDonagh’s finest film. It retains McDonagh’s classically cutting dialogue, but has a maturity about it that his previous films lack. This is a uniquely wonderful film, showing McDonagh truly coming into his own as a filmmaker… read more
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Wonderstruck
Directed by Todd Haynes
Starring Julianne Moore, Oakes Fegley, Millicent Simmonds, Jaden Michael, Cory Michael Smith and Tom Noonan
Visually pleasing and musically interesting, Wonderstruck falls short of striking. Todd Haynes brings author Brian Selznick’s illustrated young adult novel to life, albeit without a particular audience in mind. Too slow for youth, too twee for adults, Wonderstruck exists more comfortably as an art piece than as a narrative film… read more
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Wrath of Silence (Bao lie wu sheng)
Directed by Xin Yukun
Starring Song Yang, Jiang Wu and Yuan Wenkang
Zhang Baomin (Song Yang) returns to his home in northern China after the disappearance of his juvenile son. Zhang works as a miner, in a rural community that lives off the earth. In a land torn apart by mines, dotted with dustbowl villages that flirt with poverty, he searches in vain. Zhang is a mute, and his brusque, wordless manner of getting attention just gets him into a lot of fights, soon earning him the attention of local underworld boss Chang Wannian (played with just the right amount of villainous glee by Jiang Wu)… read more
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