By Bianca Garner
For the last few years, I have been attending the BFI London Film Festival, an annual film festival which has been taking place since 1957 and takes place over a two week period in October. It’s always something that I look forward to as it’s my opportunity to meet up with fellow film critics, watch some incredible films (often months in advance) and attend some fascinating and insightful talks and discussion panels. However, for this year’s festival, things are a little different. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the festival will now feature up to 50 online films with only 12 films being shown in London and around the United Kingdom. Discussing the reason for the radical changes, LFF director, Tricia Tuttle, stated that it was completely necessary and that “There will be no return to business as usual. I’m keen to get back to cinemas as soon as we can but I also love the innovations we have been experimenting with this year.”
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By Bianca Garner
“Why’d ya spill yer beans?” If anyone is aware of Robert Eggers’ surreal black comedy/horror film “The Lighthouse” then they’ll most certainly get this reference. As I found myself standing in line at 7:30 am for the press screening of “The Lighthouse” I was wondering just what had I gotten myself into. Is this film really as bizarre as everyone claims it is? Would I find it a challenge to watch and a film that would leave me frustrated, and dissatisfied as a result? Well, “The Lighthouse" is most certainly bizarre and at times, it’s a real challenge to watch, but it was the most fun I have had in the cinema this year so far. Perhaps, fun isn’t the right word because this isn’t exactly a laugh-out-loud comedy, but the surrealness of the events taking place manage to evoke laughter. I wonder whether this was just an involuntary reaction that I had little control over. Even so, I found the film frightfully funny to watch, I also found it frightening and disturbing to watch, and the imagery that Eggers has created has burned its way into my skull.
By Bianca Garner
I know they say don't believe the festival hype, but there are some films that are worth the hype. “Bacurau” is one of those films. It’s hard to explain what the film is about without revealing too much. It’s a film that needs to be experienced and absorbed. Whereas, “Monos” had a narrative that left me puzzled and frustrated, “Bacurau's” narrative is such an intriguing puzzle that the viewer can’t second guess what will happen next. Writers and directors, Kleber Mendonça Filho, and Juliano Dornelles manage to weave together a complex plot that slowly unfolds in a bloody showdown that the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Sam Peckinpah would be jealous of. Google classes “Bacurau's” genre as a ‘weird Western’ which it is, but it is also so much more.
By Bianca Garner
Even before I had started to watch “Monos” I had already been experiencing a surreal nightmare of my own. Being a traveling film critic is not all fun and games, I’ll have you know! I won’t go into details but long story short- never judge a hostel by their photos. It’s officially my first day at LFF and the films I have caught today have made me laugh, grimace, gasp and cry. Each film has been unique in their own sense, and have been an interesting watch although I’m still not sure if I like “Monos." |
BEST PICTURE Nomadland (12) - AWFJ, BOFCA, BSFC, CFCA, CIC, GOTHAM, GWNYFCA, IFJA, NDFS, NSFC, TIFF, VENICE Promising Young Woman (4) - COFCA, MCFCA, SCA, SDFCS First Cow (2) - FFCC, NYFCC Minari (2) - NCFCA, OFCC Another Round - EFA Da 5 Bloods - CIC Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - CIC Small Axe - LAFCA The Trial Of The Chicago 7 - HFCS BEST DIRECTOR Chloé Zhao (16) - AWFJ, BOFCA, BSFC, CFCA, COFCA, FFCC, GWNYFCA, IFJA, LAFCA, MSFCA, NCFCA, NDFS, NSFC, NYFCC, OFCC, SDFCS Spike Lee (2) - CIC, HFCS Darius Marder - SCA Andrew Patterson - GOTHAM Thomas Vinterberg - EFA BEST ACTRESS Frances McDormand (11) - AWFJ, BOFCA, CFCA, FFCC, GWNYFCA, HFCS, IFJA, NCFCA, NDFS, NSFC, OFCC Carey Mulligan (4) - COFCA, LAFCA, MCFCA, SCA, SDFCS Sidney Flanigan (2) - BSFC, NYFCC Paula Beer - EFA Nicole Beharie - GOTHAM Viola Davis - CIC BEST ACTOR Riz Ahmed (7) - COFCA, GOTHAM, GWNYFCA, NDFS, OFCC, SCA, SDFCS Chadwick Boseman (5) - AWFJ, CFCA, CIC, LAFCA, MSFCA Delroy Lindo (6) - BOFCA, HFCS, IFJA, NCFCA, NSFC, NYFCC Anthony Hopkins (2) - BSFC, FFCC Mads Mikkelsen - EFA BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Youn Yuh-jung (10) - AWFJ, BSFC, COFCA, GWNYFCA, LAFCA, MCFCA, NCFCA, OFCC, SCA, SDFCS Maria Bakalaova (9) - BOFCA, CFCA, CIC, FFCC, IFJA, MCFCA, NDFS, NSFC, NYFCC Olivia Cooke - HFCS BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Paul Raci (11) - BOFCA, BSFC, CFCA, COFCA, FFCC, GWNYFCA, HFCS, NSFC, OFCC, SCA, SDFCS Sacha Baron Cohen (3) - MCFCA, NCFCA, NDFS Chadwick Boseman (2) - CIC, NYFCC Leslie Odom Jr. (2) - AWFJ, IFJA Glynn Turman - LAFCA BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Nomadland (8) - AWFJ, CFCA, COFCA, GWNYFCA, HFCS, IFJA, NCFCA, OFCC I'm Thinking Of Ending Things (3) - BOFCA, BSFC, FFCC The Father (2) - SCA, SDFCS Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - CIC BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Promising Young Woman (6) - AWFJ, CIC, COFCA, LAFCA, NDFS, OFCC Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always (5) - CFCA, GWNYFCA, IFJA, NSFC, NYFCC Minari (3) - FFCC, NCFCA, SDFCS The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (3) - CIC, HFCS, MCFCA Another Round - EFA The Forty-Year-Old-Version - GOTHAM Fourteen - GOTHAM BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Nomadland (12) - AWFJ, BOFCA, BSFC, CFCA, CIC, COFCA, GWNYFCA, MCFCA, NCFCA, NDFS, NSFC, SDFCS Mank (3) - FFCC, OFCC, SCA Small Axe (2) - LAFCA, NYFCC Hidden Away - EFA Tenet - HFCS BEST COSTUME DESIGN Emma. (2) - CFCA, SDFCS Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2) - CIC, HFCS Hidden Away - EFA BEST FILM EDITING The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (4) - CIC, COFCA, HFCS, MCFCA Nomadland (4) - AWFJ, BOFCA, GWNYFCA, NDFS I'm Thinking Of Ending Things (2) - BSFC, CFCA The Invisible Man (2) - MCFCA, SDFCS The Father - LAFCA Once More Unto The Breach - EFA BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING The Endless Trench - EFA Mank - HFCS Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - CIC BEST ORIGINAL SCORE Soul (9) - BOFCA, CFCA, CIC, COFCA, FFCC, GWNYFCA, LAFCA, NCFCA, OFCC Tenet (3) - IFJA, MCFCA, SCA Mank (2) - HFCS, NDFS Berlin Alexanderplatz - EFA Minari - BSFC BEST ORIGINAL SONG One Night In Miami (3) - CIC, HFCS, MCFCA Over The Moon - NDFS BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN Mank (8) - CFCA, CIC, FFCC, HFCS, LAFCA, MCFCA, NDFS, SDFCS The Personal History Of David Copperfield - EFA BEST SOUND Little Girl - EFA Sound Of Metal - HFCS BEST VISUAL EFFECTS Tenet (3) - HFCS, NCFCA, SDFCS The Invisible Man (2) - CFCA, CIC The Platform - EFA Possessor - FFCC BEST ANIMATED FEATURE Soul (9) - AWFJ, CCA, CIC, FFCC, IFJA, MSFCA, NCFCA, NDFS, OFCC Wolfwalkers (7) - BOFCA, CFCA, COFCA, GWNYFCA, LAFCA, NYFCC, SDFCS Josep - EFA The Wolf House - BSFC BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM Another Round (6) - AWFJ, CFCA, EFA, IFJA, MCFCA, NCFCA Bacurau (2) - BOFCA, NYFCC The Life Ahead (2) - HFCS, SDFCS Minari (2) - COFCA, GWNYFCA And Then We Danced - NDFS Beanpole - LAFCA Collective - NSFC His House - CIC Identifying Features - GOTHAM La Llorona - BSFC Los Fuertes - FFCC Martin Eden - OFCC BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Dick Johnson Is Dead (5) - CCA, CFCA, COFCA, IFJA, NCFCA Time (5) - GOTHAM, GWNYFCA, LAFCA, NYFCC, SDFCS All In: The Fight For Democracy (2) - AWFJ, NDFS Boys State (2) - CIC, OFCC Collective (2) - BSFC, EFA The Painter And The Thief (2) - AWFJ, BOFCA Beastie Boys Story - HFCS The Social Dilemma - MCFCA A Thousand Cuts - GOTHAM You Don't Nomi - FFCC AuthorsNicole Ackman Archives
January 2021
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