63rd BFI London Film Festival

63rd BFI London Film Festival
3rd-13th October 2019

by Alex Plant

The 2019 BFI London Film Festival rolled into town this October, bringing some of the best films featured at the Cannes, Toronto and Venice film festivals, as well as a host of its own premieres. The opening night gala was Armando Ianucci’s Dickens adaptation, The Personal History of David Copperfield and the closing night gala was Martin Scorsese’s long-gestating gangster epic The Irishman, which marked the director’s first appearance at the festival since 1980. Other highlights included Robert Eggers stunning second feature The Lighthouse, Taika Waititi’s anti-hate satire Jojo Rabbit, Rian Johnson’s hugely enjoyable take on the whodunnit genre Knives Out, Tom Hanks playing Mr. Rogers in A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, as well as some stunning indie movies including The Peanut Butter Falcon and Craig Roberts’ Eternal Beauty, and many, many more…

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A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Directed by Marielle Heller
Starring Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson and Chris Cooper

Who do you get to play the most beloved children’s television host in American history? Why, America’s most beloved actor, of course! Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood delighted and inspired American kids for over 30 years, so it’s only fitting that an actor with an equally spotless reputation step into his sneakers for this wonderful film that is inspired by a true story… read more

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Abominable
Directed by Jill Culton and Todd Wilderman
Starring Chloe Bennet, Tenzing Norgay Trainor, Albert Tsai, Eddie Izzard and Sarah Paulson

Dreamworks’ latest animated adventure looks to do for yetis what How To Train Your Dragon did for its own titular mythical creature. Though there are obvious similarities to be drawn between the adorable Toothless and the abominable Everest, this eastern set story also draws parallels with the Dragon films in how it deals with issues like grief and the importance of family… read more

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Color Out of Space
Directed by Richard Stanley
Starring Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson and Madeleine Arthur

If there was ever a more perfect actor than Nicolas Cage to star in an H.P. Lovecraft adaptation then I don’t want to hear it. For a certain kind of geek, Richard Stanley’s Color Out of Space would seem like the perfect melding of actor and source material, particularly in light of the cult success of last year’s none-more-Cage Mandy. However, it is almost impossible to not draw comparisons with Alex Garland’s Annihilation, with which it shares more than few similarities, the most obvious being the kaleidoscopic otherworldly visual effects. It’s a shame really, because even though it will probably appeal directly to them, the impact of Color Out of Space is likely to be diminished for fans of these movies. Though, despite it being (slightly) less madcap than Mandy and less introspective than Annihilation, Stanley manages to deliver a decent modern day adaptation of the 1927 Lovecraft short-story that manages to feature not only a disturbing dose of body horror but also a scene where Nicolas Cage drinks a ladle of freshly-squeezed alpaca milk… read more

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Eternal Beauty
Directed by Craig Roberts
Starring Sally Hawkins, Alice Lowe and David Thewlis

Writer/director Craig Roberts has said that one of his goals whilst making his second feature, Eternal Beauty, was that he wanted to see if it was possible to recast the perceived weakness of mental illness as a strength. The main character, Jane, is inspired by a relative of Roberts‘ that suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, but the director has said that he believes she has a superpower. With this refreshing take in mind, Roberts has produced not only one of the year’s most unique films, but also one of the best representations of mental illness ever committed to film… read more

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Jojo Rabbit
Directed by Taika Waititi
Starring Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Taika Waititi, Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson

Not every filmmaker would follow up a big blockbuster hit like Thor: Ragnarok with a movie as unconventional as Jojo Rabbit, let alone cast themselves as history’s greatest monster. But if there’s one thing that Taika Waititi has proved again and again it’s that he’s quite unlike most other filmmakers… read more

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Judy & Punch
Directed by Mirrah Foulkes
Starring Mia Wasikowska, Damon Herriman, Tom Budge, Benedict Hardie and Lucy Velik

by Gemsy

This meta-macabre retelling of the most famous violently abusive couple in puppet theatre history takes place in Seaside – which is, in fact, landlocked. It’s a town obsessed with uncovering witches, punishing heresy and, of course, drinking.
In the midst of the town’s rowdy mix of hangings and hangovers, a commonly (ahem) “punch”-drunk but charismatic husband (Damon Herriman) and his skilled and superior wife (Mia Wasikowska) attempt to relaunch their master puppet show until a terrible tragedy befalls the couple and accusations fly wide, wild and Wiccan… read more

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Just Mercy
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton
Starring Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx and Brie Larson

In an age where the true crime documentary reigns supreme, Destin Daniel Cretton has turned the sort of story we’re used to seeing as a multi-part Netflix series into a powerful piece of humanist cinema that is sure to garner some serious awards attention. Adapted from the book of the same title, Just Mercy tells the real-life story of renowned defence attorney Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) and the uphill struggle he faces representing death row inmates and fighting the institutional racism in the Alabama judicial system… read more

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Knives Out
Directed by Rian Johnson
Starring Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Plummer

After his 2017 Star Wars effort The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson seemed to garner fanboys and detractors in equal measure. However, his follow up project, Knives Out, not only makes for a crowd-pleasing reinvigoration of the sleuth genre, but it might just be his best film yet… read more

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La Belle Époque
Directed by Nicolas Bedos
Starring Daniel Auteuil, Guillaume Canet and Doria Tillier

