The Double
The BFI London Film Festival is now just over a fortnight away and there are a whole host of terrific movies in the line-up.
Today we are focusing on the Official Competition films as we highlight some of the movies that are not to be missed. This is set to be a tough category with some great movie set to do battle.
- The Double - Richard Ayoade
Richard Ayoade is one of the British filmmakers on show at the festival as he returns to the director's chair with The Double.
The Double is the second directorial outing for Ayoade, and comes after the success of Submarine.
Ayoade has teams up with Avi Korine to pen the screenplay; which is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
The director has brought together a great cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska.
The comedy follows a man who is driven insane by the appearance of his doppleganger.
- Parkland - Peter Landesman
Peter Landesman is making his directorial debut with new movie Parkland; a historical drama that look at the events after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
The movie is based on the book Four Days in November: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy by Vincent Bugliosi - Landesman has penned the script.
A great ensemble cast has been assembled as Zac Efron, Paul Giamatti, Tom Welling, Jackie Earle Haley, Billy Bob Thornton, James Badge Dale and Jacki Weaver are all also on board.
Parkland weaves together the perspectives of a handful of ordinary individuals suddenly thrust into extraordinary circumstances.
- Starred Up - David Mackenzie
Jack O'Connell is an actor to keep an eye on over the next couple of years as he is set to be a big star.
He is back with his new film Starred Up; which sees him team up with director David Mackenzie.
Mackenzie has brought up movies such as Perfect Sense and Spread in recent years, this will be his first film since You Instead.
The movie has already been met well at the Toronto International Film Festival and is one of the British films not to miss at the festival.
Starred Up introduces us to Eric, a teenage inmate with an explosive temperament. Now Eric’s time inside looks set to become even more challenging when he is relocated to the same prison where his estranged father is also locked up.
- The Selfish Giant - Clio Barnard
Another British drama that we are very excited about is The Selfish Giant as Clio Barnard makes her feature film directorial debut.
Barnard was behind the documentary The Arbor and has now penned this dramatic screenplay.
Inspired by Oscar Wilde’s story of the same name, The Selfish Giant tells the tale of Arbor and Swifty, two young boys growing up in an underprivileged town in Yorkshire.
Struggling to fit in at school, and each facing their own challenges at home, the two friends find their seemingly directionless lives given dubious purpose when they meet local scrapdealer Kitten, from whom they learn of the lucrative demand for copper wire.
Connor Chapman and Shaun Thomas take on the roles of Arbor and Swifty and are joined on the cast list by Sean Gilder, Lorraine Ashbourne and Ian Burfield.
- Under The Skin - Jonathan Glazer
Scarlett Johansson will be staring in two movies at the BFI London Film Festival, and Under The Skin is one of the them.
The movie sees the actress team up with director Jonathan Glazer for the first time as he brings the Michael Faber novel to the big screen.
Johansson takes on the role of an alien in human form who preys upon hitchhikers in Scotland.
The film has received mixed reviews on the festival circuit so far and it will be interesting to see how a UK crowd reacts to it.
Other In Competition movies includeAbuse of Weakness by Catherine Breillat, Ida by Pawel Pawlikowski, Like Father, Like Son by Kore-Eda Hirokazu, Of Good Report by Jahmil, X.T. Qubeka, Rags & Tatters by Ahmad Abdalla, Tom at the Farm by Xavier Dolan and Tracks by John Curran.
The 57th BFI London Film Festival takes place 9-20 October, for more information and to book tickets visit bfi.org.uk/lff
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