London Film Festival 2021: The Taking

This year, I’m actually very grateful that LFF is offering some of their selected films to watch from home: I have a six-month old in the house (pssst hey LFF, how about some parent/baby screenings? I’m sure cinephile parents would love it!). Anyhow, sitting down for a documentary reflecting on how the cinematic myth around Monument Valley has obscured indigenous experiences is a perfect way to open the festival for me. Indeed, the documentary reminded me of my film studies while highlighting a very present issue about representation.

London Film Festival: Herself

As this year’s festival comes to a close, I can say that my highlight was Herself (Ireland, United Kingdom), directed by Phyllida Lloyd. It tells the moving story of young mother Sandra (Clare Dunn, also a writer on this film) who, after being violently shouted at and hit by her daughters’ father, decides to leave. We follow her working multiple jobs and living in a hotel, waiting for the state to help her with housing. One of her jobs is cleaning Peggy’s (Harriet Walter) large house. Through a generous but also incredibly simple act of kindness, Peggy offers Sandra to use her large garden to build a house in order for her to have a true and safe home for her girls. An eclectic group of neighbours and friends soon join to help in building the new home.

London Film Festival: Mogul Mowgli

Looking back at my notes… I didn’t take many notes! I can’t remember whether the screen became wide at some point in the film, or whether it remained tight, representing a space our hero can’t seem to get out of. Sometimes you start a film wanting to focus, you think of what to write, and then you get lost in it.

London Film Festival: Honeymood

Hearing of newlywed couples locking themselves out of their hotel suite is something the hotel manager at the Waldorf Astoria in Jerusalem is used to. The scenario usually goes like this: after the concierge has brought them up to their room and departed, the couple decides to enter the room again, only this time with the groom romantically and hopefully perfectly carrying the bride in his arms. This is what happens to our two adorable heroes at the beginning of their wild first night as a married couple.

Little Fires Everywhere / Mother and Child

2020, a year of shock and longing, but also a year of rebirth, and birth. In fact, a number of dear friends have either given birth or are now expecting. What could bring more hope and focus on the present?

I would like to talk about a TV programme and a film I enjoyed recently and that are about the multiple facets of motherhood.

What I’m watching: Lockdown TV

I can’t keep taking in all this content during lockdown without putting something out there. While we don’t know yet when and how productions will start up again and when we will be able to see what happens to our favourite characters, we can take the time to truly appreciate what we have seen so far, and the incredible talent out there.

Therefore, I’d like to look back at three TV shows, three films and three plays I’ve been watching recently. Today, it’s all about television.

Matthias & Maxime (Xavier Dolan, 2019)

Ah, Xavier Dolan. Not only did he direct eight features before turning 30, he’s back in front of the camera for Matthias & Maxime, a sweet and nostalgic film about a group of 30 year-old childhood friends, two of which are discovering that their deep friendship may be more than just that.

London Film Festival: Official Secrets & The Valley

I do enjoy a good piece of political drama, especially if it involves a news desk, journalists flying around the world for a scoop, and lawyers defending a brave citizen. I’m mixing this review of Official Secrets, out in the UK this week, with Franco-Italian documentary The Valley, which tells of villagers near Menton, France, who are helping refugees who have just crossed the dangerous Mediterranean and sending them on their way after educating them about their rights.

London Film Festival (Competition): Lingua Franca & Rose Plays Julie

Lingua Franca (Isabel Sandoval, USA)

Lingua Franca: a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.

Back at university, I attended a module called “English as a lingua franca”. We talked about how English is being spoken all over the world in life and in business, and the idealism of the Tower of Babel bringing people together. You’ve got those who speak English very fast but with mistakes, and those who speak it natively but don’t understand their own grammar.

London Film Festival: Portrait of a Lady on Fire

–I’ve never seen her smile.

–Did you try to make her laugh?

Okay, I’m late to the party, and need to go back and view all of Céline Sciamma’s work before the end of the year. Yes?