London Film Festival Round-Up

Since I got press accreditation for the London Film Festival this year, I ended up seeing more films than usual - and would have made it to more were it not for the always-pressing demands of the day job. LFF 2012 - a transitional year for the festival with a new artistic director, some structural changes and the addition of more major prize categories - offered a sturdy line-up, from what I managed to see, with strong showings from seasoned auteurs, and several remarkable debuts. US dominance of production and distribution is so strong these days that it’s always invigorating to experience a range of movies from other countries, and from Tokyo to Paris, Montreal to Senegal, Thailand to the Highlands some of the finest films in the Festival came. That the Best Film Prize ended up going to what was, for me, one of the worst films screened - Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone - only confirms how gallingly subjective such judgements are. In that spirit, I offer my list of 24 - presented in loose order of preference - rather humbly, as a round-up, simply, of the films that spoke to me most profoundly (and those that didn't speak to me at all). Click on the links for full reviews; more will be posted in the coming weeks.

1. Amour (dir. Haneke) Review here.
2. Shell (dir. Graham). Review here.
3. In The House (dir. Ozon)
4. Sister (dir. Meier) Review here.
5. Tall as the Baobab Tree (dir. Teicher). Review here.
6. Simon Killer (dir. Campos) Review here.
7. Laurence Anyways (dir. Dolan). Review here.
8. Ginger and Rosa (dir. Potter)
9. Like Someone in Love (dir. Kiarostami)
10. Caesar Must Die (dir. Tavianis)
11. Imagine (dir. Jakimowski)
12. Quartet (dir. Hoffman) Review here.
13. In Another Country (dir. Hong)
14. In the Fog (dir. Loznitsa)
15. I Carried You Home (dir. Tongpong)
16. Our Children (dir. Lafosse)
17. Song for Marion (dir. Williams)
18. Everyday (dir. Winterbottom). Review here.
19. House With a Turret (dir. Neymann)
20. Robot & Frank (dir. Schreier). Review here.
21. Rust and Bone (dir. Audiard). Review here.
22. Thursday Till Sunday (dir. Sotomayor)
23. What Richard Did (dir. Abrahamson)
24. Blood (dir. Murphy). Review here.

London Film Festival Review: Tall as the Baobab Tree (dir. Teicher)

The village of Sinthiou Mbadane, Senegal. A teenage girl, Coumba (Dior Kâ), and her younger sister, Debo (Oumoul Kâ), return to the village from the city with the news that Coumba has passed her school exams and is able to go on to further study. During the girls’ absence, however, their brother Sileye (Alpha Dia) has had an accident and broken his leg, falling from the baobab tree which he climbs to cut shoots for the family’s animals. In order to pay for Sileye’s treatment, the children’s father (Mouhamed Diallo) proposes marrying the 11-year-old Debo off to a rich man, curtailing her education in the process. Coumba is distressed at the idea and resolves to find a way to save her sister from the fate their father has mapped out for her.

The premise of 23-year-old American director Jeremy Teicher’s distinguished debut feature would seem to offer plentiful opportunities for high-octane hand-wringing. None of them are taken, however. Rather, Teicher’s intelligent, humane and moving film unfolds at a measured place, drawing the viewer gently not forcibly into Coumba’s dilemma.  There's suspense build right into the premise, of course – will the resourceful Coumba come up with enough money in time to prevent her sister's marriage? – but Teicher avoids exploiting it in a manipulative or obvious way. What really interests the director are the rhythms of village life, the interactions between the characters (there's a simply beautiful scene between Sileye and Amady (Cheikh Dia), a good-hearted friend of Coumba's who helps her out) and the generational splits that are revealed in the family's attitudes to tradition.

The movie is structured around a series of polarities that the young characters must negotiate - education or marriage; the city or the village - and the director looks at each with remarkable even-handedness. Perspectives accrue as the movie progresses, from the point-of-view of Coumba and Debo's quiet, watchful mother (Mbourai Dia), who gently advises Coumba to "understand" her culture rather than try to change it, to that of Amady, who shares Coumba's ambitions for education and a life beyond the village, and is teased by his already-married young chums for doing so. In essence, though, Tall as the Baobab Tree is a film about sisterly love. Coumba and Debo's bond is established from the tight two-shot that opens the movie, which finds the girls softly singing a song whose lyrics will reverberate throughout the picture: "Courage, my dear, courage."

Rooted in real-life situations and well-acted by a cast made up of Sinthion Mbadane residents, Tall as the Baobab Tree has the palpable ring of truth, benefiting from Teicher's documentary background and combining that with the increased intimacy and space for reflection that fiction can offer. The director frequently elides obvious crowd-pleasing moments to place the emphasis elsewhere, often cutting to the aftermath of a revelation and letting the viewer find their bearings. Everyone he shows us (including the cows who frequently saunter in and out of shot) is treated with tender regard and respect. The result is a beautifully restrained and heartfelt film that deserves to be widely seen.

My interview with Jeremy Teicher can be read at Kubrick on the Guillotine.