The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival

[thirtyframesasecond]

14-29 October 2009. For screening information:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/node/688

[zedz]

I've managed to see about a dozen of these, but the only absolutely unmissable one is the revival of Night of Counting the Years, a fantastic film that's been neglected for way too long.

The White Ribbon is one of Haneke's best films, so make of that what you will. It looks fantastic, at any rate. Bright Star is excellent, though it becomes more conventional in the final third. Mother I've discussed in its thread. Dogtooth is memorably weird, a much more interesting provocation than some of its better publicised Cannes brethren, and Lanthimos might be a filmmaker to watch. The de Oliveira is a glorified anecdote, but a beguiling one. Samson & Delilah is a fine debut from a great short film director.

We Live in Public is a decent account of an interesting subject, but, as was the case with Dig!, Timoner seems way too impressed by her own proximity to the action to provide much in the way of enlightening or considered perspective. The Jarmusch is what you'd expect (is this really only just reaching the UK?).

Double Take fails to live up to the promise of its sky-high concept, in my opinion, and is much less witty and inventive than it thinks it is. Balibo is OK, but embraces just about every cliche of the 'engaged', based-on-a-true-story genre.

Cold Souls is reheated turkey. Salmonella awaits.

If I were there, I'd be most excited about White Material, the latest Film ist, and the Rivette. And from what I've heard, the best Cannes refugee they've got (in the absence of Police: Adjective) is Tales from the Golden Age.

[colinr0380]

Balibo is OK, but embraces just about every cliche of the 'engaged', based-on-a-true-story genre.

There's a very interesting article in the news section of this month's Sight and Sound by John Pilger who tears the film apart ("a travesty of omissions") for its whitewashing of the West's part in supporting the genocide in East Timor and the death of five Australian reporters by cutting the more critical material from the script over various drafts ("David Williamson's original script described the effect of the cover up on the families of the murdered journalists, their anger at being denied information, and their despair at Canberra's scandalous decision to have the journalists' ashes buried in Jakarta with Ambassador Woolcott, the arch apologist, reading the oration") and then "as if to cover the missing history in his film, [director] Connolly appointed a "consulting historian", Dr Clinton Fernandes, whose distinction is as a former member of Australian intelligence."

[zedz]

There's a very interesting article in the news section of this month's Sight and Sound by John Pilger who tears the film apart ("a travesty of omissions") for its whitewashing of the West's part in supporting the genocide in East Timor.

The US does get its nose slightly bloodied (but that's part of the cliche and pretty much obligatory by now) and there's one blink-and-you'll-miss-it sidelong indictment of the Australian government, but one of the big surprises of the film for me was how Australian complicity - which has been such a big part of the story in the public arena for years now - was played way down. The film is far too concerned with presenting the events as a rousing 'tragedy' (with its singular martyr hero) to document them as a crime.

[rohmerin]

Amazing program. I want to see ALL the Italian films and specially Abel Gance's J'accuse (that it will be also screened at the Barbican this Autumn).
Question, excuse me but I'm new in London and I need to know it: How do I get tickets witouth a credit card? Box office, I suppose, but, I mean, are all sesions full? Have I to wait looooong queues as in Spanish Cinemateque?

Is there anyone here a BFI member?

Gracias.

I've receipt some information from an Italian friend: puoi prenotare online o in persona (di solito aprono un box office a leicester square) or per telefono.
So, the Leicester Sq is the best option.

