BFI London Film Festival 2011 – Ones To Watch

With the BFI London Film Festival just a few short weeks away, it’s time to cast an eye over this year’s programme and pick out the prospective highlights. Here’s our definitive guide to what to look out for October 12-27.

Shame

While Hunger announced Michael Fassbender as a major new force in British film, the Irish star’s latest looks set to cement him as one of the most important actors of his generation. Shame sees The Fass reunite with video artist-turned-writer/director Steve McQueen on a phallus-driven odyssey of rough sex and self-loathing in present day NYC. Like an illicit Bret Easton Ellis/Chuck Palahniuk lovechild, Fassbender’s Brandon is an arresting and provocative cinematic anti-hero, and with Carey Mulligan’s foul-mouthed lil’ sis sweetening the deal, expect to see Shame get its grubby hands on a host of awards come October 27. The excess flesh screams ‘artsy festival bait’, but this is a classy affair from an undeniably talented filmmaker.

The Artist

Michel Hazanavicius’ Cannes darling is still without a UK distributor, making it a must-see highlight of this year’s fest. Jean Dujardin stars as a silent movie star who comes face-to-face with his own career mortality after the success of the first ‘talkies’. Shot in gorgeous monotones and featuring stunning near-dialogue free supporting performances from Missi Pyle and John Goodman, this charming homage to early Hollywood cinema is a unique and witty antiquity that is as gratifying as they come. It’s unlikely to scoop any of the big prizes, but you’ll kick yourself if you miss it.

Dark Horse

We haven’t quite forgiven Todd Solondz for Life During Wartime, his belated sequel to 1998′s cult cupcake Happiness, but word of any new release from the characteristically acerbic indie noodler is still enough to get our film nerd juices flowing. Dark Horse once again sees Solondz pull back the curtain on American suburbia, this time forefronting the dysfunctional romantic exploits of sad sack thirtysomethings Abe (Jordan Gelber) and Miranda (Selma Blair). Both living with their rents having reached contrasting junctures in their lives, the pair embark on an unlikely relationship that spirals into turmoil in a series of toe-curlingly awkward yet wonderfully dark mishaps. Here’s hoping Solondz has rediscovered some form.

The Ides of March

George Clooney (of George Clooney fame) continues his LFF fling with this tightly-scripted political fracas in which man of the hour Ryan Gosling sizes himself up against alpha thesps Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti. Gosling plays Stephen Myers, the media savvy golden boy on Democratic messiah Mike Morris’ (Clooney) campaign trail who’s dealt a schooling by a couple of surly spin doc big dogs. After The Cloon’s decidedly mediocre 2008 directorial outing, Leatherheads, was booted into touch by critics and audiences alike, The Ides of March is a triumphant return to Good Night, and Good Luck territory that commands respect and oozes style.

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Next big thing Elizabeth Olsen is sensational in first timer Sean Durkin’s confident debut about a young girl plunged into an identity crisis after escaping the clutches of a charismatic cult leader (John Hawkes). Already a hit at Sundance and Cannes this year, Martha Marcy May Marlene is one of the boldest, most impressive films from a newbie writer/director we’ve ever seen. Set in the mountainous Catskills region of New York state, this existential slow-burner challenges the audience to put American indie preconceptions aside and embrace its eloquent thematic web of dreams, paranoia, fear and isolation. Expect to see it light up the Film on the Square strand.

Dragonslayer

Renegade skate punk Josh ‘Skreech’ Sandoval proves a strangely affable subject in this SXSW winning doc from Tristan Patterson. Spending his days scarring concrete and hanging out under the Californian sun, Skreech looks and sounds like someone lifted straight from a Larry Clark flick. As a local legend on the slide, however, his path is about collide headlong into the hard realities of adulthood, and it’s here that Dragonslayer is at its most affecting. A day-dreamy slice of indie romance that’s both startlingly simple and entirely original, Patterson’s film is a breezy love letter to American youth.

Into the Abyss: Tale of Life, Tale of Death

Back in March LWLies sat awestruck as Werner Herzog unveiled a teasing 10 minutes worth of crudely edited footage from a then untitled prison doc at Cadogan Hall in west London. The prolific German auteur’s mad documentarian skills means that Into the Abyss is now wrapped in time to bolster the LFF line up. In a move that makes Louis Theroux look like Ali G, Herzog heads to a Texas penitentiary to get the low down on life on death row from some of the most notorious felons on the planet. Featuring candid interviews with several inmates, some just days before their execution dates, this intimate and at times eerie portrait of the American penal system is sure to stun audiences and re-enliven the capital punishment debate.

