For a film that was selected for the laugh category at this year’s BFI London Film Festival, the least you’d expect is Hill of Freedom to be funny. Instead Hong Sang-soo’s film is poorly paced with little acting or directorial merit to speak of. The film follows Mori, a Japanese man searching for his…
Category: London Film Festival
Ilo Ilo Review
Set in Singapore, during the Great Asian Financial Crisis, Ilo Ilo, written and directed by Anthony Chen, tells the story of a relationship between a family of three: Teck (Tian Wen Chen), Hwee (Yann Yann Ye) and Jiale (Koh Jia Ler) and their Filipino maid, Teresa (striking and moving performance by Angeli Bayani) who has…
The 57th BFI London Film Festival: Lebanon Emotion
This year’s London Film Festival spoiled the audience with a great amount of Asian films including a few from South Korea. Apart from subtle drama Nobody’s Daughter Haewon by Hong Sang-soo and the comedy of manners Our Sunhi by the same filmmaker, it’s time to mention Lebanon Emotion by Jung Young-heon, a first-time director, whose…
The 57th BFI London Film Festival: Nobody’s Daughter Haewon
Nobody’s Daughter Haewon written and directed by South Korean Hong Sang-Soo, tells the story of the enigmatic, eye-catching film student and aspiring actress Haewon ( superb performance by Jung Eun- Chae), who easily attracts men and makes fellow female colleagues jealous. The narrative is told in a diary format and chronicles a few days in Haewon’s life. Haewon’s…
The 57th BFI London Film Festival: Ida
Born in Poland, Pawel Pawlikoski (My Summer of Love, The Woman in the Fifth) has come back to his native country after years of voluntary emigration and has immediately presented us with an intimate black and white drama Ida, which takes place at the beginning of 1960s. Anna, also known as Ida (Agata Trzebuchowska’s film…
The 57th BFI London Film Festival: Bertolucci on Bertolucci
“Cinema is the mirror of the world” Bertolucci once said. And it sure is in the Italian director’s eyes. Born in 1940, son of the critically acclaimed poet Attilio Bertolucci, he entered adulthood in the 60s. In 1968, he was 27 years old and, according to him, that time was a great experience for him…
Silver Linings Playbook Review
Silver Linings Playbook written and directed by David O Russell is based on an incredible novel by Matthew Quick. The film had its world premiere at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival and it is a story of former teacher Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper: The Hangover, Limitless), who has a bipolar disorder and is admitted…
The 50th Anniversary of Lawrence of Arabia
After the huge commercial and artistic success of ‘ The Bridge on the River Kwai ‘, director David Lean began his extraordinary journey towards making another epic feature film. This time the Brit moved from the Indochina jungle to the Saudi Arabian desert and the Second World War turned into the First World War….
Imagine Review
“A blind person should always walk using a white stick”. This phrase appears several times in the latest film by Andrzej Jakimowski (Tricks) ’Imagine’. Ian (Edward Hogg: Anonymous), a blind English teacher, comes to Lisbon. He wishes to teach visually impaired children and young people. At the clinic, which is located in the building of…
56th BFI London Film Festival: Horses Of God ( Les Chevaux de Dieu) Review
Nabil Ayouch’s ‘Les Chevaux De Dieu’ (Horses of God) was described by The Hollywood Reporter as an ‘intimate portrait of boys growing up in a toxic environment’. Written by Jamal Belmahi, Horses of God is based on a book about the five simultaneous explosions in Casablanca in 2003, and “uses current events — the…
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