{ London Film Fest 2011: Where Do We Go Now? }

Where Do We Go Now? / Et maintenant, on va où?
Director: Nadine Labaki
Writers: Rodney Al Haddid, Thomas Bidegain, Jihad Hojeily, Nadine Labaki
Cast: Claude Baz Moussawbaa, Layla Hakim, Nadine Labaki
Yvonne Maalouf, Antoinette Noufaily, Anjo Rihane
Trailer

"You think we're just here to mourn you? [...] It's enough to make us lose our faith."

( Background: Caramel (2007) )

Villagers in remote Lebanon have managed to co-exist peacefully since the war, despite their religious differences, but even deep in the sand, news of the outside world eventually permeates, stirring tensions between the men of the village. The woman, who have mourned and buried husbands, brothers, and sons, do all that they can to keep the peace, distracting their men from incoming news by hiding newspapers, disconnecting radios, and destroying the village's one functioning television. As their efforts become increasingly futile, they go to ever more extreme lengths, eventually pooling their money and hiring a group of Russian dancers to stay with them in the village under the pretence that their tour bus has broken down. The women's grief spurs and unites them in surpassing their differences, and what results is a story of fortitude in the face of so much loss.

( Where Do We Go Now? )

{ London Film Fest 2011: Oslo, August 31st. }

Oslo, August 31st
Director: Joachim Trier
Writers: Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt; Pierre Drieu La Rochelle (novel)
Cast: Anders Danielsen Lie
Trailer

"I don't want to start from scratch."

My review process this week has been pretty straightforward, but [Wednesday] evening I saw a Norwegian film that I am having difficulty talking about. Part of this is because I think it is a much better film to talk about at 11pm than it is to watch. Part of this is because it is pretty difficult to summarise.

Or is it? Anders is a recovering addict who, as part of his program, has day release from rehab to attend an interview in Oslo. His day starts with a failed suicide attempt, so it's little surprise when he sabotages the interview. He spends the day reconnecting with people and places he knows, and as we follow him, we discover Oslo. The film is a modern adaptation of a French novel by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, called Le Feu Follet (The Fire Within) which follows the last days of an alcoholic.

( Oslo, August 31st. )

{ London Film Fest 2011: The Future. }

The Future
Director: Miranda July
Writer: Miranda July
Cast: Miranda July, Hamish Linklater, David Warshofsky
Trailer

"I've been gearing up to do something really incredible for the last fifteen years."

( Background: You and Me and Everyone We Know (2005) )

In The Future, a couple in their mid-thirties, Sophie and Jason, are thirty days away from adopting a cat, a decision which propels them into a premature mid-life crisis. They both quit their jobs in an effort to be more open to opportunity and fulfil their own nascent desires. Whilst Jason joins a tree-selling eco-movement, he meets an elderly man whose house is brimming with tokens of his life. There he discovers answers to questions he didn't know he was supposed to be asking. Meanwhile, Sophie fails to make headway on her personal project, 30 Dances in 30 Days, and, in her loneliness, ends up having an affair. And this is the crux of the story: the way in which their relationship is dismantled.

( The Future. )

{ London Film Fest 2011: Midnight in Paris. (Not a LFF film) }

Midnight in Paris
Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Cast: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard
Trailer

"There's no city like this in the world."

Midnight in Paris (a title I am having difficulty remembering) is not part of the London Film Festival, but I went to see it as a way to pass the time before heading to Mayfair.

Gil is a Hollywood script writer who is trying to write a novel. In Paris with his fiancée, Inez, and her parents, he falls in love with the city all over again. Quietly anxious about his future plans, he feels immense nostalgia for Paris in the 1920s. One night, at the stroke of midnight, he is invited into a taxicab - a taxicab from 1920s Paris. On his nightly excursions he meets with the influential writers, artists and thinkers of the time, whilst in present day, his travelling party becomes more and more annoyed with his solitary behaviour.

( Midnight in Paris. )

{ Spooks, 10x06. }

( spoilers for finale. )

In sum: LOVED IT.

{ London Film Fest 2011: Wreckers. }

Wreckers
Writer: Dictynna Hood
Director: Dictynna Hood
Cast: Claire Foy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Shaun Evans
There is no trailer available for this film

"You can't save him."

Wreckers is the story of a young couple - David and Dawn Johnson - who married without knowing too much about one another's history. Their idyllic country life is interrupted when David's brother, a war veteran named Nick, comes to stay, unveiling family and village secrets along the way.

( Wreckers. )