Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 274: Wed Oct 5

Under the Fig Trees (Sehiri, 2022): BFI Southbank, NFT3, 8.50pm

66th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (5th - 16th October 2022) DAY 1

Today is the opening day of the London Film Festival. With its date at the end of the year, London is a "festival of festivals", as the new 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 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 5th to October 16th) 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 and here are all the details on ticket availability.

Today's choice also screens at Curzon Soho on Thursday October 6th. Details here.

Film Comment review:
In Directors’ Fortnight, a gentle gust of sheer simplicity: the Tunisian-set Under the Fig Trees, by Erige Sehiri, which tracks a day out with a group of orchard workers, basically shooting the breeze under the boughs. What makes it special, apart from the brilliantly controlled and varied way in which Sehiri uses this very basic locale, is the nonprofessional cast, ranging from an eccentric old-timer to a group of teenagers recruited from a local high school, who radiate charm and life—notably the three Fdilhi sisters, Ameni, Fide, and Feten. The teenagers chat about who fancies whom, who’s broken whose heart, the usual high-school stuff—but in the context of an Islamic culture, it flouts expectations (and of course, the way headscarves are tied or let loose speaks volumes about the girls’ desire). In a Cannes of somewhat thin pickings, this quietly emerged as one of the most flavorful fruits in the orchard.
Jonathan Romney

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 273: Tue Oct 4

Bones (Dickerson, 2001): BFI Southbank, NFT3, 6.20pm

This 35mm presentation (also screened on September 30th) is part of the Pam Grier season at BFI Southbank. Full details here.

BFI introduction:
Jimmy Bones (Snoop Dogg) is the neighborhood watchdog and numbers runner. When corrupt cops murder him and force his associates to brutalize his corpse, they have no idea of the vengeful spirit Bones and his lover Pearl (Grier) eventually unleash on the world. Two decades later, a chain of events brings Bones’ ghost back into the world. Ernest Dickerson’s chiller is an homage to Blaxploitation horror and finds Snoop and Grier reveling in their roles as glamorous gangster ghouls.

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 272: Mon Oct 3

Night of the Living Dead (Romero, 1968): Prince Charles Cinema, 6.15pm

This presentation is part of the Horroctober season at the Prince Charles. Details here.

Chicago Reader review:
George Romero's gory, style-setting 1968 horror film, made for pennies in Pittsburgh. Its premise—the unburied dead arise and eat the living—is a powerful combination of the fantastic and the dumbly literal. Over its short, furious course, the picture violates so many strong taboos—cannibalism, incest, necrophilia—that it leaves audiences giddy and hysterical. Romero's sequel, Dawn of the Dead, displays a much-matured technique and greater thematic complexity, but Night retains its raw power.
Dave Kehr

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 271: Sun Oct 2

Tremors (Underwood, 1990): Prince Charles Cinema, 8.30pm

This 35mm presentation is part of the Horroctober season at the Prince Charles. Details here.

Time Out review:
'The phones are dead, the roads are out... we're on our own!' All is not well in Perfection, Nevada, a remote desert town. Itinerant cowpokes Val (Kevin Bacon) and Earl (Fred Ward) are all set to up sticks when they happen across a corpse perched incongruously atop a telegraph pole...and then another, apparently swallowed up by the earth. Huge, carnivorous, worm-like creatures, capable of tunnelling at incredible speeds in response to seismic vibrations, are literally undermining Perfection. With a tip of the hat towards its '50s forefathers, this canny genre entry exploits its novel subterranean threat to the max, the ingenious situations being orchestrated with considerable skill by first-time director Underwood. Bacon and Ward project a wonderful low-key rapport, based initially on jokey ignorance before giving way to terse apprehension. It's great to hear authentic B movie talk again, especially when the cast takes it upon itself to name the monsters, only to come up with 'graboids' by default, and to debate their probable origin: 'One thing's for sure...them ain't local boys'. This is what a monster movie is supposed to be like, and it's terrific.
Tom Charity

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 270: Sat Oct 1

The Spy Who Loved Me (Gilbert, 1977): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 11.30am

This film is part of the James Bond weekend at BFI Southbank. Full details here.

My tweet during my Bond-a-thon before No Time To Die read thus:

'... camp innuendo wins out over underwhelming battle denouement. Death pervades with wonderfully psychotic Curt Jurgens villain ... if only the Bach/Moore had really featured a fight to the death not the double entendre. A v lively entry in the series.'

BFI introduction:
Bond teams up with Russian KGB agent Anya Amasova in an attempt to prevent global destruction at the hands of a megalomaniacal businessman hell-bent on creating a new world undersea. Pursued around the globe by Jaws, a metal teethed assassin, the spies face a multitude of challenges as well as posing a credible threat to each other. Cited by Roger Moore as his favourite Bond film and becoming one of the most successful films in the series, The Spy Who Loved Me remains a firm fan favourite. 

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 269: Fri Sep 30

Dr No (Young, 1962): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 8.40pm

This film is the first of the James Bond weekend at BFI Southbank. Full details here.

The press reviews of the films don't capture the excitement of this retrospective for Bond fans and I am recommending the Blogalongabond series by Neil Alcock (aka @theincrediblesuit on Twitter). Here is his take on the first movie in the Bond franchise.

Time Out review:
The first Bond film, made comparatively cheaply but effectively establishing a formula for the series - basically a high-tech gloss repackaging of the old serials - and setting up a box-office bonanza with its gleeful blend of sex, violence and wit. As memorable as anything in the series (the arteries hadn't hardened yet) are modest highlights like Bond's encounter with a tarantula, Honeychile's first appearance as a nymph from the sea, the perils of Dr No's assault course of pain.

Here is Bond's first introduction to the film-going public.

Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 268: Thu Sep 29

The Sender (Christian, 1982): BFI Southbank, NFT3, 6.10pm

This film is part of the BFI Southbank Terror Vision strand.

BFI introduction:
Often claimed to be an inspiration on A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Roger Christian’s psychokinetic phantasmagoria (itself influenced by the likes of Carrie and Patrick) tells the story of a young man who is able to transmit his disturbed dreams into the minds of the people around him. A bracing blend of insidious surrealism and spectacular set pieces, this singular shocker is cited by Quentin Tarantino as his favourite film from 1982.

Here (and above) is the trailer.