The London Film Festival has been over for four days now, I’ve finished my reviews, caught up on some sleep and now feel I’m in the right frame of mind to reflect.

It seems like I’ve spent the best part of a month dedicating my time in the hope of seeing as many films as possible at this year’s festival. With such a huge programme, I look back now in regret at the amount of films I didn’t get the chance to see. Mike Leigh’s Another Year being one, luckily it’s hitting cinema this week so I’m sure I’ll be catching it soon enough. Missing Errol Morris’ Tabloid was also very disappointing, Self Made and Patagonia looked very interesting too.  Film festivals give you such a great opportunity to view a wealth of independent film, that I had to sacrifice features with definite UK cinema releases such as Black Swan and the much discussed remake, Let Me In.

Looking on the bright side however, I have spent a month watching some amazing films. When MarBelle asked me to compile a top five, I knew some thinking was going to be involved. I have massive issues with picking favourites anyway and I’m sure the five I’m about to list, in no particular order may I add, will change by next week.

When asked what I’ve seen at the festival, Wasteland is always one of the first films that springs to mind! Such a wonderful documentary, I loved it.

Second is Hands Up. I’ve totally fallen for Romain Goupil’s feature about a group of young children trying to fight French immigration law in the hope of saving their friend.

The Arbor too, deserves the utmost credit of course. Such a fascinating piece of filmmaking that saw director Clio Bernard win the Best British Newcomer and Sutherland Award at the Festival.

Blue Valentine was so much more then I expected it to be. I don’t know anybody who loved this film as much as I did, but just re-watching the trailer makes me happy. Such a sad yet romantic piece of filmmaking, beautifully acted, it’ll make you think about the science of relationships for a long time.

https://vimeo.com/75293431

I think my final mention will have to be, It’s Kind of a Funny Story. A great American indie about the sometimes comedic, but troublesome process of growing up.

https://youtu.be/P_pq7HKc9z8

I could name another five films that should have made this list but I guess that would undermine the point of a top five…

This year’s festival has been great! With such a huge range of films available to watch, I picked the above list in the hope of demonstrating the diversity of the LFF program. I hope you enjoyed my reviews and interviews and I shall be back in a couple of weeks to bring you coverage from the first Underwire Film Festival.

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