12 films to see at London Film Festival 2015

There are over 200 titles at this year's London Film Festival. We focus in on the twelve films we recommend you seek out.

The Biggies

Four gala films that will be fighting it out for awards come Oscar season.

Carol

We're looking forward to the return of Todd Haynes, who's been absent from our big screens since 2007's I'm Not There, his multilinear take on the Bob Dylan story, which saw no less than six actors play versions of the singer. One of those actors was Cate Blanchett, who reunites here with Haynes for this classy adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt. Blanchett could be in line for her third Oscar, but it was her co-star Rooney Mara who picked up the biggest plaudits when the film premiered at Cannes, winning the Best Actress award there.

When and where it's playing: 14 Oct, Odeon Leicester Square; 15 Oct, Odeon Leicester Square; 17 Oct, Cine Lumiere

Room

Lenny Abrahamson has proved himself the most versatile of directors, moving from low-budget bittersweet drama Garage to searing morality tale What Richard Did to Frank Sidebottom-inspired comedy-drama Frank. Here he's adapting Emma Donoghue's dark bestseller about a captive mother (Brie Larson) whose five-year-old son has never left the small room in which he was born. Room walked away with the audience award at this year's Toronto Film Festival, so expect a similarly positive reception from London audiences.

When and where it's playing: 11 Oct, Vue West End; 12 Oct, Vue West End; 13 Oct, Curzon Mayfair

Black Mass

There are shades of Sidney Lumet in this muscular gangster picture from Out of the Furnace director Scott Cooper. But we're most looking forward to seeing Johnny Depp do some proper acting again after a decade of grotesque dress-up in the likes of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and dire comedy Mortdecai. Balding and unrecognisable as real-life Boston crime lord James 'Whitey' Bulger, it's reportedly his best work in years.

When and where it's playing: 11 Oct, Odeon Leicester Square; 12 Oct, Odeon Leicester Square; 16 Oct, Vue Islington

Steve Jobs

We've enjoyed Michael Fassbender's recent ribbing of Ashton Kutcher, who portrayed the Apple CEO in the skin-deep biopic Jobs. Expect a lot more here, not just because of the presence of the always enthralling Fassbender in front of the camera; with Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) in the director's chair and Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) providing the dialogue, we're hoping for an exposé that is both biting and entertaining.

When and where it's playing: 18 Oct, Odeon Leicester Square; 18 Oct, Vue West End

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Read our guide to the BFI London Film Festival 2015

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Auteurs to be relied upon

Films from some of our favourite filmmakers who rarely let us down.

Sunset Song

This is Terence Davies' passion project. The Liverpudlian filmmaker has been attempting to get this adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's classic Scottish novel made since before his heartbreaking take on Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth. Like that 2000 film and 2011's The Deep Blue Sea, this is another paean to a female character fighting against the social mores of the male-dominated world around her. Former model Agyness Deyn is said to be a revelation as lead Chris Guthrie, and we're excited to see what the great visual stylist Davis and his cinematographer, Michael McDonough, do with the Scottish landscape.

When and where it's playing: 15 Oct, Vue West End; 18 Oct, Vue West End

Our Little Sister

Another familial drama from Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, who's proving to be the master of domestic studies that are small in scale but big on impact. This follow-up to the delightful I Wish and Like Father, Like Son centres on a 15-year-old girl who meets her three older half-sisters for the first time at their father's funeral. Expect gentle comedy paired with unsentimental emotion. 

When and where to see it: 12 Oct, Curzon Chelsea; 13 Oct, Curzon Soho

The Club

Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín has given us a black comedy about a Saturday Night Fever-obsessed serial killer (Tony Manero), a story of a mortician more lifeless than the thousands of bodies he's forced to bury (Post Mortem) and a witty tale of the ad men who helped take down Pinochet when he stood for re-election in 1988 (No). All three were brilliant. We've no reason not to expect the same from The Club, which follows a group of oddball priests whose dark past comes back to haunt them.

When and where to see it: 8 Oct, Cineworld Haymarket; 9 Oct, Vue West End 

Queen of Earth

Alex Ross Perry is the reigning king of American indie filmmaking. With The Colour Wheel and Listen Up Philip (a hit at last year's LFF) Perry showed a knack for urbane comedies centered on toe-curling protagonists. He seems to have changed gear with Queen of Earth, a psychological horror film about a woman on the verge of madness. The director has cited Roman Polanski as a big influence on this latest film, and the retro trailer suggests a myriad of other influences. Mad Man's Elisabeth Moss is the woman on the edge.

When and where to see it: 11 Oct, Hackney Picturehouse; 13 Oct, Cineworld Haymarket

Wildcards

Blistering indies from the filmmaking fringes.

Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story)

This dreamily shot drama from first time director Eva Husson is a steamy study in teenage sexuallity following a group of high-schoolers in a sleepy coastal town who turn their lazy summer afternoons after school into debauched sex parties. The film has been compared to Larry Clark’s Kids, but its protagonists are closer to the dazed and confused teens of Sofia Coppola The Virgin Suicides and The Bling Ring.

When and where to see it: 8 Oct, Picturehouse Central; 10 Oct, Curzon Mayfair; 11 Oct, Hackney Picturehouse

Tangerine

This lo-fi indie is a blast. Set on Christmas Eve among the street workers of West Hollywood, this is a profane human comedy bursting with life. And despite being shot on an iPhone, it's one of the most gorgeous films you'll find at this year's London Film Festival.

When and where to see it: 9 Oct, Vue West End; 10 Oct, Vue West End

Evolution

This second feature from Lucile Hadžihalilović takes the form of a Cronenbergian horror centred around a young boy who discovers something disturbing in the depths of the ocean. Critics are comparing its teasing mysteries to Under the Skin and Upstream Colour, which has us first in line to see it.

When and where to see it: 12 Oct, Vue West End; 13 Oct, Vue West End

The Witch

Another horror, this one a period chiller following a Christian family struggle to survive living along the edge of a vast wilderness in 1630s New England. Reports promise high-wire tension from writer-director Robert Eggers’ debut.

When and where to see it: 12 Oct, Picturehouse Central; 14 Oct, Vue West End

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