The Best of the London Film Festival

This Norwegian movie has to be in the running for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. Comedy triste, and absurd without being daft. Philosophical and weighty and lovely storytelling. Word-of-mouth begins here!

Starring Kevin Kline, Maggie Smith and Kristin Scott Thomas. There’s so much more to it than the occasional slips into sentimentality. Beautifully filmed in Paris and pretty hard-hitting.

My favourite! All I knew was that it was by Francois Ozon and starred Romain Duris. The first ten or so minutes are hard to watch if you’ve recently lost a close friend. But then comes the twist and the audience erupted. I was so stunned I almost needed oxygen. Absolutely brilliant, and superb acting at every level. But do yourself a favour; absolute enjoyment comes from knowing nothing about the story. 

Reese Witherspoon is going to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for Wild, isn't she? She has to be! Nick Hornby adapted Cheryl Strayed's book for the screen (directed by the man who made Dallas Buyer's Club). He's done a great job. For me, Wild is the best non-fiction I've read in the last couple of years. And the film is equally raw and powerful.

These two are going to be making headlines…

Top Image: JuliusKielaitis / Shutterstock.com

Read more articles by Farhana Gani here