London Film Festival round-up

This provides further grist to the argument that 2000 has been one of the least distinguished in the motion picture's 105-year history. So often the bright spot amid the commercial gloom, even foreign-language cinema has been off colour over the past 12 months. Yet, there are enough intriguing sub-titled features to make a trip to the capital worthwhile.

Of the European offerings, the French selection is, perhaps inevitably, the most interesting.

The Gleaners and I:

One of the founders of the nouvelle vague, 72 year-old Agns Varda remains as acute as ever. The Gleaners and I is a visually ambitious and deeply moving exploration of the art and actuality of gleaning, from the crop followers of olden times to the urban poor and thrifty scavengers of today. Highlighting our casual approach to food, waste and our fellow beings, this ranks among the festival's few gems and deserves a wider release. ___________________

La Captive:

Chantal Akerman's La Captive is a reworking of the Marcel Proust story about the possessive aesthete who keeps his mistress under surveillance through a network of compliant friends. Exploring modern sexual politics, while remaining faithful to the spirit of the text, this is a deeply troubling story of obsession and the value of life and love.

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The Thief of St Aubin:

Employing an equally impressive restraint is Claire Devers's The Thief of St Aubin, a fact-based investigation into legal anomaly and corporate greed. Dominique Blanc excels as the impoverished Poitiers housewife, whose trial for shoplifting raises uncomfortable questions about necessity, legitimised deception and good old-fashioned moral dignity.

There's no shortage of big-name vehicles, either, with Daniel Auteuil typically impressive in Sade, Isabelle Huppert headlining Raul Ruiz's psychological thriller, Fils de Deux Mres, Miou-Miou and Michel Piccoli locking horns in the ensemble drama Everything's Fine (We're Leaving) and Natalie Baye playing an adulerous wife in Selon Mathieu, Xavier Beauvois's intense follow-up to Human Resources.

The remainder of the continental contribution is decidedly mediocre. ___________________

Eeny Meeny:

The cream of recent Czech cinema has already been snapped up for the Riverside's forthcoming Velvet Revolution season. However, Alice Nellis's debut, Eeny Meeny, is a splendidly wry portrait of small-town life and the responsibility felt by women for the shaping of the new republic. Redolent of Ivan Passer's Intimate Lighting, this election satire benefits from a spirited cast and some broad humour.

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Loners:

This films marks a disappointing follow-up to the excellent Buttoners by Petr Zelenka, who co-directed this comedy of social ennui with David Ondricek. Too few of the episodes linking a septet of outsiders and eccentrics pay off, while too much of the humour feels recycled (especially the Japanese jokes).

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Elsewhere from the former Eastern bloc, there's Pole Jerzy Stuhr's camel comedy, The Big Animal (which boasts a screenplay by the late Krzysztof Kieslowski); Alexei Balabanov's Brother 2, a New York-based sequel to his uncompromising Russian mafia drama; Alexander Zeldovich's parody of 1930s Soviet cinema, Moscow; and Alexei Uchitel's biopic of Nobel laureate, Ivan Bunin, the exiled Russian whose writings anticipated magic realism. Neither German nor Italian cinema shows much sign of emerging from lengthy periods of lethargy.

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The Legends of Rita:

Volker Schlndorff retreats to familiar territory for The Legends of Rita, which explores East German complicity in the activities of the West's numerous terrorist groups in the 1970s. It's a solid piece of political cinema, but it lacks the bite of earlier classics. Fellow Oscar winner Gabriele Salvatores is also struggling to recapture past glories. Teeth is supposed to be a scathing satire, but it's hard to discern obvious targets amidst the self-indulgent surrealism. African cinema is also in the doldrums (with merely a handful of entries here), although there are continued signs of a revival in Latin America.

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F***land

Among the most controversial pictures in the entire LFF is Jos Luis Marques's F***land. Secretly shot on the Falkland Islands in the proscribed Dogma 95 method, this is an arresting analysis of the local loathing of Argentina and the swaggering Little Englander mentality that underpins the islanders' less than salubrious existence. Fabian Stratas's pursuit of the Sloaney Camilla Heaney is reminiscent of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's experimental film, Rape, with its incessant prying and cynical intent. Each meeting, as he nears his cocksure conquest, makes for unbearable watching, which renders the twist in the tail all the more disgruntling. ___________________

Peppermint Candy:

However, it's Asia that provides the pick of the international programme, with the standouts emanating from South Korea.

Anyone who's seen Christopher Nolan's Memento will be fascinated by the parallels with Lee Chang-Dong's Peppermint Candy, in which a series of flashbacks leads us to understand the eccentric behaviour of Sol Kyung-Go at a school reunion picnic. As much a symbolic history of recent Korean history as one man's descent from youthful hope into middle-aged self-loathing, this long and powerful film is not without its moments of well-judged farce. ___________________

Virgin Stripped bare by her bachelors:

As well as experimenting with time frames, Hong Sang-Soo's Virgin Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors also explores the spin imparted by personal perspective. In his account of his romance with Moon Sungkuen, Lee Eunjoo comes across as an amiable boob who's too shy to pursue his suit. However, her version of events is radically different. Often extremely funny, yet also artistically audacious, this is another item to merit a general release.

Finally, brief mentions should also be made of Edward Yang's A One and a Two, Fruit Chan's Durian, Durian and At the Height of Summer, the latest from the Vietnamese maker of Cyclo, Tran Anh Hung.

Once again, the number to call to book tickets is 020 7 928 3232.