Take Shelter

Acting tsunami Michael Shannon evokes his head-turning performances in Bug and My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done in this atmospheric drama from Shotgun Stories (also starring Shannon) director Jeff Nichols. He’s Curtis, a blue-collar Joe who begins suffering from nightmarish apocalyptic visions and winds up veering towards a schizophrenic black hole. While it’s Shannon who undoubtedly steals it, The Tree of Life‘s Jessica Chastain provides some dramatic steel with a delicate and understated turn as Curtis’ loving wife, Samantha. Visually poetic and profoundly absorbing from start to finish.

Alps

Dogtooth writer/director Giorgos Lanthimos delivers on his initial promise with this hotly anticipated black dramedy about a group of ordinary people thrown into a volatile situation. Where so many new faces in world cinema fade into obscurity, often after being lured overseas, Lanthimos is no one-hit wonder. Despite having been vocal about the difficulties of producing a film in his native Greece, Alps is another bittersweet valentine to this exciting filmmaker’s troubled homeland. Having already been somewhat divisive in Venice, it will be fascinating to see which way Alps will be received next month.

The Descendants

Seven years since Sideways it’s almost as if Alexander Payne is spoiling us, with two films from the cherished writer/director scheduled for release over the next two years. First up is The Descendants, in which George Clooney plays Matt King, a career-minded father who attempts to re-connect with his two young daughters following his wife’s boating accident. Wrestling with his paternal shortcomings and the nagging sting of self-reflection, Matt’s emotional expedition from out-of-favour dad to resurgent family man is by turns bittersweet, laugh-out-loud and painfully sincere. Hawaii might be the setting but The Descendants isn’t all schmaltz and sunshine.

America, America

Dipping into the archive, the LFF programmers have picked out a true gem in the shape of Elia Kazan’s America, America. Semi-autobiographical, it tells the story of a young Anatolian Greek who flees persecution with his family’s modest fortune and dreams of starting afresh in America. Fraught with peril and personal tragedy, our protagonist’s coming-of-age voyage remains authentic and engaging from the off. Gene Callahan’s Oscar-winning black-and-white cinematography elegantly compliments Kazan’s deeply personal storytelling.

Weekend

Andrew Haigh’s second feature, screening as part of the New British Cinema strand, is all about finding love in unexpected circumstances. The pastel tones and passive score may scream indie-by-numbers, but Weekend is the real deal – a heartfelt and life-affirming story that’s sure to take audience members by surprise. It follows Russell (Tom Cullen), who hits a gay club after a boozy house party only for a one-night stand to turn into something much more special. After 2009′s Greek Pete, a shocking yet affectionate year-in-the-life portrait of a London rent boy, Haigh asserts himself as an inimitable voice in LGBT cinema.

Tales of the Night

French animation maestro Michel Ocelot (Kirikou and the Sorceress) offers something for the family in the form of Tales of the Night, a collection of beautiful shorts rendered using old school silhouette techniques and screened in 3D. A mix of Caribbean, African and Franco folktales treated with Ocelot’s trademark dry humour and enchanting storytelling make this a guaranteed crowd pleaser. Proof that (along with Studio Ghibli) truly spellbinding animation is going strong outside of the Disney/Pixar/DreamWorks Holy Trinity.

The Kid with a Bike

The Dardennes Cannes Grand Jury Prize winning latest doesn’t quite rank alongside the Belgian brothers’ best, but The Kid with a Bike is nonetheless an irresistible piece of realist drama. We follow 11-year-old Cyril (Thomas Doret) on the run from a children’s hospice where he’s been recently abandoned by his father. After being caught by his carers, Cyril clings to an unassuming hairdresser (the wonderful Cécile de France) who agrees to take him in on weekends. Enriching cinema from the most consistent filmmaking duo around.

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Another Cannes crowd-stormer, Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin is a bold adaptation of Lionel Shriver’s acclaimed book of the same name with a British twist. Tilda Swinton is a mother cast into social exile after a high school massacre carried out by her teenage son (Afterschool‘s Ezra Miller). Almost a decade on from Ramsay’s exceptional second feature Morvern Callar, Kevin marks a significant leap forward for the reclusive Glaswegian, demonstrating her ability to bring a popular novel to life on the big screen while retaining her distinctive idiosyncratic style. Ezra and Swinton are on top form, too.

LWLies has one pair of tickets to the gala screening of Shame on Friday October 15 at 20.15 in central London* to give away. To be in with a chance of winning keep your eyes glued to the LWLies Twitter feed over the next few days.

*The prize is non-transferable and there is no cash alternative available. Recipients must be 18 or over and able to attend the gala screening at 20:15 on October 14. Prize does not include entry to gala party.

For full programming info and to book tickets head to bfi.org.uk/lff