BFI London Film Festival 2022 Closing With Glass Onion

It’s either been announced or it’s been shown at every major film festival going at the moment and now, like the Lionesses, it’s coming home. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will close the 66th BFI London Film Festival.

The film will have its European premiere on October 16th at Southbank Centre at the Royal Festival Hall with Rian Johnson, Daniel Craig, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monáe, Ed Norton and more confirmed to attend. The sequel to his 2019 whodunnit hit takes place in Greece with Craig reprising his role as detective for hire, Benoit Blanc as he takes on a new case. Hopefully he will suspect even more foul play with plenty of doughnut holes.

Discussing his new film being show at the London Film Festival, Rian Johnson, says, “I’m thrilled to be back at LFF with Glass Onion, and it’s an honour to be closing the festival. A proper whodunnit really does belong in London, so it feels a bit like coming home!” Also in the cast are Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline and Dave Bautista. Whether we’ll see anyone else from the previous movie remains to be seen, however it looks unlikely at this point.

Tricia Tuttle, BFI London Film Festival Director, said: “Rian Johnson’s Knives Out was a major hit when we hosted the European Premiere at the Festival in 2019. Our audiences adored the film’s wit and that it tipped its very stylish hat to the wonderful tradition of British onscreen sleuths. And here, Rian Johnson strikes gold again with the help of the year’s hottest ensemble cast. Like its predecessor, Glass Onion is entertaining and culturally literate in equal measure, making some hilarious, razor sharp observations about the world we live in. The European Premiere of the Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will bring the house down as the Closing Gala of the 66th BFI London Film Festival!”

Recently via Twitter when announcing the title of the Knives Out sequel, Johnson described his admiration for Agatha Christie and her mystery novels. He said that there was a misperception of her novels and that she stretched the boundaries of the whodunnit in that her books were also spy stories, gothic romances, serial killer hunts, psychological character guides and much more. He has said he is using this as inspiration for the Knives Out films and that each one will have its own tone. Very interesting to hear this and now all we need is a trailer.

The 66th BFI London Film Festival will take place between 5th – 16th October with the full programme being announced on September 1st.

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BFI London Film Festival 2017 Announces Opening Film

The 61st BFI London Film Festival has announced that it will open with the directorial debut by Andy Serkis called Breathe. The film, which will have it’s European premiere on October 4th, tells the true story of Robin (Andrew Garfield) and Diana (Claire Foy) whose lives are changed once he’s paralysed after being diagnosed with Polio. 

Andy Serkis says, “On behalf of the cast and crew of Breathe we are absolutely thrilled and deeply honoured to be the Opening Gala performance in this year’s incredibly richly diverse and world-class BFI London Film Festival. Breathe is a deeply personal story to all of us at The Imaginarium and to have the European premiere of my directorial debut in London, my hometown, is beyond my wildest dreams.” 

The BFI London Film Festival takes place from October 4th to 15th and will showcase several films, ranging from a wide variety of filmmakers from diverse backgrounds. 

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A Ghost Story, review

Having a mainstream actor on screen whose face you only see for around 20 minutes during a 90 minute film sounds pretty jarring. Then when you mix that with the fact that his face is obscured by a white sheet as he plays a ghost of his former self, it’s borderline ludicrous. It’s a film that shouldn’t work, that shouldn’t make you feel, that you should be laughing at. However, thanks to the embracing performances, lingering camera shots and sparing use of dialogue, this is a film that makes you think about love, loss, acceptance and grief in a profoundly deep and moving way.

It’s no spoiler to say that around 10 minutes into the film, Casey Affleck’s character dies, leaving Rooney Mara to grieve. It cuts to Mara looking at Affleck’s body covered in a white sheet in a hospital. A long and looming shot of the room after Mara leaves shows Affleck’s ghost get up and walk around, eye holes have already been provided. From here he walks around the hospital and eventually makes his way back to their home where he is unable to leave. His interactions are only with that of another entity next door. The way the camera looks at a room, or a person, it’s examining all after affects of death and how it much it hits you.

He looks over the bereft Mara as she slowly begins to move on and live her life, up until the moment she leaves. It’s soon after we realise that he’s stuck in this house for some reason. The film only briefly slips into poltergeist territory when a Mexican family moves into the house and he disrupts their home. During a significant course of time, different people are shown to be living here, inhabiting what Affleck clearly still feels is his space.

There are consistent leering shots, all of which appear to be looking to a person in greater detail than we see. One in particular sticks with you in which Rooney Mara sits Whilst at the same time asking yourself, what kind of pie is that? Is it chocolate? Is it pumpkin? Maybe it’s savoury? How many takes did Rooney have to do? How many pie did she eat? WHAT FLAVOUR IS THE PIE?

The pair are never named in the film, they are never given a chance to address each other in such a way but their relationship transcends words and becomes more complex through gestures, looks and movements. It becomes a comment on how love and loss can both be expressed in similar ways; with looks and not words, with gestures, with unshared thoughts.

With it’s subtle and haunting score, nuanced performances and steering mostly clear of the paranormal route, this is a haunting experience that will stay with you for a long time.

4 out of 5.

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