BFI LFF 2016: THE BIRTH OF A NATION (2016)
★★★☆☆
The Birth of a Nation is director Nate Parker’s emotional condemnation of America’s brutal history of slavery through the true story of one man who led a rebellion.
biopic
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.
Southside With You (2016)
How the Obamas became the Obamas – Richard Tanne’s Southside With You is a charming biopic of their first date. Southside With You CAUTION:…
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Sid and Nancy (1986)
Alex Cox’s biopic charts the downward spiral of a doomed relationship against the background of punk and the Sex Pistols. Sid and Nancy CAUTION:…
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Born To Be Blue (2015)
Robert Budreau’s Born To Be Blue showcases Ethan Hawke as the tormented jazz trumpeter Chet Baker in a fictionalised biopic. Born To Be Blue…
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La Danseuse (2016)
★★☆☆☆
A portrait of revolutionary dancer Loie Fuller, Stephanie Di Giusto’s La Danseuse makes for a disappointingly pedestrian biopic.
Festival Review: Steve Jobs (2015)
★★★★☆
A binary biopic of the computer genius and flawed man, Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs is a dazzling, moving tale of the digital revolution.
Festival Review: The People Versus Fritz Bauer (2015)
★★★☆☆
Shining a light on German denazification, Lars Kraume’s The People Versus Fritz Bauer is an important story of a forgotten hero.
Festival Review: The Program (2015)
★★★☆☆
With an outstanding performance from Ben Foster, Stephen Frears’ The Program gets bogged down in intricately retelling the rise and fall of Lance Armstrong.
Life (2015)
★★★☆☆
Recreating a brief episode in James Dean’s life, Anton Corbijn’s Life sees the icon on the cusp of fame thanks to a series of photographs for Life magazine.
Pasolini (2014)
★★★★☆
Evoking the last days of Pier Paolo Pasolini, Abel Ferrara’s Pasolini lets the controversial Italian filmmaker’s thoughts and ideas do the scandalising.
Love & Mercy (2014)
★★★★☆
With Paul Dano and John Cusack embodying the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, Bill Pohlad’s Love & Mercy is a triumph of performance and the creative force.
The Theory Of Everything (2014)
★★★★☆
Dramatisation of Stephen Hawking’s life from gifted university student and romance with the woman who became his wife, to international acclaim as a physicist and the break-up of his marriage.
The Imitation Game (2014)
★★★★☆
Galvanising intense performances from a stellar cast, Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game is a war movie to stir the blood, but trips up over its queer hero.