London Film Festival 2021: the line-up, tickets, recommendations

Succession, season 3, dir. Mark Mylod (Series Special Screening)

LFF has hosted TV screenings before, but this is the first year with a Strand entirely devoted to the small screen. The buzziest title is, naturally, the third season of Jesse Armstrong’s Murdoch-y business drama Succession.

The series follows a harsh, dysfunctional, corporate family led by patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox), the current CEO of a global business empire. But he’s had trouble finding a successor among his children. Season three sees a dangerous schism in the family, approaching a civil war for the future of the company.

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Photo: Sky

The Harder They Fall, dir. Jeymes Samuel (Opening Night Gala)

Because LFF tends to take place after the major major festivals like Cannes and Venice, bigger movies don’t often make their premieres in London. That changes with The Harder They Fall, which opens this year's festival. Boasting an incredible cast, Jeymes Samuel's Netflix film receives its World Premiere at LFF.

Revising traditional Westerns, the story features mostly Black cowboys – following the friction between two rival gangs. After the outlaw Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) discovers his enemy Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) is out of jail, he reunites his crew to hunt Rufus down for revenge. The film also stars Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk), LaKeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah), Zazie Beetz (Joker), and Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods).

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Photo: Netflix

The Tragedy of Macbeth, dir. Joel Coen (Closing Night Gala)

The Coen Brothers have always been known as one filmmaking unit, despite credits suggesting the contrary. But for The Tragedy of Macbeth, Joel Coen is striking out on his own with a new black-and-white adaptation of the brutal Shakespeare play.

Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand play the murderous, conspiratorial couple desperate for the throne. Although every Shakespeare film mirrors its director's tastes, with Coen you can expect an especially cinephilic experience. From the press release, he's said to echo Laurence Olivier and Akira Kurosawa – both of whom created masterful interpretations, some of the best in film history. Maybe Joel Coen will do the same.

Photo: A24/Apple

Spencer, dir. Pablo Larraín (Headline Gala)

Fascination with the late Princess Diana can range from justified to obsessive, but her spectre has felt particularly present in the last 12 months. Not only in her wonderful, tragic depiction by Emma Corrin in The Crown, but with the exit of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry as well as recent revelations about the infamous Martin Bashir interview.

Chilean director Pablo Larraín (Jackie, Lisey’s Story) and Peaky Blinders writer Steven Knight took on a potentially controversial task in making Spencer. Nonetheless, it looks like one of the most curious films of the festival: plunging into surreal, dream-like depths that capture the dark pressures the princess was under. Kristen Stewart stars.

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Photo: STX Films/Panther

The Lost Daughter, dir. Maggie Gyllenhaal (Headline Gala)

After Elena Ferrante stormed the world of literature, becoming one of the most read and elusive authors in modern times, adaptations of her work made similar strides. The Italian series of My Brilliant Friend (Ferrante’s best known work) broke down that subtitled divide and became an excellent show in its own right. Culture Whisper named the second season the best series of 2020.

Now, actor Maggie Gyllenhaal makes her filmmaking debut with The Lost Daughter, based on Ferrante’s short novel from 2006.

Olivia Colman stars as a divorced lecturer, who goes on a solo Italian holiday after her kids move away. She begins to enjoy that sunny isolation, but becomes engrossed in the lives of another family. She observes the relationship between the mother and daughter, drawing comparisons with her own child-rearing history. Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal also star.

Photo: eOne/Panther

Titane, dir. Julia Ducournau (Special Presentation in association with Time Out)

In 2016, the French filmmaker Julia Ducournau made deep red waves with her gruesome debut: the cannibal horror film Raw. Now, she’s back to engender more nightmares in Titane.

Critics are calling it one of the most disturbing movies of the year. Following in the footsteps of David Cronenberg's Crash, Ducournau's film follows the dark, fetishistic love between human and machine. An exotic dancer (Agathe Rousselle) endured a car crash as a child, and now she's sexually obsessed with them. Titane won the Palme D'Or at Cannes.

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Photo: Altitude

Last Night in Soho, dir. Edgar Wright (Headline Gala)

An Edgar Wright film is always a cinematic event, and 2021 has two of them. Wright’s excellent music documentary The Sparks Brothers has already graced the cinemas, and that was a five-star triumph. Hopefully, it’ll be matched by his much-anticipated psychological horror Last Night in Soho.

Inspired by the Italian giallo horror movies, the film follows a hopeful fashion student (Thomasin McKenzie) who moves to London Soho. But as she explores the nightlife, the district changes into a time-bending underworld. She starts to see herself as someone else, a glamorous woman (Anya Taylor-Joy) from the Swinging Sixties. Both timelines reveal a darker side of London, lit by vivid and disorienting colours. Matt Smith also stars.

