LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 2017

Reviewed by Alan Pavelin

Each year I pick out several films from the Festival which sound interesting and seem unlikely to get a major theatrical release.  This year I selected six (two in the same programme, as they were quite short).  Two particularly appealing films which I didn't catch, but which should get early theatrical releases, are Andrei Zvyagintsev's Loveless (I enthused over his previous 4 features) and Lucrecia Martel's Zama (based on a recently-translated and acclaimed Argentinian novel).  

First, however, a brief mention of the four films I saw at the 2016 Festival.  Two (A Journey through French Cinema, and Zoology) were released nearly a year later.  A third, The Secret Scripture, had a brief theatrical release in the spring, to unenthusiastic reviews.  The one I really enthused over, The Son of Joseph, had an extremely brief release and has not been issued on DVD, though it can be watched via one of the streaming services.

But now to my 2017 selection.

A BLEMISHED CODE (Anne-Marie Copestake, UK).  

A study of the work of hologram artist Margaret Benyon.  Well-intentioned and fairly passionate about its somewhat specialist subject, with some emphasis on feminism.

EQUILIBRIUM (Vincenzo Marra, Italy).  

In this impressive film a priest (Mimmo Borrelli, on screen throughout) is battling the drug gangs in Naples, while a fellow-priest prefers to keep his head down because, in his view, to do otherwise does more harm than good.  The unfussy shooting style, cutting only where necessary and with numerous tracking shots along corridors in hospitals or schools, gives the occasional outbursts of violence particular impact.  Some of the actors are non-professionals, which occasionally shows, but this very satisfying film deserves an early theatrical release.

FILMWORKER. (Tony Zierra, USA).  

Leon Vitali was already a successful actor when he landed a plum role in Stanley Kubrick's 1975 film Barry Lyndon.  That changed his life, and he devoted the next 25 years to working behind the scenes, in numerous ways, on all Kubrick's remaining films ("Filmworker" is the occupation Vitali chose to give himself on his passport).  The young boy Danny in The Shining, for example, was chosen by him.  By all accounts Vitali spent every waking hour working for his hero, who in return greatly valued Vitali's assistance.  There are several brief clips from Kubrick's films, and contributions from actors and others who worked with him, but most of Filmworker consists of Vitali, now almost 70 (though looking much older), happily reminiscing.  This documentary is about Vitali, not Kubrick.

THE MAERSK OPERA (Superflex, Denmark).  

Superflex is an avant-garde Danish collective who currently have an installation at London's Tate Modern.  This film is an opera about the construction of a controversial opera house in Copenhagen early in this century.  Sections of the film show the performers, though it seemed to me they were miming to a pre-arranged recording.  Most of the film, however, consists of various kinds of visual metaphor of the building's construction and its opening.  Very imaginative visually, though I didn't care for most of the music.

A SORT OF FAMILY (Diego Lerman, Argentina).  

The "sort of" family are a professional woman and her husband intent on an illegal adoption.  Barbara Lennie, on-screen throughout (much of the time in her car), gives an emotionally high-powered performance as she tries to negotiate the various obstacles in her path, at one point finding herself in prison, though it would probably help the viewer if some explanation of Argentinian adoption laws was available..  The unexpected ending ties the film up nicely.

THE WELFARE OF TOMAS O HALLISSY (Duncan Campbell, Ireland).  

1960s Ireland had a huge rise in mental illness, according to an academic study.  By showing what appears to be archive film of a remote Kerry village from that period, the filmmaker is attempting to explain that rise.  Whether or not he is right is for the viewer to decide.