Don’t miss! Four films for Saturday 13 October

Sticks and Stones

Simon’s stressed-out mother has moved the family from Copenhagen to Vesterby, a small town somewhere out in the sticks. Feeling alone and like an outsider, Simon is befriended by classmate Bjarke, a charismatic alpha male who seems to have it all: a huge house, wealthy father and a sexy, chilled-out mum. A seemingly anodyne school project sees the teenage boys mentally unleashed, employing increasingly daring and confrontational methods to probe beneath the veneer of calm in their local community and, in time, at home. Using surprising and challenging plot devices, Skovbjerg powerfully explores the impact of dysfunctional family dynamics within a fractured society. The superb camerawork and sound design create a sense of immediacy and claustrophobia, perfectly highlighting the troubling undercurrents of violence, dangerous sexuality and economic unease.

Sarah Lutton

• Book tickets for Sticks and Stones

Dear Son

Riadh and Nazli struggle to make ends meet; Nazli works in another city part-time and Riadh will soon retire from his construction job on the Tunis dock. Family life is modest, reserved and entirely centered around their only son Sami, whose final exams are approaching. He suffers migraines which seem to be intensifying. As they do, Riadh resolves to help his increasingly despondent son. But then Sami disappears, leaving a note stating that he has gone to Syria. The most devastating aspect of this family portrait is its understated perceptiveness. By positioning father and son at opposite ends of their life-journeys, the director of Hedi (First Feature Competition, LFF 2016) underlines the dangerous social limbo and lack of opportunity for Tunisian youth.

Elhum Shakerifar

• Book tickets for Dear Son

Last Child

That their teenage son died heroically saving a classmate from drowning offers little comfort to Sungcheol and Misook. Sungcheol focuses on his work as a decorator to deal with his grief, while Misook only feels alive when ruminating on her feelings for the dead boy. When Sungcheol learns that Kihyun, the schoolboy who survived the accident, is being bullied, he feels compelled to step in and give the lad a chance by teaching him a trade. But young Kihyun is not everything that he seems. Balancing tender yet unsentimental drama with thorny dilemmas, writer-director Shin Dong-seok perceptively explores working-class life and the emotional terrain of the masculine psyche, while the tone recalls Ibsen as it builds towards a gripping finale.

Kate Taylor

• Book tickets for Last Child

Bad Reputation

Although she’s best known for hit single ‘I Love Rock ’n’ Roll’, Joan Jett has provided tireless inspiration for generations of iconoclastic musicians. Skilfully assembled by veteran video director Kevin Kerslake, Bad Reputation chronicles a life committed to noisy art and activism, often in the face of sexism and stupidity. Rising from Los Angeles’ 1970s glam scene as teenage guitarist for The Runaways, before blazing her own trail, Jett championed underground sounds by producing hardcore punks The Germs and Riot Grrrl pioneers Bikini Kill, then later fronted The Gits following their singer’s horrific murder. Insightful interviewees including Kathleen Hanna, Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop and Kristen Stewart (who played Jett in biopic The Runaways), interspersed with forthright comments from Jett herself.

Manish Agarwal

• Book tickets for Bad Reputation