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1 month ago | 
bfi.org.uk | David WestReviews |David West |Mark Asch |Arjun Sajip
A mega-hit in China, the sequel to 2019’s NE ZHA demolished box office records to become the highest grossing animated feature film ever made. However, it presents a potentially challenging prospect for audiences not versed in Chinese mythology or anyone who hasn’t seen the opening instalment. Director Jiao Zi, aka Yu Yang, picks up where the first movie left off as pint-sized demon-child hero Ne Zha and his pal, dragon prince Ao Bing, are resurrected by Ne Zha’s master, the portly Taoist Taiyi.
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Nov 29, 2024 | 
bfi.org.uk | Alex Ramon |Rogan Graham |Rōgan Graham |Sam Wigley |David West
From working with a young Daniel Day-Lewis to multiple collaborations with Judi Dench, Richard Eyre has many stories from his distinguished career in British film and TV drama. Ahead of a new season of his work, we get to hear some of them. 29 November 2024Spend some time with actors and it soon becomes apparent that many don’t always hold directors in as high esteem as might be imagined.
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Nov 27, 2024 | 
bfi.org.uk | Rogan Graham |Rōgan Graham |Sam Wigley |David West |Lou Thomas
In her first feature The Taste of Mango, Sri Lankan-British director Chloe Abrahams excavates a matrilineal history of abuse within her own family via hypnotic handheld camera and intimate recollections.
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Nov 25, 2024 | 
bfi.org.uk | Sam Wigley |David West |Lou Thomas |Sinead Gleeson
It sounds like a scene from Twin Peaks. On a starry night, David Lynch was taking a walk through the dark woods when he witnessed a flood of bright light coming over the tops of the trees. The otherworldly vision was the seed for Cellophane Memories, his new album with longtime collaborator Chrystabell; the dazzling light transmuting into the ethereal wash of her haunting voice. “That’s kind of a horseshit kind of thing,” Lynch admits, breaking the spell of the album’s fanciful publicity blurb.
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Nov 22, 2024 | 
bfi.org.uk | Lillian Crawford |Clara Bradbury-Rance |David West
The stage musical Wicked is relentless. One song bleeds into the next, with little respite to catch breath as the first act hurtles its way towards the events of The Wizard of Oz. What will strike audiences while watching the movie adaptation of Wicked is that this film is only the musical’s first act, and yet at 160 minutes it is almost the same length as the entire stage production. This is a good thing.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
bfi.org.uk | Clara Bradbury-Rance |David West |Jordan Cronk
British Palestinian drag queen Layla navigates a new relationship with uptight marketing executive Max in Amrou Al-Kadhi’s joyful, nuanced drama. 21 November 2024Amrou Al-Kadhi’s directorial debut Layla is a beautifully observed narrative of love, sex, gender and friendship.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
bfi.org.uk | Kambole Campbell Festivals |Kambole Campbell |David West |Jordan Cronk
Reviewed from the 2024 Tokyo International Film FestivalMany filmmakers, both in and out of Japan, have sought to challenge the mythos around the samurai caste. The idealised image of the noble, selfless warrior has been met with a raised eyebrow by filmmakers like Kobayashi Masaki, whose classic film Harakiri (1962) decries the honour system of ritual suicide as pointless folly.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
bfi.org.uk | David West |Jordan Cronk |Catherine Wheatley
Reviewing Victor Fleming’s now-classic musical upon its original UK release, our critic was full of praise but felt the film skewed towards a grown-up audience. 21 November 2024Spectacular fantasy, adapted from the forty-year-old American best-seller fairy story. Dorothy gets blown away in a cyclone from her home in Kansas where she lives with her uncle and aunt and her pet dog. She finds herself in the land of the midgets, where she is welcomed by Glinda, a beautiful and benevolent witch.
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Nov 19, 2024 | 
bfi.org.uk | David West |Jordan Cronk |Catherine Wheatley |David WestReviews
A sober exploration of tradition, grief, and mortality The Last Dance is an unexpected change of pace for Anselm Chan Mau-Yin, a director known for the rom coms Ready Or Knot (2021) and Ready Or Rot (2023). Chan’s latest reunites two of the biggest names in Hong Kong comedy with Dayo Wong and Michael Hui working together for the first time since The Magic Touch (1992).
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
bfi.org.uk | David West |Henry Barnes |Anton Bitel |David WestInterviews
“Kick me,” says Bruce Lee, dappled by the light of a tree while giving a martial arts lesson in an idyllic garden. The nervous teenager standing opposite kung fu’s greatest icon in Enter the Dragon (1973) is Stephen Tung Wai, who was brought on to the production by his former Peking Opera school classmate, the stuntman Lam Ching-Ying, who would later star in Tung’s directorial debut Magic Cop (1990).
