ARCHIVE: Le Jour Se Lève/Daybreak (1939)
★★★★☆
A fatalistic tale of love and jealousy, Marcel Carné’s Le Jour Se Lève is a captivating and tragically romantic French classic.
Violette (2013)
★★★☆☆
With a powerful performance from Emmanuelle Devos, Martin Provost’s Violette is a stylish biopic of influential author Violette Leduc and the power of the female pen.
You And The Night / Les Rencontres d’Après Minuit (2013)
★★☆☆☆
After causing a stir in Cannes earlier this year, Yann Gonzalez’s You And The Night is an existential orgy of misfits finding each other after midnight.
Ida (2013)
★★★★☆
Beautifully shot in black and white, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida leads us on a meaningful road trip into a dark night of the Holocaust, Catholicism, and jazz.
The Last Impresario (2013)
★★★☆☆
A celebrity-studded bio-doc of theatre producer and playboy Michael White, Gracie Otto’s documentary uncovers the unknown man in the middle – The Last Impresario.
Salomé (2013)
★★★★☆
Converting a reading of Oscar Wilde’s banned play into a film, Al Pacino’s Salomé might share the credit, but brings his passion for the theatre vividly to the screen.
Wilde Salomé (2011)
★★☆☆☆
A companion piece documentary to Pacino’s Salomé, Wilde Salomé uncovers the man behind the play. Funny, flamboyant and famous, both of them.
Wish I Was Here (2014)
★★★☆☆
Zack Braff stars in a tear-jerking comedy which shows that trying to follow your dreams and coming to terms with real life may not be incompatible after all.
In Order Of Disappearance / Kraftidioten (2014)
★★★★☆
A Norwegian satire on mob warfare and Nordic habits, Hans Petter Moland’s In Order Of Disappearance is a hilarious comedy that takes us beyond ordinary scruples.
Pride (2014)
★★★★☆
Two very disparate communities forge an unexpected bond when a London gay and lesbian group supports a village of Welsh miners during the 1984/5 Miners’ Strike.
Attila Marcel (2013)
★★★★☆
A musical homage to Marcel Proust, Sylvain Chomet’s Attila Marcel is eye-catching, genre-busting and mad as a bag of frogs. Let’s face the music and dance.
Before I Go To Sleep (2014)
★★☆☆☆
An unsympathetic protagonist is the most damning aspect of Rowan Joffé’s formulaic and sedate adaptation of the best-selling novel.
Life Of Crime (2013)
★★★☆☆
A strangely off-kilter edit hinders an otherwise enjoyable film, but clever dialogue and pitch-perfect performances ensure Life Of Crime is worth your time.
COMING SOON: The 58th BFI London Film Festival 2014
This year’s BFI London Film Festival promises to be one of the most exciting yet. It has a stunning line-up of the best of the festival winners and new work from around the world: and its scheduling in October is at a crucially important time in the run-up to the awards season.
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