BAFTA Preview: Best British Film

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy may be the only nominee to also be up for Best Film, but that's no guarantee for success in the Outstanding British Film Category

The Best British Film category at the BAFTAs should be an open and shut case, shouldn’t it? Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is nominated in that category, but is the only nominee to also be up for Best Film, so it must win, right?

Wrong.

Comment: Oscar Nominations

Oscar gets all nostalgic and plucky Brits do well in a surprising list of nominations

I really must apologise to the neighbours, because when Gary Oldman’s name was read out as an Oscar nominee for Best Actor I gave an almighty cry of “Yes!”. After weeks of being snubbed by awards bodies in the States, though the BAFTAs were far more appreciative of one of the finest films of last year, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy finally got some recognition. Okay: three nominations is not enough in my estimation, but it is more than I was hoping for.

Cameron's Ill-conceived Vision for the British Film Industry

David Cameron’s comments about the UK film industry have attracted a good deal of controversy. His view is that the film industry’s primary concern should be investing in films which are likely to be “mainstream and commercially promising”.

This is part of a wider range  of government statements on the subject of British film, most of which will be formally set out in Lord Smith’s review next week. The emphasis is largely on the notion of making British film more lucrative than it is now, by appealing to broader international markets (i.e. America) and trying to maximise profits by investment in the aforementioned “commercially promising” projects.

The rhetoric has been brief and undetailed so far, but the tone is troubling. It comes across as ill-informed nonsense. Whilst I have sympathy with the idea that so-called mainstream projects should get a higher proportion of public funding than they presently do, there are many issues with these ideas.

Whither Tinker Tailor?

This has to be one of the most open awards seasons in years. The morning of the Golden Globe nominations is upon us and there is no front runner. If only the Republican field for President was this strong.

However, amongst the numerous winners in the critics’ awards and nominees in the early guild awards, one film is strangely absent. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has just started a limited awards season release in the US, where it garnered the best per-theatre average of the weekend. Unfortunately, it was only on four screens. It has received reviews of a similar high standard as it did in the UK, but it has only picked up a handful of critics nods, and, yesterday, Gary Oldman was omitted (shamefully, I might add) from the Best Actor shortlist for the Screen Actors’ Guild Awards (SAGs).

Juror's Film Festival: Local Hero (d. Bill Forsyth, 1983)

It is a very simple plot. A multi-national oil company attempts to buy out a small seaside town in Scotland, but one resident cannot be bought. There is no great complexity here. Local Hero is uncomplicated, and yet it is a story which deals with so much: greed, redemption, love, loneliness, the idea of one person being able to change things far bigger than himself, and what the point of having a life might be anyway are all covered here in a sweet and funny tale.

Even though it does do all of those things, it should not be thought that the film is at all heavy-handed. It is quite the opposite. In fact, the cornerstone of the charm of this film is how relaxed and natural it feels. It is not a comedy which attempts to go for huge laughs but is very funny with subtle humour and wit permeating both Bill Forsyth’s script and his direction. Everything is handled with the lightest of touches, and as such the film is hugely watchable and entertaining and just seems to achieve greatness effortlessly.

Juror's Film Festival: Four Lions (d. Chris Morris, 2010)

Four Lions is undoubtedly one of the most awkward films you’ll ever see. After all, it is a comedy about suicide bombers, made by Chris Morris, a man who has never shied away from the uncomfortable and whose humour is frank, brutal and close-to-the-bone.

It is also one of the most important British films made in the last ten years. It attempts to deal, through the most comedic and ridiculous ways, with perhaps the most troubling element of the war on terror: the humanity of terrorists and suicide-bombers.

Review: Kill List

Brutal but baffling, this is a disappointing mixed bag

Director: Ben Wheatley

Screenwriters: Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump

Cast: Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring, Michael Smiley and Emma Fryer

Plot: Jay and Gal are two hitmen who take on a job to kill three men. The list is bizarre, the people on it being apparently unlinked, nor appearing to have done anything wrong. However, as they begin their killings, they become aware that they are into something far bigger, twisted and dangerous than they could have suspected.

Running Time: 95m 26s

Certificate: 18 - Contains very strong bloody violence

One of the most effectively marketed films of the year, Kill List seems to be most akin to Shane Meadows’ Dead Man’s Shoes, a brutal and emotional revenge film, made on a shoestring but producing tremendous atmosphere.

Kill List is not a revenge film. In fact, it defies such definition, looking like a hitman film at first, but, even in the very early stages of the film, there are suggestions that this may not be what it seems. In the opening, unpleasant dinner party scene, there is a brief cutaway to show a guest carving an enigmatic symbol into the back of a mirror. Expect the unexpected – you’ll have no idea where this story is headed.

In a time of economic strife, the UK film industry needs support

The UK Film Industry contirbuted £3.3bn to GDP in 2010. In tough times, it deserves and needs support