The International Premiere of George Clooney’s The Tender Bar starring Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan and Lily Rabe has been added to the program of the 2021 BFI London Film Festival. Also added to the program is Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash from Indonesian director Edwin, a dizzying film adaptation of Eka Kurniawan’s acclaimed novel about an impotent aspiring assassin.
The Festival also announces the first of its 2021 Screen Talk line-up with acclaimed directors Jane Campion, Asghar Farhadi and Ryusuke Hamaguchi joining Succession-creator Jesse Armstrong and Norwegian actor Anders Danielsen Lie for a series of in-person talks about the careers of some of the industry’s key talents, both in front of and behind the camera.
The Festival will welcome Academy Award-winner Jane Campion back to London on the occasion of her dark and captivating The Power of the Dog, this year’s BFI LFF American Express Gala. She’ll cover a number of career highlights with a focus on her latest work.
Acclaimed British screenwriter and producer Jesse Armstrong joins the Festival to discuss his impressive career in television and film, as well as the upcoming third season of the Emmy award-winning hit Succession, and actor Anders Danielsen Lie will join audiences to discuss his work, including two new films in the Festival: Mia Hansen-Løve’s Bergman Island and The Worst Person in the World, the final part of Joachim Trier’s Oslo trilogy.
Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who helms two of the films in this year’s Festival, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and Drive My Car to discuss these Silver Bear and Cannes Best Screenplay-winning films along with his wider filmography and Academy Award-winning director Asghar Farhadi will return to the Festival to explore his captivating Cannes Grand-Prix winner A Hero as part of a wider look at his impressive career.
The 65th BFI London Film Festival takes place from Wednesday October 6 – Sunday October 17, 2021.
New additions to the 2021 BFI London Film Festival Program
THE TENDER BAR
Director George Clooney. Producers Grant Heslov, George Clooney, Ted Hope. With Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Lily Rabe. USA 2021. 105min.UK Distribution Amazon Studios
JR is a boy without a name and a father. At least, that’s the story according to many of the adults outside of his family. But when his mother moves back into her childhood home, JR’s charismatic bar- owning Uncle Charlie (Affleck) is determined the boy doesn’t see himself that way. Based on the memoirs of writer JR Moehringer and elegantly adapted for the screen William Monahan (The Departed), Tender Bar is a poignant reflection on the ways in which the right influence, at just the right time, can have a profound impact. Fueled by the sounds of Jackson Browne, Golden Earring and Steely Dan, and with period-perfect design from an exceptional production team, Clooney’s impressive drama also features Tye Sheridan as an older JR, reflecting back on his childhood, while newcomer Daniel Ranieri is a revelation as the budding young writer. Lily Rabe and Christopher Lloyd round out the terrific lead cast.
VENGEANCE IS MINE, ALL OTHERS PAY CASH
Director Edwin. Producers Meiske Taurisia, Muhammad Zaidy. Screenwriters Edwin, Eka Kurniawan. With Marthino Lio, Ladya Cheryl. Indonesia-Singapore-Germany 2021. 114min. Sales The Match Factory.
Language Indonesian with English subtitles
Combining elements of retro East Asian fight cinema, raunchy sex comedies, ghost stories and all out romance movies, this utterly distinctive, weirdly moving film focuses on Ajo (Lio) a moody gangster intent on proving his worth by assassinating a local gangster. But when Ajo meets troubled bodyguard Iteung (Cheryl), a softer side to this young man emerges, an initially knockabout connection morphing into something more romantically physical. The only snag is that Ajo is impotent, just one of many obstacles the new couple must face as they hurtle into an uncertain, unpredictable and violent future. Constantly evolving narratively and tonally, prolific director Edwin’s beautifully shot and performed film fires along at breakneck pace, unfolding its complex, thematically rich story with real elegance, energy and strikingly sincere emotion. A truly unique film.