BFI London Film Festival 2024 - Episode 2

Our second London Film Festival main episode is here, and it's a bumper edition. Dario is in Falmouth visiting Neil, so it's something of a nostalgic live taping from the place where The Cinematologists started. The first film on the agenda is Alex Ross Perry's Pavements, which is a meta-documentary on a mercurial 90s band, Pavement. Neil, with his music film expertise, gives detailed context to the history and mythology of the band, whose cult status is deliberately explored by Ross Perry. It is another film that plays with multiple forms and perspectives and is also an instructive counterpoint to Soundtrack to a Coup d'etat (which we covered in the previous main show).

This episode also features an interview with Australian director Justin Kurzel, who previously made the somewhat underrated version of Macbeth with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard (among an impressive ouvre). His LFF entry this year is a documentary focusing on Australian musician Warren Ellis. The film follows his career but also explores his dedication to a wildlife sanctuary in Sumatra, where rescued trafficked animals are nursed back to health.

Dario then discusses the psychological drama Under the Volcano by Polish director Damian Kocur. It tells the story of a middle-class Ukrainian family finishing a holiday in Tenerife just as the war starts. It's another film that keeps the spectre of apocalypse in the background while focusing on the nuances of familial trauma and the ethical decisions they are forced to confront.

Finally, Hailey and Ben join us to discuss Elton John: Never Too Late, a look back at the singer-songwriter's huge career in the context of his final concert in North America at Dodger Stadium.

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Music Credits:

‘Theme from The Cinematologists’

Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing.