Rebecca (2020)
★★★☆☆
Ben Wheatley’s lavish take on Rebecca, though truer to Daphne du Maurier’s novel, can’t help but be overshadowed by the iconic Hitchcock version.
film
BFI LFF 2020: One Night in Miami (2020)
★★★★☆
One Night in Miami, directed by Regina King, is a fictionalised account of an extraordinary meeting that really took place in 1964 between black icons the-then Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke.
Body of Water (2020)
★★★☆☆
Lucy Brydon’s powerful drama Body of Water is unusual in showing anorexia affecting an adult, rather than the teenage girls we usually associate with the eating disorder.
BFI LFF 2020: Supernova (2020)
★★★★☆
Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci are superb in Harry MCQueen’s Supernova, this intimate portrayal of a couple facing a challenging future with one of them suffering from early onset dementia.
BFI LFF 2020: Eyimofe (This is My Desire) (2020)
★★★★☆
Eyimofe is the moving, contemporary, Lagos-set debut feature by twin brothers Arie and Chuko Esiri.
BFI LFF 2020: Kajillionaire (2020)
★★★★☆
Kajillionaire by visionary filmmaker Miranda July is an absurd, dead-pan coming-of-age satire on the American dream.
Schemers (2019)
★★★☆☆
Schemers is director David McLean’s appealing comedy-drama – a blend of Trainspotting and Gregory’s Girl with a touch of Good Vibrations – of how he became a teenage music promoter in Dundee.
23 Walks (2020)
★★★ώ☆
Paul Morrison’s 23 Walks is a slow-burning focus on the hidden difficulties of new relationships at an older age, with great performances by Alison Steadman and Dave Johns.
Monsoon (2019)
★★★☆☆
Writer/director Hong Khaou draws upon his own experiences in Monsoonwith this moving story of a British-Vietnamese man returning to Saigon.
Nocturnal (2019)
★★★☆☆
Nocturnal, by director/writer Nathalie Biancheri, has a suspenseful surprise that turns creepy horror into emotional drama.
Rocks (2019) and Q&A
★★★★☆
Rocks by Sarah Gavron is a sad and joyous film about the resilience and spirit of girlhood – sisterhood at its most powerful.
The Roads Not Taken (2020)
★★★☆☆
The Roads Not Taken has the best of motives – it’s acclaimed director Sally Potter’s way of conveying how her brother’s dementia fractured his personality. It’s very personal, maybe too personal.
BFI London Film Festival 2020
★★★★☆
The 2020 BFI London Film Festival 2020 from 7 to 18 October is the first edition to be widely accessible wherever you are in the UK, with over 50 virtual premieres, free online events and cinema screenings.
Waiting for the Barbarians (2019) – Digital download
★★★☆☆
Waiting for the Barbarians by acclaimed director Ciro Guerra is a beautiful, well-acted, slow-moving allegory of imperialism.