BFI London Film Festival 2023 – the films we’re watching

The BFI London Film Festival is one of the biggest events in the UK film calendar, showcasing the best in contemporary cinema from around the world. With over 300 films to choose from, it can be hard to decide what to see. But fear not, the team at Snacks Not Included has got you covered with the films we are catching at the festival.

 

Look out for the Snacks Not Included BFI London Film Festival festival round up episode coming soon.

 

For tickets and more to the London Film Festival check – https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/default.asp

 

Cobweb

Cobweb is about director Kim Yeol (Song Kang-ho), who is obsessed with the fact that the ending of the movie Cobweb, which was filmed in the 1970s, would be better if remade. It is a film that depicts the sad and funny things that happen while filming under conditions.

 

Foe

Foe is a 2023 science fiction psychological thriller film directed by Garth Davis, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Iain Reid, based on Reid’s 2018 novel of the same name. It stars Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal and Aaron Pierre.

 

The film is set in a dystopian near future, a couple’s rural idyl is shattered when the husband is forced to go to space.

 

Late Night With The Devil

Late Night with the Devil is a 2023 horror film written, directed and edited by Australian siblings Cameron and Colin Cairnes. Presented in a found footage style, David Dastmalchian stars as Jack Delroy, the host of a fictional 1970s variety and late-night talk show titled Night Owls with Jack Delroy. The film purports to be derived from a rediscovered master tape of an episode from the show’s sixth season, broadcast on Halloween 1977; during this live television broadcast, havoc unfolds when Delroy interviews a parapsychologist (Laura Gordon) and the subject of her recent book, a young teenager (Ingrid Torelli) who was the sole survivor of a Satanic church’s mass suicide.

 

Nightwatch: Demons are Forever

Ole Bornedal reunites with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Kim Bodnia with this follow up to the 1994 hit movie which spawned a US remake of the same name. This new movie follows the events of the original 30 years later and Martin’s daughter Emma whilst investigating what happened to her parents on that fateful night sets in motion a chain of fateful events that make those that plunge in survivors and Emma into new horrors.

 

Omen

Directed by Baloji Tshiani, Omen is set between Brussels, Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, Augure borrows from magic realism to paint a portrait of “undesirables” and “sorcerers” through the intertwined stories of protagonists of different genders and generations, confronted with the prejudice and suspicion of those around them.

 

Only The River Flows

In Shujun Wei’s third movie to be shown at the London Film Festival, Ma, a dedicated police detective (and expectant father), is assigned to a small-town serial killer case. As the investigation progresses, he begins to lose his mind. Continuing Wei’s fascination with unattainable perfection, in this rich and labyrinthine narrative the more the case becomes opaque the deeper Ma delves into it. Along the way, the film reveals important truths about human behaviour and morality, while delicately employing surrealist moods and mise-en-scene.

 

Screen Talk: Martin Scorsese

It is impossible to talk about cinema over the last 50 years without bringing up the name of Martin Scorsese. The world of film preservation is no less indebted to him, for his championing the medium’s rich and storied past.

 

As he unveils his latest opus, the epic historical drama Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese will share the stage with fellow filmmaker Edgar Wright, who will explore a body of work that is as daring as it is beautiful, and ground-breaking as it is thrilling.

 

From Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull to The Wolf of Wall Street, Silence and The Irishman, Martin Scorsese has investigated masculinity, honour, the tenets of faith and the forces that shape the world around us.

 

That is the round up of movies we’ll be checking at the BFI London Film Festival. Our full reviews of the films we caught and the festival in general will be covered in our BFI London Film Festival special episode coming real soon.

 

Until then Snacks Not Included crew out.