REVIEW OF 2016 - BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1. Jonathan Ricquebourg (THE DEATH OF LOUIS XIV)

2. Lav Diaz (THE WOMAN WHO LEFT)

3. Christophe Blauvelt (CERTAIN WOMEN)

4. Nikolaus Geyrhalter (HOMO SAPIENS)

5. Ivan Markovic (ALL THE CITIES OF THE NORTH)

6. Khalik Allah (FIELD NIGGAS)

7. Guo Da Ming (PATHS OF THE SOUL)

8. Virginie Surdej (WOLF AND SHEEP)

9. Rodrigo Prieto (SILENCE)

10. Fernando Lockett and Diego Poleri (KEKSZAKALLU)

LFF 2016 REVIEW - THE DEATH OF LOUIS XIV (ALBERT SERRA)

The view from within, a sight of a most public figure yet also one most secluded and now, approaching death, most isolated. Alone in his experience, yet surrounded by doctors, advisers and valets, facing down a situation wholly unusual and profound to the individual, yet entirely universal, Albert Serra depicts the Sun King, Louis XIV, from a perspective that only he could have devised, or realized in such a fashion. The Death of Louis XIV is sumptuous - bright, burnished gold and blood red sizzling through the screen, an entire world created in a single room, ably populated by a cast of characters inhabited vividly yet subtly by a fine ensemble. It is absurd - the degrading humanization of a man regarded as more than a mere human, the plain, unavoidable, unpretentious physicality of his agonizing descent toward death, yet plied with Alicante wine to simply dribble over his closed lips, or dressed in a fur stole atop his drab bedclothes. It is palpably real - close confines and excellent performances render this extraordinary environment realistic, even amid grandeur and artifice, both artistic and emotional. Serra pushes Jean-Pierre Leaud further than any other director in recent years, and pushes himself to refine his outlook without abandoning the distinctive philosophical and stylistic character of his alternative historical essays, and both succeed magnificently. With typically piquant, gently irreverent humour, The Death of Louis XIV is a genuine intimate epic, and Leaud's presence (and sporadic, eventually oppressive absence) permits it further import for the contemporary audience: the death of a cinema legend in the death of a historical one.

LFF 2016 PREVIEW: THE DEATH OF LOUIS XIV

'This is Serra's best film'

Kent Jones, Film Comment

'Albert Serra's amazing The Death of Louis XIV is that rare film which is beloved both by the most hardcore cinephiles, and the general public'

Nina Menkes, Filmmaker

'Much as certain novels can be described as page-turners, this film is incontestably a frame-turner'

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Film Comment

Any good film fan would do well to schedule some Albert Serra into their festival programmes, should they get the chance. The Catalan director's first film since 2013's Locarno Golden Leopard winner Story of My Death, The Death of Louis XIV has attracted arguably the best reviews of his career to date, a career that's seeing Serra's star rise with each new feature. Premiering at Cannes in May, and embarking on a hefty and award-winning festival run through the summer and autumn, it'll arrive at LFF next month, where it naturally ranked highly indeed on my list of must-see titles. Easily one of my most-anticipated films of the year.

THE DEATH OF LOUIS XIV - TRAILER

Albert Serra is one of contemporary cinema's most provocative intellectualists, or perhaps one of its most intellectual provocateurs... The Death of Louis XIV screens as a special screening at Cannes later this month, and looks certain to ignite respect and debate among those lucky cinephiles in attendance. This is the first trailer for the follow-up to Story of My Death, which looks as sumptuous and as strange as expected.