The BFI London Film Festival gets underway today with Frankenweenie kicking off proceedings.
As with every festival there are a group of movies that are in the Official Competition category and we take a look at some of the major runners and riders.
- End of Watch
If there is one movie that is not to be missed at the BFI London Film Festival it is End of Watch.
Directed by David Ayer and sees Jake Gyllenhaal team up with Michael Pena who play cops in the same squad car patrolling the streets of LA.
Life is good for the pair until a seemingly routine vehicle check finds the pair stepping on the toes of powerful drug traffickers.
End of Watch is a fast paced ride that puts audiences right in the heart of the action. It is action packed and violent and a movie that is not to be missed.
- Rust & Bone
Marion Cotillard is being tipped for an Oscar nomination for her central performance in this film - which has been getting major support of the festival circuit.
The movie sees Jacques Audiard return to the director's chair for the first time since the fantastic A Prophet and, once again, his writing skills are also on show.
Cotillard stars as Stephanie, a killer whale trainer who late one night meets Alain (Matthias Schoenaerts) in a fracas at the nightclub where he works as a bouncer.
Put in charge of his young son, Alain has come from Belgium to Antibes to live with his sister and her husband as a family.
Alain’s bond with Stephanie grows deeper after she suffers a horrible accident, bringing the two together once more.
This is an engrossing movie from start to finish with two superb performances at its heart.
- Seven Psychopaths
In Bruges was one of the best movies to hit the big screen back in 2008 and now director Martin McDonagh is back with his new movie Seven Psychopaths.
The movie sees him reunite with Colin Farrell while Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell are also on the cast list.
Seven Psychopaths follows a struggling screenwriter (Farrell) who inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends (Walken and Rockwell) kidnap a gangster’s (Woody Harrelson) beloved Shih Tzu.
This is a funny and very violent comedy movie that once again shows off McDonagh's talent as both a writer and director.
McDonagh has brought the best out of his cast - especially Farrell who delivers one of his best performances in some time.
- No
No is one of the movies that seems to be going under the radar somewhat at the festival but sees Pablo Larrain return to movies after working for a little while in TV.
The script is written by Pedro Peirano and is the true story of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet calling for a referendum on his presidency in 1988 due to international pressure.
This is the final movie in Larrain's trilogy of films that are set during the rule of Piochet and this time it is Gael García Bernal who leads the cast.
He plays the ad executive who is comes up with a campaign to try and end the rule of Pinochet in Chile.
This may be a movie that has slipped under the radar but it is a film that has been winning over the critics left, right and centre.
Once again Larrain has delivered a fascinating movie that looks at a period in history and the effects that it had on the people.
- Midnight's Children
Deepa Mehta is back in the director's chair with her new movie Midnight's Children, which is a big screen adaptation of the Salman Rushdie novel.
A pair of children, born within moments of India gaining independence from Britain, grow up in the country that is nothing like their parent's generation.
Mehta is an incredibly visual director and she has brought India to life in Midnight's Children.
It is a rich and vibrant story as well as the cast delivering some fine performances.
- Lore
Cate Shortland makes her film return for the first time since Somersault back in 2004 with her new movie Lore.
The movie is an adaptation of The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert and is an emotional and powerful movie.
When their Nazi SS parents are taken into Allied custody, five siblings are left to fend for themselves.
This is a movie that explores the problems and difficulties that were facing the young after the war when families were torn apart because of what/who they supported during the Second World War.
Shortland does not flinch from the story that she is telling and she delivers a film that is both intriguing and touching.
Other movies in the category include It Was The Son, In The House, Ginger and Rosa, Fill The Void, Everyday, After Lucia.
BFI London Film Festival runs from 10-21 October
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in BFI End Of Watch