It’s been a blast of a fortnight and one of the strongest LFFs we can remember. This year we’ve been spoilt for choice, having the chance of fitting over 100 films in a viewing schedule so crammed that we’ve needed a couple of weeks to make sense of it all. Our overall impression amply reassures 2011 as a vintage year for filmmaking. The 55th edition of the London Film Festival was also the last for director Sandra Hebron being in charge, after nearly a decade taking the event from strength to strength. The wealth of great movies on show couldn’t have made a better tribute to her excellent work.
We’ll try to compile our experience ranking the festival ‘hits’ in a later post. But beginning with the bad news, we are first having a look at the misses. With a program that comprised over 200 works, there was always going to be some sacrifices to make. Luckily enough, only two titles in our most awaited list were among them: ‘Alps’, Greek rising star Georgios Lanthimos’ follow-up to his acclaim debut ‘Dogtooth’and one of the hottest ticket of the festival despite the division of opinions it’s generated and Roman Polanski’s ‘Carnage’, adapting a recent Broadway play with a quartet of top acting talent (Kate Winslet; Jodie Foster; John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz).
We’ve also heard good things about Iranian drama ‘Goodbye’; experimental noir ‘The Pettyfogger’ and Argentinean college political thriller ‘The Student’. On the other side of things, missing Madonna’s newly edited ‘W.E.’ and Nick Broomfield’s ‘I’m Sarah Palin’ documentary, may have turned out to be blessings in disguise.
Despite the high average quality, there were a few films we didn’t like. Worst of them was French auteur Nicolas Klotz reinventing the concept of pretentiousness in ‘Low Life’, a sort of love story where some posh kids rebel for the cause of immigrants rights, while posing and reciting poetry-like dialogues; showing little concern for whatever the reality in the streets may actually be. Hardcore lovers of arthouse fare might appreciate Chantal Akerman’s return to film after nearly a decade-long hiatus with ‘Almayer’s Folly’. Everyone else will be better off approaching with caution her confusing and rather unengaging take on the Joseph Conrad novel, an attempt to deal with colonialism and identity issues that failed to impress. Gus Van Sant was universally panned for ‘Restless’, intended as a quirky indie tale of teen romance and loss, ended up closer to the looks of an advertising campaign than to real human feelings. Brazilian social drama meets horror ‘Hard Labour’ didn’t quite work as either, and Israeli director Eran Kolirin, after his more than notable ‘The Band’s Visit’, left us cold with ‘The Exchange’; an absurdist comedy without the laughter about a teacher’s newly found sense of freedom when he returns home early and begins doing the kind of senseless things one can only attempt to when thinking he’s alone.
With redeeming features, but failing to live up to their huge ambitions, were the films of a series of well-regarded directors adapting classic literary material. Michael Winterbottom taking ‘Tess Of The D’Uberbilles’ to contemporary India in ‘Trishna’ wasn’t very successful; the country’s colourful landscape with its recent Slumdog Millionaire feel good factor worked against the drama’s firm intentions to denounce women’s inequality in a traditional society. Nor did work Fernando Meireilles’ rehash of the 1900 German play ‘La Ronde’ in ‘360’, where some good moments provided by a top-notch international cast (Anthony Hopkins; Ben Foster; Rachel Weisz..) coldn’t save the stereotype crammed screenplay giving an unconvincing glimpse at the state of contemporary relationships. Ralph Fiennes’ energetic interpretation of the political intrigue and war strategies in Shakespeare’s ‘Coriolanus,’ set in our time and told through news flashes and TV debates, didn’t leave the feeling of accomplishment it certainly looked for, despite the good work of an impressive cast headed by himself and Gerald Butler; Jessica Chastain and Oscar-tipped Vanessa Redgrave.
Better but far from the masterpiece many were expecting was Terence Davies faithful recreation of Terence Rattigan’s ‘The Deep Blue Sea’, which benefitted from good performances by Rachel Weisz –again- and Tom Hiddleston and perfectly capturing the atmosphere of post-war Britain, but not so much the deep emotional world of its characters. Also in this category, the masterful take on Goethe’s ‘Faust’, the recent Venice winner made by acclaimed Russian visionary Alexander Sokurov; so enamoured with the achievement of its form, ground breaking technique and gripping recreation of the time it depicts that he just forgot any regard for its audience, resulting on a film as easy to admire as it is difficult to like.
And not lacking entertainment, but hardly mantaining the level of pass work by their respective directors were ‘Dark Horse’, Todd Solondz’s latest attempt to recapture his former ‘Happiness’ glory, reuniting another great cast (featuring rare appearances by Mia Farrow and Christopher Walken) and using a lighter comedy touch to narrate the impossible romance between a spoilt man and a manic depressive girl, whose overblown story takes a promising idea well out of proportion; Nanni Moretti’s very conventional ‘Habemus Papam’, a film about the election process of a new pope endangered when the chosen candidate refuses to take possession of his charge. Despite Michel Piccoli’s very credible performance, the lack of any real satire or critical perspective on the role and rituals of the Church makes for a very unsubstantial proposition; last, and probably the most original of the three was ‘There Must Be The Place’, Paolo Sorrentino’s tale of a retired rock star trying to find the Nazi tormentor of his deceased father, boasting a cast of well-known American actors, starring Sean Penn who borrows the Robert Smith look for the occasion.