London Film Festival 2019 - day 4

No spoilers here.

I wrote up my review of Earthquake Bird, again over tea and toast and with the company of the cat. (Read my full review of Earthquake Bird here).
 
It rained the entire day and I'm very glad I  turned around and went back for my umbrella because it would have been quite miserable without it.
 
I LOST MY BODY was first - a French animation about a severed hand journeying across Paris to find its previous owner. It reminisces about the owner's life leading up to the 'incident' and can somehow see the world around it.

I thought the sound was particularly good - the patter of disembodied fingertips on wet pavement. And I could see people squirming in their seats as the flashbacks got closer and closer to the moment where hand and body part ways.  ​

​PUSH THE BUTTON was next and I only really went because it was at the same venue and started in half an hour. It was a series of shorts billed as 'cinema on the edge'. Some of the shorts were very hard hitting.
 
I was surprised at one man behind me saying the one that most shook him was essentially a depiction of what happens to women all the time – but happening to a man.
 
Yes, it was fairly upsetting depiction of manipulation and abuse. But his strength of reaction made me wonder if he feels that strongly when the same thing is shown happening to a woman (which it fairly often is), or if that’s just too commonplace on our screens to be upsetting any more. It takes a gender flip to have an impact.
 
Then I met up with a couple of critics I follow on Twitter and had a great chat over a drink. We spend so much time reading words on a screen it was great to meet them in person. 

​Next film was a surprise as it was the announcement of the best film competition winner. I  was hoping for HONEY BOY but had circled about 5 of the films in competition in the brochure so was likely to be fairly happy either way.
 
The winner was in fact MONOS, a “Lord of the Flies” style Colombian child soldier thriller. I closed my eyes and ears for about ten minutes at the beginning because of [sad animal stuff] but it got better and better and more intense as it progressed and the last 15 seconds it all became goosebumpingly crystal clear. All the pieces came into sharp focus, not only for the film but for its deeper message and that ending will stay with me.
 
But I had precious little time to sit and process what I’d seen as I had 7 minutes to grab some food and get across the road to the next film. 

The WAVES UK premiere was the last film of the day and the director and cast were there to give a brief intro. I was initially worried it would be yet another film trying to elicit sympathy for angry men making bad choices. But as the perspective shifted I realised it was more about women (black women) having to be mature beyond their years and hold families and relationships together.  (Read my full review of Waves here).
 
I don't know if it will be in contention for an Oscar but it should be.
 
Then home to bed, very exhausted as it was getting on for 1am.
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