A year in film is over as quickly as the camera flashes on the numerous red carpets rolled out in the October night sky. Marketed with statistics that indicate the growing popularity of this fortnight in celluloid heaven—248 films, 17 venues, 12 days—the London Film Festival rolls into the capital, bringing with it delights from all over the world.
Movies are journeys of discovery, as is the selection process involved in choosing which of the potential masterpieces or pretentious duffers you’re going to see.
With a notable absence of films with real gravitas (or Gravity) or a word-of-mouth buzz piece such as last year’s 12 Years A Slave, here is a “this is Sparta” style kick in the right direction, a guide to the best of what’s showing on the autumnal London streets.
The Opening Night Gala is fresh from its Peoples Choice Award win at the Toronto International Film Festival. Imitation Game is the story of WWII codebreaker Alan Turing, played by he-who-can-do-no-wrong, Benedict Cumberbatch.
Not only focusing on the pivotal role he played cracking the German Enigma Code, the film, directed by Morten Tyldum (Headhunters), details his subsequent arrest for homosexuality and social ostracism.
Historical biographies have a tendency to be bogged down by facts, forgetting to engage with the audience, but the human struggle at the heart of this story should ensure that the Imitation Game turns out to be cracker.
Rumbling in to bookend the festival in destructive fashion is the Closing Night Gala feature, Fury. It’s the marquee booking which has more white-hot actors crammed into a tight space than the bar at The Dorchester.
Set during the final months of WWII, it’s the tale of a hardened tank commander (Brad Pitt) leading his ramshackle crew behind enemy lines, balancing his own internal conflict with the one on the battlefield.
Hopes would be higher for David Ayer’s tankbuster had he not followed up 2012’s festival favourite, End of Watch, with this year’s unforgivably bad Sabotage, but with Pitt as Exec Producer and a cast including Logan Lerman, Michael Pena, Jon Bernthal, and everyone’s favourite, Shia LaBeouf, Fury should be as formidable as the trailer suggests.
Most films arrive on the festival circuit looking to drum up positive word-of-mouth to gain a distributor and advanced buzz. Whiplash has been bashing the drum for a few months now and the beat of the hyperbole is out of control.
Depicting the fractious relationship between a prodigious young drummer (Miles Teller) and his imposing music teacher (J. K. Simmons), think Rocky with drumsticks or The Karate Kid with an angrier Mr Miyagi. The trailer hints at a brutal kineticism to the drama, and Simmons is said to deliver a career defining performance. It doesn’t look an easy watch, with child abuse at the forefront thanks to Simmons’ psychological bullying and sociopathic tendencies, but with a promise that it builds to an uplifting crescendo, the ordeal should be worthwhile. We'll get to see what the fuss is about when it becomes one of the festival’s hottest tickets.
Everyone loves a reinvention don’t they? Steve Carell has had a couple of goes already with Little Miss Sunshine and The Way Way Back, but it appears that Bennett Miller’s (Capote, Moneyball) Foxcatcher could be his Truman Show.
Weaving a psychological thriller from a story that falls squarely into the too-ridiculous-to-be-true category, this focuses on the American Olympic wrestling team, in particular brothers Mark and Dave Shultz (Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo), and their enigmatic backer and coach, John E Du Pont (Carell). He manipulates the two siblings for his own increasingly dark benefit, and with Miller juxtaposing the raw aggression of the wrestling with the slowburn intensity of Carell’s sinister menace, this appears to be a film to get under the skin of an unassuming audience. Awards recognition for all involved is a certainty.
Scratch beneath the surface of the main attractions and there are still plenty of gems to discover and subsequently gloat about to your friends until they are released six months down the line.
Perhaps prompted by her Mud co-star’s own renaissance, Reese Witherspoon attempts her own McConaughey-style career resuscitation with an adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s travel memoirs in Wild. Rave reviews have followed this tale of a post-heartbreak trek across the hazardous Pacific Crest Trail.
For a story closer to home look no further than Rebecca Johnson’s Honeytrap. A dramatisation of an act which has gained notoriety over the past few years, this appears to be shorn of the sensationalism of red-top headlines and stands out from the pack with a unique take on the female perspective of gang culture.
As for the best of the rest, bringing the LOLs as well as an interesting slice of social commentary is Dear White People, an Obama nation satire which has been drawing comparisons with early Spike Lee.
For horror aficionados there’s It Follows, an age-old tale of a promiscuous teen being pursued by an unknown entity. Or you can watch the granddaddy of the genre The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in its fully restored big-screen glory.
Dennis Lehane’s The Drop gives us one last chance to appreciate the magnificence of James Galdofini, acting alongside Tom Hardy and a film stealing puppy in this crime drama.
Finally, the sequel nobody really asked for, Monsters: Dark Continent, adds a touch of B-Movie gloss to the line-up.
There really is something for everyone, so what are you waiting for?
Follow Matthew Rodgers on Twitter: @MainstreamMatt
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