This October the London Film Festival brings a wonderful, eclectic mix of films, shorts and events to the capital once again. Firmly establishing itself as a people’s festival (it being the best of the other festivals, Clare Stewart and her team acknowledging they can’t compete on world premieres), it will look to build on last year’s impressive new direction.
From the opening night fun with The Imitation Game to the final push of Brad Pitt’s Fury there will be a number of essential films to catch. The HeyUGuys team have chosen their favourites from among the hundreds playing.
You can find everything you need to book tickets and find out more information right here.
Here are the films you need to see next month.
The Tribe
There is nothing more exciting than a filmmaker attempting to push the boundaries; to shatter audiences expectations of what is ‘normal’ and how we ‘should’ consume cinema culture. Writer-director Miroslav Slaboshpitsky is doing just that, and in truth he is not only being extremely audacious with his debut feature film, he’s also boarding on brazen.
He enters his campaign with something supremely challenging and undoubtedly unforgettable. After stunning critics at Cannes, he brings his picture The Tribe to the BFI London Film Festival; a Ukrainian work told entirely through sign language without the aid of on-screen subtitles.
It’s no question that this premise will turn some audiences off, but rarely does cinema’s sight and sound aesthetic go under such confrontational construction. Like films of the Silent Era, viewers understood the ‘dialect’ through motions, ambience and environments, and this is something Slaboshpitsky is clearly trying to evoke here. Early word suggests that The Tribe is part-thriller and part-romance which is laden with startling sequences of graphic sex and explosive violence which seems apt given the narrative streams.
The film is set in a boarding school for young deaf people, yet its core focus surrounds an organised crime unit who specialise in prostitution and robbery. New to the school is Sergey who is quickly thrust into this seedy underbelly and becomes assigned as a pimp to the radiant Anna, but issues begin to arise when he starts to fall for her. Some may question just why deaf people would place themselves in such dangerous and unlawful situations in the first place, but no disability can truly paralyse human greed, desire and most worryingly, desperation.
The teaser trailer informs spectators about the lack of verbals by exclaiming that ‘love and hate do not need translation’, and it’s here where the film’s potential genius lies – we know the sound of a fist landing on a jaw or the rigorous trembles of an orgasm; we don’t need it to fill our eardrums to really hear, to really feel. Like the deaf actors who populate The Tribe, our senses are never stronger and more evolved than when we cannot access them all.
It is a fair assumption that few are going to see a film as strikingly original and complex as Slaboshpitsky’s entry which rightfully competes for the First Feature Award at the festival. Some may find it pretentious, others completely beguiling, but regardless of any such reaction, the reality is that audiences will be witnessing landmark filmmaking. Make sure The Tribe is on your must-watch list come October.
Chris Haydon
Whiplash
Most films arrive on the festival circuit looking to drum up positive word-of-mouth in order to gain a distributor and advanced buzz. Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash has been bashing said drum for a few months now and the beat of the hyperbole is out of control. Just take a look at the poster and you’ll see it smothered in praiseworthy adjectives.
Depicting the fractious relationship between a prodigious young drummer, played by Miles Teller, and his imposing music teacher, embodied by J. K. Simmons, the latter willing to push his student to the limit in order to achieve perfection. Think Rocky with drumsticks or The Karate Kid with an angrier Mr. Miyagi.
The trailer hints at a brutal kineticism to the drama, the result of a filming technique during which Chazelle wouldn’t shout “cut” in order to achieve a level of exhaustion from his performers, and of course the two actors themselves.
So often seen skirting the periphery of films whilst systematically stealing them from more familiar faces, Simmons is said to deliver a dictionary definition career defining performance. Just from the clips released so far he’s a terrifying presence; all spittle accompanied shouting and boiling pot aggression.
Personally it’s the evolution of Teller that holds the most appeal; so often the Shia LaBeouf Mk.II irritant of hyperactive dross such as 21 & Over or Project X, there have been signs of late that he’s got the frat crap out of his system and Whiplash will see him return to the kind of performance he excelled at in Rabbit Hole, and more recently in the little seen The Spectacular Now.
