LONDON FILM FESTIVAL REVIEWS - PHILOMENA, DON JON

PHILOMENA
Sponsored by ST. ERMIN'S HOTEL, LONDON

Release Date: 1 November 2013 (UK)
Director: Stephen Frears
Running Time: 94 Minutes
Starring: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan
Screening Reviewed: London Film Festival American Express Gala Press Screening

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

Stephen Frears is rapidly becoming the industry’s go-to guy for crafting powerful, intelligent and surprisingly moving film experiences based off of real-life, usually British, stories and events. His latest, Philomena, is one such terrific story that, much like his re-imagining of the events surrounding Princess Diana’s death in his superlative The Queen in 2006, does a sublime job of reminding us there is often nothing more disarming, surprising and cinematic than real life happenings.

LONDON FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW - CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
Sponsored by ST. ERMIN'S HOTEL, LONDON

Release Date: 18 October 2013 (UK)

Director: Paul Greengrass

Running Time: 134 Minutes

Starring: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmd, Madam M. Ali

Screening Reviewed: London Film Festival Opening Night Gala Press Screening

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

Following on from the high-adrenaline, taught frenzy of his Bourne series, and having previously so successfully dipped into docu-drama with the likes of Bloody Sunday and United 93 (nabbing an Oscar nomination for Directing in the process), it is unsurprising that Brit director Paul Greengrass proves the perfect helmer for this gripping and at times surprisingly emotional adaptation of the real-life hijacking of the Maersk Alabama cargo ship at the hands of Somali Pirates which took place back in 2009. 

LONDON FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW - ALL IS LOST

ALL IS LOST
Sponsored by ST. ERMIN'S HOTEL, LONDON

Release Date: 13 December 2013 (UK)
Director: J.C. Chandor
Running Time: 106 Minutes
Starring: Robert Redford
Screening Reviewed: London Film Festival Press Screening

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

J.C. Chandor’s latest, tense seafaring drama All Is Lost, is as relatively straightforward a concept and pared down a cinema-going experience as can be imagined. A lone sailor (Robert Redford) awakens somewhere in the Indian Ocean to find his yacht taking on water, courtesy of a lone storage container which has ruptured the side of his vessel. Isolated, stark and devoid of any other characters and practically free of dialogue, what ensues is a focused, enthralling, if occasionally frustrating, devolution of circumstances that pits the fortitude and resilience of our lone protagonist against the odds, all tinted with an aura of dread and inevitability given the films opening soliloquy which heavily implies the ending of his story will not be a positive one.

LONDON FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW: RUST AND BONE

RUST AND BONE 
(De Rouille et D'os)
Release Date: Friday 2 November
Director: Jacques Audiard
Running Time: 120 Minutes
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Armand Verdure, Corinne Masiero
Screening Reviewed: London Film Festival Press Screening

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

There’s something almost incomparably elegant and elegaic about Jacques Audiard’s exquisite Rust and Bone, a masterclass of subtlety and nuance which crafts an almost bewilderingly authentic portrayal of two aimless souls finding one another amongst the unexpected calamities and drama that life has hurled at them.

Miles apart from his Oscar-nominated 2009 hit A Prophet, Audiard here crafts a tale far less dependent on narrative and incident (the few moments for major spectacle are left unexploited) and rather allows character and a naturalistic study pondering physicality, responsibility and purpose to take front and centre, and the result is one of the most convincing and engagingly human dramas of any language in recent years. That’s not to say it is anything less than a visual treat, for in no way could this be translated to stage, for instance, without losing much of it’s strength, heart and beauty; the cinematography and wonderfully evocative imagery on display throughout lends far too much to the experience. Likewise there are plenty of moments that do shock and amaze, though these are generally born of our investment in the characters and the sheer reality of what we are being shown.