Why am I starting my daily London Film Festival diaries on
day 2 you may ask? What happened to day 1, Wednesday 8th October? Well after
getting up at ridiculous o’clock to take my dog for a walk in the pitch black
of an Autumn morning, I got to Bracknell train station to find that National
Rail are basically wallet rapists.
After purchasing a ticket, I discovered that I’d bought a
still unreasonably priced ‘any permitted’ ticket. So £25 ain’t good enough for
that time in the morning apparently. I was then informed that I had to pay for
a full price £32 ticket if I wanted to get into London before 9am. Frankly I
felt shafted and a severe stab of sympathy for those who have to travel to
London every day just to get to work. National Rail are truly bending the good
working people of this country over and having their merry way with them.
Ho hum, I got over it eventually. So I missed out on seeing
The Imitation Game with Benedict Slumberpatch and Ikea Knightley and also
didn’t get to attend the press conference afterwards. I can live with that. As
I had to get back for my (paid) day job in the afternoon, I wouldn’t have got
round to seeing anything else on Wednesday. So I told National Rail to stick
their £32 ticket, got a refund on my useless £25 ticket and went home, to the
delight of my puppy.
But Thursday is another day. Moan over. It’s a day when I
don’t have other work commitments and can stay in London as long as I like. I’m
still determined to not let National Rail have non-consensual sex with my
wallet every day so I decided to skip the morning screening of Men, Women and
Children starring Adam Sandler and directed by Jason Reitman. It’s a shame as
I’m very interested in seeing it. But not interested enough to let National
Rail rob me of £32. Sorry, moan really over now.
So
on Thursday I had
lined up: A Hard Day, White God,
’71 and El Nino. My reviews will be up at
Starburst Magazine as soon as possible and I will update this post with links
when that happens. For now, here are the trailers:
A Hard Day: Korean corrupt cop thriller in which a detective
is involved in a hit and run while being investigated by internal affairs.
White God: A teen girl is
forced to give her up her beloved dog.
As she descends into rebellion, her mutt Hagen go through hell at the hands
of humans before taking his bloody revenge.
es
’71: A British soldier in Belfast 1971 gets separated from
his regiment and has to survive a night in the divided city, stuck between
warring factions.
El Nino: In the Gibraltar Straits, two young men become
involved in drug dealing between Morocco and Europe. The obsessive cop on their
tail is closing in as their business grows into the big time.
I’ve already seen White God at Cannes and I have an
interview lined up with the director Kornel Mundruczo and writer Kata Weber on
Monday. This was one of my two favourite films at Cannes 2014 and I can’t wait
to talk to these two about the movie.
Also Jack O'Connell and
71 director Yann Demange turned up to introduce the film which was cool.
Day 3 of the festival is a day I have to work at the day job
unfortunately and on Saturday I’m celebrating my wife’s 30th birthday (and my
birthday) so my next update will be on day 5 of the festival, Sunday 12th
October where I intend to see at least Kung Fu Jungle and A Girl Walks Home
Alone at Night. Stay tuned for more and please check out my
reviews so far atStarburst Magazine.
I’m also going to try and do a short video diary each day
from the festival:
