WatchSeeLookView At The LFF 2020 - New Order

Don’t worry, we’re entering the home stretch for these now (yes, they have been going on for a long while; I was ill a bit in the middle there and have also foolishly decided to attempt to write a 50,000 word in a month again so these have all been pre-prepared and scheduled to publish to avoid too many more gaps) and this one is a highlight…

New Order
Dir. Michel Franco / Dur. 88 mins
Strand:- Dare

In A Nutshell:- A high society wedding and city-wide riots collide with shocking consequences....

The Good:- It’s a bold and shocking film with the opening montage and a scene set in a hospital in the midst of rioting setting out a glimpse of some of the horrors to come. We’re then taken to an opening sequence highlighting a selection of characters at a clearly affluent wedding, almost lulling you into a false sense of security; a sense of security that is soon dispelled as the hints of rioting across the city come crashing into the wedding. There’s a genuine sense of tension throughout; of not knowing what is going to happen to these characters. The pace is almost breathless as it moves from one scene to the next. It’s commentary on the gulf between the rich and the poor and the abuses committed by those in power and those who want it is sharp and bleak. At 88 minute, it’s a taught running time that leaves nothing to spare.

The Bad:- Nothing that springs to mind under this bit. Just to say that it is a relatively bleak film so don’t go into it expecting a light breezy time.

The Verdict:- Utterly gripping and genuinely horrifying in its depiction of events that are all too plausible, this is definitely one of the highlights of the festival and absolutely worth checking out.

WatchSeeLookView At The LFF 2020 - Possessor

As we finish off the last of the Cult strand films, the desire is strong to avoid lazy “like father, like son” comparisons on this one but if you do go and make a mind-bending sci-fi tinged body horror....

Possessor
Dir. Brandon Cronenberg / Dur. 104 mins
Strand:- Cult

In A Nutshell:- Tasya Vos is a “possessor” - a hitman who uses implants to take over another person’s body and carry out their hits…

The Good:- Inevitably, given that Brandon Cronenberg is the son of David Cronenberg, director of Videodrome, The Fly, Scanners and more, it is very hard to avoid making comparisons especially when Cronenberg Jr is treading into the sort of body horror-tinged sci fi that his father became famous for. Fortunately, while wading into similar territory, Brandon has enough of his own style to make that comparison a complementary rather than negative one. There are some chillingly gruesome scenes and as well as suitably weird and creepy imagery throughout (notably in one off-key scene when Christopher Abbott wears a deliberately melted version of Andrea Riseborough’s face). In terms of the cast, Riseborough is suitably haunted as conflicted hitman Vos, torn between loyalty to her boss and a desire to be with her family, as well as managing to convey the unraveling effect that inhabiting other people’s minds is having upon her. Christopher Abbott does a good job too of portraying the hitman-possessed target who begins to fight back against the invading personality.

The Bad:- I’m not one hundred percent convinced about the very end of it but won’t say more without spoiling it.

The Verdict:- It’s good to see a Cronenberg back into the realm of sci fi and horror (now that David has moved into more realistic portrayals of the horrific with films like A History Of Violence and Eastern Promises) and good to see that, while clearly influenced by his father, Brandon is very much carving out his own niche.

WatchSeeLookView At The LFF 2020 - Delia Derbyshire: The Myths And Legendary Tapes

Not quite a documentary and not quite a drama for today’s effort.

Delia Derbyshire: The Myths And Legendary Tapes
Dir. Caroline Catz / Dur. 98 mins
Strand:- Create

In A Nutshell:- A docudrama detailing the life of sound pioneer Delia Derbyshire

The Good:- Alright, full disclosure, I was always going to be drawn into this one for its Doctor Who link. Delia Derbyshire is, after all, the person responsible for the distinctive sound of one of the most iconic TV themes of all time - the Doctor Who theme tune. Ron Grainer was the composer but it was Derbyshire who gave it the wheezing, groaning feel that made it such an unusual sound. This is what she’s best known for but the film does a good job of showing that was just one part of her work and career and delves more into the impact she had on the Radiophonic Workshop as a whole, breaking through as the only female member of the team in a time when it was still very much a man’s world in television anywhere outside of the secretarial pool. It does a good job of highlighting Delia as the non-conformist, struggling to try and do something new in an emerging medium. This is clearly a passion project for Catz who writes and stars as Delia as well as directing. It’s an interesting mix of interviews with surviving colleagues, friends and lovers (with some overlap for those descriptions) as well as recordings of Delia herself alongside the dramatised excerpts of her life.

