The biggest films at London Film Festival 2018
225 films. 14 cinemas. Ladies and gentlemen, start your eyeballs
The BFI London Film Festival – the biggest, brightest and best event in the capital’s film-going calendar – hits cinemas across the city from October 10-21, 2018. And this year promises one of the strongest line-ups in the festival’s 62-year history, with big galas screenings like Steve McQueen’s ‘Widows’ and Yorgos Lanthimos’s hugely buzzy ‘The Favourite’ sharing screens with smaller but no less worthy fare.
However, with so much on offer, it can be overwhelming to chose what to watch. So to help, we've picked some of the biggest films at London Film Festival 2018.
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Widows
Things gets underway to the sound of sirens and screeching tyres as Steve McQueen’s blistering thriller raises the LFF curtain.
Wednesday, 10 October. Cineworld Leicester Square, 7pm.
Jinn
California’s Islamic community is the setting in this tale of Summer, a black girl discovering her sexuality and identity.
Thursday, October 11. Vue Leicester Square, 8.30pm.
The Breaker Upperers
This hilarious-looking Kiwi comedy has writer-directors Madeleine Sami and Jackie van Beek starting a breakup service.
Friday, 12 October. Prince Charles Cinema, 6.15pm.
The Old Man & The Gun
Robert Redford is an ageing bank robber in David Lowery’s follow-up to ‘A Ghost Story’. Casey Affleck’s cop is in pursuit in a sorta-true story.
Friday, 12 October. Curzon Soho, 8.45pm.
Been So Long
Michaela Coel tops off a huge year with London’s answer to ‘La La Land’. A musical set in Camden, it should make for a dreamlike showcase of the city’s diversity and soul.
Saturday, 13 October. Cineworld Leicester Square, 2pm.
Beautiful Boy
Timothée Chalamet plays teenage meth addict Nic Sheff and Steve Carell is his dad in a human drama that's already tipped for Oscars.
Saturday, 13 October. Cineworld Leicester Square, 6pm.
Out of the Blue
The never-not-ace Patricia Clarkson picks up a gun and a badge as a New Orleans cop in this atmospheric murder mystery with a difference.
Saturday, 13 October. Embankment Garden Cinema, 8:45pm.
Roma
Alfonso Cuarón follows up ‘Gravity’ with a languid, black-and-white tribute to the women of his boyhood. And it’s every bit as breathtaking.
Sunday, 14 October. Embankment Garden Cinema, 1.45pm.
The Little Drummer Girl
One of the LFF’s first TV premieres (as in a TV show, not on a telly) sees Chan-wook Park take on Le Carré’s spy story. Catch the first two eps.
Sunday, 14 October. Embankment Garden Cinema, 5pm.
Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records
This timely doc shows how the Windrush generation brought ska, reggae and rocksteady to Britain.
Monday, 15 October. BFI Southbank, 1.10pm.
They Shall Not Grow Old
Peter Jackson's latest is a dazzling modernisation of Great War footage that will bring home the conflict's scale and sorrows with fresh power.
Tuesday, 16 October. BFI Southbank, 5:45pm.
Wild Rose
Irish actress Jessie Buckley is bound for the big time. Find out why with this story of a Scottish country singer with Nashville dreams.
Tuesday, 16 October. Embankment Cinema, 2:15pm.
Capernaum
Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki is the real deal. Her latest, about a young Syrian refugee, won a prize at Cannes, the first by an Arab woman.
Wednesday, October 17. Embankment Gardens, 5:30pm.
Outlaw King
Chris Pien is Robert the Bruce in a crunching historical drama that co-stars Florence Pugh and, presumably, at least one spider.
Wednesday, 17 October. Embankment Cinema, 8:30pm.
The Great Victorian Moving Picture Show
The festival's Archive Gala shows off early film footage in Imax. Expect Victorian hubbub and huge hats.
Thursday, 18 October. BFI Imax, 7pm.
In Fabric
Nothing to do with the London club, this terrifically stylish tale is centred on a killer dress. Marianne Jean-Baptiste (‘Secrets and Lies’) stars.
Thursday, 18 October. Vue Leicester Square, 8.30pm.
Peterloo
Mike Leigh’s historical epic – and it is epic – premieres in Manchester on October 17 before bringing its heft and scale to the South Bank.
Friday, 19 October. BFI Southbank, 6pm.
The Favourite
This delirious period piece has a killer cast (Olivia Coleman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz) and scenes of duck racing. See you there.
Friday, 19 October. Cineworld Leicester Square, 7:15pm.
Suspiria
With Luca Guadagnino behind the camera, Tilda Swinton in front of it and a Thom Yorke score, this art-horror is a seriously hot ticket.
Friday, 19 October. Odeon Tottenham Court Road, 8:20pm.
Screen talk: Chang-dong Lee
Catch ‘Burning’ at the fest and then see its maker chatting about the slowburn thrill and adapting Haruki Murakami for the screen.
Saturday, 20 October. BFI Southbank, noon.
The Private Life of Henry VIII
The ‘Wold Hall’ of 1933, Alexander Korda's biopic if drumstick-lobbing king Henry VIII ignited the British film industry. See it in all its finery.
Saturday, 20 October. BFI Southbank, 5:50pm.
If Beale Street Could Talk
This James Baldwin adaptation is swooningly romantic and furiously barbed. Barry Jenkins (‘Moonlight’) strikes the balance perfectly.
Sunday, 21 October. Embankment Cinema, 11am.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Richly entertaining and blackly funny but told with sincerity and heart, the half-dozen western tales packed into ‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ show the Coen brothers loading up their six-shooter and firing barely a dud.
Sunday, 21 October. BFI Southbank, 8:40pm.
Stan & Ollie
Steve Coogan and John C. Riley play head-scratching, pratfalling double act Laurel and Hardy in what should be a funny, touching festival closer.
Sunday, 21 October. Cineworld Leicester Square, 7:45pm.