London Film Festival 2021: 11 titles to put on your watchlist
David Farnor | On 29, Sep 2021
The London Film Festival is just a week away and, after last year’s successful hybrid event, 2021 will once again see the BFI’s festival head both into cinemas and online, making it not only a big screen showcase for the latest films from around the world, but also an accessible celebration of cinema accessible across the UK.
Now in its 65th year, the festival will run from 6th to 17th October, with films playing at the BFI Southbank and the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, plus cinemas across London’s West End and a selection of films at 10 venues in cities and towns across the UK. Online, films will be streaming via BFI Player, there’ll be a bespoke virtual exhibition space, The Expanse, while some screen talks and other events will also stream on YouTube. (For more information on how it works, and for the full online line-up, click here.)
But what should be hoping to catch on the big or small screen? We pick 11 highlights from digital bunch to stream at home – and round up the new streaming films getting their moment on the big screen before arriving in your living room. Here’s our guide to what London Film Festival titles to put on your watchlist:
Online
True Things
Harry Wootliff returns to the Festival with this fascinating psychological drama, starring Ruth Wilson and adapted from Deborah Kay Davies’ novel True Things About Me.
Available on BFI Player: 11th – 12th October
The Feast
You are cordially invited to the dinner party from hell, courtesy of Lee Haven Jones’ Welsh-language horror opus. When was the last time you got to use those words in the same sentence?
Available on BFI Player: 8th – 9th October
A Cop Movie
Be prepared to be surprised by Netflix’s wildly inventive, hybrid documentary drama by Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios, following two Mexico City police officers on the beat.
Available on BFI Player: 9th – 10th October
The Story of Film: A New Generation
Mark Cousins returns with another journey across the landscape of film, examining what changes the 21st century has brought.
Available on BFI Player: 10th – 11th October
Playground
The harsh world of playground politics is seen through the eyes of a seven-year-old girl in a gripping debut from Belgian writer-director Laura Wandel.
Available on BFI Player: 12th – 13th October
Hit the Road
Panah Panahi’s debut is by turns tender, quirky, even laugh-out-loud funny – a wondrously-observed reflection on family and the ambivalence of saying goodbye.
Available on BFI Player: 13th – 14th October
The Real Charlie Chaplin
A stirring new take on the life and work of one the most elusive cinema icons, revealing a never-previously-broadcast interview.
Available on BFI Player: 15th – 16th October
BFI Flare Special Screening: Flee
Winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sundance Film Festival, Flee is a testament to friendship, family and acceptance.
Available on BFI Player: 15th – 16th October
Ear for Eye
The latest offering from filmmaker and playwright Debbie Tucker Green, based on her 2018 Royal Court production, Black families, friends, students and older generations navigating British and American society today, exploring demonstrations vs direct action, violence vs non-violence and the personal vs structural. The ensemble cast includes Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel, No Time To Die), Tosin Cole (Doctor Who, The Souvenir).
Available on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer: 16th October
Mr Bachmann and His Class
Winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, Maria Speth’s enjoyable and profoundly moving documentary searches for the true meaning of home and community.
Available on BFI Player: 16th – 17th October
Between Two Worlds
Anything with Juliette Binoche is always worth seeing. Here, she plays an undercover reporter investigating the conditions faced by France’s working women.
Available on BFI Player: 16th – 17th October
In cinemas
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Joel Coen’s adaptation Shakespeare’s classic tragedy stars Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand and promises a bold and fierce take on the play, full of murder, madness, ambition and wrathful cunning. It will stream worldwide on Apple TV+ on 14th January 2022.
Festival screenings: 17th October
The Harder They Fall
Londoner Jeymes Samuel takes the helm for this new Western, which stars Jonathan Majors, Zazie Beetz, Regina King and Idris Elba. It sees outlaw Nat Love (Majors) discover that his enemy Rufus Buck (Elba) is being released from prison, so he rounds up his gang to track Rufus down and seek revenge. The film will stream worldwideon Netflix on 3rd November.
Festival screenings: 6th, 7th, 10th October
The Power of the Dog
Jane Campion’s latest stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons and Elisabeth Moss. Based on the Thomas Savage 1967 novel of the same name, it follows wealthy Montana brothers Phil (Cumberbatch) and George Burbank (Plemons), who are joint owners of the biggest ranch in the Montana valley.
Festival screenings: 11th, 12th, 17th October
The Hand of God
Paolo Sorrentino’s latest tells the story of a young man’s heartbreak and liberation in 1980s Naples, Italy. It follows Fabietto Schisa, an awkward Italian teen whose life and vibrant, eccentric family are suddenly upended — first by the electrifying arrival of soccer legend Diego Maradona and then by a shocking accident from which Maradona inadvertently saves Fabietto, setting his future in motion. The film will stream worldwide on Netflix on 15th December.
