Capital Celluloid 2024 — Day 287: Sun Oct 20

Anora (Baker, 2024): Prince Charles Cinema, 8pm

68th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (9th - 20th October 2024) DAY 12

With its date at the end of the year, London is a "festival of festivals", as Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin put it in one of his previews, so the films shown have mostly been seen and commented on by critics who have watched the features at such high-profile festivals as Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Sundance and Berlin.

So I'm making it simple with one recommendation a day. I will be concentrating on the repertory choices but I've also read the reviews of the contemporary releases and talked to and listened to the trusted critics all year and I am as confident as I can be that this is the pick of the movies within the parameters I have set. Firstly, there's no point highlighting the major gala films - they will be sold out quickly. Secondly, there is little to be gained in paying the higher Festival ticket prices to see films that are out in Britain soon. I will be returning to the London Festival films worthy of seeing and set to be released in the coming months on this blog as and when they get a general release in London.

Here then (from October 9th to October 20th) are the films you are likely to be able to get tickets for and the movies you are unlikely to see in London very soon unless you go 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 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.

This film also screens at the Southbank Centre on October 11th and 15th. You can find all the details here.

BFI introduction:
Sean Baker (Florida Project, Red Rocket) presents a modern-day Cinderella story about Ani, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, meeting Vanya, a spoiled son of a Russian oligarch, who offers her a glamorous new life of possibility and incredible wealth. Ani’s wild ride and fairytale is soon threatened when news of their whirlwind marriage gets back to Russia, resulting in Vanya’s parents flying to New York to manage the situation. Both wildly entertaining and heartbreaking, Anora takes audiences on a freewheeling, rambunctious adventure that escalates to dizzying levels. Drawing comparisons to Pretty Woman, it constantly plays with genre and audience expectations. But what shines through most, as it does in all of his films, is Baker’s love for and unwillingness to judge his characters.
Isabel Moir

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2024 — Day 286: Sat Oct 19

All We Imagine As Light (Kapadia, 2024): Curzon Mayfair, 12pm

68th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (9th - 20th October 2024) DAY 11

With its date at the end of the year, London is a "festival of festivals", as Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin put it in one of his previews, so the films shown have mostly been seen and commented on by critics who have watched the features at such high-profile festivals as Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Sundance and Berlin.

So I'm making it simple with one recommendation a day. I will be concentrating on the repertory choices but I've also read the reviews of the contemporary releases and talked to and listened to the trusted critics all year and I am as confident as I can be that this is the pick of the movies within the parameters I have set. Firstly, there's no point highlighting the major gala films - they will be sold out quickly. Secondly, there is little to be gained in paying the higher Festival ticket prices to see films that are out in Britain soon. I will be returning to the London Festival films worthy of seeing and set to be released in the coming months on this blog as and when they get a general release in London.

Here then (from October 9th to October 20th) are the films you are likely to be able to get tickets for and the movies you are unlikely to see in London very soon unless you go 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 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.

This film also screens at the Southbank Centre on October 18th. Details here.

BFI introduction:
Prabha, Anu and Parvaty are employees at a hospital in Mumbai. They grapple daily with the opportunities and hardships of existence in the city. Balancing an immersive verité style with a touch of the surreal, Payal Kapadia’s Cannes Grand Prix-winning drama captures the many shades of working-class life in Mumbai. The result is a profound and deeply humanist meditation on urban migration and dislocation.
Kalpana Nair

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2024 — Day 285: Fri Oct 18

Grand Tour (Gomes, 2024): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 5.50pm

68th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (9th - 20th October 2024) DAY 10

With its date at the end of the year, London is a "festival of festivals", as Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin put it in one of his previews, so the films shown have mostly been seen and commented on by critics who have watched the features at such high-profile festivals as Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Sundance and Berlin.

So I'm making it simple with one recommendation a day. I will be concentrating on the repertory choices but I've also read the reviews of the contemporary releases and talked to and listened to the trusted critics all year and I am as confident as I can be that this is the pick of the movies within the parameters I have set. Firstly, there's no point highlighting the major gala films - they will be sold out quickly. Secondly, there is little to be gained in paying the higher Festival ticket prices to see films that are out in Britain soon. I will be returning to the London Festival films worthy of seeing and set to be released in the coming months on this blog as and when they get a general release in London.

Here then (from October 9th to October 20th) are the films you are likely to be able to get tickets for and the movies you are unlikely to see in London very soon unless you go 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 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.

This film also screens at Curzon Mayfair on October 13th. Details here.

BFI introduction:
Molly and Edward, her British diplomat fiancé, are in love. But he seems nervous of commitment. Every possibility of an encounter at one location sees him charging off to another. Miguel Gomes’ sublime, lightly comic, formally inventive time-travelling journey, follows the lovers across Asia. It’s shot in his trademark lush B&W studio photography, with modern references appearing in colour. A joy.
Kristy Matheson

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2024 — Day 284: Thu Oct 17

The Ballad of Suzanne Cesaire (Hunt-Erlich, 2024): ICA Cinema, 6.45pm

68th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (9th - 20th October 2024) DAY 9

With its date at the end of the year, London is a "festival of festivals", as Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin put it in one of his previews, so the films shown have mostly been seen and commented on by critics who have watched the features at such high-profile festivals as Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Sundance and Berlin.

So I'm making it simple with one recommendation a day. I will be concentrating on the repertory choices but I've also read the reviews of the contemporary releases and talked to and listened to the trusted critics all year and I am as confident as I can be that this is the pick of the movies within the parameters I have set. Firstly, there's no point highlighting the major gala films - they will be sold out quickly. Secondly, there is little to be gained in paying the higher Festival ticket prices to see films that are out in Britain soon. I will be returning to the London Festival films worthy of seeing and set to be released in the coming months on this blog as and when they get a general release in London.

Here then (from October 9th to October 20th) are the films you are likely to be able to get tickets for and the movies you are unlikely to see in London very soon unless you go 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 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.

This London Film Festival Experimenta Special Presentation also screens at BFI Southbank on October 19th. Details here. 

BFI introduction:
Restoring Suzanne Césaire’s legacy as a pioneer of Afro-Caribbean surrealism and co-founder of Tropiques feels like vital work. However, multidisciplinary artist Hunt-Ehrlich is in search of something beyond Césaire’s impressive yet underappreciated intellectual achievements, overshadowed as she has been her husband Aime Césaire; fittingly, the film offers up fragments of Suzanne’s life as a full-time school teacher, organiser and mother of six children. Guided by Suzanne’s writing and testimony from her family, the film seeks to honour lost memories and the unknowable. As the lead, Zita Hanrot - a new mother herself - says in the beginning, “we’re making a film about an artist who didn’t want to be remembered”. Resplendent in tropical light and the lush greenness of Martinique, this delicately layered metafictional essay evokes the unspoken, the almost disappeared whilst keeping our heroine’s radical voice startlingly present.
Hyun Jin Cho

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2024 — Day 283: Wed Oct 16

The Churning (Benegal, 1976): BFI Southbank, NFT3, 5.50pm

68th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (9th - 20th October 2024) DAY 8

With its date at the end of the year, London is a "festival of festivals", as the Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin put it in one of his previews, so the films shown have mostly been seen and commented on by critics who have watched the features at such high-profile festivals as Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Sundance and Berlin.

So I'm making it simple with one recommendation a day. I will be concentrating on the repertory choices but I've also read the reviews of the contemporary releases and talked to and listened to the trusted critics all year and I am as confident as I can be that this is the pick of the movies within the parameters I have set. Firstly, there's no point highlighting the major gala films - they will be sold out quickly. Secondly, there is little to be gained in paying the higher Festival ticket prices to see films that are out in Britain soon. I will be returning to the London Festival films worthy of seeing and set to be released in the coming months on this blog as and when they get a general release in London.

Here then (from October 9th to October 20th) are the films you are likely to be able to get tickets for and the movies you are unlikely to see in London very soon unless you go 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 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.

