BFI London Film Festival 2017

Thankfully, they were not. First film started at 2.30 and I was in rear stalls, front stalls for the other two and didn’t hear any disturbance from outside.

Disturbed in the inside though by Happy End, the new Haneke film. Although, to be fair, it’s a bit more human than some of his earlier work, even if it remains darkly black. My second Huppert of the week - I never feel it’s a proper LFF unless I have at least two Hupperts.

The big picture about little people, Downsizing, was amiable enough with a pleasingly paunchy Matt Damon. Essentially a long liberal dream (and I write as a Guardian subscriber), it was enjoyable without being spectacular. Lost it’s way towards the end.

And then The Florida Project. Can’t quite remember why I picked this as I have a serious aversion to cute little kids and there are a bunch of them in this movie, running around, being noisy and generally little kid like. I wasn’t as beguiled by them as most of the audience, but there’s a tough story here and that may be what it needs to get the message over. Willem Dafoe is strong.

Really enjoyed Battle of the Sexes, it's such a solid well made film with a great cast. Only niggle was that I think they could fleshed out Bobby Riggs a bit more but apart from that, I can't complain.

Loved The Shape of Water! Such a Del Toro film. Also really enjoyed Downsizing, which is so much funnier than so was expecting.

Saw the restored print of Scarface yesterday too, and have to admit I was struggling to stay awake through it. Something to do with comfy cinema seats, a darkened room, and a sugar crash, probably!

Then we had Journeyman in the evening - Paddy Considine's film. He and Jodie Whittaker give excellent performances and it's a compelling story but the structure isn't quite right - the film just sort of fizzles out towards the end, there's no third-act climax.

I did really enjoy Three Billboards - dark as you might expect from Martin McDonagh but moves at a healthy pace and a great central performance from Frances McDormand.
On Chesil Beach was effective in giving the tone of the book although that doesn't necessarily make it a compelling film - and there's a change to the book plot which I think weakens it considerably.
Abracadabra is a fantastic Spanish film (in the literal sense) which may well have been the most fun I had at this festival.
The Boy Downstairs was pretty rubbish and struggling to see what it was in this festival.

Like kathryn time to step outside the cinema although I'm keen to see Death of Stalin and The Party before they exit cinemas. But back to live theatre for a bit...

Saw 15 films this year and thought it was a solid year. Nothing totally knocked my socks off, but I saw about five 9 out of 10 films for me, which is definitely good going. Anyway, thoughts:

Lady Bird: just delightful and extremely heartfelt. It spoke so much truth. Loved the film and also Greta and Saoirse in the Q&A. Laurie Metcalf gives best performance I've seen on screen AND on stage this year with A Doll's House Part 2!

Downsizing: I seem to be on the same page as everyone else in that the first 45 minutes were absolutely cracking outstanding stuff, but after that it kind of loses its way and meanders a lot. Nice concept though, and v ambitious.

But I have real problems with The Florida Project. It received a rapturous reaction but I need someone who really liked the film to explain if I was supposed to sympathise with these characters. I think the children were supposed to be adorable little rascals but I found them quite bratty and rude to be honest. Ditto the mother character - whom I genuinely thought was one of the nastiest and most spiteful bitter characters I've seen for some time. Was I supposed to be on their side?! Is their economic situation an excuse for being vile to people? I think I totally misunderstood the film. I didn't get a lot out of it. But Willem was the heart and soul of the movie and he was terrific.

I share some of the concerns about The Florida Project as I really struggled in the first half hour or so as I found the kids insufferable and didn't want to spend time in their presence. However as the story opened out I started to engage with it more. I too thought the mother was a difficult person to love but I think you have to see her as a product of her circumstances without any support around her - too young to have that responsibility but equally with no-one to help her learn how to be a better mother. Interesting article in the Guardian about the real people in these circumstances: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/15/in-the-shadow-of-disney-living-life-on-the-margins

Regarding the ending of Three Billboards - not quite sure what to make of it either but in later consideration I think it fits with the chaos of the movie - will be interesting to see what others think when it opens widely.

Thanks for your replies @snutte and @n1david. Yes, moonee's rudeness softened up once we started to spend more time with her mother! I had an extremely low tolerance for excusing her being so spiteful because she's in poverty - I know her best friend had a job but she was still in a similar situation to Hayley and she was nowhere near as nasty! The way Hayley behaved towards her friend and to Willem (a certain sanitary product) was just inexcusable imho and I was, to be honest, fairly pleased the film ended the way it did. Sorry to keep going on about it, but I'm really flummoxed why I've reacted in this way to a film that seems to be getting a lot of attention over here and in the US.

I am curious to know if you got to see On Chesil Beach.  If so, what did you think of it?  Do you know if it has been on general release?