The Bad:- It veers close to pretension a few times and also feels like it glosses over some key areas of her life, largely some of the more negative aspects which are briefly mentioned towards the end.

The Verdict:- Derbyshire is an interesting figure - someone who has rightly albeit retrospectively been acknowledged as the first pioneer of what would ultimately become electronic music - and this does a good job of trying to paint the portrait of someone who was more than just the person who gave the Doctor Who theme.

WatchSeeLookView At The LFF 2020 - Rose: A Love Story

One of the only three films showing under the Cult strand this year (usually my favoured strand along with Laugh); we’ve had one and we’ll be getting the other.

Rose: A Love Story
Dir. Jennifer Sheridan / Dur. 86 mins
Strand:- Cult

In A Nutshell:- Sam cares for Rose in a sheltered cabin in the woods, doing his best to help her with the strange and mysterious illness which keeps them isolated…

The Good:- It’s not spoiling anything to say that this is a nice reversal on the standard vampire tale. Here, Sam is devoted to his wife Rose and does everything in his power to keep her safe and the condition which could result in his death if allowed to rage unchecked under control. It’s an assured first film from first time director Jennifer Sheridan and first time writer Matt Stokoe (who also stars as Sam). Stokoe and Sophie Rundle as Rose have a believable chemistry and there’s a genuineness to the husband - wife relationship that is often missing in a lot of films. There’s a pleasing lack of exposition as you’re left to work out the specifics of their life together as they go about it, with a script that is surprisingly confident for a first time feature writer. There’s also a nice little link for fans of the TV series Misfits which Stokoe starred in as his co-star Nathan McMullen briefly appears.

The Bad:- If I have a criticism, it’s that, after a film which is about atmosphere and crafting slow-burn tension and suspense around their predicament, the ending feels almost too abrupt and makes it feel weirdly anti-climactic after the build up.

The Verdict:- Another in the line of smarter horror films that we’ve been seeing over recent years in which atmosphere and suspense are the order of the day rather than jumps, gore and scares. Definitely worth checking out for a slow burn dose of horror.

WatchSeeLookView At The LFF 2020 - David Byrne’s American Utopia

I think this might be the first concert film that I’ve seen at the festival but, given that’s it the LFF, this concert film is of course directed by Spike Lee.

David Byrne’s American Utopia
Dir. Spike Lee / Dur. 105 mins
Strand:- Create

In A Nutshell:- David Byrne performs the Broadway version of his American Utopia album which also includes a number of Talking Heads classics.

The Good:- I have to say that, while I haven’t necessarily listened to a lot of Talking Heads, that I like David Byrne. He’s the sort of wryly amusing but distinctively odd artist that I enjoy so the idea of spending one hour forty five in the comedy of David Byrne being David Byrne while performing some music was something that I was already on board for and this did not disappoint. Spike Lee’s staging and direction is simple yet lively and energetic, suiting Byrne’s idiosyncratic style. Byrne himself is as David Byrne-y as you would expect him to be - veering close to pretentious but managing to puncture it with self-deprecating humour before he hits that mark. The songs are all enjoyable and he even manages to make a serious point with a Janelle Monae cover that doesn’t feel tonally out of place with the other pieces. The mix of Talking Heads classics alongside newer pieces from the album also blends well - there’s always a risk that the newer stuff stands out in the wrong way but that isn’t the case here.

The Bad:- Genuinely haven’t really got anything to add here. I guess the only thing would be that if you’re not a fan of David Byrne then this is unlikely to win you over as he is as David Byrne-y as he’s ever been. But then you probably wouldn't watch this in the first place, I guess.

The Verdict:- If I had to sum this up in a word, I would go with “joyful”. I genuinely spent most of this tapping or singing along with a big dopey grin on my face. An absolute highlight of the festival.

WatchSeeLookView At The LFF 2020 - Another Round

Ah, now this one wasn’t just a highlight for me but ended up winning the Best Film prize at the Virtual LFF Audience Awards for 2020 (voted for by the viewers for the first time).

