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 Review – Their Finest (2016)
Their Finest, 2016. Directed by Lone Scherfig. Starring Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy, Jack Huston, Richard E Grant, Eddie Marsan, Jake Lacy and Helen McCrory. SYNOPSIS: In the days after The Blitz in World War II, The Ministry Of Information recruits copywriter Catrin (Gemma Arterton) to work on scripts and give their propaganda films […]
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 – 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 Review – The Birth of a Nation (2016)
The Birth of a Nation, 2016. Directed by Nate Parker. Starring Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King, Penelope Ann Miller and Jackie Earle Haley. SYNOPSIS: Set against the antebellum South, The Birth of a Nation follows Nat Turner (Nate Parker), a literate slave and preacher, whose financially strained owner, Samuel Turner (Armie Hammer), accepts an […]
60th BFI London Film Festival Review – Bleed for This (2016)
Bleed for This, 2016. Directed by Ben Younger. Starring: Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhart, Ciaran Hinds, Katey Sagal and Ted Levine. SYNOPSIS: Vinny Pazienza (Miles Teller) has achieved enormous success as a lightweight boxer but his career is threatened when he fails in the Junior Welterweight title fight against Floyd Mayweather. When a devastating car accident […]
60th BFI London Film Festival Review – I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016)
I Am Not A Serial Killer, 2016. Directed by Billy O’Brien. Starring Max Records, Christopher Lloyd and Laura Fraser. SYNOPSIS: Sixteen-year-old John Wayne Cleaver (Max Records, Where the Wild Things Are) is not a serial killer—but he has all the makings of one. Keeping his homicidal tendencies and morbid obsessions with death and murder in […]
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 2016 Review – The Handmaiden (2016)
The Handmaiden, 2016 Directed by Park Chan-wook Starring Min-hee Kim, Kim Tae-ri, Jung-woo Ha, Jin-woong Jo SYNOPSIS: During the Japanese occupation of Korea, young con-woman Sook-Hee is hired to be a wealthy heiress’s handmaiden at an isolated countryside estate. Joining forces with a fellow thief, she plans to swindle the heiress out of her fortune, […]
60th BFI London Film Festival Review – An Insignificant Man (2016)
An Insignificant Man, 2016. Directed by Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla Starring Arvind Kejriwal, Yogendra Yadav and Santosh Koli. SYNOPSIS: An enthralling documentary following the political career of activist Arvind Kejriwal around the 2013 Delhi election, and his battle with two long standing political parties in India, the world’s largest democracy. An Insignificant Man chronicles […]
