BFI Southbank Programme Notes

First Cow

There have been many genteel scenes in westerns in the past but none so winningly genteel as the whole of First Cow. Kelly Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond’s screenplay is based on Raymond’s novel Th...

May 28, 2021 | NEW RELEASES & RE-RELEASES

The Gleaners and I

With a pre-recorded introduction by director Zhu Shengze. Agnès Varda describes her latest film, The Gleaners and I, as a ‘wandering road documentary’. While it covers some of the same ground as V...

May 27, 2021 | DREAM PALACE - THE FILMS THAT CINEMAS WERE BUILT FOR

Goodbye, Dragon Inn

Introduced by director Peter Strickland (26 May screening only). Tsai Ming-liang on dream palaces and ‘Goodbye, Dragon Inn’ Taiwan Movie theatres are like temples. You will always meet a true god...

May 26, 2021 | DREAM PALACE - THE FILMS THAT CINEMAS WERE BUILT FOR

Alice in the Cities

Wim Wenders’ first road movie contrives a situation whereby an emotionally detached photojournalist ends up chaperoning a precocious nine-year-old girl from New York to their native Germany via Ams...

May 26, 2021 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

3 Women

3 Women literally came from a dream. It didn’t come from a dream in the way that I dreamed this, what I dreamed was that I was making this film. Or was going to. Catherine, my wife, had gone in to ...

May 26, 2021 | ROBERT ALTMAN - AMERICAN OUTSIDER

Syndromes and a Century

With a pre-recorded introduction by director Chaitanya Tamhane. Considering the challenges it poses, Syndromes and a Century is an exceptionally easy and pleasurable watch. Apichatpong Weerasethak...

May 24, 2021 | DREAM PALACE - THE FILMS THAT CINEMAS WERE BUILT FOR

Robert Altman, Outsider and Innovator - An Illustrated Online Talk

How strange it is to be writing this programme note! In the past, the talks I gave for BFI seasons were in the NFT cinemas, delivered to an audience sitting in the auditorium from behind a lectern ...

May 24, 2021 | ROBERT ALTMAN - AMERICAN OUTSIDER

Magnificent Obsession + Fear Eats the Soul

Introduction by Heather Stewart, BFI Creative Director (Sunday 23 May only). SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Both John M. Stahl’s 1935 version and Douglas Sirk’s l...

May 23, 2021 | DREAM PALACE - THE FILMS THAT CINEMAS WERE BUILT FOR

The Long Goodbye

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Leigh Brackett was one of the few women to publish science fiction in the pulp magazine era, albeit under a gender-neutral byline. ...

May 23, 2021 | ROBERT ALTMAN - AMERICAN OUTSIDER

The Big City

Based on a short story by Narendranath Mitra, The Big City tells a relatable story about fear and courage, with a loveable protagonist offering a female point-of-view on issues such as money, labou...

May 23, 2021 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Beau Travail

With a pre-recorded introduction by director Kirsten Johnson. SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Directed by Claire Denis, and scripted by Denis and her regular writi...

May 23, 2021 | DREAM PALACE - THE FILMS THAT CINEMAS WERE BUILT FOR

The Wonders

With a pre-recorded introduction by director Mark Cousins. Director Alice Rohrwacher on ‘The Wonders’ With Nanni Moretti, Paolo Sorrentino and Matteo Garrone still wondering how they managed to r...

May 22, 2021 | DREAM PALACE - THE FILMS THAT CINEMAS WERE BUILT FOR

Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Steamboat Bill, Jr., like The Cameraman, displays a mastery of mise-en-cadre which no other comedies have equalled. The difficulty lies in choosing only a few illustrations from a film in which eve...

May 22, 2021 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

The Human Voice

+ Pre-recorded intro and Q&A with Pedro Almodóvar and Tilda Swinton Madness and melancholy intersect to thrilling effect as Almodóvar reimagines Jean Cocteau’s short play The Human Voice for a...

May 22, 2021 | IN PERSON AND PREVIEWS

Hair

With a pre-recorded introduction by director Kleber Mendonça Filho. ‘I didn’t understand a word of it because of my bad English but I loved the music and loved the whole spirit of the piece,’ Milo...

May 22, 2021 | DREAM PALACE - THE FILMS THAT CINEMAS WERE BUILT FOR

Dreamgirls

Bill Condon’s Dreamgirls reaches the UK on a wave of nods and awards that includes Golden Globe wins for newcomer Jennifer Hudson and the film itself, and a raft of Oscar nominations. A dazzling mu...

May 22, 2021 | HER VOICE - BLACK WOMEN FROM THE SPOTLIGHT TO THE SCREEN

Cléo from 5 to 7

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Agnès Varda came up the hard way. Starting as official photographer for the Théâtre National Populaire, she somehow managed to finan...

May 22, 2021 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Beginning

With a pre-recorded introduction by director Luca Guadagnino. Director Dea Kulumbegashvili on ‘Beginning’ Beginning is a profoundly mysterious film – full of surprises, even shocks, but with very...

May 22, 2021 | DREAM PALACE - THE FILMS THAT CINEMAS WERE BUILT FOR

Rare Beasts

+ Q&A with writer-director Billie Piper (on Saturday 22 May only). Mandy (Billie Piper) is a mother, a writer, a nihilist. Mandy is a modern woman in a crisis. Raising a son, Larch (Toby Woolf...

May 21, 2021 | WOMAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA

McCabe & Mrs. Miller

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Disconcertingly, after the tuneless rendering of the Star Spangled Banner that introduced Brewster McCloud, or the ‘Tokyo Rose’ tra...

May 21, 2021 | ROBERT ALTMAN - AMERICAN OUTSIDER

First Cow

The Gleaners and I

Goodbye, Dragon Inn

Alice in the Cities

3 Women

Syndromes and a Century

Robert Altman, Outsider and Innovator - An Illustrated Online Talk

Magnificent Obsession + Fear Eats the Soul

The Long Goodbye

The Big City

Beau Travail

The Wonders

Steamboat Bill, Jr.

The Human Voice

Hair

Dreamgirls

Cléo from 5 to 7

Beginning

Rare Beasts

McCabe & Mrs. Miller

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