For British cinephiles, the arrival of the BFI London Film Festival is a significant date in the calendar – bringing some of the most exciting movies from across the world to the UK capital (and across the nation too) for an early peek. Packed with gala screenings, premieres, and first looks, it’s a monumental celebration of movies – and having seen some of the best there is to offer, Empire has a handful of must-see titles that you need to place at the top of your watchlist.
We’ve been at this year’s LFF watching all kinds of exciting upcoming features – and we have some recommendations for you.
Empire’s Reviews Editor John Nugent chose his highlights from this year’s festival – the first being Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth!, a classical music-based drama starring Pedro Pascal. This is Gilroy’s first feature film in 14 years, and marks his first project since shepherding all-time-great Star Wars series Andor, bringing him back down to earth for the story of an ambitious cellist (Pascal’s Alex), who reckons with a return to home in LA after 20 years.
Nugent’s other highlight is Laika studios’ Wildwood, a mind-bogglingly ambitious epic fantasy film told in stop-motion animation; arriving seven years after their previous film, Missing Link, and marking director (and Laika boss) Travis Knight’s animated comeback, 10 years after his previous film Kubo And The Two Strings. With its jaw-dropping scope and wild imagination, it’s not to be missed.
And there are more recommendations too:
Empire’s Social Media Editor Harry Stainer praises Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial as the real successor to The Social Network – starring Andrew Garfield as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a scathing and satirical look at the reckless development of Artificial Intelligence in Silicon Valley.
Stainer also highlights Jordan Firstman’s feature debut Club Kid, a sweet and tender New York drama in which Firstman also stars (and writes) as Peter. A party promoter in the queer NYC club scene, Peter discovers that he has a 10-year-old son (Reggie Absolom’s Arlo) who he never knew about – bringing a new perspective to his world as he synthesises the two.
Elsewhere, it’s been a packed festival – the first two episodes of Marvel’s VisionQuest screened in association with Empire, while the festival opened with the Andrew Scott-starring Elsinore, and closed with Jesse Eisenberg’s much-anticipated The Debut. Add in Godzilla Minus One, a secret screening of I Play Rocky, and an early peek at the restoration of Ken Russell’s The Devils, and it’s clear: the magic of the movies is very much alive.