62nd BFI London Film Festival: Leto Review

In the Soviet Union, like in many other communist countries, a free growth of specific music genres was quite limited. The story of Kirill Serebrennikov’s new work, Leto (Summer), begins in the 1981 Leningrad, at a concert of an underground rock band. But unlike what a person would expect when there is a rock concert…

62nd BFI London Film Festival: Colette Review

When Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette wrote her debut novel under her libertine husband’s name Willy, she had no idea that the book ‘Claudine at School’ would be the first step towards her liberation, freedom and an ‘escape’ from the traditional heteronormative social values of the early 20th century Paris. Raised in the south of France, Colette (Keira…

62nd BFI London Film Festival: Birds of Passage Review

Guajira peninsula, northern Colombia. It’s the late 60’s; while the western world is amidst its social and cultural revolutions, a young woman, dressed in a bright red ceremonial robe, is engaged in a frenetic courtship dance with her soon-to-be husband. Set at the backdrop of a wide and windy desert, this visually striking scene introduces…

62nd BFI London Film Festival: United Skates Review

“If this world don’t change its ways, we’ll all perish”. Roller-skating rinks in the U.S were once a booming hub of hip-hop and disco culture, a form of cathartic expression and freedom for many African-Americans. However, due to increased land taxes and gentrification forcing many rinks to close, they are now a rare find. Dyana…

62nd BFI London Film Festival: The Spy Gone North Review

The historical drama is a tale that is constantly over-shadowed by its real-life counterpart’s undoing. No matter which way the film may elude to direct itself, the foreboding presence of certain real-life individuals makes clear to an audience which way the film will steer. This is especially the case when dealing with the infamous Kim…

62nd BFI London Film Festival: Arctic Review

The bleak mid-winter in the frozen wilderness; a man clears the snow and stones away, the camera moves back, slowly revealing a huge SOS sign, dug into the snow. Without using any words and only with the sounds of nature, Joe Penna perfectly depicts the situation of the protagonist, Overgård (Mads Mikkelsen: Hannibal, Doctor Strange), in…

62nd BFI London Film Festival: Styx Review

Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic atoll, located 7°56′ south of the Equator in the Atlantic Ocean. Charles Darwin visited this lonely archipelago in 1836 aboard HMS Beagle as a part of his second survey expedition of the world, during which he gathered data that aided him in the development of the theory of evolution…

20th Udine Far East Film Festival: Be With You Review

The novels of Takuji Ichikawa are well known to numerous book lovers. His bestselling works have been adapted for the Japanese silver screen a couple of times; Be With You in 2004 by Nobuhiro Doi, and Heavenly Forest in 2006 by Takehiko Shinjo. The film adaptation of Be With You became a huge commercial success with its imaginative, beautiful and emotional love story…