The Los Angeles Film Festival (a.k.a. LAFF) has steadily been growing into one of the most finely programmed festivals of the summer. Featuring all sorts of titles ranging from the greatest hits of Sundance, highly-anticipated studio films, art-house darlings, foreign imports, special screenings of classic films, and much more, it’s slowly turning into a juggernaut that can rival the likes of Tribeca and SXSW.
With so much to see and do, however, it’s hard to decide what’s truly worth checking out in this span of 10 days (from June 13th to the 23th). That’s why Movie Mezzanine’s LAFF attendees Russell Hainline, Kristen Sales, Christopher Runyon, Daniel Schindel have compiled a list of big must-sees happening at the fest.
We’ll be actively covering the festival over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for reviews, interviews, and all other content we manage to churn out. So, without further ado: Our 15 most anticipated films at this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival.
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15.) I’m So Excited! (Dir. Pedro Almodovar)
I honestly have no idea what this film is about. Here’s what I do know, however: It’s from Pedro Almodovar, the masterful Spanish director responsible for Talk To Her, The Skin I Live In, All About My Mother, and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! It’s a comedy film that seems to take place almost entirely in an airplane. And it features a scene in which the attendants dance and lip-synch to The Pointer Sisters’ “I’m So Excited”. Those details alone–specifically Almodovar–are enough to get my butt in the seat for sure. Screens Opening Night, June 13th. Tickets here. – Runyon
14.) The Conjuring (Dir. James Wan)
Due to the oversaturation of annual sequels, many often forget just how good the original Saw is. Director James Wan’s career following it has been hit-and-miss, but his Insidious was an eerily effective haunted house thrill ride, and to see him tackling ghostly material again for The Conjuring (this time with an R rating) gives me hope that he delivers better if not equally eerie scares. Based on the true story of real paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), The Conjuring looks creepy as hell, and has a talented duo of actors behind it to boot. Screens June 21st. Tickets here. – Runyon
13.) Crystal Fairy (Dir. Sebastian Silva)
In case This Is The End didn’t give you enough drugged-out Michael Cera (it didn’t), check out Sebastian Silva’s film Crystal Fairy, which follows Cera on a hallucinogenic cactus binge throughout Chile. Yes, you read that correctly. I’ve loved Cera’s darker, more complex work over the last few years, and this should give fans like me another journey into the dark depths of Cera’s soul. Screens June 14th and 18th. Tickets here. – Hainline
12.) Drug War (Dir. Johnnie To)
Hong Kong action master Johnnie To returns to guns and gangsters for the first time since 2009’s brilliant Vengeance. This is also his first film made in mainland China. No one does Triad warfare like To, and this film, about a series of increasingly risky police stings, looks to be upping his stylistic ante. There’s a scene in the trailer where the camera zooms inside a man being executed and show his heart desiccating into cocaine, for crying out loud! Screens June 15th and 19th. Tickets here. – Schindel
11.) Lesson of the Evil (Dir. Takashi Miike)
It’s the new Takashi Miike movie. One could leave it at that. Good or bad, almost everything the Japanese madman touches is almost guaranteed to be interesting and unique. This is, remember, the man who directed an adaptation of a video game series about dramatic lawyering. And this film, about a handsome, charming, well-loved high school teacher who also happens to be a murderous psychopath, seems like a perfect fit for Miike. Presumably, it will be as blood-soaked and devilishly humorous as the rest of the grislier end of his ouvre. Screens June 20th and 22nd. Tickets here. – Schindel
10.) The Spectacular Now (Dir. James Ponsoldt)
Based on the novel by Tim Tharp and receiving very positive buzz from this year’s Sundance, The Spectacular Now depicts the life of carefree party-teen Sutter Keely (a breakout performance from Miles Teller) as his Senior year approaches and a slew of complications, responsibilities, and drama start to befall him. A romance with the bookish Aimee (Shailene Woodley), a chance at reuniting with his estranged father, and the enclosing prospects of adulthood. The Spectacular Now is a standard coming-of-age story, but it’s infused with fantastic performances, a surplus of charm & insight, and deeply resonating drama. Screens June 17th and 21st. Tickets here. – Runyon
9.) You’re Next (Dir. Adam Wingard)
The fever pitch for this home invasion thriller has had two years to simmer. It got raves out of Toronto and Fantastic Fest back in 2011, but Lionsgate stubbornly kept the film on the back burner of their release slate for what seemed like forever. Now it’s finally hitting theaters in August, but anyone in LA has the chance to catch it before then. Seemingly everyone who’s seen this film has had nothing but good things to say about it. It’s supposed to be funny and horrifying in equal measure. Screens June 16th and 19th. Tickets here. – Schindel
