The Deep Blue Sea ★★☆☆☆

"all too safe, unadventurous, cold and formal for a director of Davies' stature"

Chosen as the closing night film at this year's BFI London Film Festival and starring Rachel Weisz, Simon Russell Beale and Tom Hiddleston, The Deep Blue Sea (2011) marks Terrance Davies' return from a self-imposed, 11-year hiatus, and once again sees this acclaimed British director delve into the crippling effects of romance and the emotionally suffocating constraints of post-war Britain.

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BFI LFF 2011 Top 5

After two-and-a-half weeks of cinema heaven, he 55th BFI London Film Festival came to a close this past Thursday with the UK premiere of Terence Davies' The Deep Blue Sea. It also marked the final LFF for Sandra Hebron, who steps down as the festival's Artistic Director after nine successful years at the healm, to be replaced by Clare Stewart, an Australian who ran the Sydney Film Festival for five years. To commemorate this changing of the guard, here's our  roundup of the best (and worst) films to have screened at LFF this year. We're already looking forward to 2012!

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Target ★☆☆☆☆

"overly-complicated, hideously long and mind numbingly incoherent"

Russian cinema has a long and rich history of producing exceptional sci-fi movies. From the pioneering silent films of  Protazanov and Zhuravlyov, to the deeply philosophical films of Tarkovsky and Lopishansky, Russia has always used this speculative science based genre to comment on social issues rather than merely forms of escapism. Alexander Zeldovich's Target (Mishen, 2011) attempts to continue this tradition with his heavily stylised and hugely ambitious disquisition of greed, mortality and natural human behaviour.

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Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below ★★★★☆

"any single frame could easily be removed and held-up as an accomplished piece of art"

Director Makoto Shinkai's previous effort 5 Centimetres Per Second (2007) is one of the most beautiful animes to ever grace the screen. Its tale of unrequited love told across three stages created a story more emotionally devastating than even the most assured romantic film. Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below (2011) is a far more conventional anime film, recalling the fantasy and wonder of Studio Ghibli, yet still retains the same artistic flare which marked Shinkai as one of anime's most promising directors.

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We Have a Pope ★★★☆☆

"...a hugely enjoyable experience that’s sadly let down by a rather lacklustre and uninspiring ending..."

We Have a Pope is Nanni Moretti’s follow up to The Cayman – his cinematic attack on Berlusconi. Whilst a deeply satirical examination of the Catholic Church, We Have a Pope is also a warm and gentle comedy about human frailty and the misguided attempts we make to alter our own fate.

A new Pope is to be elected and hordes of devout believers have flocked to the Vatican, waiting in anticipation to see the smoke from the chimney of the concave turn from black to white. Inside we join the selected few who have been chosen as potential candidates. Each seems anxious over the impending vote, however, it’s not due to an inherent desire to be chosen but rather the fear that they might be. The responsibility of leading well over a billion followers has each of them petrified, a sentiment echoed by Moretti’s decision to allow us to pry into their prayers, where a cavalcade of apprehensive voices plead not to be chosen.

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The Great Bear ★★★☆☆

" a genuinely sweet and moving story"

Danish cinema has enjoyed a remarkable resurgence of late, with Susanne Bier's Academy Award winner In a Better World (2010) and the consistently provocative work of Lars von Trier. However, Denmark is a country that has so far never been famed for its animation output - something Esben Toft Jacobsen is looking to amend with The Great Bear (2011).

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Faust ★★★★☆

"a thoroughly entertaining investigation into the existence of the soul and its uses"

Acclaimed Russian director Alexander Sokurov looks set to divide audiences at this year's 55th BFI London Film Festival with his deeply profound, Venice Golden Lion-winning variation on Goethe's tragedy Faust (2011) - an unique and transcendental adaptation, with all the characteristic flare and style we've come to expect from this pioneering director.

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Footnote ★★★☆☆

"there remains much to love from this gloriously enjoyable film"

Following his Oscar-nominated, deeply moving anti-war film Beaufort (2007), director Joseph Cedar continues to raise his profile with Footnote (2011), a uniquely comedic exploration into issues of pride, sacrifice and jealousy through a fragile family dynamic which won him the prestigious best screenplay award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

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Old Dog ★★★★☆

"what it lacks in funding it more than makes up for in sentiment"

Director Pema Tseden has almost single-handedly reinvented Tibetan cinema. His previous two films, The Silent Holy Stones (2005) and The Search (2009), both screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival to great critical acclaim. Like his previous efforts, Old Dog (2011) is set in the Tibetan region of the Chinese province of Qinghai, however, his latest venture is yet to receive approval from the Chinese film bureau to be released locally - making its BFI London Film Festival appearance something of a rare treat.

