Last week at the London Film Festival
We're pretty much amateurs in terms of film going at the London Film Festival as we only managed 6 films compared to some people we met who were going to over 20, but we had fun. For my own interest here are the six films we went to see under the cut.
Suffragette was our first film (though not the Gala showing). This is a film directed, written by and starring women about a hugely important subject for women so a very significant film in many ways, but I did have some mixed feelings about it. Although Meryl Streep has a cameo role as Emmeline Pankhurst the film really belongs to Carey Mulligan as laundry worker Maud, an initially reluctant convert to a cause she begins by believing has nothing to do with her ordinary life. The harsh conditions and drudgery that Maud experiences working in the laundry are very well shown and an important corrective to seeing the Suffragettes as middle and upper class women. The process of Maud's radicalisation as her growing commitment to the Suffragette cause gradually strips everything from her was fascinating and moving to watch as she slowly gets drawn in to the campaign of violence that some Suffragettes felt compelled to adopt. This was where I had some issues with the film as by concentrating so firmly in Maud's point of view it didn't show that not all of the movement agreed with the campaign of violence. The police treatment of Maud and her friends was terrible as they were beaten and force fed, but by making the senior policeman pursuing Maud an Irishman, who specifically pointed out to her that in his own experience violence solved nothing, it was hard not to wonder when political campaigning stopped and terrorism began. As I used to commute into London daily during the IRA bombing campaign that's a tricky one for me.
The film culminates on Derby Day, 1913, when Maud accompanies Emily Davison to Epsom and manages to be incredibly tense even though I presume that everyone knows what happened (one person sitting next to me gasped with shock, so maybe not everybody does know). Maud's journey doesn't end there though as she is finally empowered enough to take action to rescue one young girl from a fate that she herself had suffered. The credits rolled showing the dates when women had gained the vote in various countries and there was an audible gasp throughout the audience at Switzerland where it didn't happened until 1971.
It's a good and important film with good performances all round but I didn't feel quite as satisfied with it as I wanted to be for reasons I can't quite put my finger on, maybe because it was so unrelentingly worthy and lacking in any lighter shades. On a final note it was rather entertaining to see Helena Bonham Carter playing a Suffragette when her great-grandfather, the Prime Minister at the time H. H. Asquith, was adamantly opposed to them.
Everything else we went to see was a foreign language film so there was much reading of subtitles but we picked the films deliberately as films we weren't likely to be able to see anywhere else.
Retribution (El Desconocido). This is a Spanish thriller and interesting as the kind of thriller that Hollywood would make but on about a hundredth of the budget. A banker sets off to take his children to school only to have someone he doesn't know ring him to say the car is rigged to blow up if anyone leaves their seats. Spain was hit very hard by the economic crash so the idea behind the film was the lengths people might go to get revenge on the bankers who had lost their money for them. It was highly improbable, but entertaining viewing. Despite the main characters being men the most interesting ones were the female bomb disposal chief (who got a real heroic entrance) and the banker's teenage daughter trapped with him in the car. Entertaining hokum and I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if Hollywood didn't remake it.
When Marnie Was There. Possibly the last film ever from Studio Ghibli, which would be very sad. It's based on a children's book of the same name but I haven't read it so don't know what alterations were made. The film looks beautiful and it was refreshing to watch something that concentrated on the friendship between young girls. Lovely.
The Wave (Bolgen) A film definitely not financed by the Norwegian tourist board! A Hollywood style disaster movie made outside Hollywood and again at a fraction of the cost. Kristian, a geologist is about to leave his job monitoring the mountain above Geiranger fjord in Norway, but is concerned by some stange computer readings. His boss tells him not to worry but... I suspect you can guess the rest. The film hit pretty much every disaster movie cliche going but very entertainingly and the Norwegian setting made it feel fresher than it actually was. As this mountain collapsing and causing a tsunami is something that actually could happen I may not be quite as keen to visit Norway as I once was.
Schneider vs. Bax. A Dutch thriller with some distinct overtones of the Coen Brothers. A hitman is trying to enjoy his birthday but is given the job of killing a writer that must be done that day. His day spirals downwards from there as all may not be quite as it seems. The black humour is very black but it was very funny in parts as more and more people get caught up in the action. The setting is a bleak landscape of marsh, rushes and water that feels very distinctive. I enjoyed watching it though I wouldn't necessarily want to see it again.
Guilty (Talvar). This is based on a real double murder in India and was a hugely absorbing and well made film by Meghna Gulzar, a female director, who gave a fascinating Q&A after the film. It starred Irrfan Khan and it was my choice to go and see it as I was hugely impressed with him in The Lunchbox and it didn't disappoint. A young girl is found murdered in her parents' house and initially suspicion falls on their servant until he is also found dead. The first police investigation completely botches the forensic evidence and decide the parents are guilty, a second investigator (Irrfan Khan) is assigned and thinks that other servants are guilty but his case is damaged by the fact that he bullies and beats witnesses. The film covers different views of the case though it comes down on the side of the parents as innocent and is very critical of the Indian police, the justice system and the role played by the media in prejudging the case without knowing the evidence. It was a long but very powerful film, which unlike Suffragette managed to show flashes of humour even in such a dark subect.