BFI introduction:
When a city vet arrives in a poor village, he encounters shocking inequalities. Attempting to pay the dairy farmers a fair price for their milk, he rocks deep-rooted hierarchies and the stability of village life. Based on the true story of the world’s biggest dairy development programme, this is an extraordinary portrait of social change and the power of cinema itself.
Robin Baker

Here (and above) is the opening.

Capital Celluloid 2024 — Day 282: Tue Oct 15

Manji (Masumura, 1964): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 6.15pm

68th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (9th - 20th October 2024) DAY 7

With its date at the end of the year, London is a "festival of festivals", as the Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin put it in one of his previews, so the films shown have mostly been seen and commented on by critics who have watched the features at such high-profile festivals as Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Sundance and Berlin.

So I'm making it simple with one recommendation a day. I will be concentrating on the repertory choices but I've also read the reviews of the contemporary releases and talked to and listened to the trusted critics all year and I am as confident as I can be that this is the pick of the movies within the parameters I have set. Firstly, there's no point highlighting the major gala films - they will be sold out quickly. Secondly, there is little to be gained in paying the higher Festival ticket prices to see films that are out in Britain soon. I will be returning to the London Festival films worthy of seeing and set to be released in the coming months on this blog as and when they get a general release in London.

Here then (from October 9th to October 20th) are the films you are likely to be able to get tickets for and the movies you are unlikely to see in London very soon unless you go 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 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:
Because it's adapted from an unimpeachable literary source (Junichiro Tanizaki's novel) and has a magnificent cast, this torrid melodrama verges on the status of art movie classic; but Yasuzo Masumura's earthy tastes keep it safely anchored in sexploitation territory. Bored, rich wife Sonoko (Kyoko Kishida), whose inherited wealth has set up her husband's law firm, grows infatuated with a younger woman she meets in art class. They become lovers. But Sonoko (who narrates the story to a silent psychiatrist) soon learns that Mitsuko (Ayako Wakao) is a deceitful and endlessly manipulative tease, dubiously involved with the supposedly impotent Eijiro (Yusuke Kawazu) and all too ready to draw Sonoko's husband Kotaro (Eiji Funakoshi) into her ranks of slavish admirers. As the plot descends into a miasma of suicide pacts, cross-manipulations, blackmail, tests of loyalty, fake pregnancies and absurd blood oaths, Masumura lifts it back up into the emotional overdrive which has made the film a pillar of its genre. Wakao (a Daiei contract actress who starred in nearly half of Masumura's films after both worked on Mizoguchi's Street of Shame) proves more than equal to a role which prefigures Hanna Schygulla's classy slut in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant by nearly a decade. The Buddhist title connotes spiritual radiance.
Tony Rayns

Here (and above) are extracts.

Capital Celluloid 2024 — Day 281: Mon Oct 14

Caught by the Tides (Zhangke, 2024): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 3pm

68th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (9th - 20th October 2024) DAY 6

With its date at the end of the year, London is a "festival of festivals", as the Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin put it in one of his previews, so the films shown have mostly been seen and commented on by critics who have watched the features at such high-profile festivals as Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Sundance and Berlin.

So I'm making it simple with one recommendation a day. I will be concentrating on the repertory choices but I've also read the reviews of the contemporary releases and talked to and listened to the trusted critics all year and I am as confident as I can be that this is the pick of the movies within the parameters I have set. Firstly, there's no point highlighting the major gala films - they will be sold out quickly. Secondly, there is little to be gained in paying the higher Festival ticket prices to see films that are out in Britain soon. I will be returning to the London Festival films worthy of seeing and set to be released in the coming months on this blog as and when they get a general release in London.

Here then (from October 9th to October 20th) are the films you are likely to be able to get tickets for and the movies you are unlikely to see in London very soon unless you go 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 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.

Today's choice also screens at Curzon Mayfair on October 13th. Details here.

BFI introduction:
As if to prove there’s no finer cinematic chronicler of modern China, director Jia Zhangke repurposes his monumental oeuvre as a single entity. Blending documentary, previous features, musical numbers and multiple incarnations of regular star Zhao Tao, it’s an elusive love story and allusive national portrait, charting the path of a woman and a country through the ebb and flow of history’s tides.
Leigh Singer

Here (and above) is an extract.