66th BFI London Film Festival: From 'The Whale' to 'Pinocchio', here are the six most anticipated movies
The 66th Annual BFI London Film Festival is just around the corner and it’s time for movie lovers to get together to enjoy cozy autumn with some really extraordinary films. This year’s event will begin on Wednesday, October 5, and will end with a bang on October 16, 2022.
This year’s film festival will start with the World Premiere of ‘Roald Dah’s Matilda the Musical’ and will include 14 Headline Galas. Apart from the Headline Galas, the festival will also feature 14 Special Presentations. Along with the movies, it will also hold special screenings for some of the upcoming TV shows like ‘The English’, ‘A Spy Among Friends’, ‘Senorita 89’, ‘Mammals’, and more. The tickets for all the movies, TV shows, documentaries, and shorts are on sale, and if you are wondering which movies you should watch during your time at the festival, here are the five highly-anticipated titles that will be screening at the 66th Annual London Film Festival.
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‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’
Rian Johnson took the world by storm with the 2019 mystery film ‘Knives Out’ and gave the world one of the most extraordinary whodunit in recent years. After the massive success of the first movie, Netflix paid $469 million for the rights to two sequels written and directed by Johnson, with Craig reprising his role. The first sequel, ‘Glass Onion’, is scheduled for a release on Netflix in December 2022 and will be this year’s closing night gala presentation.
Detective Benoit Blanc finds himself at a lavish private estate on a Greek Island and meets a group of people who are there for a party. However, things turn upside down when someone turns up dead and everyone is a suspect. Apart from Craig, the cast includes Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr, Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline with Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista. The movie had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and earned rave reviews.
‘The Whale’
Darren Aronofsky’s psychological drama sees Brendan Fraser playing the role of a 600-pound middle-aged Charlie, who is trying to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink). Charlie abandons his family for his lover, who later died. Out of guilt and pain, he starts to binge eat and gain a lot of weight. The movie had its premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival and got a 6-minute standing ovation at this year’s event.
The footage of Fraser struggling to compose himself at the movie’s premiere made everyone emotional and London Film Festival is also set to witness the return of an actor who went through a lot of personal struggles at the prime of his career and forced him to take a break from acting. ‘The Whale’ received positive reviews after the movie’s premiere at the TIFF and Fraser garnered universal acclaim for his impeccable acting.
You really don’t want to miss this one.
‘The Banshees of Inisherin’
The black comedy sees filmmaker Martin McDonagh returning to the big screen with his first movie since 2017’s ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri’, which went on to get nominated for the Best Picture accolade at the Academy Awards. Set in rural Ireland, ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ chronicles the journey of two friends - Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) and Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson) – who spend their afternoons visiting the pub. However, things get weird when one of them decides to break the friendship, with alarming consequences for both of them.
The movie has managed to create a lot of buzz before its theatrical release and is being touted as the frontrunner for Best Picture nomination at the next year’s Academy Awards. This is the second time Farrell and Gleeson are reuniting for a movie after 2008’s critically acclaimed ‘In Bruges’.
‘Decision to Leave’
South Korean director Park Chan-wook is finally making a comeback in the field of filmmaking after 2016’s critically acclaimed movie ‘The Handmaiden’. So, it’s natural that there’s a lot of excitement regarding the movie ‘Decision to Leave’. The movie focuses on a detective named Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) who falls for a mysterious widow after she becomes the prime suspect in his latest murder investigation. In April 2022, the film had its World Premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Palme d’Or.
The filmmaker won the Best Director accolade at Cannes and upon its release in South Korea, the movie garnered extremely positive reviews. If you are looking for a sensational new Korean movie, then ‘Decision to Leave’ should definitely be at the top of your list.
Also, the movie has been selected as the South Korean entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.
‘Inland’
With Academy Award winner Mark Rylance in a pivotal role, ‘Inland’ is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated movies of the London Film Festival. The movie is a modern folktale that explores the identity of a young man (Rory Alexander) after the mysterious disappearance of his mother. Guided by people who care for him dearly, his journey through the gorgeous places of rural England brings him face to face with the loss that would turn his life upside down. The movie serves as the directorial debut of director-screenwriter Fridtjof Ryder and will have its World Premiere at this year’s London Film Festival.
The movie also stars Eleanor Holliday, Alexander Lincoln, Nell Williams, and Shaun Dingwall in pivotal roles.
‘Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio’
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro is set to take viewers on a magical journey with his fresh and unique take on Carlo Collodi’s classic tale of the wooden marionette that is magically brought to life. The stop-motion film will be different from anything that viewers have ever seen as it includes Del Toro’s signature style. It includes misunderstood monsters, gothic storytelling, and characters that are very mysterious.
Gregory Mann voices the character of Pinocchio while Ewan McGregor will be the voice behind Sebastian J. Cricket. On the other hand, David Bradley (Master Geppetto), Christopher Waltz (Count Volpe), Tilda Swinton (Wood Sprite), Ron Perlman (Podesta), Cate Blanchett (Sprezzatura), and more.
The film will have its world premiere at the festival.
Honorable Mentions: 'Causeway', ‘Triangle of Sadness’, ‘Enys Men’, ‘The Wonder’, ‘Horseplay’, ‘The Son’, and ‘Aftersun’.