LFF 2014

Reorienting the themes of Hitchcock's binary women-in-peril pictures, Vertigo (1958) and Marnie (1964), Christian Petzold's Phoenix is a fraught, horror-tinged marital drama which builds Sirkian malaise into the construct of a perverted…

The classic Chinese novel Baifa Monü Zhuan may not be familiar to Western audiences, but its author Li Yusheng was considered one of the best known wuxia authors in the 20th Century.  Now, Hong Kong director Jacob Cheng, who previously…

When it comes to Chinese silent films, it is a rare combination with modern filmgoers as some tend to be discouraged by the lack of sound or the fear of being lost-in-translation.  However, an exception should be made for the directorial…

Following Camille Claudel 1915, his gruelling, etiolated study of the sculptor's institutionalisation at Montdevergues asylum, French (provoc)auteur Bruno Dumont has now delivered the funniest film of the year in P'tit Quinquin, a…

When it comes to martial arts films, they tend to fall in one of two categories: either relentless action or beautiful, graceful choreography.  While most fans prefer the former, it is the latter that has attracted Western audiences to the…

Asian actor Orion Lee took a gamble when he left the world of finance to become an actor.  Now, a graduate for LAMDA, he counts a supporting role in Bond film Skyfall in his filmography, as well as roles in two films at this year's London…

Artists on film have always been fascinating subjects. Whether we watch them to gain insight into their works or personalities, or whether we watch the excess and absurd pointlessness of it all, what all films by or about artists have in…

In 2004 Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern, two Belgian stand-up comedians, starred in and directed a film called Aaltra. It is a dark-as-you-like story about two fundamentally unlikeable neighbours engaged in a battle of wits who are both…

The latest film by Mike Leigh premiered in this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Cinematography award and its leading man was named Best Actor, proving that Timothy Spall has come a long way from Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. Mr.…

Our third roundup of short films at this year's BFI London Film Festival is a bit of a mixed bag. We have 5 films that veer in subject between sweet family animation and extreme experimental art, which is great, though they veer also in…