London Film Festival 2024: Highlights and Lowlights

Source: Film London

I was recently granted the privilege of a press accreditation for BFI London Film Festival 2024 this year, and managed to watch a whopping 23 films!

This involved lots of very early starts and long hours, an eye watering amount of money handed over to TFL, countless cups of coffee, and several interesting conversations with other festival-goers. Attending with a press pass is incredibly exhausting, yet simultaneously unique and invigorating. A major advantage is that I work at one of the venues for the festival, where you're able to watch the film you usher for. If anything, this festival season acts as a reminder of how lucky I am to be from and live in London - not only as a cinephile, but in the context of being a person with access to global opportunities at the tips of my fingers.

I'm going to take a slightly different approach for this blog post: rather than do my top/bottom films of the festival in a traditional list order, I'm going to alternate between films I really enjoyed, and films I am more than happy to see the back of. For the sake of the vibe, I'm going to start on a positive note:

Highlight: Nickel Boys ****

Source: BFI

The POV angle has been done before (Enter the Void, for example), but telling a story through the eyes of two black boys at a reformatory school in the Jim Crow south adds an important if not refreshing empathetic quality. In taking this approach, it avoids the nauseating exploitative style of the aptly nicknamed "oscar bait" films that would tackle this more traditionally, with a thick air of condescension. Films of this nature tend to go a certain way; you start the film waiting for emotional devastation. Though it's quick to gather it's an invevitability, you at least hope it delivers aptly and appropriately - and deliver it does. Another notable aspect brought forward by Nickel Boys is the reflective, Malick-esque style throughout. It may not work in every scene, but it flows best in the latter section, where retrospect is the main, haunting driver.

Lowlight: Emilia Perez **

Source: New York Times

Emilia Perez is an interesting one, to say the least. I knew little to nothing about it leading up to my screening, with nothing but a single image of Zoe Saldana seemingly engaged in dance at a dinner event. Directed by the audacious Jacques Audiard, the Mexico-set sex change-cartel-legal film with no Mexicans left me bemused upon the credits roll, and resentful days later. A musical (yes, you read that right) with bafflingly bad musical numbers and offensively bold sentiments towards cartel violence, trans women and Mexico as a whole does no one involved any favours. At the risk of overstepping as a cis woman, I find the film's depiction of transness distasteful and exploitative. It's evident there have been no transwomen to consult, nor Mexican people to provide any sort of grounding in the setting. Karla Sofia Gason and Zoe Saldana do the best they can with the material, while Selena Gomez sinks further than you could ever think possible - I can just about speak Spanish at a moderate level, but I had such difficulty understanding her.

I'm not sure what the general reception for Emilia Perez will be. Others leaving my screening were buzzing with positivity, yet it left an increasingly bitter taste in my mouth. Perhaps the purpose of this film was to appeal to the unbudging, majority demographic of very white, very middle-to-upper class film critics and awards voters, who are won over by "progressive" representation in film to make up for their lack of contact with anyone outside of their sphere.

Highlight: Dahomey ****1/2

Source: Los Angeles Times

It's not LFF without a documentary! Arguably my favourite addition to the festival this year. The documentary follows the return of 26 of the 7000 Senegalese artifacts held by France, and follows a conversation surrounding it.

What opens with a slow start where one of said artifacts is anthropomorphised via voice over gradually becomes a debate among university students and professors: the lasting effects of colonialism and whether France's gesture is empty or the beginning of a larger reparational trend. Is the return of the artifiacts welcome among the new generation, or another source of a renewed cynicism? Some interesting debates are had regarding repatriation and the sacred status of the artifacts, and they're incredibly engaging.

The close-up cinematography in addition helps to keep the audience engaged visually as the debate ensues, emphasising and reminding us of the personal and lasting damage colonialism has inflicted on many a population.

Lowlight: The Surfer **

Source: BFI

I watched this one on shift, and for that I am all the more grateful as I essentially got paid to sit through it. There is much to admire about The Surfer... on a technical standpoint. The colour grading is warm and appropriately saturated, and the score is more than competent. Unfortunately, that is where the positives end (unless you count a signature Nicolas Cage freakout towards the end).

Despite its fever dream-esque presentation, The Surfer is meandering and mostly stagnant. Though the film aims to act as a commentary on the cult-like effect of toxic masculinity and the damage inflicted on those in the "out group", it's hackneyed and poorly paced. Julian McMahon plays the alpha of the group of surfers going to extreme lengths to prevent Cage from accessing the beach, relegating him to the local car park. And in the car park he stays for the majority of the 1hr 43mins runtime. Upon the credits roll I hastily whipped out my phone to see what else director Lorcan Finnegan directed, and it was Vivarium, another film about people restricted to a single location (I was not a fan of that either). It all made sense. After having a brief interaction with Finnegan pre-film, who by all means seems like a decent enough person, I can't help but feel guilty. However, I can't deny how I feel about the film, and I have to make that known.

For a more comprehensive list of every film I watched at the festival this year, feel free to visit my letterboxd list and maybe even give me a follow!