The French Dispatch, dir. Wes Anderson (Headline Gala)

It’s easy to know when you’re watching a Wes Anderson movie, and his latest project looks delightfully familiar. The symmetrical cinematography, the colourful characters, and the starry catalogue of bankable names are all present – now thrown into the world of journalism in the 1950s.

The story follows a group of journos working for The French Dispatch, a news magazine that covers an array of stories ranging from the arts to politics. The incredible cast includes Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Elisabeth Moss, Timothée Chalamet, Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Léa Seydoux.

Photo: Getty/Disney

The Power of the Dog, dir. Jane Campion (Headline Gala)

Another filmmaking legend returns to LFF: Jane Campion, director of The Piano, Portrait of a Lady, and Top of the Lake. In The Power of the Dog, her first feature film in 12 years, Benedict Cumberbatch stars as a toxic male rancher in 1920s Montana.

Phil (Cumberbatch) is one half of an industrious pair of siblings overseeing a substantial property in the American outback. He shares it with his brother George (Jesse Plemons) who’s about to marry a local widow, Rose (Kirsten Dunst). Phil is a hyper-masculine bully, always prone to hurling abuse – even to Rose’s teenage son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee). But he eventually finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.

Petite Maman, dir. Céline Sciamma (Love Strand)

Prior to making her breakthrough film Portrait of a Lady on Fire, French director Céline Sciamma made a trilogy of films with kids and teenagers at the centre (Water Lilies, Tomboy, Girlhood).

With her new film Petite Maman, Sciamma returns to that atmosphere of childhood while using a tinge of fairytale magic. The lonely eight-year-old girl Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) is taken by her parents to a house belonging to her late grandmother, who recently died of a bone disorder. Fond memories follow her. She plays in the forest, where she meets a girl her age – a girl that shares a name with Nelly’s mother.

Photo: MK2 Films

Bergman Island, dir. Mia Hansen-Løve (Create Gala)

Off the Swedish coast lies Fårö, an island now famous for its cinematic heritage. The existential auteur Ingmar Bergman wrote and shot a lot of his movies there: including Persona, Through A Glass Darkly and Scenes From A Marriage.

French director Mia Hansen-Løve (Eden) uses Fårö as the setting for her latest film Bergman Island. Tim Roth and Vicky Krieps star as a married couple, both filmmakers, who hope to find inspiration on the island. But their relationship is tested as reality and fantasy begin to blur. Mia Wasikowska (Crimson Peak) also stars.

Photo: Organic/MUBI

Mothering Sunday, dir. Eva Husson (Headline Gala)

The British have a knack for period dramas about love and class. For Mothering Sunday, based on the novel by Graham Swift, director Eva Husson delves into the genre and finds many familiar stars.

Olivia Colman and Josh O’Connor are reunited following their two-season run on The Crown. Colin Firth is there, too, with the Bafta-nominated Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù (Gangs of London) and Shirley star Odessa Young.

The story is set during the roaring 20s in Beechwood, England. The wealthy Paul (O’Connor) is getting engaged, but he’s having a secret affair with the neighbouring housemaid Jane Fairchild (Young). That night is the last they can spend together.

Photo: Lionsgate

The Velvet Underground, dir. Todd Haynes (Special Presentation)

The Velvet Underground formed the foundations of punk, and proved an integral influence on rock music as a whole. Their first album, featuring lead singer Lou Reed and the German musician Nico, is one of the greatest albums ever made: mixing avant-garde experimentalism with gritty lyrics about life on the street. The result is a strange, hallucinogenic journey. It’s no wonder that the best track is simply called Heroin.

Dark Waters director Todd Haynes examines the band’s genesis and influence in his new Apple documentary The Velvet Underground. The band is in good hands; previously, Haynes has tackled musical subjects like Bob Dylan (I’m Not There), Stephen Sondheim (Six By Sondheim), and the days of glam-rock in Britain (Velvet Goldmine).

Photo: Apple

Benedetta, dir. Paul Verhoeven (Headline Gala)

Paul Verhoeven is no stranger to erotic thrillers. He did direct Basic Instinct after all, which contains that Sharon Stone scene.

Verhoeven's new film Benedetta finds carnal desires in a 15th-century monastery, following the nun Benedetta Carlini (Virginie Efira), who performs miracles. She takes in a younger nun, Bartolomea (Daphne Patakia) and embarks on a passionate, sacrilegious affair with her. Charlotte Rampling stars.

Photo: Organic/MUBI

Memoria, dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Special Presentation in association with Sight and Sound)

The Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul (nicknamed ‘Joe’) is one of the most respected directors on the arthouse scene. He never submits to the studio system nor (until recently) ventures beyond his home country.

For Memoria, his first journey into the English language, he flies across the world to Colombia with Tilda Swinton. She plays Jessica Holland, a Scottish horticulturist visiting her sister in Bogotá. In her travels, she meets a local musician and a French archaeologist who’s building tunnels under the Andes mountains. But she's followed by strange noises, making her question her entire identity.

Photo: Match Factory Productions