Lff2013

News, Reviews & Features

#LFF2013: The Sacrament

Movie Review | Christopher Ratcliff | 22nd October 2013

Deep within a heavily armed camp in South America, a group of sober-living hippies under the influence of a safari-shirted old man known only as The Father, have relocated to begin a new life away from the evils of modern society â€“ mediocre broadband speeds, ill-matching Tupperware lids, Starbucks constantly spelling their names wrong - that sort of shit.

Within the congregation of hemp-oil smelling beatniks is Caroline, the sister of Vice magazine journalist Patrick. Seeking to rescue his sister from the cult, Patrick travels to the remote commune with fellow Vice journalist Sam (AJ Bowen, the bearded guy from You're Next) and cameraman Jake (Joe Swanberg, also from You're Next) who intend to document the family reunion, expose this bizarre gathering and interview the charismatic leader. As you can imagine, things get much shitter from there.

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#LFF2013: Captain Phillips

Movie Review | Matt Looker | 20th October 2013

Itâ€™s got awards buzz written all over it. Itâ€™s based on a true story with all the focus on one man, played with complete conviction by a two-time Oscar winner. Itâ€™s a gripping, compelling, terrifyingly tense drama delivering complete authenticity and utmost sincerity. Welcome to Hanks! In An Adventure With Pirates!

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#LFF2013: The Double

Movie Review | Rob Young | 20th October 2013

As he took to the stage at the London Film Festival, Richard Ayoade stumbled through the introduction of his new film. He turns to his executive producer, who just so happens to be Michael Caine, and says, "You're probably used to working with someone much more professional." But the modest Ayoade has nothing to worry about. The Double is an extremely professional piece of work, assuring his place as one of the country's finest directors/quiz show panellists.

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#LFF2013: Locke

Movie Review | Neil Alcock | 19th October 2013

Claustrocore fans have had it good at this year's London Film Festival. Whether it's Robert Redford single-handedly taking on the Indian Ocean in All Is Lost, or Elijah Wood trapped at his piano by a crazed gunman in the unintentionally hilarious and brilliantly terrible Grand Piano, those of us who like being stuck in one location with one actor for the best part of a film have been well served by the BFI. The daddy of them all, though, takes place nowhere more thrilling than in a car on the M6 and M1, and the man in the driving seat is future Road Warrior Tom Hardy. That's right guys - it's Mad Max: Beyond Toddington. *takes rest of day off*

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#LFF2013: Enough Said

Movie Review | Ed Williamson | 16th October 2013

It's hard to watch a recently deceased actor in one of his final films with your opinion of his performance uncoloured. See The Dark Knight and try not to wonder a little how much the Joker's intensity fed into Heath Ledger's state of mind. But James Gandolfini is a different case: I was five seasons into rewatching The Sopranos when he passed away in June, and the fact of his death barely occurred to me as I watched him in the subsequent episodes. I got to wondering why, and didn't fully figure it out until I saw Enough Said. It was because he didn't actually do all that much. But he did nothing a lot better than plenty of other actors do something.

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#LFF2013: Inside Llewyn Davis

Movie Review | Neil Alcock | 16th October 2013

"If it was never new and it never gets old, then it's a folk song," mutters Inside Llewyn Davis' titular muso between performances from a dimly-lit Greenwich Village stage. Those might just be the folkiest words ever uttered, but while they're perfectly accurate, they could just as easily be applied to the Coen brothers' best work. The reassuring familiarity of the Coenverse's unique characters, patois and situations, which sit at ninety degrees to reality, is one of modern cinema's greatest pleasures, and the knowledge that they could take you anywhere is never less than tantalising. Inside Llewyn Davis delivers that old magic in spades, and includes an award-worthy performance from a cat to boot. What's not to love?

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#LFF2013: Blue Is The Warmest Colour

Movie Review | Neil Alcock | 15th October 2013

Let's not beat around the bush: Blue Is The Warmest Colour features lengthy, smokin' hot sex scenes between two young lesbians. I mention this now not for the sake of Google search results, honest, but just to get it out of the way. Because this is so much more than controversy-baiting soft porn for conservative tabloids and knuckle-shufflers alike to get excited about; it is in fact remarkable, assured filmmaking from a director and two actors so committed to the story they're telling that it's easy to forget it's a story at all. The naked young lesbians having naked lesbian sex is simply by the by, I don't even know why you keep going on about it.

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#LFF2013: All Is Lost

Movie Review | Ali Gray | 6th October 2013

The ocean must surely be the greatest villain in history. Sparkly on the outside, deadly beneath the surface. Fun to frolic in, but home to some of nature's greatest predators. It even waves at you then pulls you under. Yet still, posh nobs with sailboats and too much spare time attempt to tame the ocean by skiffing on its face - and we're supposed to be surprised when it gets angry and tries to claim them.

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#LFF2013: Mystery Road

Movie Review | Neil Alcock | 1st October 2013

For most of us, Australian cinema right now means stuff like Animal Kingdom, Snowtown and - at a push - The Sapphires, which is a state of affairs our barbie-obsessed upside-down cousins should consider fairly bonza. After all, it wasn't so long ago that their most notable cinematic export was Baz Luhrmann's Australia, a film whose very title The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw casually (and rather oddly) described as "flatulent". So it stands to reason that Mystery Road, a moody-looking crime drama from down under, could add another cork to the hat of Aussie film success; at the very least it seems unlikely that its title will be compared to an expulsion of fetid rectal gas. Although to be honest you never know with Bradshaw.

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