London Film Festival 2023

I found it very inconvenient that I have to go to work, otherwise I would have bought lots more tickets but I did get to see a few things over the past week…

All Of Us Strangers

As it’s not going to have a general release for a while I was really keen to see this with the cast of four amazing actors.  I don’t want to give any spoilers but this film about grief, love, loss and loneliness is just beautiful with sensitive and moving performances from all.  Just love Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal together - the energy each can create on a screen by themselves could power small towns and so together they are stunning.  And Claire Foy and Jamie Bell are just so delicate in creating a pair of parents from the eighties.  Great soundtrack too.  In my practical head though I am wondering what happens after the film ends.  It was my first time going to a gala performance at the LFF and we only realised at the last minute that there was a red carpet so we took the opportunity to have a walk along it…  strangely none of the photographers seemed that interested in us though.  Another success was that we (eventually) found an icecream after what we thought was going to be a fruitless search along the South Bank, and we found the balcony overlooking the river to eat it.   So a successful evening in so many ways even if the film left me a bit of an emotional wreck. 

Foe

Another evening watching Paul Mescal on the big screen at the Royal Festival Hall, this time with Saoirse Ronan as the other half of an unhappy couple living through the climate crisis 40 years in the future.  Into a house and landscape that looks mid 20th century  comes the future, in the form of Terrance (Aaron Pierre) making an offer they can’t refuse. Lovely cinematography of bleak dying landscapes and, of course, amazing talents on screen. Unfortunately the sci-fi story behind it is a bit superfluous and doesn’t stand up well against some Black Mirror episodes.  Leaving aside my grumbles though, the study of the relationship in breakdown is great, as are the scenes between Mescal and Ronan;  they both do intimacy and subtle emotion on screen so well.   Sadly though the empty story with a bit too much melodrama, obvious symbolism and clunky dialogue gets in the way.  So, in summary great cast doing a good job with some less than perfect material but it all looks beautiful anyway. 

There was a bit of a commotion in the middle of one of Mescal’s big scenes.   I had no idea what was going on (I guess someone had been taken ill - hope they are ok!) but some shouting of  ‘turn the lights up’ … ’don’t turn the lights up’ and running ushers added to the general sense of bemusement that I felt. 

Stories We Tell

This was my last visit to the festival this year and it was a lovely sunny afternoon on the South Bank again, this time to see a programme of short films representing facets of British life.  I enjoyed them all but The Scottish Play was probably my favourite - a shaggy dog tale about a disastrous real production in Shute church.  Very funny.  Essex Girls was a little slice of life from the late 2000's about a Black girl from Benfleet.  I have just seen that Corinna Brown was in the audience as well as in the film although I didn’t spot her at the time (I am rubbish at celeb spotting!). The introduction for that one by the producer and writer gave a bit too much away but it was still a good and enjoyable slice of what felt pretty real to me.  Festival of Slaps was warm and funny and a bit sentimental but not too much.  All The Lights Still Burning was a sweet gay love story set in Bradford which had lovely night cinematography making the city look beautiful.  Smoking Dolphins was a funny little story equating the Brexit and Covid lies with the tall tales told by some blaggers in a pub.  Only Yourself to Blame was a fairly obvious but still quite difficult to watch horror film.  I don’t like horror very much so that probably coloured my judgement.  Finally, The Singer was a fairly sentimental story about a deaf man’s relationship with music.  Actually the introduction on stage by the writer/performer was the really interesting bit and I’d loved to have heard more.  The short films are available until 15th October free on BFI player https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/collection/bfi-london-film-festival-shorts