[colinr0380]

This is the pertinent sections of John Pilger's Balibo piece:

The historical record is unambiguous: the US, Britain and Australia conspired to accept such a scale of bloodshed as the price of securing South East Asia's "greatest prize" with its "hoard of natural resources"...Britain supplied Suharto with machine guns and Hawk fighter bombers which, regardless of fake 'assurances', were used against defenceless East Timorese villages. But the critical role was played by Australia, this being Australia's region. During World War II the people of East Timor had fought heroically to stop a Japanese invasion of Australia. Their betrayal was spelt out in a series of leaked cables sent by the Australian ambassador in Jakarta, Richard Woolcott, prior to and during the Indonesian invasion of 1975. Echoing Henry Kissinger he urged "a pragmatic rather than a principled stand", reminding his government that it would "more readily" exploit the oil and gas wealth beneath the Timor Sea with Indonesia than with its rightful owners, the East Timorese. "What Indonesia now looks to from Australia...", he wrote at Suharto's special forces slaughtered their way across East Timor, "is some understanding of their attitude and possible action to assist public understanding in Australia".

Two months earlier, in October 1975, Indonesian troops had murdered five newsmen from Australian TV near the East Timorese town of Balibo. On the day after the capital, Dili, was seized in December, they shot dead a sixth journalist, Roger East, and threw his body into the sea. Australian intelligence had known twelve hours in advance that the journalists in Balibo faced imminent death, but the government did nothing. Intercepted at the spy base Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) near Darwin, which supplies US and British Intelligence, the warning was suppressed so that it would not expose Western governments part in the the conspiracy to invade and the official lie that the journalists had been killed in "crossfire". The secretary of the Australian Defence Department, Arthur Tange, demanded that the government not even inform the journalist's families of their murders. No minister protested to the Indonesians. This criminal contrivance is documented in Death in Balibo, Lies in Canberra by Desmond Ball, a renowned intelligence specialist, and Hamish McDonald.

And then pertaining more to the film itself:

I asked Robert Connolly why he had cut the original Williamson script and omitted all reference to government complicity. He replied that the film had "generated huge discussion in the media and the Australian government" and in that way "Australia would best be held accountable".

[thirtyframesasecond]

I'm a member, purely because members get priority booking (about a week before the general public). It's likely the high profile screenings will all be sold out before they go on sale to the general public. You can purchase tickets from the participating cinemas, I think - certainly the Odeon in Leicester Sq (the smaller one on the South side) does. It's a damn sight easier if you have a credit card though (or can get someone to buy them for you).

Amazing program. I want to see ALL the Italian films and specially Abel Gance's J'accuse (that it will be also screened at the Barbican this Autumn).
Question, excuse me but I'm new in London and I need to know it: How do I get tickets witouth a credit card? Box office, I suppose, but, I mean, are all sesions full? Have I to wait looooong queues as in Spanish Cinemateque?

Is there anyone here a BFI member?

Gracias.

I've receipt some information from an Italian friend: puoi prenotare online o in persona (di solito aprono un box office a leicester square) or per telefono.
So, the Leicester Sq is the best option.

[foggy eyes]

I've managed to see about a dozen of these, but the only absolutely unmissable one is the revival of Night of Counting the Years, a fantastic film that's been neglected for way too long.

The White Ribbon is one of Haneke's best films, so make of that what you will. It looks fantastic, at any rate. Bright Star is excellent, though it becomes more conventional in the final third. Mother I've discussed in its thread. Dogtooth is memorably weird, a much more interesting provocation than some of its better publicised Cannes brethren, and Lanthimos might be a filmmaker to watch. The de Oliveira is a glorified anecdote, but a beguiling one. Samson & Delilah is a fine debut from a great short film director.

Great, zedz - this is the kind of advice I need!

If I were there, I'd be most excited about White Material, the latest Film ist, and the Rivette. And from what I've heard, the best Cannes refugee they've got (in the absence of Police: Adjective) is Tales from the Golden Age.

Those first 3 are pretty much at the top of my list. Also pleased that the Hong/Diaz/Kawase Visitors project is on board (even though the Diaz segment is apparently uncannily reminiscent of last week's tragic blow to film criticism).

One thing, though - where the fuck is Independencia?

