At the apex of England’s power and geographical expansion, it was said that the sun never set on the British Empire. Those days may be long gone, but the United Kingdom’s cultural impact has endured, as is proven on an annual basis at the Mostly British Film Festival, now in its 17th year. The upcoming MBFF — held from Feb. 6–13 at the Vogue Theatre, will be presenting its invariably thoughtful schedule of movies that range from drama and comedy to biopic and documentary and represent Great Britain, various corners of the Commonwealth, and former colonies. As usual, there will be some new releases, some worthwhile recent films that may have not received wide distribution, a handful of vintage gems, and at least one major tribute.
Kicking off the festival with a Northern California premiere before its official U.S. theatrical release next month, The Penguin Lessons is a comedy with dashes of drama inspired by the actual experiences of an English teacher in 1970s Buenos Aires who finds himself “adopted” by a penguin as a military coup throws Argentina into tumult. Steve Coogan, best known for The Trip film and TV franchise and various projects wherein he plays the hilariously pompous Alan Partridge, is a major plus as the nomadic teacher. He’s ideal in the part, whether reluctantly bonding with the penguin then using the bird to connect with a recalcitrant class of private school students or grappling with the genuine peril being unleashed on the citizens of Buenos Aires. Directed by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty) and costarring veteran actor Jonathan Pryce (most recently on TV’s Slow Horses) as the headmaster of the school, The Penguin Lessons will be preceded by an opening night party at Presidio Kebab.
Shoshana and Rose’s War are also inspired by true events, but they are far more serious in intent than The Penguin Lessons, which leans into the comedic charm of its star and his waddling de facto companion, despite the life-threatening political upheaval of the setting. Both Shoshana and Rose’s War examine the consequences of terrorism as seen through the experiences of their respective female leads. Shoshana — which will also be getting its Northern California premiere at the MBFF — is the latest feature from director Michael Winterbottom (Welcome to Sarajevo, 24 Hour Party People). It focuses on a romantic liaison that starts during the late 1930s in Tel Aviv when Great Britain’s military control of Palestine was increasingly undermined by conflict with Palestinian natives and Jewish settlers who were also attacking one another. The title character is a Polish Zionist immigrant whose love affair with an English police inspector in the occupying forces is jeopardized by her commitment to an Israeli state.
A different occupation — the British in Northern Ireland — is the driving force behind the events of Rose’s War, part of the festival’s Irish Spotlight. In this tense docudrama written and directed by Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy, English heiress Rose Dugdale renounces her well-to-do family, joins the Irish Republican Army, and masterminds the April 1974 theft of an incredibly valuable collection of paintings from the manor of the aristocratic Sir Alfred Beit. It’s easy to make comparisons to kidnapped-rich-girl-turned-revolutionary Patty Hearst, but Rose, played with verve and depth by Imogen Poots, was a true believer from the get-go. She wanted to exchange the art for the release of IRA members incarcerated by the Brits, and a hefty ransom to boot. Rose’s War presents her origin, her radicalization, the heist, and its aftermath in compelling fashion.
Veteran soldiers and veteran filmmakers
It may not be strictly based on a real person, yet The Last Rifleman does use the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion as the trigger and eventual destination for its hero’s journey. That heroic figure is a 92-year-old World War II veteran in a Northern Ireland assisted-living facility who decides to sneak out of the care home and, without a passport, sufficient funds, or necessary prescription drugs, make his way to France so he can reunite with the surviving soldiers from his unit at the 2019 gathering. As the determined elder on a mission, former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan is believably aged up by a couple decades for The Last Rifleman, and delivers what may be the crowning performance of his career.
Although there are other documentaries on the MBFF schedule, two of them are specifically geared to thrill movie lovers with deep dives into a couple of the most significant creative alliances in the history of cinema. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger was directed by David Hinton, but its driving wheel is award-winning filmmaker and preservationist Martin Scorsese who goes on the record about the profound influence the team of director Michael Powell and screenwriter Emeric Pressburger had on his own work. As the story of the Powell-Pressburger collaboration is told through interviews and archival clips, excerpts from their shared filmography enhance the account. Their landmark movies The Red Shoes and I Know Where I’m Going will also be screened during the festival in sparkling new restorations.
Merchant Ivory deals with a more renowned partnership that was both professional and personal: the long-lived association between director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant, which resulted in a series of critically acclaimed and commercially successful motion pictures, including Academy Award honorees A Room with a View, Howards End, and The Remains of the Day. Over the course of Merchant Ivory, director Stephen Soucy features the still-going-strong-in-his-90s Ivory on the record about his long-standing relationship to Merchant and their various cohorts, as well as recollections and testimonials from a few of the duo’s favorite actors, such as Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, and Helena Bonham Carter. Select scenes from a number of Merchant Ivory Productions’ 44 movies round out the documentary. A screening of the well-loved A Room with a View will follow the showing of Merchant Ivory.
A tribute and more treats
Among the special events at the 17th MBFF will be an in-person conversation with Hugh Bonneville — the noble Lord Grantham of Downton Abbey in its TV and movie installments and a fixture in high-profile narratives that range from the rom-com Notting Hill and the biographical film Iris to the current Paramount Plus espionage series The Agency. His one-on-one chat with festival artistic director Ruthe Stein will be accompanied by a screening of the 2009 family drama From Time to Time, which starred Bonneville alongside the late Maggie Smith. Insofar as Bonneville has lately played the human father figure to a certain cuddly talking bear cub, it’s fitting that the MBFF has arranged for a sneak preview of the third Paddington Bear installment Paddington in Peru, prior to its theatrical run.
There’s so much more on tap it’s difficult to detail every aspect of the festival. That said, it’s always a joy to watch the masterful Ian McKellen dig into a meaty role like his nasty, closeted 1930s-era London theater reviewer in The Critic. The same goes for anything with Ian McShane whose portrayal of a hit-man on the verge of retirement in the U.K. thriller American Star is a tour de force. The decidedly adult stop-motion feature Memoir of a Snail is not only a ramshackle delight from Australia; it’s a Best Animation nominee at the Oscars. Primarily set at an island-bound 1950s Christian reformatory for delinquent girls, We Were Dangerous starts out like a New Zealand version of England’s St. Trinian’s comedies about rambunctious pupils at an all-female boarding school, then its whimsy shifts into something considerably darker and emotionally wrenching. And sticking with kiwis and religious zealots, director Lee Tamahori has delivered The Convert, a lush period drama graced by a powerful turn from Guy Pearce as a 19th-century English missionary attempting to bring Jesus to New Zealand’s Maori tribes.
Closing night will offer a final Northern California premiere: French director Laura Piani’s romantic dramedy Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, set at Shakespeare & Company, the famous British bookstore in Paris, where a depressed clerk and wannabe novelist on the staff seeks love, Austen-style. The screening will be followed by a dessert after party at the theater, which sounds like a yummy way to celebrate what should be a successful Mostly British Film Festival.
For the complete MBFF schedule and ticket information, visit the festival’s website or the Vogue Theater website.
