Yes, this is a real promo from back in the day!
The opening and closing night galas are of course big events, with these naturally being the most expensive tickets of the lot. What's more, with the events taking place in the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square, that's had its number of seats reduced in the recent refurbishment, so whilst it will be a lot more comfortable in there, that's quite a few less tickets up for grabs. If I was to go for one of them though, although I do like the look of the closer to the Festival The Irishman, I'd probably be up for the opening film The Personal History of David Copperfield . Three main reasons I'd go for it; firstly, it's Armando Iannucci directing, who's work I've loved since the days of the Friday Night Armistice, especially The Death of Stalin from a couple of years ago. Secondly, it's quite a while before it's slated to be on general release in the UK, with it apparently getting into regular screens in early January, compared to The Irishman getting screenings in November before hitting Netflix. Thirdly, that is a phenomenal cast the film has. Even if I don't end up going to see the film itself, I can definitely check out the red carpet to see all the stars turn up.
As for the other headline galas, we have as the American Express (the main sponsor) gala the European premiere of Rian Johnson's Knives Out, which I mentioned looking forward to before; that's a definite maybe, if only so I can have a very early Canary Duty article on it here. Plus again, a hell of a cast, if even a few turn up in the flesh that will be worth the trip. Mind, I have another reason for seeing it here first; since it's a murder mystery, I wouldn't put it past one of those little butthurt fanboys still acting like The Last Jedi was a war crime to spoil the solution online as a revenge on Rian Johnson. Also among the Galas is Jojo Rabbit, the new comedy from Taika Waititi, where he's playing a young boy's imaginary friend Adolf Hitler; a concept that I'm sure isn't going to be controversial at all, and definitely hasn't got Disney rather worried about the release, honest gov! There's also Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, Steve Coogan in a new Michael Winterbottom film (that combo is always good fun) Greed, and another film I mentioned in my coming attractions article, Le Mans '66. Strong line up of big name galas this year!
Having a peak at the Official Competition entries, there's a new Shia LaBeouf vehicle Honey Boy in there, which given the trailer looks like it's something the internet is going to latch onto like everything he's done since he fled the Transformers franchise (good move!). One that looks very interesting to me is La Llorona, a Guatemalan-French co-production that mixes a war-courtroom drama with elements of the ghost story of the same name. That might be worth a look, and chances are it will be better than the other La Llorona movie from this year. The Other Lamb also gets my attention, in another dark film about cults. There are a lot of those out at the moment; it's almost like there's something going on globally, maybe several somethings, that can be reflected in stories of demagogue figures leading followers into disastrous actions that are in their worst interests whilst selling them as actually being in their best interests. Can't imagine what sort of things they would be...
Now for the bit I've really been looking forward to; the "Cult" strand! For the gala presentation, we have The Lighthouse, director Robert Egger's follow-up to The Witch (which I saw at LFF 2015!). That's been getting a lot of buzz from quite a few other places it's screened at so far, it looks wonderfully dark and moody, and from what I heard it might be the thing to make many audience's perception of Robert Pattinson as just "that Twilight guy" die forever in existential terror. Also on the line up, there's something that caught my eye a while ago, Little Monsters, which has Lupita Nyong’o trying to protect little ones from a zombie outbreak, with Josh Gad really not helping. There's also The Lodge, another long anticipated follow-up, this time to the same team's breakout hit Goodnight Mommy. LFF regulars Aaron Moorhead & Justin Benson (the minds behind Resolution, Spring, and The Endless, the latter two I've seen at previous festivals) are bringing along their latest, Synchronic, which seems to be branching out their out blend of down to earth drama and cosmic wonder/terror. Babak Anvari, director of excellent ghost/war story Under the Shadow also is showing off his latest title, Wounds. But the thing I'm by far most excited about is Color Out of Space; it's based on one of Lovecraft's best stories (it's not one of the racist ones for starters!), it's starring Nicholas Cage, and it's being directed by Richard Stanley, returning to feature films after two and a half decades since the collapse of his version of The Island of Dr. Moreau. That is going to be something truly special, even though this will be the fifth time that story's been made for the screen (tbf the first two versions were pretty loose adaptations).
That's just a small sample of what's in the programme. The festival usually has around two hundred feature films showing, so it's often quite a tough choice. There are a few more things that have my interest, including Dogs Don't Wear Pants, a Finnish rom-com about BDSM (in a sex-positive way!), Judy & Punch, an inversion of the tragi-comedy/comic-tragedy, and some new restorations for The Elephant Man and The Masque of the Red Death. That's a fair first dig into what's on offer though. I've got some big decisions to make for what to see, ready for when I can book on Wednesday. One big factor in my choices is what would be good material for Canary Duty articles on here, so don't say I never do things with my audience in mind. In over month's time then, expect to see a few more words about some of these films in here.
Oh, just one more thing; there's a bit of a lede buried in here, and quite a significant one, when it comes to the matter of the festival venues. Long time friends may know that I made a statement, which I'm still standing by, not to go to Picturehouse Cinemas whilst they still refuse to pay their London staff a living wage. Well, low and behold, Picturehouse (and their owners Cineworld) have only been dropped as a venue for this Festival, the first time they haven't been involved in several years. Officially it hasn't been stated that the whole pay dispute thing (with the resultant protests at previous festivals) isn't the reason, apparently "There are a number of commercial and technical issues every year [as to] why we change venues". (Translation: it totally is about that, we're just not really allowed to say so!). Well done BFI! Although, damn, that means my policy of leaving out screenings there, to help decide what I should see instead, doesn't help me with some tough decisions with this programme...
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