Leeds International Film Festival 2023
All the films!
And the film festival is done! Unlike some previous years where I’ve tried to review every single film in detail, this year I’ve decided to keep it light. So here are my Tweet-like short reviews of everything I watched. Let’s go!
All of us Strangers
Anatomy of a Fall
The Animal Kingdom
The Becomers
The Bikeriders
The Breaking Ice
Celluloid Underground
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
Conann
Daaaaaali!
Fallen Leaves
Fanfare
Goodbye to the Dragon Inn
High Noon
The Holdovers
Humanist vampire…
Hundreds of Beavers
The Hypnosis
Kiddo
Killing Romance
Kim’s video
The Lady Vanishes
Manhole
Metal and Melancholy
Le Million
The Monk and the Gun
Monster
Queen of My Dreams
River
Runaway Train
Shadow of the Vampire
Slow
The Spider Tattoo
Sultana’s Dream
Sweet Dreams
The Taste of Things
The Train Robbers
White Plastic Sky
/films/liff2023/all-of-us-strangers/
Ooh this was bleak.
😢😢😢😢
/films/liff2023/anatomy-of-a-fall/
I think I had too high expectations of this one (Palme d’or!). It’s a well paced courtroom drama with fabulous acting. I came out of it feeling disappointed that I wasn’t blown away by it - but perhaps that’s ok: this is back to basics excellent filmmaking.
❄️❄️❄️❄️
/films/liff2023/animal-kingdom/
Decent French people-turning-into-animals film. Some fairly heavy handed allegories about tolerance, growing up etc but also… lots of half-animal people. Fun.
🐺🐺🐺
absolutely unhinged alien invasion story. Gloriously low budget with shonky acting and enthusiastic vfx. Bodysnatchers, biblical sex cults, and glowing eyes
👽👽👽👽
/films/liff2023/the-bikeriders/
I enjoyed this a lot. Tom Hardy on fine form and Jodie Comer was fab. It’s not really so much about the story (bike gang, power struggle, etc) so much as the mood. It looked and sounded incredible.
🏍️🏍️🏍️🏍️🏍️
/films/liff2023/the-breaking-ice/
A very low key slice of three briefly connected lives in the frozen north of china. It’s simple and sad and full of small moments but doesn’t really go anywhere. But I enjoyed it.
⛸️⛸️⛸️⛸️
/films/liff2023/celluloid-underground/
A fabulous personal voyage through Iranian cinephilia. Merging video diaries, archive footage and snippets of classic cinema this tells a beautiful tale of cinema as memory, resistance and community
📽️📽️📽️📽️
/films/liff2023/chronicles-of-a-wandering-saint/
Oh this felt like a short that had been stretched out to feature length. Some very neat ideas and lovely moments but it felt like it needed a little more. The visual effects and the lead actor are fab.
👼👼👼
I thought I was going to hate this but absolutely loved it. It’s insane - a retelling of Conan, something something, female cast, lots of gore - makes almost no sense and is lavishly over the top. A lot of unforgettable scenes!
🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶
Such a joy. Concentric and eccentric in equal measure. An attempt to interview a proud, self important Dalí escalates wildly - it’s relentlessly absurd, with a cascade of actors, times, realities. My sort of thing.
🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨
/films/liff2023/fallen-leaves/
A very small Finnish tale of two lonely people. Working insecure jobs, drinking dangerously, and hanging about in odd bars, this is an awkward, mumbled romance but it was quite compelling
Gloriously bonkers Dutch film about a village falling out and forming two rival factions, each with their own brass bands. Cue people getting pushed into lakes, cows rampaging through a cafe and lots of elaborate schemes to hide a band’s worth of instruments from the local policeman. Lovely
🎺🎺🎺🎺
/films/liff2023/goodbye-to-the-dragon-inn/
Oh. No. I do love a bit of slow cinema but this wasn’t for me. I quite liked the shots of the cinema but the sort of humorous, sort of spooky half narrative of the guy wandering around the cinema was tiresome
🎬🎬
An almost perfect Western. Told in near real time (and screened to match the time in the film, nice touch!) and full of all the elements you’d expect. Bonus points for decent female characters, a banging theme tune and Lee Van Cleef
🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎
/films/liff2023/the-holdovers/
Quite lovely. Utterly predictable but it’s a love letter to 70s filmmaking that is a joy to watch. An unlovable teacher and student find common ground when forced to spend Christmas together
🎄🎄🎄🎄
/films/liff2023/humanist-vampire/
A lovely fresh take on vampires. Doesn’t stick too closely to standard rules and makes up some nice new stuff. The vampire family all rooting for the young one to get her fangs and start killing is rather lovely
🧛♀️🧛♀️🧛♀️🧛♀️🧛♀️
/films/liff2023/hundreds-of-beavers/
Gloriously silly fun. Part animation, part people running about dressed as beavers, rabbits and horses, all completely bonkers slapstick fun.
