THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON - BFI London Film Festival - Day Three

First time directors and screenwriters Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson have created something truly wonderful, heart-warming and uplifting in their gentle buddy road-comedy THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON.  It's a movie that dares to be optimistic, which in these times is a) needed and b) almost subversive, as Shia Labeouf claimed in a post-screening Q&A.  What's even more impressive is that it's a film that manages to be genuinely gorgeously warm-hearted without ever feeling manipulative, especially of its down-syndrome lead actor Zack Gottsagen.  He's never patronised and absolutely shines - with a natural charisma and genuine gift for humour. What's more we get a really strong and touching performance from Labeouf - perhaps his best - and wonderful cameos from Bruce Dern and Thomas Haden Church. There's nothing not to like about this film.

Zack Gottsagen stars as a young man (Zak) sick of being patronised and housed in an old age home because the state just doesn't care enough to allow him to flourish.  With the help of buddy Bruce Dern he escapes and runs into Shia Labeouf's troubled fisherman, Tyler.  They go on the run together, and we realise that Tyler is actually a good guy, and that as much as he's practically helping Zak - teaching him to swim, getting him to the wrestling training camp and the hero he idolises - it's Zak that's really helping Tyler open up, find hope and connect emotionally.  What we get is a relationship that feels utterly authentic, and is genuinely touching. We want these crazies to succeed! Dakota Johnson has a more thankless role as the nursing home assistant with a heart who tracks them down. But Thomas Haden Church is also heartbreakingly wonderful as the faded wrestling hero who helps Zak at the end.

Like I said - there's nothing not to like about this film. It's funny - sweet - profound -  moving - and so beautifully balanced that it never falls into manipulative schmaltz. It deserves all the success, praise and awards.

THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON has a running time of 93 minutes. It is rated PG-13. It played SXSW and London 2019. It opens in the UK on October 18th and was released in the USA in August 2019.

CITIZEN K - BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Day Three

Acclaimed documentarian Alex Gibney returns to the festival with his film about Putin's transformation of Russia from flawed fragile democracy into authoritarian state as seen through the lens of his persecution of oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. As one would expect from Gibney we get a meticulously organised  and compelling story that starts, as it should, with the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and the wild west capitalist period that saw a handful of visionary and ruthless businessmen buy state assets at a steal. This is not hagiography  - Gibney rightly shows Khodorkovsky and the other oligarchs to have been single-minded acquirers of wealth, who themselves manipulated the election of Yeltsin and then his successor Putin, thinking they could control him as a guarantor of their wealth. Of course, they utterly underestimated Putin, who never got over the collapse of the Soviet Union and has sought to essentially recreate its control over its citizens and its sphere of influence. He set about systematically seizing their assets, chasing them out of Russia, and if they didn't shut up in exile, having them murdered. 

The problem was Khodorkovsky. He didn't leave Russia. He didn't shut up. Put on various show trials he was imprisoned for a decade and only freed when Putin needed good PR during the Sochi Olympics. The implication of his continued political activity is clear - he will probably end up being murdered in London too. And tragically, it feels as if he's not having much impact anyway. The "political theatre" in Russia continues - Putin's rule seems secure and even his presidential opponents are curated by him to perform in the charade of a free election

My criticisms of this documentary are twofold. First of all, I didn't really get a sense of what motivates Citizen K. Is he outraged at Putin and a passionate believer in democracy? Or is he just pissed off someone took his money? Even after a lot of interview footage I really didn't get a clear take.  Second, if you've followed this story at all, there's nothing new in this film.  That said, it is well organised and concise so if you were coming to the issue with no prior knowledge it would make an excellent primer. 

CITIZEN K has a running time of 128 minutes. The film played Venice and London 2019 but does not yet have a commercial release date.

SEBERG - BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Day Three

Director Benedict Andrews (UNA) returns to the festival with his biopic of the  Amercian actress who became a French New Wave icon - Jean Seberg.  The script from Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel focusses on the period in her life when Seberg was persecuted by the FBI for sleeping with and funding a "radical" black activist. What starts as a sting on peripheral people in the Black Panthers' funding circle becomes years of aggressive stalking, wire-tapping, defamation through gossip columnists - nothing less than an attempt to drive her crazy and out of Hollywood for daring to hold progressive views and sleeping with a black man.

