Category BFI London Film Festival

#LFF 2023: ESSEX GIRLS (Short) Film Review

Busayo Ige in ESSEX GIRLS (2023)

ESSEX GIRLS is a short but impactful film about identity, race and the power of female friendships.

4 out of 5 stars

When you look up the term “Essex Girl” on Google, you’ll come across a stereotype: a loud, materialistic white woman, typically with blonde hair and a fake tan. It’s a stereotype we all know, but it doesn’t fit Bisola.

Growing up in Benfleet, Essex as a British-Nigerian girl hasn’t been easy for Bisola...

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#LFF 2023: LAST SUMMER (L’ETE DERNIER) Film Review

Léa Drucker and Samuel Kircher in LAST SUMMER (2023)

LAST SUMMER is an oddly subdued affair about the impulsive and regrettable choices people make when desire takes control.

2.5 out of 5 stars

French filmmaker Catherine Breillat returns to the screen with LAST SUMMER, an unsettling anti-romance, which is a remake of May el-Toukhy’s award-winning Danish film QUEEN OF HEARTS.

The story revolves around Anne (Léa Drucker), a successful lawyer with a wealthy husband and two adopted daughters...

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BFI #LFF 2022: THE WOMAN IN THE WHITE CAR Film Review

Shamelessly indulging in genre cliches, Christine Ko’s twisty thriller, THE WOMAN IN THE WHITE CAR, finds new ways to turn itself on its head.

3 out of 5 stars

Originally conceived as a short, two-part TV drama, Christine Ko makes her feature film debut with THE WOMAN IN THE WHITE CAR, a twisty thriller that centres around three women.

The film opens with a frantic young woman arriving at Seolwon hospital by car, carrying a limp body...

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BFI #LFF 2022: SICK OF MYSELF Film Review

Dark, funny, and deeply disturbing, SICK GIRL is a sharp and biting satire about our desire to be seen.

4 out of 5 stars

Following his debut feature, DRIB (2017), writer-director Kristoffer Borgli serves up a deliciously horrid treat with SICK OF MYSELF, an extremely grotesque satire about morbid attention seeking.

On the surface, Signe (Kristine Kujath Thorp) and boyfriend Thomas (Erik Saether) look like an Insta-perfect couple, but their constant and petty attempts to outshine each other point to something m...

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BFI #LFF 2022: THE WOODCUTTER STORY Film Review

Strange, surreal, and deeply melancholy, THE WOODCUTTER STORY is a muted social comedy driven by Finland’s famously deadpan, dark humour.

2.5 out of 5 stars

Mikko Myllylahti delivers an unpredictable Nordic oddity with his debut feature, THE WOODCUTTER STORY, a deadpan philosophical fable with famously deadpan Finnish humour.

Set in a snowbound area of Finland surrounded by mountains and forests, THE WOODCUTTER STORY follows Pepe, a middle-aged, easy-going woodcutter who lives in contentment with his wife and yo...

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BFI #LFF 2022: SUBTRACTION Film Review

Taraneh Alidoosti in Subtraction (2022)

Taraneh Alidoosti in SUBTRACTION (2022)

Driven by strong cast performance and impressive cinematography, Mani Haghighi’s twisty human drama SUBTRACTION keeps you guessing until the final frame.

4 out of 5 stars

In his latest feature film, Iranian filmmaker Mani Haghighi delivers a tense Hitchcockian thriller about a married couple who meet their doppelgangers in Tehran.

While out on a lesson, young driving instructor Farzaneh (Taraneh Alidoosti) spots her husband, Jalal, walking into a woman’s apartment...

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BFI #LFF 2021: MASS Film Review

Martha Plimpton and Jason Isaacs in Mass (2021)

In his directorial debut, Fran Kranz’s opts for a theatrical approach with his new film MASS, a boilerplate chamber drama held together by its incredible performances.

4 out of 5 stars

The parents of two boys involved in a school shooting strive for closure in Fran Kranz’s riveting directorial debut, MASS.

Set six years after a fictional school shooting that took 11 lives, the victim’s parents, Jay (Jason Isaacs) and Gail (Martha Plimpton) reach out to the parents of the shooter, Linda (Ann Dowd) and Richa...

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BFI #LFF 2021: BOILING POINT Film Review

Stephen Graham in Boiling Point

Shot in one single, continuous take, Director-Writer Philip Barantini dazzles with his new thriller BOILING POINT.

4 out of 5 stars

Following his award-winning short and feature debut VILLAIN (2020), actor-turned-director Philip Barantini dazzles with his new thriller BOILING POINT, which screens at this year’s BFI London Film Festival.

Taking place across an incredibly hectic evening at a top London restaurant, BOILING POINT follows Andy (Stephen Graham), an emotionally damaged and drug-addicted head chef wh...

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BFI #LFF 2021: QUEEN OF GLORY Film Review

Nana Mensah in QUEEN OF GLORY

Full of fresh humour, poignancy, and tenderness, Nana Mensah’s self-assured comedy QUEEN OF GLORY captures the experience of a woman caught between two worlds.

4 out of 5 stars

A young woman’s life is thrown into disarray when she inherits her mother’s Christian bookshop in Nana Mensah’s self-assured and charming comedy QUEEN OF GLORY.

The film centres on Sarah Obeng (Nana Mensah), a Columbia science PhD candidate who is preparing to relocate to Ohio with her married boyfriend, Lyle (Adam Leon).

Lyle swears he...

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BFI #LFF 2021: LANGUAGE LESSONS Film Review

Natalie Morales in Language Lessons (2021)

Playing out entirely through phone and laptop screens, LANGUAGE LESSONS is a funny and heart-warming depiction of love and friendship in a virtually connected world.

4 out of 5 stars

After over 18 months of Zoom calls, Skype chats and virtual meetups, you’d be given for thinking that a film shot during the COVID-19 lockdown on phones and video calls isn’t top of your wish list...

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