Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 291: Fri Oct 18

 Stranger by the Lake (Guiraudie, 2013): Odeon West End 2, 9pm



57th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (9-20 October 2013) DAY 10

Every day (from October 9 to October 20) I will be selecting the London Film Festival choices you have a chance to get tickets for and the movies you are unlikely to see in London very soon unless you go to see them at the Festival. Here is the LFF's main website for the general information you need. Don't worry if some of the recommended films are sold out by the time you read this as there are always some tickets on offer which go on sale 30 minutes before each screening. Here is the information you need to get those standby tickets.

Time Out review:
An idyllic gay cruising spot in rural France provides the backdrop for Alain Guiraudie’s mesmerizing mix of explicit same-sex ethnography and old-school Hitchcockian suspense. Our lead is the boyishly handsome Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps), who spends several languid summer days lounging around a lakeside beach populated by men of all shapes and sizes. He’s most attracted to the muscular, mustachioed Michel (Christophe Paou), who has Franck all but proposing on bended knee after a day of sexual frolic. But could this sinewy Adonis actually be a murderer? With its graphically unsimulated couplings, rigorously composed widescreen frames, eerily lush landscapes and empathic understanding of gay culture in all its multifaceted shades, the film feels like a queer-cinema landmark.
Keith Uhlich


Here (and above) is the trailer.

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This was the original choice but reports have been lukewarm . . .

Grand Piano (Mira, 2013): Vue Cinema 7, Leicester Square, 9pm



57th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (9-20 October 2013) DAY 10

Every day (from October 9 to October 20) I will be selecting the London Film Festival choices you have a chance to get tickets for and the movies you are unlikely to see in London very soon unless you go to see them at the Festival. Here is the LFF's main website for the general information you need. Don't worry if some of the recommended films are sold out by the time you read this as there are always some tickets on offer which go on sale 30 minutes before each screening. Here is the information you need to get those standby tickets.

LFF introduction: 
After a five year absence from the stage, famed classical pianist Tom Selznik (Elijah Wood) prepares for a highly anticipated return to the spotlight. Already crippled with stage fright, Tom’s performance takes a sinister turn when he discovers a threatening note scrawled on his music sheet. Soon, Tom realises that he is being watched by a madman with a keen ear for music and must now play the best concert of his life, as if he hits a wrong note, both he and his wife will be killed. From its delightfully outlandish starting point, Eugenio Mira’s thriller is as efficient in its storytelling as it is inventive in execution. With the occasional nod to Hitchcock, not to mention a fondness for Dario Argento and all things giallo, Grand Piano is overflowing with dark humour and visual trickery. An exercise in sustained tension that makes piano playing feel as exciting as a high-speed car chase.
Michael Blyth

Here (and above) is an interview with star Elijah Wood.

The film also screens on Tue 15th at the Ritzy Cinema. Details here.

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