[thirtyframesasecond]

I'm disappointed that Lucia Puenzo's 'The Fish Child' wasn't selected. I'm sure 'XXY' had been, and 'The Fish Child' has been on the global festival circuit to decent write ups. Hopefully it'll be part of the Latin American Film Festival instead.

[thirtyframesasecond]

Another thing.....I want to see the new Atom Egoyan film; 'Chloe'. It's a remake of a French film called 'Nathalie' with Emmanuelle Beart. Anyone heard much about this? Or is the original French film any good to start with. It's more high profile than previous films of his, big name actors - hope it's not going to go the way of Where The Truth Lies.

[foggy eyes]

No new Tsai either. Bummer. Kinatay has no doubt taken Independencia's "place" - idiotic festival politics.

[MichaelB]

I'm certainly going to try to see Anthony Asquith's Underground - given the strength of his other two silents (Shooting Stars and A Cottage on Dartmoor), this should be pretty unmissable.

Of the fourteen new Polish films I saw in Wrocław, just one got selected - though I was unexpectedly impressed with Andrzej Wajda's Sweet Rush, a film that fuses a post-WWII short story by Jaroslaw Iwaskiewicz (already the source for Wajda's The Birch Wood and The Young Ladies of Wilko) with a genuinely heart-rending monologue by Krystyna Janda about the real-life decline and death of her husband (respectively camera operator and DOP on the two other films mentioned). It doesn't entirely work - the third narrative strand featuring Wajda and Janda planning the film felt superfluous - but Janda's monologue is a genuine tour de force.

[foggy eyes]

I'm certainly going to try to see Anthony Asquith's Underground - given the strength of his other two silents (Shooting Stars and A Cottage on Dartmoor), this should be pretty unmissable.

Have you not seen this already, Michael? It's pretty great - the chase over Battersea Power Station (best location in London?) at the end is amazing...

[MichaelB]

I'm certainly going to try to see Anthony Asquith's Underground - given the strength of his other two silents (Shooting Stars and A Cottage on Dartmoor), this should be pretty unmissable.

Have you not seen this already, Michael? It's pretty great - the chase over Battersea Power Station (best location in London?) at the end is amazing...

I could always have called up a Digibeta, but I've known about this revival for some time.

[foggy eyes]

I could always have called up a Digibeta, but I've known about this revival for some time.

That'll be what I've seen - it was rather ratty, so you've been very wise to wait!

[foggy eyes]

How's everybody's festival going? Wiseman's La Danse was stunning, White Material very strong, the new Hong ok. With you on Double Take, zedz - it boggles my mind that a film so full of ideas would only bother to explore so few...

[Gropius]

Haven't been to much - missed the Wiseman, and am not enough of a Denis devotee not to wait for eventual distro on hers. Highlights so far are The Happiest Girl in the World - more in the 'deadpan Romanian' genre from Lazarescu's assistant director, but impressed me with its repetitive economy, and is further evidence that their Cannes-hyped New Wave is no flash in the pan - and Enter the Void. Re. the latter, there admittedly continues to be something adolescent about Noé's provocations (this one is littered with quasi-pornographic scenes and druggy mysticism), and the plot isn't massively engaging, but it demands praise for sheer formal bravura, shot almost entirely from a floating overhead perspective, and laced with bewildering psychedelic CGI effects.

[franco]

Are they screening Mia Hansen-Løve's Father of My Children to the public? In the absence of Assayas, we get an excellent movie from his girlfriend. If I didn't know who made the movie and someone told me that it's Assayas, I would have believed the person. Everything is there - themes, actresses, outcomes, editing, energetic rhythm - except the fluid long takes. The young actress from Late August, Early September has turned out to be quite a promising filmmaker.

Ouch, jealousy. You guys get to see About Elly!!!

[franco]

So if there are no screening times listed, does it mean that all of them have passed? Bummer. I would have given all my heart to recommend The Exploding Girl. The comparison with Café Lumière is by no means casual, and there are even direct visual references. In my mind, The Exploding Girl is as good as the best of Hou, with the same attention to human moments and strikingly beautiful images (often through telephoto lenses). I could hardly believe that it was shot on RED.

