The Most Anticipated Films At The BFI London Film Festival
This month sees the start of the BFI London Film Festival, the most prestigious film festival in the UK and one that always draws eyeballs and stars. There are always hundreds of films, shorts and other works which are featured, but we’ve put together a list of the most talked-about films at this year’s Galas. You can expect plenty of these to be tipped for Oscars later this year.
The Debut
The prestigious Closing Night gala slot at the festival is being filled by Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut, a follow-up to his Oscar-winning film A Real Pain. Julianne Moore stars as Mona, a quiet housewife who has become increasingly overlooked by her husband and children. With her family preparing to move on without her, Mona impulsively auditions for a local community theatre production and lands the leading role. However, working with the eccentric Jerry (played by Paul Giamatti), an intense director with a reputation in New Jersey theatre, pushes her far beyond her comfort zone. Halle Bailey, Cara Buono and Eisenberg himself also star.
Elsinore
Meanwhile, opening the festival is Elsinore, which tells the true story of Scottish actor Ian Charleson, played by Andrew Scott. Directed by Simon Stone and written by Stephen Beresford, the film focuses on the final year of Charleson’s life, as he takes on the role of Hamlet at London’s Royal National Theatre after Daniel Day-Lewis leaves the production. At the same time, Charleson is privately facing an AIDS diagnosis, forcing him to confront his own mortality while preparing for what would become one of his most celebrated performances. Olivia Colman, Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn and Peter Mullan also star in what early talk is calling an Oscar-tipped film.
Fjord
Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve star in this tense new drama which already won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. It explores the uncomfortable collision between faith, family and the institutions designed to protect children. A conservative Christian couple and their family move to a small Norwegian town, hoping for a peaceful new beginning. However, their lives are quickly disrupted when concerns surrounding their children’s well-being place the parents under intense scrutiny- particularly since the town is much more progressive. It’s received particular praise for the performances of Stan and Reinsve, and looks set to be one of the best films of the year.
Paper Tiger
Paper Tiger is another one of the festival’s most talked about films, an atmospheric crime thriller set in 1980s New York with an exciting main trio of actors. Miles Teller stars as Irwin Pearl, an engineer and family man living in Queens whose relatively ordinary life is turned upside down when his brother Gary, a flamboyant former police officer played by Adam Driver, offers him a lucrative job. What initially appears to be an opportunity quickly becomes something much more dangerous, pulling the brothers into the orbit of the Russian mafia. Scarlett Johansson, meanwhile, will star in the film as Irwin’s wife Hester, who’s more sceptical of Gary than her husband is.
Behemoth!
Pedro Pascal takes centre stage in Behemoth!, the new drama from Michael Clayton director Tony Gilroy. Pascal plays Alex, a gifted cellist whose life has become defined by a seemingly endless cycle of orchestra chairs and romantic relationships. After fleeing from his latest fling, he retreats to Los Angeles, where he takes work as a session musician inside a film-score studio. From there, the film begins to move fluidly through time, gradually revealing the relationships and emotional complications that have shaped Alex’s life. Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor and Will Arnett also star in this stylish and unconventional character study. Expect plenty of attention in awards season.
Wild Horse Nine
Martin McDonagh, the filmmaker behind acclaimed films In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Banshees of Inisherin, returns with Wild Horse Nine, another darkly comic exploration of complicated male relationships. Set in Chile on the cusp of Augusto Pinochet’s rise to power, the film follows three CIA agents waiting for the signal to proceed with their part in yet another military coup. Their already tense mission becomes increasingly chaotic when they find themselves surrounded by the spectacular landscapes and mysterious ancient artefacts of Easter Island. John Malkovich leads a superb cast including Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits and Parker Posey. We can’t wait.
The Beloved
Javier Bardem stars in The Beloved, an intense psychological drama from Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Bardem plays Esteban, an Oscar-winning director who returns to Spain to make a film exploring the country’s exploitation of Western Sahara. He casts his daughter Emilia, a struggling actor played by Victoria Luengo, in the lead role, giving the pair an opportunity to work together while attempting to confront the complicated history of their relationship. However, the film shoot soon becomes a pressure cooker, bringing unresolved tensions to the surface. It has echoes of last year’s Sentimental Value, and definitely sounds like one to watch.
Fatherland
Fatherland is a new drama set in post-war Germany in 1949, following Erika, played by Project Hail Mary and Anatomy of a Fall star Sandra Hüller, as she accompanies her father, celebrated author and Nobel laureate Thomas Mann, on a literary tour through West and East Germany. As they travel through a country still fractured by the aftermath of war, a devastating family tragedy forces the pair to confront their own complicated relationship. Drawing parallels between deep personal and national wounds, Fatherland explores whether the process of healing a divided country can also help repair a fractured family. Hanns Zischler and August Diehl also star.
