Moonlight has to be one of the biggest highlights of this year’s London Film Festival. The film follows the life of the shy, young Chiron as he grows into a man still figuring out his identity in 1980s Miami. The film is split into three parts, titled after the various names and nicknames people give to Chiron over the course of his life, following him as … Continue reading London Film Festival 2016: Moonlight dir. Barry Jenkins
Child actors can be either one of two things: exasperating, or unbelievably good. The ones in Pepa San Martín’s Rara thankfully, happen to tend towards the latter, and make Rara an extremely likable film.Rara is oddly reminiscent of American film The Kids Are All Right, but only insofar as that they both feature a lesbian couple bringing up two kids at the forefront. Rara takes the perspective of adolescent Sara (Julia Lübbert), opening the film … Continue reading London Film Festival 2016: Rara dir. Pepa San Martín
Girl sees wolf. Girl falls in love with wolf. Girl proceeds to tranquilize and capture wolf, domesticate it, sexualize it, then quits her listless day job and goes completely wild. That’s the premise of this strange German film, directed by actress Nicolette Krebitz. Despite Wild being her first foray into direction, she proves that she’s no stranger to the film scene, showing a keen eyes for … Continue reading London Film Festival 2016: Wild dir. Nicolette Krebitz
What happens when you ask a group of filmmakers to imagine what life would be like in the future, ten years later? If they’re from Hong Kong, you’d probably end up with Ten Years, a collection of five dystopic short films set in 2025. We’ll be doing a short writeup on each short film below. Check it out: Extras dir. Zune Kwok We begin our journey … Continue reading London Film Festival 2016: Ten Years
Siblings can be the light or bane of your life. But imagine being attached to yours, literally. Italian film Indivisible features a pair of twins conjoined at the hip – the spunky Daisy and more reserved Viola. The twins live in a small beach town and spend their days as singers, revered as symbols of hope and religious significance by the folks. They’re joined by their dysfunctional family, … Continue reading London Film Festival 2016: Indivisible dir. Edoardo De Angelis
Studio Ghibli of Totoro fame presents their first ever film collaboration, and boy is it a sight to behold. The Red Turtle, or La Tort Rouge, contains absolutely no dialogue, yet manages to dazzle and impress with its gorgeous animation over the course of its 80 minute run. London-based Dutch director Michael Dudok de Wit begins the film with with a bang, placing the unnamed protagonist struggling for … Continue reading London Film Festival 2016: The Red Turtle dir. Michael Dudok de Wit
Mimosas is a strange piece of cinema, disorienting in both its presentation of the sprawling, awe-inspiring landscape and the various settings it introduces us to. Perhaps this is appropriate, given that French-Spanish director Oliver Laxe based it on his travels with actor Saïd Aagli in the Atlas mountains. The film is split into three parts, titled after different elements in Islam prayer, although the distinction and … Continue reading London Film Festival 2016: Mimosas dir. Oliver Laxe
“You’re not always the most approachable person.” “Maybe you’re just not approaching me in the right way.” We’re going to spoiler you right from the start: things do not end well for Christine. But you’d already have guessed that if you knew the film was based on the true case of a newswoman who in the 70s, who committed suicide live on television. What purpose … Continue reading London Film Festival 2016: Christine dir. Antonio Campos
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