It doesn’t look an easy watch, with child abuse at the forefront thanks to Simmons’ psychological bullying and sociopathic tendencies, but with a promise that it builds to an uplifting crescendo, the ordeal should be worthwhile.
We’ll get to see what the fuss is about when it becomes one of the festivals hottest tickets this October.
Matt Rodgers
Rosewater
In 2009, the Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari conducted a mock interview on the late-night comedy/news show The Daily Show. Little did he know that later that year this would come back to haunt him when he was captured by the Iranian government during the social upheaval of Ahmadinejad’s victory where he was accused of being an American spy. He then ended up spending 188 days in the notorious Evin prison, which is noted for its controversial ‘political prisoners’ wing.
Amazingly, the Daily Show interview was used against him in his showtrial and in an ironic twist his captors tried to subsequently force him to spy on the Revolutionary Guard’s enemy. After his release from prison, he turned his story into a memoir called Then They Came For Me.
Due to the bizarre connection with The Daily Show, the story has been adapted into a film by the show’s presenter Jon Stewart. Stewart has a niche following in the UK, compared with his godlike reputation in the USA, and has apparently outdone himself with his cinematic debut. He took a few months out of his nightly show to film in Jordan with Gabriel Garcia Bernal and the amazing Kim Bodnia (from Scandinavian drama The Bridge).
Stewart has an amazing ability to compress complicated issues into nightly 5-10 minute segments that are awesomely funny. Yet he has always remained principled and cerebral and I have no doubt that this material will be thorough and insightful. The film is the gala film of the LFF’s debate thread that celebrates films that “amplify, scrutinise, argue and surprise.”
Ollie England
Stray Dogs
Most of the feature films to come out of America (especially the blockbusters) are primarily set on either of the countries coasts. New York and Los Angeles dominate a huge amount of narratives and to the average UK audience the middle of America is a vast and mysterious cultural wasteland.
Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone) attempts to address this by heading to rural Missouri to tell the story of one of the forgotten ‘Middle-Americans’, a biker called Ron ‘Stray Dog’ Hall that she met on the set of her previous film.
Ron is a chain-smoking, motorbiking, Vietnam vet that humbly represents a thousand Americans just like him. But his charisma and optimism, along with his willingness to be filmed, means that he offers an insight into a rarely explored (and often exploited) subsection of American life.
The documentary is apparently devoid of traditional documentary conventions, such as talking-heads or voiceovers, and is simply a no-frills portrait of an ordinary man. For this reason it has become an object of fascination that has won a number of awards already in its home country. Granik has been celebrated for giving her subject a chance to have a voice and prove himself as multidimensional, whilst the film deconstructs stereotypes and audiences preconceptions.
In an era of political self-congratulation as America (and the UK) slowly works itself out of a recession, Stray Dogs serves as a reminder that parts of the country and painfully deprived and whole communities live in abject poverty that is a million miles away from the sexy luxury of LA and New York bubbles. The film is in competition in the documentary strand and looks like a patient and intriguing character study.
Ollie England
Austin to Boston
Amongst the great films at this year’s LFF I’m really excited about seeing James Marcus Harvey’s “Austin To Boston”, which follows four bands from the Communion Music family on a three thousand mile road trip from SXSW across the US in a gaggle of VW camper vans and in the process faithfully documents a record of those two spring weeks from 2012.
The tour itself features packed out shows with Communion artists Ben Howard, The Staves, Nathaniel Rateliff and Bears Den in venues from bars to barns and more besides, each serving as a backdrop to a documentary record of touring the old fashioned way, unencumbered by the limos, jets and entourages of the modern music world. Throw into that mix the mechanical temperaments of the aging VW vans and some seriously inclement weather and that should be the recipe for an extremely interesting and engaging film to watch.
Personally I’m a big fan of both the acoustic style of music with blended vocals and harmonies plus the whole Communion music ethos. While my days as a roadie are long behind me I still find fascination in all the effort that goes into touring, plus the tears and joys that come from putting a show onto the stage, and in this case the screen too. I expect the showings will sell out pretty quickly when they go on sale so get in there fast if you want to see it.
