Festival Round Up – LFF 2012

As I’ve now seen my final film in this year’s festival a run down seems to be in order:

• Doomsday Book (Korea)
• The Samurai That Night (Japan)
• For Love’s Sake (Ai to Makoto) (Japan)
• Helter Skelter (Japan)
• Memories Look At Me (China)
• Dreams For Sale (Japan)
• A Liar’s Autobiography (UK)
• In Another Country (Korea)
• The Red and the Blue (Italy)
• Romance Joe (Korea)
• Caesar Must Die (Italy)
• Seven Psychopaths (US/UK)
• The Manxman (UK)
• Dormant Beauty(Italy)

That’s only 14 films which is a big drop off on last year’s total. Partly this is because the festival itself is a few days shorter but also I was busier and the schedules didn’t work out as well for me as they have done before. I have to say although I enjoyed all of the films I saw (at least a little, I flat out hated none of them) this year’s festival experience wasn’t as exciting as other years. It was though much better organised and I never once found myself wandering round outside trying to find the way in and having to ask unco-operative security people where to go! Most of the films seemed to start about ten minutes late but I suspect this must have been built into the schedule as nothing over ran and delayed the next film. Oddly then even though the programme seemed less exciting (or I picked the wrong films) the experience as a whole was much better. I got so sick of the ident though, my goodness.

Top pick of the films I saw would have to be Ai to Makoto – a really riotous, outrageously fun seishun eiga musical that exceeded all my already high expectations. I also really loved Seven Psychopaths even though I’d been seeing quite negative things online it turned out to be exactly my kind of thing and more in keeping with what I love about McDonagh’s stage work. The only real disappointment was A Liar’s Autobiography which failed entirely at what it was trying to do but did have moments brilliance scattered amongst the tedium. Memories Look at Me wasn’t my sort of film and I can’t claim to have enjoyed it very much but there are a lot of people who do really like that kind of thing.

There were lots of films I’d have liked to see but couldn’t. Luckily a lot of those films are out on general release fairly soon/already anyway – Frankenweenie, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Argo, Rust and Bone among others. Matteo Garrone’s Reality has apparently been picked up for release and Amour is screening at the BFI next month. Key of Life is the only one I’m missing where there might not be another opportunity.

All in all I’m very happy with how it all played out, I guess that’s it until next year – feeling a bit deflated. Oh well, hopefully I’ll be able to see few things in the Korean Film Festival, right? Ah London, you’re such an enabler!