More highlights of the London Film Festival 2014 programme

The BFI London Film Festival is happening on the 8th – 19th October at venues across the city.  In the second of our London Film Festival 2014 preview posts, here we bring out some of our picks from the festival programme from the Love and Documentaries categories.

LOVE

Kelly and Cal (Dir. Jen McGowan)

Juliette Lewis stars alongside Jonny Weston, both coming to terms with their fates as a suburban new mum and her wheelchair bound neighbour, bringing an interesting new take on the rom com genre.  In the trailer we see Lewis proclaim “I was in a band” and rifle through old riot girl zines, which brought a smile to this indie girl’s face.

Other highlights in the Love category…

• Hungry Hearts (Dir. Saverio Costanzo) Girls lead Adam Driver stars alongside Alba Rohrwacher in this Italian film set in New York, in which a couple quickly meet get married and have a child, only for the relationship to start down a dark path of obsession and strife over the raising of their baby.
• Madame Bovary (Dir. Sophie Barthes) With a star studded cast of Mia Wasikowska (Tracks, The Double), Paul Giamatti (American Splendour), Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, The Amazing Spiderman) and Ezra Firman (Perks of Being a Wallflower) this UK-Belgium adaptation of the Gustave Flaubert novel is surely not to disappoint.
• Serena – Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper are back together again in this Susanna Bier directed depression era feature. Based on the Ron Rash’s North Carolina-set novel the pair play husband and wife George and Serena Pemberton in this melodrama of bitter jealousy, murder and cold unforgiving ambition.

See the full Love category here.

Documentaries

The Possibilities Are Endless (dir Edward Lovelace, James Hall)

In 2005 musician Edwyn Collins suffered a massive hemorrhagic  stroke that hospitalised him for six months.  Known for fronting 80’s indie darlings Orange Juice and his hit in the 90’s A Girl Like You, the film charts Collins’ recovery  and heroic efforts in learning to play his own songs again.  The film also recreates some of his earlier year, in which Edwyn’s son William plays his father and wife Grace is played by Yasmin Paige (Submarine, The Double).

Other documentaries on our watch list…

• In The Basement, an Austria film which presents the many strange things that people do in their basements.  Featuring dominatrix, neo-nazis and doll enthusiasts, this is sure to be entertaining!
• Hockney: A Life In Pictures, Randall Wright’s portrayal, with featuring a spectrum of home movie footage giving an insight into the life of the artist.
• Tender is artist/filmmaker Lynette Wallworth’s first attempt at feature-length documentary film making.  The film documents a group at Port Kembla Community Centre as they endeavour to set up a not for profit funeral service for their towns hard-up residents, and shows a sensitive and and emotionally engaging account of bereavement.  The film features a score by master of the macabre Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, which is sure to add to the visual beauty of the film.

See the full list of documentaries at London Film Festival here.

We’ll be back shortly with more of our picks from the festival line up.

BFI London Film Festival tickets go on sale on 18th September (11th September to BFI Members)  Tickets are available from the BFI London Film Festival website.