BFI LFF 2016: ARRIVAL (2016)
★★★★☆
Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival is a highly original, thrilling and mind-boggling take on close encounters.
BFI LFF 2016: MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (2016)
★★★★☆
Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea is well-crafted, superbly acted film for grown-ups.
BFI LFF 2016: LA LA LAND (2016)
★★★★☆
Whiplash director Damien Chazelle’s La La Land is a bittersweet musical love letter to Hollywood and Los Angeles.
BFI LFF 2016: Toni Erdmann (2016)
★★★☆☆
A feelgood father-and-daughter comedy, Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann sees the joylessness of the corporate world undone by paternal clowning.
Sembène! (2015)
★★★★☆
The life and times of Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene, Samba Gadjigo and Jason Silverman’s Sembene! packs a powerful punch.
BFI LFF 2016: The Handmaiden (2016)
★★★★☆
A sumptuous new adaptation of Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith, Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden is a dazzling tale of duplicity and deception.
BFI LFF 2016: The Student (2016)
★★★★☆
Bringing Christian fundamentalism to the playground, Kirill Serebrennikov’s The Student satirises the conservatism of Russian institutions.
BFI LFF 2016: A MONSTER CALLS (2016)
★★★★☆
JA Bayona’s magical fantasy A Monster Calls tugs at adult heartstrings.
BFI LFF 2016: MIRZYA (2016)
★★★★☆
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s stunning Mirzya receives its European premiere at the 60th BFI London Film Festival.
BFI LFF 2016: MA’ ROSA (2016)
★★★★☆
Director Brillante Mendoza’s Ma’ Rosa is a gritty evocation of poverty and survival in the backstreets of Manila starring Cannes Best Actress Jaclyn Jose.
BFI LFF 2016: Sieranevada (2016)
★★★☆☆
Taking place in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attack, Cristi Puiu’s Sieranevada reveals a family in turmoil when the patriarch dies.
BFI LFF 2016: MOONLIGHT (2016)
★★★★☆
Moonlight is a very different gay coming-of-age movie by Barry Jenkins and it will break your heart.
BFI LFF 2016: MIMOSAS (2016)
★★★☆☆
Oliver Laxe’s second film Mimosas is an enigmatic, spiritual North African odyssey.
BFI LFF 2016 OPENING GALA: A UNITED KINGDOM (2016)
★★★★☆
The first film by a black woman director to screen as the Opening Gala of the BFI London Film Festival, Amma Asante’s A United Kingdom evokes a powerful interracial love story that threatened the British Empire.