Colin Hart
Catch Me Daddy
Daniel Wolfe’s feature length debut received an outstanding reception at Cannes this year as part of the Director’s Fortnight sidebar, and has been included in the First Feature category of the 2014 programme. Wolfe, who co-wrote the film with his brother Matthew is in competition for Best British Newcomer, as is the film’s star Sameena Jabeen Ahmed. Receiving notable acclaim it’s cinematography, guided by Philomena and Jimmy’s Hall cinematographer Robbie Ryan, Catch Me Daddy was shot on 35 mm, the film follows a pink haired Laila, as she hides out on the fringes of West Yorkshire with her Scottish boyfriend Aaron in tow. It becomes evident that Laila is on the run from her overly protective family, who believe that she has dishonoured them, and the story escalates as her violent brother and his gang catch up with them, with an eye for violent retribution.
This is Ahmed’s first film role, and has gone from a career as a sports coach to a highly praised acting performance after being street cast. Wolfe made a name for himself in directing music videos for Plan B and French act Shoes, which memorably sees Jake Gyllenhaal racing between house parties on a manic killing spree. With strong themes of violence in the name family, community and gang culture, expect a bleak, powerful entry to this year’s competition and a promising future for those involved in the film.
Catch Me Daddy will be screened on the 16th, 17th and 19th of October.
Beth Webb
Honeytrap
The Festival might reach the four corners of the world in terms of contributor diversity, but one of the most intriguing films on offer is one intrinsically linked to the culture on the very streets the cinematic showcase is taking place on.
Rebecca Johnson’s dramatisation of an act which has gained notoriety over the past few years, appears shorn of the sensationalism of red-top headlines that accompanied the numerous street gang crimes upon which this is based. Johnson’s achievement has resulted in a place on the Best British Newcomer award shortlist.
Honeytrap stars young Skins actress Jessica Sula as 15-year old Layla, a relocated Trinidadian who’s finding Brixton life a difficult proposition. Unable to establish a maternal bond, and rejected by her peers, Layla falls into the questionable company of Troy. When he rejects her she finds solace in the shape of Shaun, a friend that she will ultimately betray because of her misguided desire for acceptance.
What makes this would-be BBC Three drama stand-out from the pack is its unique take on the female perspective of gang culture. So often portrayed as pawns in this hyper-masculinised world, hanging off the shoulder of their status seeking male counterparts, Honeytrap appears to add dimensions to the choices that Layla has to make, providing a polemic when too often these individuals are 2-dimensional narrative villains.
Hopefully this will peel back the veneer of a culture very few of us are exposed to and help us understand the choices young people, especially the oft-neglected cinematic POV of the female, have to make on a daily basis on the streets of London. It’ll at least get us talking, and that’s what the best films are meant to do.
Matt Rodgers
‘71
Rising at breakneck speed from Skins fame to the giddy heights of Hollywood, Jack O’Connell can be found at this year’s festival in ’71, Yann Demange’s account of a British soldier who must find his way to safety in a hostile and riot filled Belfast. Set in 1971, O’Connell’s is Hook, the young cadet fresh from training who is dropped into the thick of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, witnessing brutality of the first degree before being separated from his unit. What follows is a hardened tale of survival, as Hook is forced to fight his way to safety alone in a foreign environment.
Part funded by the BFI and Film4, ’71 premiered at Berlin International Film Festival this year to raptious reviews, singling out O’Connell’s harrowing performance as the abandoned squaddie.
This is a first time venture into film for Demange after racking up an impressive body of TV shows, including Channel 4’s Top Boy and Dead Set, and has granted him admirable credibility at both Berlinale and Venice Film Festival for this taught, suspense driven feature. Co starring Charlie Murphy, Sean Harris and Sam Reid, the film is in competition for First Feature and will play on the 9th and 10th of October.
Beth Webb
Song of the Sea
From the people who bought you The Secret of Kells.
Look at it.
JUST LOOK AT IT!