[thirtyframesasecond]

I saw The Time That Remains by Elia Suleiman, which was a witty, absurd look at the sixty years of the state of Israel through the eyes of the Suleiman family, based on diaries, memories, etc. Also, The Milk of Sorrow by Claudia Llosa, which was a brilliant look at Peru's legacy of terror and the uneasy transformation from dictatorship to democracy. Tomorrow's my last film; Atom Egoyan's Chloe.

[franco]

Why investing precious festival time on Egoyan? That movie is surely getting a theatrical release. Has anyone gone to see About Elly?

Is anyone planning to see Air Doll? To me the most disappointing movie of the year (more the the Dumont and the Denis). If you walk out 20 minutes before it ends, then you may actually end up liking the movie. The cinematography from Mark Lee Pin-Bing (Hou Hsiao-Hsien's regular DP), however, is breathtaking. It almost makes all the other lameness tolerable.

[foggy eyes]

franco, this is the kind of stuff you were supposed to tell us before the festival started! I decided to blow off The Exploding Girl for some reason, but am now regretting it. About Elly was off my radar, I'm ashamed to say. Might be making a bit of a hash of this festival so far! Can't get to Air Doll because of scheduling clashes, and as AE are distributing the Mia Hansen-Løve film it can wait... Have to say that I thought the Dumont and Denis were both very impressive, though, and I don't usually get as worked up as others about them (barring US Go Home and 35 Rhums, of course, and, if memory serves, 29 Palms)...

Gropius - couldn't bring myself to attend the Noe, especially as there's no Grandrieux this year to wash it out of my system with...

Resto of Far from Vietnam was awesome - 35mm blow-up, seriously?

Let's keep this thread rolling...

[franco]

Sorry! I didn't realize that this thread existed until you bumped it yesterday. I was in Toronto when you guys opened the thread, and when I came back, it was already buried behind discussions I hardly cared about. Next year I promise I will be more resourceful.

In any case, it appears that Bordwell deems About Elly a masterpiece. The story sounds like something I would really care about and I am just angry that neither Toronto or Vancouver picked it up.

Missing Air Doll and Enter the Void is probably healthy. The last 40 minutes of Enter the Void is pure sensory torture.

I do like White Material, but I just feel that all it does is to contrast the lyricism of Chocolat. There are already tons of movies with similar themes and outcomes; it does not seem to me that Claire has brought something new to illuminate the subject or told the story in her idiosyncratic flair. That said, I am asking too much! I should just remember the film as a solid, exciting, and unambiguous thriller.

[foggy eyes]

I do like White Material, but I just feel that all it does is to contrast the lyricism of Chocolat. There are already tons of movies with similar themes and outcomes; it does not seem to me that Claire has brought something new to illuminate the subject or told the story in her idiosyncratic flair. That said, I am asking too much! I should just remember the film as a solid, exciting, and unambiguous thriller.

The last few shots really push it somewhere else, though, and pretty much (re-)define what has passed until that point - I have a feeling it might look and feel very different second time round. But, anyway, what I found most refreshing after a day of disappointments was the simple fact that Denis + team are totally committed to their narrative(s), people, images and movement, which is more than can be said for some of the things I've seen so far (e.g. Kinatay - ugh)...

And no worries about the belated recs - there's always next year!

[Phil]

(e.g. Kinatay - ugh)...

Could you elaborate on this a bit?

The only Mendoza I've seen is Serbis, which I sort of detested, but respected at least for its total commitment to the world being filmed. I think Kinatay sounds really interesting in theory as a piece of aggressive political commentary; what'd you dislike about it so much?

God knows when I'll ever be able to see it, as AFI couldn't find a place for it (or Mendoza's other new film...or Independencia...or, etc. etc. etc.)