There is just so much good stuff screening at this year’s London Film Festival — from a documentary about a nearly-cancelled forever fashion icon, to a film featuring Austin Butler and Michael Shannon as bikers, to MENA gems, Oscars and Golden Globes hopefuls and indie treasures. So fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy fortnight.
Don’t know about you, but saying that I’m looking forward to this year’s BFI London Film Festival feels like an understatement. It could be a mixture of being tapped as a new voting member for the upcoming Golden Globes — which makes me want to watch everything, all the time — along with the undeniable fact that there has been a wave of great films coming out this year. But also a bit of the anxiety has passed, substituted by a sigh of relief now that the WGA strikes are over and they have reached an agreement in Hollywood, with writers going back to work as early as Wednesday, September 27th. Now we send good vibes to the SAG and AFTRA negotiations.
Whatever the reason, I’m overwhelmed with films I wish to recommend or want to watch myself, for the first time in years. Here’s my list, in no particular order. And you can explore more, but also book tickets on the BFI LFF website.
The Bikeriders by Jeff Nichols
Let’s start there, as dreamy Austin Butler is featured above in the header image for this piece. The film also stars Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer and still smoldering Michael Shannon — whom I was lucky enough to interview ages ago in Berlin. The Bikeriders premiered at Telluride, skipping both Venice and TIFF and comes directly to London Film Festival as a second stop, with director Jeff Nichols accompanying the film. The script, also written by Nichols, tells a fictional story inspired by the 1967 photo-book of the same name by Danny Lyon. Nichols is one of the best contemporary filmmakers, in my humble opinion and his 2016 film Loving should have won many awards. So hopefully, we can all make it up to him with this title.
Sky Peals by Moin Hussain
Fresh from its Venice Critics’ Week premiere, Sky Peals is a sci-fi film which reinvents the genre, by putting the action back in our imagination. It stars a familiar face to British audiences, Faraz Ayub. I just wrote about the film and got to interview its filmmaker while on the Lido, so read it all here. What an impressive first feature indeed. One I highly recommend. For a bit of a story, it features Adam, a loner who works nights in a service station and tries desperately to keep his life as uneventful as possible. When his father passes away, even though they were estranged, Adam finds out something that could change him forever.
High and Low by Kevin Macdonald
Quite a bit has been written about former fashion darling John Galliano, who headed the Maisons of Dior and Givenchy in the 90’s and through the early 2000’s. Most of it centered on his fall from grace, when the designer was caught on camera (or iPhone) around 2010/11, in a series of incidents where he was ranting racist and antisemitic insults in a Paris cafe. His world imploded and down came the golden child of La Mode, crashing gloriously in a blaze of rouge chiffon. But fashion is fickle and, to those who have been fortunate enough to have been a part of that world, generous too. So Galliano picked himself up, dusted himself off and donned a new pair of heeled booties for his new role as creative director of Maison Margiela. MacDonald, who doesn’t come from a fashion background but made such wondrous works of art as The Last King of Scotland, the docs Whitney and Marley as well as the 2021 title The Mauritanian, is sure to get the man behind the frocks in this one. And I’m so eager to watch it the screening can’t come soon enough.
The Killer by David Fincher
A favorite of mine at this year’s Venice Film Festival, along with all the other stunning Netflix titles, I wouldn’t mind watching The Killer again. And again. It stars a perfectly contained performance by Michael Fassbender as a hit man with a few fixations who somehow convinces us that he’s the hero of this story. I bought it, hook line and sinker and honestly, who said Oscars or Golden Globes worthy performances had to be big and dramatic. I think both Fassbender and Fincher are on their way to some nominations. Hint hint. The film will be on Netflix this winter but it really needs to be watched once on the big screen, before going into multiple viewings on the streaming site. Read my full review here.
Saltburn by Emerald Fennell
From the Academy Awards winning writer and director who brought us A Promising Young Woman comes a film which turns the gaze to the opposite sex and marks a return to England for the London-born filmmaker. As the official synopsis goes “Struggling to fit in at Oxford University, Oliver Quick finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.” With actors that range from Barry Keoghan as Oliver (I’m still moved to tears by his turn as Dominic in Banshees of Inisherin) to Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant and Carey Mulligan, as well as heartthrob of the moment Jacob Elordi (you know, Elvis in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, which is also a must-watch at LFF this year!) this is THE film to watch. And I’m looking forward to viewing it with a super cool audience at the BFI Southbank Centre Royal Festival Hall. The film is an MGM Amazon Studios release.
Stolen by Karan Tejpal
A true discovery in Venice this year, where the film screened in the Orizzonti Extra section, Stolen is a true indie, Indian film which features an unlikely heroine and two brothers who end up finding their true selves thanks to the harrowing journey she takes them on. While the film definitely feels relentless while you’re watching it, there is a sense of redemption for its characters within it. And along with their redemption, we the audience end up finding out our core values. The question that I walked away with is how far I’d be willing to go to help a stranger. And the answer might not be what you think. Or what I thought, for that matter. I caught up with the filmmaker and the scriptwriter/producer on the Lido and found the chat added to my enjoyment of the film, so check it out here, and read it before watching since it doesn’t contain any spoilers.
More titles for extra credit
A few Best International Feature Oscar submissions which will screen at this year’s BFI London Film Festival include Goodbye Julia, which was just nominated by Sudan to represent them in the upcoming race, and Bye Bye Tiberias, which will represent Palestine. Both are important films and necessary viewing for those who wish to understand the Region a bit better. And get to bottom of the conflicts in the MENA, which could be avoidable if all sides had a voice and everyone was given what is rightfully theirs.
And not to be forgotten, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters which mixes a documentary feeling with reenactments, or rather retelling of actual events. It’s haunting, in a way most of Ben Hania’s work is and a must-watch. The film will represent Tunisia in the upcoming Oscars race.
This is not a comprehensive list by far, as I didn’t get a chance to add in Maestro by Bradley Cooper, which I wish to watch again after loving it in Venice, and May December directed by Todd Haynes, starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore. Both are much anticipated Netflix titles. As is NYAD starring Annette Bening in an award-worthy performance from what I hear, along with the great Jodie Foster, also overdue for her next award.
There are endless other gems that I’m forgetting here so a second list may be in order soon. Once I’ve watched a few things on the ground and fall in love with even more titles. So stay tuned. And see you at the movies!
All images used with permission.