Carpet samples and dogs on stilts at the LFF.

Sofia Coppola’s poignant, Tokyo-set comedy, Lost In Translation (on national release, 09 January), is the highlight of the festival so far. Bill Murray plays Bob, a jaded Hollywood stalwart paid $1m to advertise whisky, marooned in a hotel with only the product he’s promoting and the carpet samples his wife sends from Beverly Hills for company. So it’s not surprising when he hooks up with the disillusioned Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), bored by her geeky/manic photographer husband. Note: Coppola assured us at the gala screening that the plot bears absolutely no relation to her personal life and/or marriage to Spike Jonze. OK?

The Polish Brothers’ waking dream, Northfork (on national release, 12 March), is at the other end of the scale. The final part of their American Heartlands trilogy (the first being the Siamese Twins romance, Twin Falls Idaho), it’s about a town soon to be washed away by a new dam, and features an ark, a dog on stilts and a dying boy whose angel wings have been removed. James Woods stars, alongside Daryl Hannah and Nick Nolte.

In the deeply unsettling Aileen: The Life And Death Of A Serial Killer (on national release, 21 November), director Nick Broomfield is actually subpoenaed to appear at murderer Aileen Wuornos’ final state appeal. “I came to it as a witness and ended up attending an execution,” says an obviously disturbed Broomfield. And from that he made his finest film.

Famous cinematic sadist and king of Dogma, Lars von Trier, doesn’t disappoint with Dogville (on national release, 06 February). Yes it’s three hours long, features minimal props and chalk markings on the floor, but somehow it all comes off. Probably thanks to Nicole Kidman and Von Trier’s obvious anti-American stance.

Denys Arcand’s tragicomedy, The Barbarian Invasions (on national release, 20 February), sees serial womaniser and general smartarse, Remy (Rémy Girard), dying of cancer with his family around him. Sounds grim, eh? But Arcand (Jesus Of Montreal) gives it bite with Remy’s son scoring heroin for him so that his final weeks are bearable. Moving without being sentimental.

Also worth catching this week were The Station Agent, starring Peter Dinklage as an outsider of minor stature but major presence in rural America, and the Buñuel-esque plot puzzle, Reconstruction.

Jonathan Carter 31 October 03

The Times London Film Festival 2003, 22 October – 06 November. Box office 020 7928 3232.