Another Round
Dir. Thomas Vinterburg / Dur. 115 mins
Strand:- Journey

In A Nutshell:- A group of middle-aged teachers decide to validate a study which says that maintaining a constant level of alcohol in your blood actually enhances performance…

The Good:- Mads Mikkelsen plays Martin, a forty-something teacher who is drifting through his work, his family life and his friendships. At a friend’s birthday dinner (all of whom work at the same school), the decision is made to follow an experiment through - they will drink to a consistent level during their working hours to see if their abilities are enhanced. You can probably guess where this is ultimately going to go but that doesn’t make the journey any less enjoyable. Funny and at times heartfelt and heart wrenching, the cast are all on fine form, as you would expect from Mikkelsen but he is more than ably assisted by his co-stars. It’s the sort of film that it’s almost impossible not to get swept along by and you also get a chance to see Mikkelsen show off his dancing skills. It also handles the switch from the comedy to the tragedy of drunkenness very well (with the comedy being highlighted in a sequence where the four of them attempt a drunken shopping trip with a hint of fishing).

The Bad:- It’s a minor criticism but there’s an element of the ending that feels a little too feelgood (particularly given that this is from the same director that gave us the no-holds-barred Festen back in the 90s) but this didn’t impact my overall enjoyment of the film.

The Verdict:- It won the top prize of the festival and I’d say deservedly so. An amusing but sobering (sorry notsorry) look at how the routines of middle-aged life can suddenly overwhelm you and provoke a desire to run everything upside down for a chance to go back to the person you were.

WatchSeeLookView At The LFF 2020 - The Intruder / Gold For Dogs

Yes, it’s two films bundled together again so it can only mean that it’s two that I have less to say about. I don’t want to just skip films that didn't necessarily float my boat but I’m not going to spend a lot of time on them either.

The Intruder
Dir. Natalia Meta / Dur. 95 mins
Strand:- Dare

In A Nutshell:- A voice actress begins to suffer from nightmares and wonders if there’s something more sinister going on…

The Verdict:- The Italian “Giallo” film (gruesome murder mystery/thrillers of the type personified by directors like Dario Argento) is a genre that I’ve only recently started to get into so it’s probably a little soon for me to fully appreciate an homage to that style of filmmaking. It not only suffers from being superficially similar in set up to Berberian Sound Studio (which also focuses on a sound artist slowly losing their mind) but, for me, it all felt a little bit too disjointed and fractured so that, by the end, I didn't even really realise that was all there was until the final number kicked in. Sadly, this one was a miss for me.


Gold For Dogs
Dir. Anna Cazenave Cambet / Dur. 95 mins
Strand:- Journey

In A Nutshell:- A young girl travels to Paris to be with her summer romance but things don’t go as she planned…

The Verdict:- It’s perhaps a little unfair to lump this one in with The Intruder as I did enjoy it somewhat but it still didn’t satisfy overall. It starts off as a fairly standard tale of summer romance which is no bad thing as it’s fairly lively and beautifully shot. Following the switch to the big city, it follows the predictable route of lead character Esther being spurned by the boy she followed but then pivots in a slightly different direction which is to its credit. However, this change of tack robs the film of any momentum and, as the film meanders towards its end, I found myself losing more and more interest unfortunately. The cast are on fine form, particularly Talullah Cassavetti as Esther, but it wasn’t enough to save it for me sadly.

WatchSeeLookView At The LFF 2020 - Undine

This is very much the sort of film that I look for in the Festival - whether it succeeds or not, it’s trying something a little bit different.

Undine
Dir. Christian Petzold / Dur. 90 mins
Strand:- Love

In A Nutshell:- The story of Undine, a historian who starts a romance with an industrial diver. But is there something different about Undine?

The Good:- It’s a film that skirts around the potential of their being something supernatural going on without being too explicit for quite some time and that works to its favour. Is Undine just a bit strange or is there something more to her? The two main leads have good chemistry which is unsurprising given that they’ve worked together before with Petzold (in the acclaimed Transit which is one of the many, many films on my always far too long “To Watch” list). There are some effective stylistic touches, notably the explosive event that brings Undine and Christoph together and it unfolds in a way that I wasn’t expecting narratively which is always a bonus given the number of films I watch!

The Bad:- Not necessarily bad per se but there are large chunks of dialogue given over to Undine’s talks that she gives as part of her museum job on the architectural history of Berlin. After a while, interesting though it was to learn something about Berlin, I was getting a bit tired of the history lesson and would have been happier for maybe less of those speeches to just give us a flavour.

The Verdict:- This is definitely the sort of film I enjoy finding at the festival. It’s tricky to pin down to any one particular genre and is definitely trying something different, both in terms of content and narrative. It’s not necessarily one that will top my recommendation lists for the fest but I’m glad I gave a film like this a try - it’s the sort of thing I’d overlook normally.