After the manic beginning to the fest the weekend barely slowed down, but that’s part of the fun. Friday kicked off with a press screening of one of the most anticipated films of the fest, The Road. After being typically held up by London’s rush hour traffic but somehow managing to fit in a scarily large portion of Starbucks caffeine, I snuck in at the back and successfully pissed off the entire row when I stumbled over numerous bags/coats etc to take one of the rare seats left. I would’ve been somewhat annoyed if the film had been crap and I had wasted my time but thankfully it wasn’t; Viggo Mortenson seems to be one of the most reliable actors around as he manages to carry films with complete ease and conviction. Much should be (and no doubt will be) said of Kodi Smit-Phee’s performance and the film in general which was one of the highlights of the fest so far. Having said that, note to self 1) Always leave time to arrive at screenings and 2) Do not consume large drinks before a two hour film.
I did hope to go to the press conference and see Viggo (who’s name always reminds me of this), but fatigue told me to go home and sleep. So after a much need period spent watching Maury and Facebooking nap, I headed to Covent Garden for a screening of Today’s Special written, starring and inspired by Aasif Mandvi’s award winning Broadway one-man show. This witty but not entirely ground breaking film steeped in issues faced by Western-born generations to Indian parents, was so popular I had to sit on a bean bag instead of a chair which was comfortable for about ten minutes.
The evening was dedicated to a screening of When You’re Strange: A Film About The Doors which was a pubic screening as opposed to a press one. I pull up to the Vue West End with an insane amount of people crowding the door and street hoping to see a celeb which meant it was time to pull out the ole’ press pass and get waved straight in. Nice. Most know the story of The Doors but this was the first “official” doc about the band which unsurprisingly focused on Jim Morrison’s antics and death. A film that would have been way more enjoyable should if I didn’t have to suffer through russling wrappers, phones going off and people taking it upon themselves to do a running commentary. Ergh, how do people enjoy the cinema these days?
Fatigue once again got the best of me on Saturday morning as I slept through the screening of Father of my Children but I did recover in time for a late night screening of Trimpin: The Sound of Invention. This is the kind of film that I love seeing at festivals; I have no idea who Trimpin was or what he did and was pleasantly surprised to find out about this artist and how he ignores the hyperbole and mega stardom of contemporary artists.
There was no way in holy hell I was going to let fatigue stop me from catching the 9.30am (on a Sunday!) screening of Up In The Air. Yep, another Clooney flick that has to be my favourite of his three at this years fest. The script is borderline perfection that creates great characters and memorable lines and not since 1998’s Out of Sight has the Clooney been so charming and sexy on screen whilst there are great cameos from Zach Galifianakis and J.K Simmons. The press conference afterwards was sadly sans-Clooney but he was quickly forgotten as director Jason Reitman nattered away with funny antedotes about the film and his cast. Just don’t ask him about his Dad’s small but film stealing contribution to the film.
Stay tuned for the next round up of LFF including Bright Star, An Education, White Ribbon and (swoon!) Clive Owen.
