London Film Festival
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BFI London Film Festival 2011: ‘Into the Abyss’
★★★★☆ Werner Herzog returns for the second time this year with another extremely powerful and moving documentary, Into the Abyss (2011). After the success of Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) earlier this year it was hard to imagine where Herzog would go next, and the German director could not have picked a more radically different…
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BFI London Film Festival 2011: ‘The Deep Blue Sea’
★★★☆☆ After an 11-year hiatus, British director Terence Davies returns to screens with his passionately faithful adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s The Deep Blue Sea (2011) – which closed the 55th BFI London Film Festival – starring the ever-wonderful Rachel Weisz (star of the upcoming The Bourne Legacy [2012]) and Tom Hiddleston (Archipelago [2010]).Rattigan’s play is…
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BFI London Film Festival 2011: The best films of LFF
After two-and-a-half weeks of cinema heaven, he 55th BFI London Film Festival came to a close this past Thursday with the UK premiere of Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea. It also marked the final LFF for Sandra Hebron, who steps down as the festival’s Artistic Director after nine successful years at the healm, to…
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BFI London Film Festival 2011: ‘Target’
★☆☆☆☆ Russian cinema has a long and rich history of producing exceptional sci-fi movies. From the pioneering silent films of Protazanov and Zhuravlyov, to the deeply philosophical films of Tarkovsky and Lopishansky, Russia has always used this speculative science based genre to comment on social issues rather than merely forms of escapism. Screening at this…
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BFI London Film Festival 2011: ‘Anonymous’
★★☆☆☆ Roland Emmerich – either by his own hand or by Hollywood’s – has been typecast as a multi-million dollar blockbuster director who specialises in depicting post apocalyptic scenarios involving aliens, mutated monster or catastrophic natural disasters. With his latest film, the Elizabethan drama Anonymous (2011), Emmerich seems to have departed from his well-established oeuvre,…
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BFI London Film Festival 2011: ‘Miss Bala’
★★★★☆ Miss Bala (2011) is the latest film from Mexican director Gerado Naranjo, starring the stunningly beautiful Stephanie Sigman. Sigman plays Laura, a young woman who struggles to make it in the ‘Miss Bala’ beauty pageant and consequently find herself embroiled in the Mexican mafia. Forced into this nightmarish underworld, Laura is forced to aid…
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BFI London Film Festival 2011: Award winners announced
The 55th BFI London Film Festival tonight announced its award winners at a Central London ceremony. Hosted by Marcus Brigstocke, the four awards were presented by some of the most respected figures in the film world, and to some of the most deserving films at this year’s LFF.Best Film: We Need To Talks About Kevin…
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BFI LFF 2011: ‘Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below’
★★★★☆ Director Makoto Shinkai’s previous effort 5 Centimetres Per Second (2007) is one of the most beautiful animes to ever grace the screen. Its tale of unrequited love told across three stages created a story more emotionally devastating than even the most assured romantic film. Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below (2011) is…
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BFI London Film Festival 2011: ‘The Great Bear’
★★★☆☆ Danish cinema has enjoyed a remarkable resurgence of late, with Susanne Bier’s Academy Award winner In a Better World (2010) and the consistently provocative work of Lars von Trier. However, Denmark is a country that has so far never been famed for its animation output – something Esben Toft Jacobsen is looking to amend…
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BFI London Film Festival 2011: ‘Faust’
★★★★☆ Acclaimed Russian director Alexander Sokurov looks set to divide audiences at this year’s 55th BFI London Film Festival with his deeply profound, Venice Golden Lion-winning variation on Goethe’s tragedy Faust (2011) – a unique and transcendental adaptation, with all the characteristic flare and style we’ve come to expect from this pioneering director.After a dreamlike…