3 must-see movies

Every October for two weeks The London Film Festival comes to town.

Anyone can book tickets to see the selected movies - some will go on to become big blockbusters - other smaller independent films will have quieter releases.

Every year there’s a great mix on offer and i make it my mission to study the festival programme and book to see at least 3 films. 

For around £16 you can expect to see a film plus the bonus of a Q&A with the director afterwards - sometimes the leading stars will be there too.

So this year we saw a complete mix of movies - a selection of short animations from around the world (with the kids), a horror documentary (with my husband) and a New York set rom-com (just me). All were fantastic and well worth a watch:

 Catherine

This wonderful, funny, (sort of disturbing but gets away with it) cute animation centres around a girl called Catherine. To put it mildly she’s clumsy with her pets and keeps accidentally killing them off. It sounds dark but our two were not remotely bothered by the content and were wide-eyed and captivated by the brilliant animation. It’s only 5-10 minutes long but well worth a watch when it’s released. This was part of the Animated Shorts for a Younger Audience screening and is a lovely way to soak up the festival atmosphere as a family.

  78/52 - release date - November 2017

The famous Psycho shower scene is the focus of this engrossing documentary. Famous directors, editors and producers talk openly about how it changed cinema and in some cases was referenced and influenced in their own work. There’s fascinating insider information - how did Hitchcock create the sound effect for the stabbing? Was it really Hershey’s chocolate sauce used as the blood in the bath? All will be revealed in this this brilliant film perfect for film nuts.

 

The Boy Downstairs - release date - April 2018

Zosia Mamet from Girls plays the lead in this indie rom-com set in New York. Imagine you break up with your boyfriend, find a great new apartment and your ex is living downstairs with his zero personality girlfriend. This is the perfect tuck yourself up on the sofa on a Sunday night movie. It’s a very funny, dry script with great casting. It’s director and writer Sophie Brooks’ first film and speaking during the Q&A her advice for aspiring filmmakers was to write a movie that can be made without a crazy high budget - i.e. don’t make your first film a war movie!

https://www.facebook.com/theboydownstairs/