Festival screenings: 8th, 9th, 17th October
Passing
Adapted from the celebrated 1929 novel of the same name by Nella Larsen, Rebecca Hall’s timely film tells the story of two Black women, Irene Redfield (Tessa Thompson) and Clare Kendry (Ruth Negga), who can “pass” as white but choose to live on opposite sides of the colour line during the height of the Harlem Renaissance in late 1920s New York. It will stream worldwide on Netflix on 10th November.
Festival screenings: 10th, 12th October
Encounter
Starring Riz Ahmed and Octavia Spencer, the latest from Beast helmer Michael Pearce follows a decorated Marine who goes on a rescue mission to save his two young sons from a mysterious threat. As their journey takes them in increasingly dangerous directions, the boys end up having to leave their childhoods behind. It will stream worldwide on Amazon Prime Video on 10th December.
Festival screenings: 8th, 9th, 14th October
The Velvet Underground
The new feature documentary from Todd Haynes shows just how The Velvet Underground created a new sound that changed the world of music. It will stream worldwide on Apple TV+ on 15th October.
Festival screenings: 8th, 9th October
The Tender Bar
The film, which is directed by George Clooney, stars Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Christopher Lloyd and Lily Rabe. It follows JR, a boy without a name and a father. At least, that’s according to many adults outside of his family. But when his mother moves back into her childhood home, JR’s charismatic bar-owning Uncle Charlie is determined the boy doesn’t see himself that way. Amazon Studios will release the film in the UK.
Festival screenings: 10th October
Azor
Andreas Fontana’s buzz-worthy debut is a conspiracy thriller about a Swiss banker navigating his way around an Argentinian dictatorship where disappearances have becoming a worrying fact of life. MUBI will release the film in the UK.
Festival screenings: 13th, 14th October
Benedetta
Paul Verhoeven’s latest is set in the late 17th century and inspired by true events. It follows a young woman who joins a convent in Pescia, Tuscany as a plague ravages the land that surrounds it. Capable of performing miracles from an early age, Benedetta’s impact on life in the community is immediate and momentous. Expect it to set tongues wagging. MUBI will release the film in the UK.
Festival screenings: 16th, 17th October
Bergman Island
An American filmmaking couple retreat to an island for the summer to each write screenplays for their upcoming films, in an act of pilgrimage to the place that inspired Ingmar Bergman in Mia Hansen-Løve’s latest. MUBI will release the film in the UK.
Festival screenings: 7th, 8th, 16th October
Cow
Andrea Arnold’s documentary debut is an endeavour to consider cows. To move us closer to them. To see both their beauty and the challenge of their lives. Not in a romantic way but in a real way. It’s a film about one dairy cow’s reality and acknowledging her great service to us. MUBI will release the film in the UK.
Festival screenings: 9th, 10th October
Lamb
Noomi Rapace stars in Valdimar Jóhannsson’s mystery drama about a childless couple, María and Ingvar, who discover a mysterious newborn on their farm in Iceland. The unexpected prospect of family life brings them much joy, before ultimately destroying them. MUBI will release the film in the UK.
Festival screenings: 15th, 16th, 17th October
Petite Maman
Céline Sciamma returns with this drama about eight-year-old Nelly, who, after the death of her beloved grandmother, meets a strangely familiar girl her own age in the woods. Instantly forming a connection with this mysterious new friend, Nelly embarks on a fantastical journey of discovery which helps her come to terms with this newfound loss. MUBI will release the film in the UK.
Festival screenings: 15th, 16th, 17th October
The Worst Person in the World
Joachim Trier’s modern dramedy charts the quest for love and meaning in contemporary Oslo. It chronicles four years in the life of Julie, a young woman who navigates the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path, leading her to take a realistic look at who she really is. MUBI will release the film in the UK.
Festival screenings: 8th, 10th, 11th October
Succession
Jesse Armstrong’s darkly hilarious HBO drama previews the first two episodes of its third season, which sees median tycoon Logan (Brian Cox) in a perilous position. Scrambling to secure familial, political, and financial alliances, tensions rise as a bitter corporate battle threatens to turn into a family civil war. Are Logan’s kids part of the family or not? Will they ever push their dad off the throne? Just how far will Logan go? And is the Pope really following Kendal (Jeremy Strong) on Twitter? Season 3 will be broadcast on Sky Atlantic on 18th October.
Festival screenings: 15th October
Hellbound
Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho returns to Netflix for this supernatural horror series, which sees sees supernatural beings appear out of nowhere to condemn people to hell. It doesn’t matter whether these events are a blessing or a curse: a new religious group, led by Jung Jin-soo (Yoo Ah-in), is interpreting them all as the will of the divine. It will stream worldwide on Netflix on 19th November.
Festival screenings: 15th, 17th October