The tragedy of Seberg's story is that it worked.  She became rightly paranoid, nervous, manic, was effectively blacklisted from Hollywood films, fleeing to Paris.  Her affair with activist Hakim Jamal was exposed - she was slandered as being pregnant with his child when she was really pregnant by a Mexican activist. The stress caused her to attempt suicide many times, and to the premature death of her baby daughter. As the film ends, Seberg has some kind of closure and reclamation. She meets one of the Feds who's been harassing her, and has the confirmation that she's not crazy. The film ends on a bravura held close-up of her reaction to this. But we know, and the end credits next to her face tell us, that she ultimately found no peace, dying in what we assume was a successful suicide attempt a handful of years later.

The resulting film has many merits. Kristen Stewart is absolutely sympathetic as Jean Seberg.  The physical resemblance isn't there, but the costume design is superb - and that's all beside the point. I absolutely believed in her as a young, good-hearted woman being driven to a breakdown by sinister forces. It's another in a line of really strong performances from her in small arthouse films that show she's really a superb actress. Last year's festival pick, LIZZIE, and PERSONAL SHOPPER before that, are cases in point.  It's gotten to the point where I now trust Kristen Stewart implicitly as a curator of my film experiences. If she goes for a project, I will assume it has an interesting subject, director, approach, and I will watch it. I can't say that about many actors.

I also liked Benedict Andrews direction and Rachel Morrison's cinematography - the film has a moody, sensual, sun kissed look, with beautiful Hollywood interiors belying the darkness at its core. And I really loved the score from Jed Zurzel (SLOW WEST) and especially the unusual song pics - not least a wonderfully melancholy cover of Tom Thumb's Blues by Nina Simone at the end.

My only real issue - but it was an issue - was with the script. I felt that the focus was too narrow. I wanted more context. Let's see the civil strife in America and why the Feds were so on edge.  Let's see the true contrast between Compton and Seberg's Hollywood.  Let's see the consequences of her affair - let's see how her colleagues react with prejudice to her sleeping with a black man - let's see her lose roles.  And let's understand more of her husband Romain Gary (Yvan Attal) - let's see why he decides to stand by her, really to the end, despite mutual infidelities and a divorce.  

Let me be clear - Stewart is amazing here, and focusing specifically on her mental state is almost enough to make a compelling film, but not quite - this film could've done so much more.

SEBERG has a running time of 98 minutes. The film played Venice Toronto and London 2019. It will be released in the USA on December 13th. It does not yet have a commercial release date in the UK.

THE KING - BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Day Three

David Michod (ANIMAL KINGDOM) and Joel Edgerton (THE GIFT) have reworked the story of King Henry V to create this beautifully acted but historically dodgy version of a familiar tale.  So heavy is the reworking that I felt its being marketed as an adaptation of Shakespeare's Henriad went against the Trades Description Act.  Those looking for Shakespeare's inspired comedy, beautiful poetry, or inspiring eve-of-battle speeches will be disappointed.  Really, this isn't Shakespeare at all, other than including a character called Falstaff, who turns up at Agincourt unlike in the play Henry V.  Still, once you throw off those expectations, what you are left with is a very serious, rather earnest character study, of a young man who hates his father's paranoia and penchant for war, but ends up committing the very same war crimes on a humbug.

Timothee Chalamet is absolutely superb as Hal, with a perfect upper class English accent and a deep brooding concern as he slides into war.  For such a young, skinny boy, he's absolutely credible in single combat and on the battlefield. He is matched turn for turn by Joel Edgerton in the role of a lifetime. Falstaff steals the show as he should, but as a far quieter, more sage, noble man than in the play.  Sean Harris is masterfully manipulative as the King's adviser William, and even Lily-Rose Depp, in a small role at the end has a very contemporary feminist gravitas.  The only bum note is Robert Pattinson as the dauphin, so camp and shrill as to be in another film entirely.  It's also clear that the team behind the film don't really know much about medieval warfare, in terms of when and how armour and weaponry is used. That said, they did successfully convey Falstaff's battle tactics in action.

Overall, this really is a compelling film, full of strong performances - maybe Chalamet and Edgerton's best - wonderful cinematography and a subtle score from Nicholas Britell. It deserves to be seen on the big screen rather than on Netflix's streaming service and I hope they give it a decent theatrical roll-out.

THE KING has a running time of 134 minutes and is rated R. It played Venice and London and will be released by Netflix on November 1st. 

