Capital Celluloid

Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 281: Wed Oct 12

Nil By Mouth (Oldman, 1997): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 8.45pm

66th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (5th - 16th October 2022) DAY 8

Every day (from October 5th to October 16th) 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.

Time Out review:
The actor Gary Oldman's debut as writer/director is so uncompromisingly honest, it makes other portraits of working-class life look like sour caricature or misplaced idealism. Oldman grew up in south east London, the setting for this tale of macho violence, drunkenness, drug addiction and petty crime, and very clearly knows what he's talking about. He's helped, of course, by stunning performances from his entire cast, most notably Winstone as the volatile but self-pitying Ray, given to beating up his long-suffering wife (Kathy Burke) and threatening her irresponsible junkie brother (Charlie Creed-Miles). There's no sermonising or romanticising here, just a sad, clear-eyed acknowledgement that domestic abuse and crime create a vicious circle from which many barely even try to escape. Shot and scripted in a deceptively casual, bleakly 'realist' style, it's the closest Britain has produced to a Cassavetes film, and as such, profoundly humane.
Geoff Andrew

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 280: Tue Oct 11

Enys Men (Jenkin, 2022): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 6.10pm

66th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (5th - 16th October 2022) DAY 7

This film also screens at BFI Southbank on Wednesday October 12th. Details here.

BFI review:
On a remote island off the Cornish coast, a volunteer environmentalist records daily observations about a rare flower growing near the cliff edge. Going about her tasks with meticulous care, the nameless ecologist lives a life of isolation and repetition, her routine only occasionally interrupted by a local man who comes to deliver petrol for her antique power generator. But as changes suddenly appear on the plant she is studying, the boundaries between reality and fantasy begin to blur, plunging the volunteer into a nightmarish, metaphysical dreamscape. Triumphantly delivering on the promise of his extraordinary debut, Jenkin’s sophomore feature is a fascinatingly abstract, almost dialogue-free throwback to the British folk horror films of the 1970s – steeped in cine-literacy yet bracingly singular in its own right.
Michael Blyth

Here (and above) is director Mark Jenkin talking about his new film.

Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 279: Mon Oct 10

All That Money Can Buy (Dieterle, 1941): BFI Southbank, NFT3, 6.10pm

66th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (5th - 16th October 2022) DAY 6

This film also screens at Curzon Soho on Sunday October 16th. Details here.

BFI review:
William Dieterle’s inspired studio-era oddity, now beautifully restored, follows New Hampshire farmer Jabez Stone, who one stormy night succumbs to ‘Mr Scratch’, the devil of local folkloric legend, who promises him seven years of riches in exchange for his soul. What’s on the line, though, isn’t just Jabez’s soul, but the very foundational ideals on which America is based – ideals personified in the figure of legendary local politician Daniel Webster. Bernard Herrmann’s unforgettable score would win him an Oscar, but creative inspiration runs throughout – the composer was just one among many of the same creative team who had worked on Citizen Kane, and Dieterle’s fascinating film shares much of the same sense of exhilarating creative liberation found in Welles’s masterpiece.
James Bell

Here (and above) is director Joe Dante on the film.

Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 278: Sun Oct 9

Foolish Wives (Von Stroheim, 1922): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 2.15pm

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

BFI review:
Erich Von Stroheim wrote, directed and starred in this ambitious melodrama about a charlatan who poses as a Russian count and cavalry officer, and lives by defrauding naive women in luxury hotels. Envisaged by Von Stroheim as a six-hour Zola-esque saga, with lavish Monte Carlo sets rebuilt on the California coast, he was obliged by Universal to squeeze his ambitions into a more conventional feature film format, and the surviving print was cut further for an ultimately abandoned 1928 re-release. It is this version that has been intelligently restored by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival and MoMA, who have returned the original sequencing, tinting and intertitles to give us the best possible impression of this extraordinary director’s vision, and his startlingly sleazy performance.
Bryony Dixon

Here (and above) is an extract.

Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 277: Sat Oct 8

EO (Skolimowski, 2022): Curzon Soho, 8pm

66th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (5th - 16th October 2022) DAY 4

This film also screens at Odeon Luxe West End on Sunday October 9th. Details here.

BFI review:
The world is a mysterious place when seen from the perspective of an animal. EO, a donkey with melancholic eyes and a fondness for carrots, meets a plethora of good and bad people on his journey through life. He experiences joy and pain, endures the wheel of fortune randomly turning his luck into disaster and his despair into unexpected bliss. But not even for a moment does he lose his innocence. The latest collaboration between Polish director Skolimowski (The Shout) and his veteran producer Jeremy Thomas, EO is a distinctive and ultimately poignant work. Brilliantly shot by Michal Dymek and featuring immersive sound design, the drama ponders with distinction and eloquence the follies of humanity while never resorting to sermonising. Interspersed with moments of bracing surrealism, EO reminds us not only of the need for humility, but also of Skolimowski’s immense contribution to world cinema.
Jason Wood

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 276: Fri Oct 7

Medusa Deluxe (Hardiman, 2022): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 9pm

66th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (5th - 16th October 2022) DAY 3

Get in line for this film, which Jonathan Romney states 'It’s moot whether this MUBI pickup will reach beyond hip cinephile circles after its Locarno debut, given its wilfully esoteric approach ...' -- the other screenings at LFF are at the Prince Charles on October 8th and Curzon Soho on October 15th. You can find the full details here.

BFI review:
Thomas Hardiman’s debut feature – shot in bravura long takes by acclaimed cinematographer Robbie Ryan – immerses us in the bizarre and highly strung world of high-fashion hair design, in which a cast of volatile models, designers, hairdressers and security guards bicker, clash and accuse one another of murder. As this narratively and chronologically complex story deliciously unfolds, Ryan’s restless, uncannily stable camera drifts from scene to scene, through a maze of backstage rooms, waiting areas, theatre spaces and car parks. Taking in the hilarious histrionics from Hardiman’s strikingly game cast of actors, as well as the splendour, colour and excess of the extravagant hairstyles in competition, Medusa Deluxe is a unique and audacious trip quite unlike anything you’ll experience at the Festival.
Paul Ridd

Here (and above) is an interview with the director.

Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 275: Thu Oct 6

Boy from Heaven (Saleh, 2022): Curzon Mayfair, 8.40pm

66th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (5th - 16th October 2022) DAY 2

Today's film also screens at Odeon Luxe West End on October 8th. Details here.

BFI introduction:
Anyone familiar with Tarek Saleh’s 2017 political drama The Nile Hilton Incident will have some idea of what to expect from his latest: a subtle character piece that hits all the beats of an intense conspiracy thriller. It starts when Adam (Tawfeek Barhom), the son of a poor fisherman, receives a scholarship to a prestigious university in Cairo, the power base of Sunni Islam. His family sees it as a gift from God, but Adam’s fortune sours when the school’s Grand Imam dies. Fearing a hardline replacement, the government tasks secret serviceman Colonel Ibrahim (Fares Fares) with recruiting a spy, which is how Adam finds himself caught between a rock and hard place in a film that shows how the politicisation of religion – and vice versa – is the great poison of our times.
Damon Wise

Here (and above) is a clip from the film.