19th October - 3rd November 2005
After another year of indifferent commercial cinema, thank heavens for the The Times 49th London Film Festival. Running from 19th October - 3rd November, it offers 33 European and 120 UK premieres among its packed programme.
Treat yourself to a day trip and you could see four varied, challenging and entertaining movies from around the world. The choice is up to you. You could try a preview of a forthcoming release, an arthouse exclusive, an avant-garde experiment or an oldie restored to its former glory. Or if you fancy seeing a few stars, then the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Pierce Brosnan, Kirsten Dunst, Juliette Binoche, Daniel Auteil, Gael García Bernal and Rachel Weisz are among those slated to make guest appearances, along with such key directors as Terry Gilliam, Cameron Crowe, John Madden, Michael Haneke and the Dardenne Brothers.
The English-language selection is one of the strongest in many years. Opening proceedings is The Constant Gardener, an adaptation of John Le Carré's acclaimed novel by the Brazilian director of City Of God, Fernando Meirelles. Ralph Fiennes leads an impressive British cast, as an English diplomat seeking the truth about the murder of his human rights campaigning wife, Rachel Weisz, in northern Kenya. However, the closing picture is equally prestigious and is already being spoken of as an Oscar contender. Directed by George Clooney (who continues to impress with his selection of personal projects), Good Night, And Good Luck. chronicles the feud between newscaster Edward R. Morrow and the infamous Communist witch-hunter, Senator Joseph McCarthy, and draws parallels between the role the media played during the Cold War and its function in Bush's America.
The same era also provides the setting for Atom Egoyan's Where The Truth Lies, which stars Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth as a beloved comedy team whose involvement in the hotel murder of a young girl is investigated by ambitious reporter, Alison Lohmann. Another indie icon, Steven Soderbergh, returns to his experimental roots with the murder mystery-cum-social commentary, Bubble. Another capable of stradling the twin traditions of American filmmaking, Steve Buscemi, furthers his reputation behind the camera with Lonesome Jim, in which struggling writer Casey Affleck returns to his Mid-West home and finds himself torn between forgotten pleasures and the reasons why he fled to New York in the first place. And just as Affleck finds himself attending an injured brother, Gwyneth Paltrow nurses mentally ill father Anthony Hopkins in John Madden's intense study of filial duty and parental legacy, Proof.
A trio of biographies stands out among the many must-see titles. James Mangold's Walk The Line recalls the early, trauma-riddled career of Johnny Cash and stars Joaquin Phoenix as the Man in Black and Reese Witherspoon as his muse, June Carter. Stephen Woolley's Stoned is a less traditional biopic, as it uses flashbacks and suppositions to explain why Rolling Stone Brian Jones drowned in his own swimming pool in July 1969. Finally, Terry Gilliam brings his unique vision to The Brothers Grimm, which posits Matt Damon and Heath Ledger as a couple of yarn-spinning conmen, whose 'powers' are tested by the Napoleonic authorities, who send them to an enchanted wood to discover the fate of some missing maidens.
There's a more authentic period feel to John Hillcoat's The Proposition, an uncompromising bushranger Western that stars Guy Pearce as the 1880s Australian outlaw who has to hand over his brother, Danny Huston, to Captain Ray Winstone or he and his brother will hang. However, Michael Winterbottom plays fast and loose with the conventions of the costume drama in A Cock And Bull Story, which follows the efforts of director Jeremy Northam to adapt Tobias Smollett's The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon in the leads.
Among the other prominent premieres on show are a pair of directorial debuts by renowned screenwriters. Julian Fellowes' Separate Lies is a psychological thriller in which Tom Wilkinson and Emily Watson's ordered existence is disturbed by local rogue, Rupert Everett, while Shane Black's Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang has upwardly mobile con Robert Downey Jr teaming with private eye Val Kilmer to solve a murder mystery, while researching a movie role. Elsewhere, Cameron Crowe pays tribute to his father in Elizabethtown, which stars Orlando Bloom as the loser whose fortunes are revived by an encounter with perky air hostess Kirsten Dunst, as he returns to his Kentucky home to attend to his late father's affairs. Steve Martin meanwhile competes with Jason Schwartzmann for the affections of wannabe fashionista Clare Danes in his adaptation of his own novel, Shopgirl. Equally engaging is Luke Wilson's The Story Of Wendell Baker, in which he co-stars with his ever-genial brother, Owen.
The programme doesn't flinch from the harsher side of life, however, with Lodge Kerrigan's Keene, Twist of Faith (Kirby Dick's exposé of child abuse within the US Catholic Church), Craig Brewer's Hustle And Flow, Ira Sachs's Forty Shades Of Blue, Hal Hartley's The Girl From Monday and David LaChappelle's invigorating urban dance documentary, Rize, standing alongside a trio by European directors - Lars Von Trier's Manderlay; James Marsh's The King; and Bent Hamer's Factotum.
There's an edge to the British contingent, too, as Dominic Savage examines racial tensions in northern England in Love + Hate and Gary Tarn and Rupert Murray respectively enquire into lives transformed by shattering moments in Black Sun and Unknown White Male. However, there's a fantastical element to the Brothers Quay's mesmeric The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes, Dave McKean's Mirrormask and Richard Jobson's sci-fi romance, A Woman In Winter.
London's Orthodox Jewish Community provides the setting for Josh Appignanesi's Song Of Songs, which stars Natalie Press and Joel Chalfen as siblings drawn into a dangerous liaison by their faith. The Jewish experience is further explored in Scott McGehee and David Siegel's Bee Season (starring Juliette Binoche and Richard Gere) and Liev Schreiber's Everything Is Illuminated, which centres on Elijah Wood's search for the woman who saved his grandfather during the Holocaust.
Finally, a quartet with African connections is worthy of note. Novice nun Chloe Sevigny comes to rethink her mission in South Africa in Thom Fitzgerald's 3 Needles (which also includes episodes set in Canada and China), while John Hurt plays a priest caught up in the Rwandan genocide in Michael Caton-Jones's Shooting Dogs. Award-winning documentarist Kim Longinotto shows how Cameroonian women are beginning to challenge the injustices of their patriarchal society in Sisters in Law. But nothing better captures the contradictions of the continent than Mark Dornford-May's U-Carmen Ekhayelitsha, which relocates Bizet's opera to a South African shantytown.
