London Film Festival Diary

12:30
The King and the Clown
Korea's box-office champion is the film that Farewell, My Concubine wanted to be: there's trouble in the royal court when tyrannical King Yeonsan neglects his wife and falls for a travelling player.
Odeon West End, Screen 2

13:00
The Lives of Others
A remarkably assured first feature that paints a dark picture of life in 1980s East Germany, with a theatrical couple's every movement spied on by the State police.
Odeon West End, Screen 1

13:30
Blindsight
The journey of a group of blind Tibetan teens as they trek up a section of Mount Everest, led by famed blind climber, Erik Weihenmayer.
National Film Theatre, NFT1

13:45
Vierka, or The Mystery of Family B's Disappearance
Award winning documentary about the talented and vibrant young Roma singer Vierka Berkyová, also revealing a world of social and cultural contradiction.
National Film Theatre, NFT3

15:15
A Comedy of Power
Claude Chabrol's latest is a sleek comedy, with Isabelle Huppert at her brittle best as a magistrate on a mission.
Odeon West End, Screen 2

15:45
1:1 (One to One)
A white nineteen-year-old boy is beaten almost to death on a council estate. Racial hatred might be to blame, and no-one seems to be telling the truth.
National Film Theatre, NFT1

15:45
The Island
Set against a dramatic northern landscape, Father Anatoly leads an idiosyncratic life of penance, with a marvellous performance by Pyotr Mamonov.
National Film Theatre, NFT2

16:00
The Boss of It All
Lars von Trier goes back to his Danish roots. Actors, corporate culture, the Danes and even Icelanders are all in his sights in this intelligent and wry comedy.
Odeon West End, Screen 1

16:15
The Ugly Swans
Compelling and stylised adaptation of the Strugatskys' novel about a ghost town where mutants run a boarding school for gifted children.
National Film Theatre, NFT3

18:00
The King and the Clown
Korea's box-office champion is the film that Farewell, My Concubine wanted to be: there's trouble in the royal court when tyrannical King Yeonsan neglects his wife and falls for a travelling player.
Odeon West End, Screen 2

18:00
Blindsight
The journey of a group of blind Tibetan teens as they trek up a section of Mount Everest, led by famed blind climber, Erik Weihenmayer.
National Film Theatre, NFT1

18:15
Babooska
A melancholic, poetic and unromantic documentary portrait of travelling life.
ICA

18:30
The Bothersome Man
A black slapstick comedy in which Andreas finds himself in a world where no-one is troubled by emotions or sensations. Is it heaven or hell?
National Film Theatre, NFT3

18:30
Taxidermia
A raucous comedy, this mixture of social satire, art house surrealism and body horror tells the story of three generations of men.
Odeon West End, Screen 1

20:30
Venus
The coming-of-very-old-age story brings together two veteran English actors, Peter O'Toole and Leslie Phillips.
Odeon West End, Screen 2

20:45
Barakat!
A women's story that plays in a country wracked by violence.
National Film Theatre, NFT3

21:00
Candy
An engrossing and emotionally charged story of a couple in love, who also share a passion for heroin.
Odeon West End, Screen 1

13:00
Taxidermia
A raucous comedy, this mixture of social satire, art house surrealism and body horror tells the story of three generations of men.
Odeon West End, Screen 2

13:30
The Wedding Director
Famous Italian film director flees Rome for peace in Sicily, only to find himself entangled in the preparations for a posh wedding and besotted with the bride-to-be.
Odeon West End, Screen 1

14:00
Aurore
Welcome to a fairytale world of castles and kings, princes and princesses, balls, dowries and secrets.
National Film Theatre, NFT3

14:00
Fresh Air
Recalling the work of Ken Loach, this low-key account of the relationship between mother and daughter in contemporary Budapest marks a striking debut by director Ágnes Kocsis.
National Film Theatre, NFT1

14:00
Dreaming of Fish
An unconventional love story set in north eastern Brazil brings different worlds into collision as the seventeen-year old protagonist comes to realize that love often means something as banal as buying the object of your affections a television set.
ICA

15:30
Venus
The coming-of-very-old-age story brings together two veteran English actors, Peter O'Toole and Leslie Phillips.
Odeon West End, Screen 2

16:00
Bug
William Friedkin returns to his roots, and to form, in this intense, low budget adaptation of Tracy Letts' acclaimed off-Broadway play.
Odeon West End, Screen 1

16:00
Stolen Holidays
Veteran actress Bernadette Lafont excels in this tense drama about a woman going AWOL with her grandchildren.
National Film Theatre, NFT2

16:15
Babooska
A melancholic, poetic and unromantic documentary portrait of travelling life.
ICA

16:15
The Bothersome Man
A black slapstick comedy in which Andreas finds himself in a world where no-one is troubled by emotions or sensations. Is it heaven or hell?
National Film Theatre, NFT3

16:15
Free Floating
Full of quirky humour, this new film from the director of 'Koktebel' follows the absurd adventures of a Russian youth in a succession of dead end jobs.
National Film Theatre, NFT1

18:00
The Boss of It All
Lars von Trier goes back to his Danish roots. Actors, corporate culture, the Danes and even Icelanders are all in his sights in this intelligent and wry comedy.
Odeon West End, Screen 2

18:15
Black Gold
An eye-opening look into the global coffee industry, where the spoils of over-priced lattes and cappuccinos are sparsely shared with the farmers who make it all possible.
National Film Theatre, NFT2

18:30
A Comedy of Power
Claude Chabrol's latest is a sleek comedy, with Isabelle Huppert at her brittle best as a magistrate on a mission.
Odeon West End, Screen 1

18:30
Not Here to Be Loved
An intelligent grown-up romance that has genuine heart.
National Film Theatre, NFT1

18:30
Rough Winds
A dramatic tale of family trauma, adultery and betrayal as the past catches up with a doctor trying to make a new life for himself.
Ciné Lumière

18:30
Dreaming of Fish
An unconventional love story set in north eastern Brazil brings different worlds into collision as the seventeen-year old protagonist comes to realize that love often means something as banal as buying the object of your affections a television set.
ICA

20:30
Stranger than Fiction
An IRS auditor suddenly finds himself the subject of narration only he can hear: narration that begins to affect his entire life.
Odeon West End, Screen 2

20:45
Fimfarum 2
A Czech puppet film for 'small kids and clever adults' takes in the story of Tom Thumb, the Devil's temptations, and three hunchbacks from Damascus.
National Film Theatre, NFT3

21:00
The Lives of the Saints
An errand boy comes upon a weird looking kid who, with the power to make people's wishes come true, transforms his life forever.
Odeon West End, Screen 1

21:00
The Singer
Gérard Depardieu makes a show-stopping comeback as a provincial crooner in Xavier Giannoli's bittersweet drama.
Ciné Lumière

21:00
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A
Framed as a prison murder mystery, Takashi Miike's extraordinary movie (starring Ryuhei Matsuda and Masanobu Ando) is actually a cosmic meditation on masculinity, not to mention an all-male love story.
National Film Theatre, NFT1

21:00
Running Stumbled
Family portraits don't come much more uncomfortably intimate or emotionally intense than first-time director John Maringouin's firsthand dissection of dysfunction.
ICA