🦫🦫🦫🦫🦫
At last, some Scandinavian black comedy! Lots of awkward and cringe inducing moments as well as some genuine hilarity. Watch it.
🐕🐕🐕🐕
Took a punt on this one: don’t always enjoy the child-and-unconventional-parent subgenre but this was a lovely watch. Steers clear of heavy social commentary, leaning towards road movies and lovers on the run classic tropes instead. Thoroughly enjoyable.
🐍🐍🐍🐍
/films/liff2023/killing-romance/
This could have been very dark - it’s essentially about an abusive relationship - but it was loud and weird enough that it mostly avoided it. There was a bit of a lull somewhere in the middle but it was great fun
🥘🥘🥘🥘
Vaguely gonzo documentary about a guy’s obsession with the missing vhs collection of an East Village video store. I spent a while being irritated by the style but it got better and better as it went on. And definitely appealed to the nerdy collector in me
📼📼📼📼
/films/liff2023/the-lady-vanishes/
It’s a classic Hitchcock thriller. Always lovely to see this sort of thing on a great big screen.
🗻🗻🗻🗻
A man gets stuck in a hole. How will he get out? This takes a dumb idea and turns it into a suitably taught little thriller. Quite fun.
🕳️🕳️🕳️
/films/liff2023/metal-and-melancholy/
I’m a sucker for this sort of film. Filmed in taxis in 90s Peru, this is a stream of little snippets of drivers lives - their families, opinions, cars and dreams. The takeaway is clearly that 90s Lima was Not Much Fun. Loved the guy whose car was literally falling to pieces
🚕🚕🚕🚕
Fun 30s froth. A hard up artist wins the jackpot but loses his ticket. Hijinks ensue. Lots of very familiar slapstick scenarios, locking each other in rooms, mistaken identity and so on, but this is old so a lot of this was much newer at the time.
💸💸💸💸
/films/liff2023/the-monk-and-the-gun/
Set against the backdrop of rural Bhutan gearing up for its first ever elections, this is a warm-hearted caper that with an eye on some serious issues. A gentle one.
🗳️🗳️🗳️🗳️
I enjoyed this a lot. Part way through I was worried that the story was a bit simple and it was missing a lot of the warmth of other Kore-eda. But then it shifted gear. Much like his previous, this is so much more than the sum of its parts. An absolute must watch director.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
/films/liff2023/queen-of-my-dreams/
An absolute joy. This didn’t do anything very unexpected but it was just a pleasure to watch. A film that’s largely about children falling out with their parents and dealing with loss shouldn’t be this fun! But it is.
🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿
Cheerful Japanese time travel tale. A perfect Sunday morning film. Nothing massively novel here but it’s a neat little story with a good bunch of funny scenes and characters. Lovely.
🍚🍚🍚🍚🍚
/films/liff2023/runaway-train/
I think I’ve got stupider just by watching this one. It’s just so dumb. Far too much macho posturing and shouting, but also some fun bits and a decent soundtrack. A mixed bag. #LIFF2023
🚁🚁
/films/liff2023/shadow-of-the-vampire/
A clever little piece mythologising the filming of Nosferatu. Willem Dafoe is fabulous as a gurning vampire, playing a vampire acting as an actor acting as a vampire. It’s a bit predictable - director’s q&a said he toned down the campiness of the original script. Shame.
🧛♂️🧛♂️🧛♂️
This started out as a quite a sweet, sad drama but I just found the guy a bit too tiresome. I think I was supposed to be sad about their relationship but honestly I just wanted her to move on.
👋👋👋
/films/liff2023/the-spider-tattoo/
Outrageously silly revenge drama. Runaway daughter is sold as a geisha, forcibly given a massive tattoo and exacts revenge upon all involved. Lots of melodramatic arguing and chaotic fights.
🔪🔪🔪🔪
/films/liff2023/sultanas-dream/
I wanted to love this. I almost did. Possibly the most beautiful animation I’ve ever seen. Couple that with a solid feminist angle and what’s not to love? I would’ve liked a little more structure - more about her parents, the places, Begum Rokeya. But it was still lovely.
🐘🐘🐘🐘
Underwhelmed by this one. The trailer had made it out to be deeply weird but it was mostly straight faced and gloomy. An interesting setup - Dutch East Indies in decay, inheritance and illegitimate children - but it didn’t really do very much with it.
🐅🐅
/films/liff2023/the-taste-of-things/
Utterly spellbinding. A menu designing gourmet and his cook and sort of partner potter through their lives. It’s beautiful, it’s sad and it’s full of stunning food prep and eating. Ortolans! Turbot! Baked Alaska!
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
/films/liff2023/the-train-robbers/
An old Brazilian one. Interesting concept - a heist movie set post-heist, everyone trying not to spend their stolen cash too fast in the favelas - but the story was mostly just running around and shouting. Underwhelming.
💵💵💵
/films/liff2023/white-plastic-sky/
It feels like a while since I’ve seen a feature length animation. This was a bit too long but it was beautiful and a cool concept. Think Logan’s Run but where you turn into plants. Neat.