{"id":3332,"date":"2008-10-15T22:43:34","date_gmt":"2008-10-15T21:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=3332"},"modified":"2008-10-15T22:52:24","modified_gmt":"2008-10-15T21:52:24","slug":"lff-2008-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2008\/10\/15\/lff-2008-day-1\/","title":{"rendered":"LFF 2008: Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Crane<\/a><\/p>\n

The 52nd London Film Festival<\/a> opened tonight with the world premiere of Frost\/Nixon<\/a><\/strong> at the Odeon Leicester Square<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n

I went to the press screening this morning and I was very impressed – not only were the central performances of the same calibre as the stage play, but it is fascinating look at two very interesting characters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although Peter Bradshaw gave it the thumbs down<\/a> in The Guardian today, I felt Ron Howard did an admirable job at preserving the qualities of the source material.<\/p>\n

It might not be the heavyweight Oscar front-runner some were expecting<\/a>, it is still high quality film-making with a raft of excellent performances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The audience reaction this morning seemed positive – some of Nixon’s best lines got hearty laughs – but I’m curious as to how it will do.<\/p>\n

A friend of mine went to a press screening last night and said that although he liked it, that audience was a little more muted in their response.<\/p>\n

Some of the problems it will face are the absence of major stars, it is quite ‘talky’ and the fact that a younger generation might not care that much about Richard Nixon or David Frost.<\/p>\n

But, as a big fan of the play, I was surprised at how much Howard didn’t alter and that he kept it rooted firmly in the contrasts of the two main characters, which is the main reason the material works.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can read my full review of Frost\/Nixon in a separate post<\/a>, but I think it’s also worth setting the scene a little bit about the festival and what’s going on over the next 3 weeks.<\/p>\n

First of all the London Film Festival<\/a> is sort of ‘festival of festivals’, which means that whilst it doesn’t have the importance of Cannes<\/a>, Berlin<\/a>, Sundance<\/a>, Venice<\/a> or Toronto<\/a>, it does have the advantage of picking the best films from these festivals and even, in some cases, showcasing films that have not shown at any of them.<\/p>\n

It doesn’t perform the same industry function as Cannes or Sundance in that networking and distribution deals are much rarer, but it does provide an opportunity for the public to see some of the year’s best films be they high profile Oscar contenders or more art-house fare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This year some of the high profile screenings at the festival include:<\/p>\n