The BFI London Film Festival came to Nottingham this month, as special screenings from the event were beamed onto screens at Broadway Cinema. We pick five of the LFF films you should keep your eye on...
While high profile films like Kristen Stewart-starring Spencer and Palme d’Or-winning Titane have grabbed most of the spotlight at this year’s BFI London Film Festival, there are a great many more fantastic films from the festival that are worth seeking out.
With that in mind, here are five releases from this year's LFF that you should be on the lookout for in the coming weeks and months in cinemas and online...
Azor dir. Andreas Fontana
Andreas Fontana’s outstanding debut feature tells the story of Swiss banker Yvan’s arrival into the tumult of precarious client relationships and the overriding threat and paranoia of a growing military dictatorship in eighties Buenos Aires. Fontana crafts an atmospheric, Conradian dive into a labyrinthian world so palpable with threat that it exudes from every striking composition and bursts through in the synth-driven strikes of the impeccable score. Fabrizio Rongione’s outstanding performance recalls Trintignant in The Conformist as a man circling ever closer to the centre of a web of greed and paranoia. A drift into the dying light of a decaying and increasingly desperate aristocracy, that marks the stunning arrival of an exciting new voice in cinema.
Released by Mubi in cinemas on 29 October.
What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? dir. Alexandre Koberidze
A man and a woman meet by chance three times in one day – by the third they’ve fallen in love. From this simple conceit Georgian filmmaker Alexandre Koberidze crafts a beguiling ode to the magic of the everyday and a folk fairy-tale about a mysterious curse that conspires to keep the lovers apart. Not since Miguel Gomes's Arabian Nights has a film been so rapturously inventive. Koberidze’s film is a beguiling oddity filled with resplendent imagery, a poem of the unusual and unexpected and a tribute to both the transformative power of love and cinema. The most unique and inventive film you’ll see all year.
Released by Mubi (Date TBC).
Drive My Car dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
A compelling and moving portrait of grief and guilt, centred upon an ageing theatre actor who throws himself into his unique adaptation of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya following a tragedy. Hamaguchi adapts a Murakami short story to devastating effect; the writing is immaculate, and the film unfurls delicately, anchored by a stunning central performance from Hidetoshi Nishijima. The cinematography is impeccable, with several breath-takingly beautiful sequences taking place in protagonist Kafuku’s distinctive red Saab, which plays host to many of the film’s most emotional moments. A stunningly powerful film that stays with you long after the credits have rolled.
Released by Modern Films in cinemas on 19 November.
Natural Light dir. Dénes Nagy
A careful, poised and almost silently expressive journey through a Hungarian corporal’s experiences of WWII. The film is drawn to the quietly expressive faces of suffering from brutalised villagers to the stark and piercing eyes of Semetka (an outstanding performance by newcomer Ferenc Szabó). An incredibly tactile film full of texture from the muddy swamps to fires burning in the cold morning air. Nagy keeps the violence mostly off screen and thus follows in a great tradition of war films that skirt the edges of action to instead focus on the personal suffering of all involved. A profoundly haunting and emotionally affecting film.
Released by Curzon in cinemas and online on 12 November.
Petite Maman dir. Céline Sciamma
Céline Sciamma follows up the astonishing Portrait of a Lady on Fire with a tender and imaginative ode to childhood that is imbued with all the mystery and magic of a child’s imagination. Heart-breaking and heart-warming in equal measure, the film is a joy to watch from Claire Mathon’s rich autumnal cinematography to the captivating performances of its young cast. An elegiac evocation of growing up and of getting closer to our families and our pasts through the pain and realisation of loss. A beautiful film that you just can’t help falling in love with.
Released by Mubi in cinemas on 19 November.
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