Nicolas Bedos’ second feature, La Belle Époque has a set up that feels reminiscent of a cross between Westworld and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. However, with its liberal dashing of sharp french humour it manages to feel entirely unique… read more

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Le Mans ’66 (Ford v Ferrari)
Directed by James Mangold
Starring Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Jon Bernthal, Caitriona Balfe and Tracy Letts

The great success of Ron Howard’s 2013 film Rush, was that it managed to make a movie about Formula One racing accessible to and compelling for the uninitiated, through solid performances and some breakneck filmmaking. James Mangold’s Le Mans ’66 contains similarly great performances, but has a significantly slower pace, which feels like a sin for a movie in which humans reach speeds of up to 200mph… read more

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Leap of Faith
Directed by Alexandre O Philippe

In its 46-year lifespan, The Exorcist has left an indelible mark upon the cinematic landscape, terrifying audiences, delighting critics and inspiring countless filmmakers with its shocking and stylish depiction of demonic possession. In Leap Of Faith, acclaimed documentarian Alexandre O Philippe turns his inquisitive eyes to the story behind one of the most infamous horror movies of all time. The unique twist here is that everything we hear comes from a six-day interview Philippe conducted with legendary filmmaker and Exorcist director William Friedkin… read more

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Little Monsters
Directed by Abe Forsythe
Starring Lupita Nyong’o, Josh Gad and Alexander England

Fifteen years ago when Shaun of the Dead first came out it was a revelation. It certainly wasn’t the first zom-com, but it definitely helped the zombie genre claw its way back into the public eye. Fast forward to 2019 and the zombie movie is well past its prime and it seems that there is little new that can brought to this decaying genre. Fast zombies? Seen ‘em. Slow zombies? Seen ‘em. Slow zombies that can also go fast? You betcha. With that in mind what can the Australia-set Little Monsters realistically offer audiences that they haven’t seen before? The answer is: not much. This is a real shame, because there’s a lot that is good within, but the film never quite marries the horror and the comedy in the same way the likes of Shaun does… read more

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Mystify: Michael Hutchence
Directed by Richard Lowenstein

Many remember Michael Hutchence not only for his effortless charisma and raw sexuality as the frontman of Aussie rock sensations INXS, but unfortunately also for how his life became a tabloid circus as his dirty laundry was aired in public in the lead up to his tragic suicide in 1997. Mystify: Michael Hutchence paints a full and vivid picture of a man fuelled by a passion for sensory experiences and offers some context to better frame some of the seemingly more unscrupulous aspects of his life… read more

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The Irishman
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale and Anna Paquin

Discourse surrounding Martin Scorsese’s latest has largely been focused on the the magical CGI de-aging techniques it’s said to employ, its three-hour-plus runtime and Scorsese’s opinions on what he considers to be cinema. All three of these things are likely to be forgotten as this methodical and meditative masterpiece slowly washes over you, in the type of picture only a master of cinema like Scorsese could pull off in this day and age… read more

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The Irishman Press Conference
Attended by Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Emma Tillinger Koskoff and Jane Rosenthal
October 13th 2019

Martin Scorsese’s eagerly awaited generations-spanning gangster epic The Irishman was a fitting closing night gala for the 63rd BFI London Film Festival… read more

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The Lighthouse
Directed by Robert Eggers
Starring Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson and Valeriia Karaman

The Witch was a hell of a debut feature. In the company of movies like It Follows, Get Out and Hereditary it helped push the term “elevated horror” into recent cinematic discourse. With The Lighthouse, director Robert Eggers has delivered an equally striking follow-up to The Witch, albeit one that is less bound by genre conventions… read more

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The Peanut Butter Falcon
Directed by Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson
Starring Shia LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson and Zack Gottsagen

The debut feature from writer/director team Michael Swartz and Tyler Nilson promises a Mark Twain-esque journey of friendship and self-discovery between a pair of seemingly mismatched runaways as they travel down North Carolina’s Pamlico Sound in order to escape their former lives. What The Peanut Butter Falcon delivers is so much more and, though the spectre of Twain looms over this southern slice of Americana, Swartz and Nilson have crafted a tale of camaraderie that manages to feel both contemporary and timeless… read more

Our interview with Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson

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The Personal History of David Copperfield
Directed by Armando Iannucci
Starring Dev Patel, Ben Whishaw, Hugh Laurie, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Peter Capaldi, Rosalind Eleazar and Tilda Swinton

If you were expecting Veep and The Thick Of It creator Armando Ianucci’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “favoutire child” to be sweary and subversive, you’ll be disappointed. Well, disappointed is probably the wrong word, because The Personal History of David Copperfield is an absolute delight and it does indeed bear the hallmarks of an Ianucci project, just perhaps not in the ways you’d expect… read more

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You Don’t Nomi
Directed by Jeffrey McHale

When it came out in 1995, Showgirls was a critical bomb that baffled and offended punters and critics alike. In the years following its release it found an audience at midnight movie screenings, becoming a cult phenomenon that even spawned its own off-Broadway musical. Now, 24 years after its release Paul Verhoeven’s perplexing disasterpiece has the perfect companion documentary in Jeffrey Mchale’s You Don’t Nomi… read more

Our interview with Jeffrey McHale

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