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Trishna ★★☆☆☆

"a peculiarly dull tale of romance that lacks any substantial passion."

Acclaimed director Michael Winterbottom is renowned for his ability to switch between genres with relative ease, with past successes including Jude (1996), 24 Hour Party People (2002) and The Killer Inside Me (2010). His latest venture is an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's penultimate novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles set in present day India and stars Freida Pinto, Riz Ahmed and Roshan Seth.

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Guilty ★★★★☆

" a powerful, heartbreaking and intense drama "

Concerning the most horrific legal scandal in modern French history, director Vincent Garenq's Guilty (Présumé coupable, 2011) is a gripping drama based on the memoirs of Alain Marecaux (Philippe Torreton) who was wrongly accused of several accounts of child molestation and thrust into a terrifying web of false testimonies and heavy handed police investigations.

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The Kid With a Bike ★★★★★

"a resounding success"

Directed by two time Palme d’Or-winning Belgium duo Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, The Kid with a Bike (Le Gamin au Vélo, 2011) continues this remarkably consistent sibling partnership's ability to capture the poetic essence beneath the misery which often consumes life.

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Take Shelter ★★★☆☆

"A refreshing answer to the special effects laden disaster films of Hollywood"

Screening at this year's 55th BFI London Film Festival, Take Shelter (2011) once again unites Shotgun Stories (2007) director Jeff Nichols and actor Michael Shannon. Set against a backdrop of Middle American domestic life, Take Shelter is a far more visual film, combining elements of terror with a kitchen sink drama that confirms both men as masters of their chosen trade.

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The Future ★★☆☆☆

" an overbearingly idiosyncratic mess of a film that lacks the subtle charm of her debut"

Miranda July's 2005 surreal debut feature, Me and You and Everyone We Know showcased her enormous potential, with fans of quirky, independent, cinema desperate to see what she’d produce next. Narrated by a caged, injured cat, The Future (2011) expands upon July’s unique ability to capture the difficulties of developing relationships and the awkwardness of making emotional attachments.

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Dragonslayer ★★★☆☆

" a punk rock manifesto for a disenfranchised, recession hit youth"

Director Tristan Patterson's award-winning documentary Dragonslayer (2011) (SXSW Grand Jury Prize for best documentary feature) documents the life of Josh 'Skreech' Sandoval, a jaded skateboarding veteran living in the sun-drenched, extreme sports-loving town of Fullerton, California.

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We Need to Talk About Kevin ★★★★★

"a bold, inventive and intensely unnerving psychological drama "

★★★★★

Directed by Lynne Ramsay (Ratchater, Morvern Callar) and based on Lionel Shriver’s hugely popular and critically acclaimed novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin is a visually sumptuous, meticulously acted and highly ambitious literary adaptation which is by far one of this year’s greatest cinematic achievements.

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Elena ★★★★☆

"A pitch perfect example of European arthouse cinema"

Director Andrei Zvyagintsev broke onto the scene with his remarkably assured 2003 debut The Return, a visually alluring and emotionally engrossing story of two young boys who embark on a road trip with their long lost father. His third feature Elena (2011) also deals with fraught domestic relationships and is a welcome confirmation that this promising Russian director is worthy of his early praise.

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Return ★★☆☆☆

"one of the most forgettable films of this year's LFF"

★★☆☆☆

Following the recent influx of anti-war films with a more inwardly-looking perspective, Liza Johnson's debut feature Return (2011) - which screens at this year's 55th BFI London Film Festival - stars Linda Cardellini as a female officer unable to reintegrate into society after the horrors she witnessed in Afghanistan, alongside Michael Shannon and John Slattery.

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Headhunters ★★☆☆☆

" horrifically incoherent, chaotic and ultimately a throwaway piece of cinema "

Adapted from Jo Nesbø's international bestselling novel Headhunters (2011), director Morten Tyldum's third full length feature is a taut Norwegian thriller, full of Scandinavian humour that’s already lined up for an invertible Hollywood remake.

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The Artist ★★★★★

"A joyous and enchanting adventure into the golden age of Hollywood that's impossible not to fall madly in love with."

 

A categorical success at this year's Cannes Film Festival, Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist is a gloriously executed love letter to the silent era of Hollywood, featuring an award-winning performance by Jean Dujardin (Best Actor at Cannes). A thoroughly enjoyable romp, The Artist looks set to be a crowd favourite at this year's BFI London Film Festival and a major contender for the Best Picture Oscar at next year's Academy Awards.

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