Capital Celluloid

Capital Celluloid 2026 — Day 293: Thu Oct 22

No 1: Stolen Desire (Imamura, 1958): ICA Cinema, 6.30pm

This is the opening night of the Shōhei Imamura season at the ICA. Full details here.

Chicago Reader review:
Shohei Imamura’s first feature (1958), shot in black-and-white ‘Scope, deals with a form of working-class Kabuki that attracted him as a college student, but its story about an itinerant troupe performing a striptease version of the form near Osaka isn’t very inspired. Nevertheless, Imamura characteristically finds some vitality in vulgarity—though his more prosaic working title, “Tent Theatre,” was rejected by the production company.
Jonathan Rosenbaum

Here (and above) is the trailer.

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No 2: Rosemary's Baby (Polanski, 1968): Genesis Cinema, 6pm

This film will be followed by a group discussion in the bar area with Nick Walker of the Cult Classic Collective.

Chicago Reader review:
The treacherous-mate theme that has been a staple of “women's pictures” since Gaslight gets its ultimate, most agonizing development in this 1968 story about a young woman (Mia Farrow) who discovers her husband has sold her body for use by a witches' coven. The horror is more clinical than supernatural, as Polanski transforms Ira Levin's story into a metaphor for the loss of identity induced by pregnancy. A very sophisticated, very effective piece of work spun from primal images, with an excellent cast that includes John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Ralph Bellamy, Maurice Evans, Patsy Kelly, and Elisha Cook Jr.
Dave Kehr

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2026 — Day 292: Wed Oct 21

The Mad Bomber (Gordon, 1972): Nickel Cinema, 8.55pm

This is a 16mm presentation.

Time Out review:
Detective Vince Edwards hunts Los Angeles for dynamiter Chuck Connors (a nicely quirky characterisation), who is writing to the papers to explain that his bombs are punishments meted out to society. The victims include a high school, a hospital, a Women's Lib group...and aid comes from the unlikely quarter of a pathetic rapist (Brand, another fine performance). Shoddily assembled, but brightly conceived and very well acted, it has a genuine 'B' movie vitality. (From a story by Marc Behm).

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2026 — Day 291: Tue Oct 20

Détective (Godard, 1985): Cine Lumiere, 6.20pm

This is a 35mm screening (which is also being shown on Sunday October 18th) and part of the Nathalie Baye season at Cine Lumiere. Full details here.

Time Out review:
A mini-masterpiece, this is a cross between a ‘Grand Hotel’ for the 1980s and film noir: a crumbling Paris hotel houses four groups of people whose paths occasionally cross. One is the group around detective Terzieff, still trying to solve a murder of years ago; another is the entourage of boxer Tiger Jones, in training with his manager (Johnny Hallyday); another is a couple on the verge of breaking up; and the last is the Mafia. Much of it, especially Léaud (Terzieff’s nephew-aide) and Cuny as a Godfather who judges men by their toilet habits, is riotously funny. Built on the charisma of its stars and on memories of the great thrillers of the ’40s, tenuously held together by Jean-Luc Godard’s romantic pessimism, curiosity and sense of humour, it’s co-dedicated, sensibly, to Clint Eastwood.
Tony Rayns

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2026 — Day 290: Mon Oct 19

Machine Gun Kelly (Corman, 1958): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 8.40pm

This film (also screened on November 14th) is part of the Roger Corman season at BFI Southbank. You can find the full details here.

Time Out review:
Roger Corman's first gangster movie is one of the most ambitious and rewarding of his '50s quickies: not because it transcends any of its inherent limitations, but rather because it indulges them recklessly. Apparently modelling itself on Siegel's Baby Face Nelson, it sees Kelly (Charles Bronson) as a child-like thug with a pathological fear of death, helplessly dominated by his moll Flo (Susan Cabot, Corman's favourite femme fatale until Barbara Steele came along). The post-Freudian motifs aren't imposed on the dime-novel material; they grow with a hysteria all of their own from the sleazy settings and one-note performances. The movie reveals Corman as a director entirely in touch with his audience, and Floyd Crosby as one of the most prodigiously resourceful cameramen in Hollywood history.
Tony Rayns

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2026 — Day 289: Sun Oct 18

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning (Barnard, 2026): Curzon Soho, 12pm/BFI Southbank, 11.30am

70th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (7th - 18th October 2026) DAY 12

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 7th to October 18th) 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 is also screened at BFI Southbank on Friday October 16th. Details here.

BFI introduction:
Adapted from Kieran Goddard’s novel, this intoxicating yet compassionate film by the director of The Selfish Giant and Ali & Ava is propelled by a superb ensemble cast and the euphoric pulse of club music. As moments of youthful joy gradually give way to disillusionment, the film offers a piercing portrait of contemporary Britain, exposing exploitative social structures and widening inequality as forces that have deeply marked its characters’ lives.
Hyun Jin Cho

Here (and above) is an extract.

Capital Celluloid 2026 — Day 289: Sat Oct 17

Paper Story (Gray, 2026): Prince Charles Cinema, 3pm

70th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (7th - 18th October 2026) DAY 11

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 7th to October 18th) 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 is also screened at Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall on Saturday October 10th and Sunday 11th. Full details here.

BFI introduction:
Irwin Pearl (Miles Teller, on top form) is an engineer and family man living in Queens. When his brother, a showboating ex-police officer (a magnetic Adam Driver), enlists him for a high paying job, things rapidly take a turn for the worse. Channelling the spirit of Sidney Lumet and Michael Mann, Gray’s own, distinctive directorial style is on full display in this instant classic of American crime cinema.
Diana Cipriano

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2026 — Day 288: Fri Oct 16

Panelstory (Chytilova, 1979): BFI Southbank, NFT3, 6.35pm

70th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (7th - 18th October 2026) DAY10

BFI introduction:
A tragicomic gallery of characters composes this satirical fresco of a hellish housing estate. In this dysfunctional, endless chaos, people try to get on with their lives amongst the rubble and the mud of this new socialist nightmare. After being blacklisted for years, Věra Chytilová returns to her radical style with a film that still resonates in a society of individuals living in crowded isolation.
Giulia Saccogna

Here (and above) is the trailer.