57th BFI London Film Festival Categories

LOVE

The big Palme d’Or winner of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Blue is the Warmest Colour, famous for its almost 3-hour length, plus the many extended, incredibly graphic lesbian sex scenes, headlines the Love section of the Festival. It’s a film so powerful and worthy that the Cannes’ Jury awarded the top prize not only to the director (Abdellatif Kechiche), but also to its two incredible stars (Adèle Exarchopoulos, Léa Seydoux). You don’t need a bigger stamp of approval than this. What’s it about? We follow the life of Adèle (newcomer Exarchopoulos), as she explores her sexuality and has her life turn upside down when Emma (Seydoux) enters her life.

THRILL

With an all-star Australian cast including Aaron Pedersen, Jack Thompson, Hugo Weaving and Ryan Kwanten, director Ivan Sen’s new thriller Mystery Road deals with racial tension and wealth gap, always a firm starting place for basing your grizzly, grounded cop thriller on. Jay Swan (Pedersen), an Aboriginal cop, having returned to his hometown after years of absence, is to investigate a brutal murder of a teenage girl – this leads to nowhere pleasant, as corruption and conspiracy cloud the mystery even more. It’s a compelling, unflinching cop drama, which explains its place leading the Thrill films of the Festival.

CULT

Vampires seem to be everywhere these days but don’t go in expecting the norm when watching Only Lovers Left Alive. Eve (Tilda Swinton) and Adam (Tom Hiddleston) are vampires reunited after some period apart. All seems well, until Eve’s sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska) turns up to spoil the fun between the two. Basically, the sister’s acting as the third wheel, and no one likes that. There’s a strong theme of dark sensual gothic romance running through this off-beat drama, and the remarkably well-cast Swinton and Hiddleston put on impressive performances.

LAUGH

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is just so talented that he directed, wrote and even starred in the leading role of his first directorial feature film, Don Jon. All Don (Gordon-Levitt) cares about is his body, his pad, his ride, his family, his church, his boys, his girls, and his porn – which is fine for him, until he gets caught in a compromising position by a girl who could be “the one”. The girl being played by the sassy and confident Scarlett Johansson, Gordon-Levitt has assembled himself quite the cast, including Julianne Moore and Tony Danza, putting together a hilarious, emotional and confident debut.

DARE

He knew he was trouble when he walked by…but Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps), a handsome romantic enjoying his time at his usual spot on a popular gay cruising beach in southern France, immediately falls for the dangerously seductive Michel (Christophe Paou), a mysterious stranger towards whom he feels irresistible sexual attraction. Throw in a murder, and that’s how we get Stranger By the Lake, an eerie, provocative erotic French thriller that embodies everything you’re searching for when looking at something filed under “Dare”. Like its characters the film is full of risks and is all the more shocking because of its direct, confronting style.

DEBATE

Meek’s Cutoff, although no-one saw it, was a critical hit back in 2010, and director Kelly Reichardt follow-up feature is Night Moves, leading the films in the Debate section. Eco-terrorists Josh (Jesse Eisenberg) Dena (Dakota Fanning) and Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard) execute what they believe to be an excellently planned act. This is until the media storm that sparks from their actions has unpredictable, unintended results. It’s a slow-burning (much like Reichardt’s other films), yet taut political thriller that makes you think and question each character’s motive and the blurred lines between right and wrong.

JOURNEY

Bruce Dern won the Best Actor prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, in Alexander Payne’s (Sideways, The Descendants) moving black-and-white father-son road-trip drama. When the forgetful, boozy Woody Grant (Dern) becomes convinced that he won a million dollars and that he also needs to travel to Nebraska (the film’s title) from Missouri, his son David (Will Forte) reluctantly agrees. Payne has a knack for working his magic in turning a touching narrative into relatable drama minus the corny cheese, rather than resorting to over-the-top, sentimental melodrama.

Official Competition

Parkland

Would you like to see Zac Efron as your surgeon if you’ve just been shot? Yeah...me neither...but in Parkland, President John F. Kennedy’s shocking assassination leaves the entire country in turmoil. The hospital staff (including Efron - the surgeon on-call it seems, and Marcia Gay Harden as a nurse), the authorities (led by Billy Bob Thornton) are working as quickly as they can to track down the shooter/shooters, and Paul Giamatti plays Abraham Zapruder, the man who inadvertently filmed the assassination. It no doubt has an incredible ensemble; further adding to the long list of names above is Jacki Weaver, James Badge Dale, Jackie Earle Haley, Tom Welling, Colin Hanks and Ron Livingston. However early reception from the festival circuit has been mixed - with far too many characters taking up room, not allowing each individual “vantage point” to breathe and have a sustainable plot-line of its own. So the chances of this winning anything is miniscule.

The Double

A comedy in which a man is driven to insanity as his doppelganger starts taking over his own life, Simon (Jesse Eisenberg) always seems to be living in the shadow of James, his “double”. Whilst tongue-tied, embarrassed and awkward around his crush Hannah (Mia Wasikowska), James successfully climbs the corporate ladder, which catches Hannah’s eyes, much to Simon’s dismay. It’s quirky, edgy, with a typically strong performance from Eisenberg who absolutely excels in the odd but likable roles.

Under the Skin

Scarlett Johansson is an alien creature who has been sent to Earth by a large corporation - her task? To prey on unsuspecting hitchhikers. As the huntress she goes on the prowl, luring these poor souls into the dark so she can have her wicked ways with them. Some have dismissed the film calling it laughably bad, but others have praised the lead performance as well as the chilling, creepy atmosphere that creates a unique surreal feel to the overall narrative. Quite the audience-divider, this one.

Tracks

In 1977, Robyn Davidson travelled from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean, crossing approximately 1,700 miles of Australian deserts - this she did with her dog and four camels. Tracks tells this amazing true story of this one woman’s courage to achieve the impossible and her never-ending ambition. Wasikowska gives one of the strongest performances of her career, showing both the independent, spirited energy of the lone traveller, as well as the often emotionally vulnerable and fragile nature.