MATTHIAS & MAXIME - BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Day Two

MATTHIAS ET MAXIME starts of with such joyous energy that one feels the immediate intimacy and zaniness of an old bunch of schoolfriends. The banter, the in jokes, the casual intimacy is all there.  And despite the almost constant gaggle of overlapping conversation, one soon gets a real feeling for the characters, each friend essayed so superbly and concisely. From Frank's easy FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH baked confidence - to Rivette taking on the MC role, directing all activities as well as playing chorus.  There's Matthias (Gabriel D’Almeida Freitas), who seems to have shit together more than the others.  He's on the fast track at his law firm and he's the only one who apparently has a serious girlfriend.   And finally, there's Maxime, played by the writer-director-editor-costumier Xavier Dolan. Babyfaced, quieter, browbeaten by his abusive, addict mother (MOMMY's Anne Dorval), desperate to escape to a gap year in Australia. 

The events of the film are set in motion by Rivette's hilariously annoying wannabe Valley Girl sister Erika, who's making a parlous student film and ropes in Matthias and Maxime.  Sharing a kiss on screen prompts an identity crisis in Matthias, who turns cruel in his denial, devastating poor Maxime.  The emotional consequences of this unravel over the next ninety minutes.

MATTHIAS ET MAXIME shares the best and worst characteristics of all Dolan's films. At their best, they give us insight into the LGBTQ experience in a way that feels authentic and raw and moves us deeply.  They give us precise visual coding, and an obsession with dated, faded suburban interiors. They give us gloriously choreographed set-pieces and 80s synth-pop.  They feel like Sirkian melodramas made contemporary and thrilling.  But they also tend to the indulgent, with sagging overlong third acts, and plots that are rather predictable. On the whole, I can overlook the faults, because Dolan does something so particular and unique, and simply never fails to move me. The picture he paints of a loving, self-sacrificing son is just heart-breaking.  And I love the ambiguity of the ending. Moreover, this is one of the most joyous and laugh out loud funny of Dolan's film, especially in the breathtakingly good opening thirty minutes, with Erika stealing the show!

MATTHIAS & MAXIME has a running time of 119 minutes. The film played Cannes and London 2019 and does not yet have a commercial release date. 

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD - BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Opening Night

Armando Iannucci's adaptation of Dickens' beloved autobiographical bildungsroman is a complete triumph.  Thanks to a wonderful adaptation by Simon Blackwell; effervescent and imaginative visuals; and a wonderful set of performances, this really is one of my all-time favourite versions of the tale.  I think it's because of the wonderful way in which it captures the love within the novel - the wonderful spirit of acceptance, love and compassion contained in the Peggotties assembled family - or Aunt Betsy Trotwood's care of Mr Dick - or David Copperfield's eventual reconciliation with Mr Micawber.  The film also captures Dickens' wonderful humour - whether in his sharp-eyed satiric portraits of the villains, or in the linguistic wonders of Micawber and Yarmouth. The film is also a really good portrayal of the author as a cipher for Dickens, and places the act of writing and imagining and rewriting at the front of its visual style.  Those of us familiar with the fate of Dora in the novel will find a quite elegant, more concise, and yet somehow similarly moving resolution here. But the movie never shies away from the darkness in Dickens' portrayal of violent, oppressive marriages - cruel poverty - social snobbery - and fallen women.  Most of all, it's a beautifully nuanced portrait of mental illness - whether Mr Dick's fixation on Charles I, Steerforth's suicidal depression or even Micawber's self-delusions.

In front of the camera, Dev Patel really is the most beautifully cast David Copperfield - all gangly wide-eyed love and optimism even in the worst of circumstances. But his David is never a patsy, even when falling for the dippy Dora.  He shows his anger, often physically, and fights and works for his future.   Patel handles everything from slapstick to righteous anger to compassionate frustration with the best of good humour. He's one of those actors that it's simply a pleasure spending time with.

In the supporting roles, I was struck by Rosalind Eleazer as Agnes - showing real love, strength, smarts.  An actress I would hope to see so much more of.   Daisy May Cooper is just heart-meltingly lovely as Peggotty, and Tilda Swinton - who starts off as just another Tilda Swinton eccentric - shows real depth of emotion and care as Aunt Betsy.  But perhaps the most surprising turn was from Hugh Laurie as Mr Dick. Every big cast drama has its Papageno, and with Copperfield it's usually Micawber. And Peter Capaldi is just find as Micawber. But there's something so quietly funny, moving, whip-smart about Laurie's Mr Dick that steals every scene that he's in, and must surely be a contender for Best Supporting Actor awards.

I really can't fault this film. And it's worth noting that Mr007 has never read the book and loved it as much as I did.  And that's a rare feat - to condense an epic novel but lose none of its essence, and to also please the casual viewer. Kudos to all involved. 


THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD has a running time of 119 minutes. It has played Toronto and London 2019 and opens in the UK on January 10th 2020.