We had a really great time seeing such different films and are very lucky to be able to go. Roll on next year.
Suffragette was our first film (though not the Gala showing). This is a film directed, written by and starring women about a hugely important subject for women so a very significant film in many ways, but I did have some mixed feelings about it. Although Meryl Streep has a cameo role as Emmeline Pankhurst the film really belongs to Carey Mulligan as laundry worker Maud, an initially reluctant convert to a cause she begins by believing has nothing to do with her ordinary life. The harsh conditions and drudgery that Maud experiences working in the laundry are very well shown and an important corrective to seeing the Suffragettes as middle and upper class women. The process of Maud's radicalisation as her growing commitment to the Suffragette cause gradually strips everything from her was fascinating and moving to watch as she slowly gets drawn in to the campaign of violence that some Suffragettes felt compelled to adopt. This was where I had some issues with the film as by concentrating so firmly in Maud's point of view it didn't show that not all of the movement agreed with the campaign of violence. The police treatment of Maud and her friends was terrible as they were beaten and force fed, but by making the senior policeman pursuing Maud an Irishman, who specifically pointed out to her that in his own experience violence solved nothing, it was hard not to wonder when political campaigning stopped and terrorism began. As I used to commute into London daily during the IRA bombing campaign that's a tricky one for me.
The film culminates on Derby Day, 1913, when Maud accompanies Emily Davison to Epsom and manages to be incredibly tense even though I presume that everyone knows what happened (one person sitting next to me gasped with shock, so maybe not everybody does know). Maud's journey doesn't end there though as she is finally empowered enough to take action to rescue one young girl from a fate that she herself had suffered. The credits rolled showing the dates when women had gained the vote in various countries and there was an audible gasp throughout the audience at Switzerland where it didn't happened until 1971.
It's a good and important film with good performances all round but I didn't feel quite as satisfied with it as I wanted to be for reasons I can't quite put my finger on, maybe because it was so unrelentingly worthy and lacking in any lighter shades. On a final note it was rather entertaining to see Helena Bonham Carter playing a Suffragette when her great-grandfather, the Prime Minister at the time H. H. Asquith, was adamantly opposed to them.
Everything else we went to see was a foreign language film so there was much reading of subtitles but we picked the films deliberately as films we weren't likely to be able to see anywhere else.
Retribution (El Desconocido). This is a Spanish thriller and interesting as the kind of thriller that Hollywood would make but on about a hundredth of the budget. A banker sets off to take his children to school only to have someone he doesn't know ring him to say the car is rigged to blow up if anyone leaves their seats. Spain was hit very hard by the economic crash so the idea behind the film was the lengths people might go to get revenge on the bankers who had lost their money for them. It was highly improbable, but entertaining viewing. Despite the main characters being men the most interesting ones were the female bomb disposal chief (who got a real heroic entrance) and the banker's teenage daughter trapped with him in the car. Entertaining hokum and I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if Hollywood didn't remake it.
When Marnie Was There. Possibly the last film ever from Studio Ghibli, which would be very sad. It's based on a children's book of the same name but I haven't read it so don't know what alterations were made. The film looks beautiful and it was refreshing to watch something that concentrated on the friendship between young girls. Lovely.
The Wave (Bolgen) A film definitely not financed by the Norwegian tourist board! A Hollywood style disaster movie made outside Hollywood and again at a fraction of the cost. Kristian, a geologist is about to leave his job monitoring the mountain above Geiranger fjord in Norway, but is concerned by some stange computer readings. His boss tells him not to worry but... I suspect you can guess the rest. The film hit pretty much every disaster movie cliche going but very entertainingly and the Norwegian setting made it feel fresher than it actually was. As this mountain collapsing and causing a tsunami is something that actually could happen I may not be quite as keen to visit Norway as I once was.
Schneider vs. Bax. A Dutch thriller with some distinct overtones of the Coen Brothers. A hitman is trying to enjoy his birthday but is given the job of killing a writer that must be done that day. His day spirals downwards from there as all may not be quite as it seems. The black humour is very black but it was very funny in parts as more and more people get caught up in the action. The setting is a bleak landscape of marsh, rushes and water that feels very distinctive. I enjoyed watching it though I wouldn't necessarily want to see it again.
Guilty (Talvar). This is based on a real double murder in India and was a hugely absorbing and well made film by Meghna Gulzar, a female director, who gave a fascinating Q&A after the film. It starred Irrfan Khan and it was my choice to go and see it as I was hugely impressed with him in The Lunchbox and it didn't disappoint. A young girl is found murdered in her parents' house and initially suspicion falls on their servant until he is also found dead. The first police investigation completely botches the forensic evidence and decide the parents are guilty, a second investigator (Irrfan Khan) is assigned and thinks that other servants are guilty but his case is damaged by the fact that he bullies and beats witnesses. The film covers different views of the case though it comes down on the side of the parents as innocent and is very critical of the Indian police, the justice system and the role played by the media in prejudging the case without knowing the evidence. It was a long but very powerful film, which unlike Suffragette managed to show flashes of humour even in such a dark subect.
We had a really great time seeing such different films and are very lucky to be able to go. Roll on next year.