Festivals
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BFI London Film Festival 2012: ‘Death of a Man in the Balkans’ review
★★★☆☆ A brief synopsis of director Miroslav Momcilovic’s satire, Death of a Man in the Balkans (2012) might not exactly bring the punters flooding into the cinema. A Serbian comedy about those arriving at the scene of a composer’s suicide, shot entirely from the point of view of a web-cam is unlikely to appeal to…
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BFI London Film Festival 2012: ‘Everybody in Our Family’ review
★★★★☆ From Radu Jude, the director of The Happiest Girl in the World (2009), comes London Film Festival entry Everybody in Our Family (2012). An almost unequivocal critical hit at this year’s Berlinale, this exhilarating Romanian comedy is one of this year’s most enjoyable and perfectly executed inclusions at the LFF. Jude’s film focuses on…
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BFI London Film Festival 2012: ‘The Samurai That Night’ review
★★★☆☆ Japanese arthouse drama The Samurai That Night (2012) is a compelling tale of a young, nervous man who, after losing his wife in a hit and run accident, collapses inward, failing to connect with the world that surrounds him and ultimately becoming consumed with revenge. Directed by Masaaki Akahori – who also wrote the…
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BFI London Film Festival 2012: ‘Beware of Mr. Baker’ review
★★★☆☆ The lifeblood of any great band is its drummer, with their percussive pulse acting as the beating heart behind a song’s memorable melody. Perhaps one of the greatest drummers to ever grace the stage was Cream’s Ginger Baker – the subject of Jay Bulgar’s award winning documentary Beware of Mr. Baker (2012) and one…
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BFI London Film Festival 2012: ‘Rust and Bone’ review
★★★★☆ After premiering at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Jacques Audiard’s elegant yet muscular Rust and Bone (2012) was met with assorted feelings, with the film’s heightened melodrama and contrasting aesthetics appearing somewhat jarring in comparison with the director’s previous work. Thankfully away form the harsh judicious glare of the Croisette, Audiard’s latest study of…
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BFI London Film Festival 2012: ‘Francine’ review
★★★★☆ Starring Academy Award-winning actress Melissa Leo, Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky’s Francine (2012) is a surprisingly provocative piece of stripped-down social realism that’s subtle approach belies its powerful core themes. After serving time in prison for an undisclosed crime, Francine (Leo) begins to rebuild her life in a small American town. Her new…
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BFI London Film Festival 2012: ‘Memories Look at Me’ review
★★★☆☆ Unsurprisingly, given its title, the past plays a major role in the debut feature film of Song Fang, best known as the nanny in Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Flight of the Red Balloon (2007). Gentle, pleasant, and seemingly autobiographical, Memories Look at Me (2012) is an exploration of life, the passing of time, and fatality. To…
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BFI London Film Festival 2012: ‘Clip’ review
★★★☆☆ With several awards scooped on its festival travels thus far – including a Tiger Award in Rotterdam – and having being banned in Russia, Serbian drama Clip (Klip, 2012) now arrives at the London Film Festival. The feature debut, both as writer and director, of actress Maja Milŏs, the film is a gritty and…
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BFI London Film Festival 2012: ‘Antiviral’ review
★★★☆☆ Brandon Cronenberg displays the creative genes he was born to engage with Antiviral (2012), a fittingly abstract body horror that whilst clearly influenced by his father’s distinctive style, ultimately culminates in an impressive debut. Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones) is an employee at the Lucas Clinic, where celebrity viruses are sold to ‘true connoisseurs’.…
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BFI London Film Festival 2012: ‘Beyond the Hills’ review
★★★★☆ Fresh from the Palme d’Or success of the undeniably bleak and dour 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (2007), Romanian director Cristian Mungiu returns to the fray once again with Beyond the Hills (2012), a balanced and observant examination of religion, love and freedom – and perhaps the most thought-provoking and profound film to…