The Chaos Pop family is a far-flung tribe, and now our man in London, Liam Dunn, is here to give us the skinny on the the 2019 BFI London Film Festival, and what cinematic treats we should be keeping an eye out for over the next few months.
Knives Out
The sixty-third time is the charm for the BFI London Film Festival which, on 2nd October, kicks off twelve days of outstanding cinema from around the globe. As usual, London showcases the best of Cannes, Venice and Toronto as well as some films having their exclusive world and European premieres at the festival. As tensions rise between the UK and Europe and the spectre of a No-Deal Brexit looms on the horizon, one hopes that the power of cinema will send the political misgivings of the past year receding into the shadows behind the spotlights shining down on the red carpet at London’s West End.
Perhaps then the opening night gala film reflects the spirit of camaraderie in the face of impending doom with Armando Iannucci’s Dickens adaptation, The Personal History of David Copperfield. An adaptation of a beloved and very British period novel from the creator of The Thick of It and director of The Death of Stalin is bound to give UK audiences a heavy nostalgic dose of “Britishness” while at the same time undercutting that nostalgia which has become arguably toxic over the last few years.
The Personal History of David Copperfield
Some of the other gala screenings promise to share some of Iannucci’s wit and pursuit of social justice while others offer pure cinematic escapism, a well sought after panacea to these troubling times. Fresh from winning the Audience Award at Toronto, there’s Taika Waititi ‘s “anti-hate satire” JoJo Rabbit, while Star Wars mastermind Rian Johnson presents his all-star Agatha Christie inspired murder mystery Knives Out, David Michôd and Joel Edgerton go full Shakespeare with The King starring Timothée Chalamet as Henry V and Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story puts modern relationships under the microscope.
Some of the galas may come slightly out of left-field but it is in the main programme where one can find the more trailblazing, barrier-breaking and confrontational films. Czech filmmaker Václav Marhoul’s intense and violent anti-war polemic The Painted Bird inspired mass walkouts at Venice. Céline Sciamma’s lesbian period drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire not only won the Best Screenplay award at Cannes but also the Queer Palme (Sciamma becoming the first female director to do so) and Robert Eggers returns to LFF after his debut The Witch, with his monochromatic nautical horror The Lighthouse which has so far baffled and intrigued audiences in equal measure.
The Lighthouse
The festival also features a series of competition strands. Amongst the official competition there is the Malick-esque portrait of child soldiers in Monos and Maxine Peake kicks against the patriarchal pricks in 17th century England in Fanny Lye Deliver’d. In the debut feature competition, Australian director Shannon Murphy presents drama Babyteeth starring national treasures Ben Mendelsohn and Essie Davis supporting up-and-comer Eliza Scanlen (Sharp Objects). Screening in the documentary competition is Coup 53, Taghi Amirani and Walter Murch’s investigation into the CIA/MI6 backed coup to re-install the Shah of Iran and Mystify: Michael Hutchence, Richard Lowenstein’s portrait of the INXS frontman and Aussie rock icon.
Then finally, to close out the festival in the most epic way possible, we have Martin Scorsese’s Netflix-produced gangster opus The Irishman. The screening should hopefully answer the question; will the big screen be unkind or severely unkind to the computer-generated de-aging of Robert De Niro’s titular fixer? Bad CGI or no, with Scorsese back in the genre that he perfected at the same time as coaxing Joe Pesci out of retirement to also join Al Pacino, playing Jimmy Hoffa no less, The Irishman will no doubt be the absolute business.
The Irishman
Although some huge festival hits are missing from this year’s roster (both Joker and Palme d’Or winner Parasite are noticeably absent) the 63rd BFI London Film Festival is always an exciting time for any cinephile with thousands of incredible films on show. Perhaps this year the festivities will be affected by the political climate of England’s capital, thankfully the London Film Festival offers the opportunity to understand, reflect on or even just escape these troubling times through the power of cinema. So from 2nd October join me right here for a daily run down of the best, brightest and boldest films of the year.
LIAM DUNN
