There’s something special about experiencing cinema in a festival setting for the first time. The anticipation, the diverse crowd of film enthusiasts, and the thrill of witnessing first-rate storytelling — my first London Film Festival experience was fantastic.
Through four distinct films and a screen talk, I found myself immersed in narratives that captivated, moved, and had me intrigued in ways I hadn’t anticipated.
The Raw Poetry of Reality — “Bird”
Andrea Arnold’s “Bird” emerged as the standout film of my festival experience. Through its raw authenticity and masterful direction, the film creates an intimate portrait that resonates with profound emotional depth. Arnold’s signature observational style shines through, capturing moments of both extraordinary beauty and stark reality. The quintessential Britishness and playful approach created an immersive experience making it a great way to end my LFF experience.
The film’s raw authenticity stems not just from its naturalistic performances, but from Arnold’s ability to find extraordinary beauty in ordinary moments. Additionally, the film’s humour catches you off guard, emerging organically from authentic moments, which was great.
My highlight of this film was its use of magical realism and the unexpected moments of humour.
The Raw Poetry of Reality — “Nickel Boys”
Walking into Ramell Ross’s “Nickel Boys” without prior knowledge of its source material proved both challenging and revelatory. “Nickel Boys” was an impactful adaptation that handles its difficult subject matter with grace and originality. The film’s delicate balance of experimental editing and a narrative that feels both historically significant and painfully relevant is impressive. The juxtaposition of avant-garde techniques with a grounded story creates a powerful and thought-provoking cinematic experience. It was a fairly traumatic watch, however the cruelty and injustices presented in some scenes are weaved together with beautiful and hypnotic filmmaking that made it less devastating. I did appreciate feeling the weight of history without sensationalism.
“Nickel Boys” is a bold piece of experimental cinema that defies conventional adaptation approaches. The film’s innovations don’t just tell its story — they create a new visual language for depicting historical trauma.
The Raw Poetry of Reality — Steve McQueen’s “Blitz”
“Blitz” presents a tense and immersive journey into one of Britain’s darkest periods. The film’s technical prowess is immediately apparent — the sound design creates an atmosphere of constant tension, while the cinematography captures both the grand scale of the events and intimate personal moments with equal skill. What particularly stood out was the editing style, which masterfully weaved historical scenes with moments of foreboding tension, creating a rhythmic narrative that pulls viewers through time. I loved how with the sound; the distant wail of air raid sirens and the unsettling quiet between bombings created a constant undercurrent of tension that put me on edge.
The child actors deliver remarkably authentic performances, bringing a sense of authenticity and vulnerability to a story set against the backdrop of wartime anxiety. While the mother-son relationship (played by Saoirse Ronan and debut actor Elliott Heffernan) at the centre of the narrative occasionally feels stilted, the film’s exploration of identity and survival during crisis more than compensates for this.
Steve McQueen’s “Blitz” redefines what a wartime drama can be.
The Raw Poetry of Reality — “Maria”
Pablo Larraín’s “Maria” offers a unique perspective on the life of Maria Callas, with performances that capture both the legend’s public persona and private struggles. The story is an intimate psychological portrait that feels as dramatic and stylised as the arias Callas herself performed. Aggelina Papadopoulou’s portrayal of young Maria is particularly memorable, capturing not just the voice but the hunger and determination that would define Callas’s trajectory. The attention to period detail and the film’s sumptuous visual style was great. Each frame felt like a painting that captured both the exterior glamour and interior struggles of an artist wrestling with her own legend.
What makes this biopic distinctive is its willingness to find humour amid the drama; which acted as windows into Callas’s humanity, challenging “the tragic diva” stereotype that long dominated her narrative. The film was a more nuanced representation of its subject than what you’d typically expect from a biopic. The musical sequences transported me into the world of opera, making the film feel like an immersive theatrical experience.
This bold reimagining was an operatic fever dream.
I also attended the Denis Villeneuve Screen Talk
It provided a fascinating insight into his filmmaking process. He went through his filmography and by the end, I was itching to sit down and watch ones I hadn’t yet seen.
Dune 2 was definitely an amazing cinematic experience so, hearing him dissect his approach to world-building was particularly illuminating. Villeneuve spoke candidly about the challenges he’d faced and what struck me most was his discussion of how he approaches scale in his films.
When Villeneuve spoke about grounding fantastical elements in tangible reality, it illuminated how each of the festival films I’d seen achieved their own form of authenticity, whether dealing with historical events, biographical subjects, or contemporary life.
Leaving the talk, I found myself with a renewed appreciation not just for Villeneuve’s work, but for his thoughtful approach to storytelling.
Reflections on my Festival Experience
What’s cool about the London Film Festival is its showcase of diverse storytelling approaches that maintain artistic standards. Each film offered a unique perspective on the human experience.
The festival highlighted the continuing vitality of cinema as an art form I truly love, proving that despite changes in how we consume media, the communal experience of watching films in a theatre remains uniquely powerful. Each screening felt like a celebration of storytelling’s ability to bridge differences and create shared understanding; reminding me why we gather in darkened theatres to experience cinema together.
This London Film Festival set a high bar for my future festival experiences and cinema’s evolving language. The countdown to next year’s festival has already begun.
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Bird showed how social realism can incorporate magic without losing its truth. Nickel Boys demonstrated how experimental techniques can make historical events more rather than less accessible. Blitz proved that historical dramas can feel viscerally contemporary, while Maria revealed how a biopic can transcend and become a kind of visual poetry.
