Elle, 2016. Directed by Paul Verhoeven. Starring Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Laffite, Anne Consigny, Charles Berling, Christian Berkel and Jonas Bloquet. SYNOPSIS: Michèle seems indestructible. Head of a successful video game company, she brings the same ruthless attitude to her love life as to business. However her life takes a dramatic turn when she is raped in […]
60th BFI London Film Festival Review – Personal Shopper (2016)
Personal Shopper, 2016. Directed by Olivier Assayas. Starring Kristen Stewart, Lars Eidinger, Sigrid Bouaziz, Anders Danielsen Lie and Ty Olwin. SYNOPSIS: Maureen serves as a personal shopper for the rich and famous. Residing in Paris, she also practices as a medium with the hope of contacting her recently deceased twin brother. Channelling two greatly conflicting lifestyles, soon […]
60th BFI London Film Festival Review – Moonlight (2016)
Moonlight, 2016. Directed by Barry Jenkins. Starring Trevante Rhodes, Andre Holland, Janelle Monáe, Ashton Sanders, Jharrel Jerome, Naomie Harris, and Mahershala Ali. SYNOPSIS: A timeless story of human connection and self-discovery, Moonlight chronicles the life of a young black man from childhood to adulthood as he struggles to find his place in the world while growing […]
60th BFI London Film Festival Review – American Honey (2016)
American Honey, 2016 Directed by Andrea Arnold Starring Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf, Riley Keough. SYNOPSIS: Disaffected, blue-collar American teen Star (Sasha Lane), a self-described ‘American Honey’, leaves her unhappy home life behind to hit the road with a gang of misfit stragglers who travel across the USA scamming people out of their money. On the way […]
60th BFI London Film Festival Review – La La Land (2016)
La La Land, 2016. Directed by Damien Chazelle. Starring Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend and J.K. Simmons. SYNOPSIS: In Los Angeles, aspiring actress Mia (Emma Stone) works in the coffee shop on the Warner Brothers’ lot and goes to auditions. Jazz devotee and struggling musician Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) resorts to playing at weddings, parties […]
60th BFI London Film Festival Review – Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Manchester by the Sea, 2016. Directed by Kenneth Lonergan. Starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges and Tate Donovan. SYNOPSIS: An uncle is forced to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy’s father dies. Densely absorbing and richly enveloping, writer-director Kenneth Lonergan’s third feature is a melancholic but undeniably human portrait of grief, […]
60th BFI London Film Festival Review – A Monster Calls (2016)
A Monster Calls, 2016. Directed by J.A. Bayona. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, Lewis MacDougall, Toby Kebbell, Geraldine Chaplin and the voice talents of Liam Neeson. SYNOPSIS: Life is miserable for young Conor (Lewis MacDougall). At school, he’s bullied and at home he’s trying to cope with his mother’s treatment for cancer – and the overwhelming […]
60th BFI London Film Festival 2016 Review – King Cobra (2016)
King Cobra, 2016. Directed by Justin Kelly. Starring Garrett Clayton, Christian Slater, Keegan Allen, James Franco, Alicia Silverstone and Molly Ringwald. SYNOPSIS: Based on the true story of Sean Lockhart A.K.A Brent Corrigan, an up and coming gay porn star who shot to fame only to run into legal disputes with his producer, which eventually took […]
60th BFI London Film Festival Review – A United Kingdom (2016)
A United Kingdom, 2016. Directed by Amma Asante. Starring David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, Jack Davenport, Laura Carmichael, Tom Felton, Vusi Kunene and Arnold Oceng. SYNOPSIS: In the late 1940s, Prince Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo) of Bechuanaland (later to become Botswana) is studying in London when he meets and falls in love with Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike). […]
60th BFI London Film Festival – A United Kingdom Press Conference Report
A look at the trailer for A United Kingdom, the opener at this year’s London Film Festival, might give the impression that its star, David Oyelowo, is in serious danger of being typecast. After his star-making turn as Martin Luther King in Selma, he’s delivering more inspiring speeches as future ruler of Botswana, Seretse Khama. […]
