The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival (to give it its full title) is the largest public film event in the UK, this year running from Wednesday 14th, to Thursday 29th of October, 2009.
Including the usual comprehensive mix of features, short film compilations, talks, interviews, workshops, education events, and masterclasses, and taking place in 18 venues across the capital, it’s a lot of cinema to fit into 16 days!
So, in the interests of providing a public service, we at Sci-Fi-London have taken the time to trawl through the programme in advance, in order to dig out the films that might be worth catching from a sci-fi/cult perspective at this years LFF.
See below for the 8 films selected, plus other screenings of note and ticketing details further down the page:
Astro Boy
(USA, Hong Kong, Japan, 2009, David Bowers)
A no-brainer this one, but given the combined weight of 57 years of manga and anime history behind Osamu Tezuka’s tale of a little robot boy, this American and Japanese co-production has a lot to live up to. Add to that a cast of famous voices, and a move into now fashionable 3D animation, and it’s difficult to see how it’ll please the hard-core anime fan. That said though, perhaps it’s success should best be judged on its ability to engage a whole new audience in the tales of Mighty Atom. How well it achieves this, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Cold Souls
(USA, 2009, Sophie Barthes)
Sounding like a combination of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich, Cold Souls stars Paul Giamatti as New York actor Paul Giamatti, who comes across a new technology with the ability to remove souls from the body. But, having opted for the procedure, he then encounters problems when he wants his soul back. Can there be such a thing as an international trade in the trafficking of souls? Meta/existential movies are no new thing, but this one, written and directed by newcomer Sophie Barthes, looks rather good!
Enter the Void
(France, Germany, Italy, 2009, Gaspar Noe)
Enter the Void is already carrying no small amount of controversy with it from previous festival screenings this year, something director Gaspar Noe is probably used to since the release of his last film, Irreversible, caused a stir for its graphic scenes from the outset. The same is promised here along with a non-linear and hallucinatory tone, best considered either inspired or utter rubbish depending on your viewpoint. The tale of a dead man’s spirit watching over his sister in Japan, though, is an intriguing starting point.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
(UK, 2009, Wes Anderson)
This year sees two former young indie directors take on much loved children’s stories: Spike Jonze with Where the Wild Things Are, and Wes Anderson here with his stop-motion version of Roald Dahl’s classic. The good news is, it looks like much of Anderson’s idiosyncratic touches have survived the format change, George Clooney and Meryl Steep seem good choices for the voice cast, and there’s something delightfully tactile about the old-school animation style (even if the fur does move about a bit!). Tickets for the opening night gala will be difficult to get, but there’s a further 3 screenings available, later the same week.
Forbidden Door
(Indonesia, 2008, Joko Anwar)
Right now some of the most interesting and dynamic film-making in the world is coming out of East Asia. From the strange genre bending of South Korea and Hong Kong, to the Muay Thai and subtly dreamy worlds of Thailand. This Indonesian picture promises blood and gore, along with its story of a sculptor stumbling across CCTV channels in a secretive members’ club. They appear to show horrific and traumatic abuse, including a child who may or may not be the sculptor’s younger self. All doesn’t appear to be what it seems, including, perhaps, the ending.
Kamui
(Japan, 2009, Yoichi Sai)
Every major film-making nation has its standard stories that get worked and re-worked again and again over the years. In America it used to be the Western, and in Japan it’s still the tales of honour and swordplay in feudal Japan, based on popular manga series! So it is with Kamui, based on The Legend of Kamui by Sanpei Shirato, which ran from 1964-1971, about a low-born ninja trying to flee his clan. This movie adaptation promises a fresh look at the secretive ninja class, as well as hot young star Kenichi Matsuyama as the eponymous hero.
Metropia
(Sweden, Denmark, Norway, 2009, Tarik Saleh)
Perhaps the best little curio hidden away in the festival programme this year is animated film Metropia. Curiously animated (judging from the trailer) and staring the voices of Vincent Gallo and Juliette Lewis, it’s set in a dystopian future Europe, where only English is spoken, surveillance cameras are everywhere and corporations dominate. A Swedish, Danish and Norwegian co-production, this should be worth catching for fans of the unconventional and strange, where ever you may be!
The Road
(USA, 2009, John Hillcoat)
Those who’ve already read the amazing 2007 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Fiction by Cormac McCarthy on which this movie is based, may struggle to imagine how its bleak yet poetic narrative can be adapted onto the big screen without causing audiences everywhere to wail out in despair! None-the-less that task has fallen to director John Hillcoat, whose previous film was the Australian outback western: The Proposition. The tale itself is a simple one, a father and son travel across a post-apocalyptic wasteland, trying to stay alive. Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Charlize Theron star.
Other Screenings of Note:
Air Doll (Japan, 2009, Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Animated Shorts for Younger Audiences (7 Short Films)
Animation Panorama (9 Short Films)
Bluebeard (France, 2009, Catherine Breillat)
Bunny and the Bull (UK, 2009, Paul King)
From Time to Time (UK, 2009, Julian Fellowes)
The Gothic and the Grotesque (10 Short Films)
Journey to the Moon (Turkey, 2009, Kutlug Ataman)
The Men Who Stare At Goats (USA, 2009, Grant Heslov)
MICMACS (France, 2009, Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
Nymph (Thailand, 2009, Pen-ek Ratanaruang)
People Are Strange (7 Short Films)
Toy Story 2 (In Disney Digital 3D) (USA, 1999/2009, John Lasseter (Co-Dir Lee Unkrich, Ash Brannon))
Valhalla Rising (UK, Denmark, 2009, Nicolas Winding Refn)
Who’s Afraid of the Wolf? (Czech Republic, 2008, Maria Prochazkova)
Tickets go on sale to BFI Members this Wednesday, 23rd September; Partner Venue Members and Festival E-mail Bulletin Subscribers on Friday, 25th September; and everyone else on Saturday 26th September. Purchases can be made in person at festival venues, by telephone on 020 7928 3232, and online at: www.bfi.org.uk/lff/