8.) The Way, Way Back (Dir. Nat Faxon & Jim Rash)
Following their win for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2012 Oscars, Jim Rash and Nat Faxon take the director’s chair(s) for The Way, Way Back, about a boy coming of age over the course of a summer. Sound like a familiar setting? Of course. Yet most coming-of-age films don’t have this cast: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Sam Rockwell, Allison Janney, Maya Rudolph, Rob Corrdry, and Rash and Faxon themselves. It’s the closing night feature for the festival, and even if it doesn’t emerge with Oscar buzz, it sure smells like one hell of a crowd-pleaser. Screens Closing Night, June 23rd. Tickets here. – Hainline
7.) In a World… (Dir. Lake Bell)
Director/writer/star Lake Bell delves into a subject film nerds probably never thought would be the topic of a mainstream film: movie trailer voiceover acting. Bell plays an aspiring voice actress stymied by industry sexism, while the golden-throated Fred Melamed plays her father, a Don Lafontaine-esque legend in the field. This film won the Screenwriting Award at Sundance, and the buzz around it is vibrant. The fact that Demetri Martin, Ken Marino, Rob Corddry, Nick Offerman, and Geena Davis round out the cast also helps. Screens June 15th and 16th. Tickets here. – Schindel
6.) The Act of Killing (Dir. Joshua Oppenheimer)
“War crimes are defined by the winners.” So says Anwar Congo, Indonesian political celebrity and executioner in a genocide of over one million Communists, ethnic Chinese and intellectuals during a 1960s revolution. Executive produced by Errol Morris and Werner Herzog, this extraordinarily chilling documentary asks Anwar to recreate his massacres for the camera, restaging Indonesian history and calling into serious doubt the self-aggrandizing myths of national heroism. Screens June 14th and 16th. Tickets here. – Sales
5.) Fruitvale Station (Dir. Ryan Coogler)
On New Year’s Eve 2008, 22-year old black man Oscar Grant was returning from San Francisco to Oakland on the BART public transportation system. Detained after a fight broke out on a train car, the unarmed Grant was shot in the back by a white police officer in front of dozens of witnesses taking cell phone videos of the incident. Based on this harrowing true incident, Fruitvale Station looks to be a gripping and intense drama that probes the intersection between race, class and police brutality. Screens June 17th. Tickets here. – Sales
4.) Short Term 12 (Dir. Destin Cretton)
The Grand Jury and Audience Award Winner at South by Southwest, it follows a young woman in her twenties supervising at a facility for at-risk teens. If the film’s hardware doesn’t impress you, then check out the previous work of Brie Larson. A warm earnest actress with an expressive face, Larson’s breakout has seemed right around the corner for years. Word is that Short Term 12 is her coming-out party. Screens at June 14th and 15th. Tickets here. – Hainline
3.) Europa Report (Dir. Sebastian Corderos)
Following a privately funded space expedition to find alien life in one of Jupiter’s moons, Europa Report is a low-budget faux-docudrama from Ecuadorian director Sebastian Corderos. Starring Michael Nyqvist (the Swedish Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Sharlto Copley (District 9), and Anamaria Marinca (4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days) among other actors, the film opts to portray space-exploration in a believable, realistic depiction, while also offering sci-fi thrills and celebrating our human desire to explore the cosmos and understand the universe. Screens June 15th and 19th. Tickets here. – Runyon
2.) Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (Dir. David Lowery)
Starring Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara as a husband and wife team of outlaw bandits, this modern-day Western noir evokes Terrence Malick in its painterly depictions of west Texas tall grass and No Country For Old Men in its stark and sudden violence. After serving four years for taking his wife’s rap for wounding a police officer, Bob Guthrie (Affleck) breaks out of jail to reunite for Beth (Mara) and a baby daughter he’s never seen. But as the law tightens around Bob, it seems things at home may not be what they appear. Screens June 15th and 17th. Tickets here. – Sales
1.) Only God Forgives (Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn)
If you’re like me, Drive was among your favorite films of 2011. Two years later, director Nicolas Winding Refn and star Ryan Gosling have joined forces yet again, for another tale of violence in a seedy underworld. This time, Gosling is hellbent on revenge amongst the drug-infested Bangkok criminal set, with his mother– Kristin Scott Thomas, in allegedly an awesomely campy performance– urging him on all the way. It was slaughtered at Cannes by reviews… which, strangely, makes me want to see it all the more. Screens June 20th. Tickets here. – Hainline
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Stay tuned for coverage of these films and more within the coming weeks!