By Peg Aloi

The first of three review round-ups from this year’s London Film Festival’s excellent slate of films.

This year’s London Film Festival featured an exciting slate of films. Unlike the last two years, when I covered the festival remotely, I’m in the heart of London and have access to in-person press screenings, so I’ve been able to see more of the mainstream films (which are not usually made available digitally). I’m also here working in another capacity, so haven’t been able to spend all day every day in the theater. That means I’ve missed some titles I’d have loved to see (like Saltburn, Occupied City, Killers of the Flower Moon, and The Boy and the Heron). There were also times when I stood in line for a press screening but wasn’t able to find a seat (a flaw in the system that needs addressing). But the selection I’ve seen so far has been excellent; I’m offering some short reviews in these dispatches, plus longer reviews to come when these films play in Boston.

Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla Presley in Priscilla.

I started with Priscilla, the hotly anticipated biopic about Priscilla Presley, the teenage girl who started dating Elvis when she was only 14 years old, while she was attending a private Catholic school and he was fresh out of the army. Director Sofia Coppola’s approach to this tender age story is reminiscent of her giddy, opulent, anachronistic portrait Marie Antoinette. Like Marie, Priscilla Beaulieu (Cailee Spaeny of The Craft: Legacy and Mare of Easttown, in a career-making performance) is a princess of sorts, living in a decadent palace (Graceland), worshiped by adoring fans who are envious of her fairy tale existence and romantic liaison with an iconic sex symbol (a charismatic turn by Jacob Elordi).

In every fairy tale, however, lie horrors. Young Priscilla’s life of privilege and pleasure, made possible by Elvis’s rapid ascent to fame and accompanying wealth, came at a cost. The film peers matter-of-factly at the demons and vices that led to Elvis’s premature death at age 42 (he was 11 years older than his wife). On the other hand, the narrative doesn’t delve deeply into what many might see as a predatory aspect of their relationship: Priscilla insisted in her memoir that she was a virgin until she was married at 21.

Where the film soars highest is in its scrupulous attention to period detail, including a pitch-perfect soundtrack that doesn’t contain a single song sung by Elvis in its mix. The scenic and costume design is often breathtaking, especially when it fetishizes the trappings of beauty that Elvis insisted upon for his young bride. From her hair color to her eye makeup to her fashion choices, Priscilla is coerced to submit to Elvis’s preferences. His controlling, narcissistic behavior doesn’t stop there, and the film doesn’t shy away from portraying this man as the charming monster he most assuredly was. (Priscilla will be released in the US on November 3)

Hinata Hiiragi and Soya Kurokawa in Monster. Photo: Suenaga Makoto

Speaking of monsters, Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s Monster is an intriguing drama told from multiple perspectives that eventually reveals itself to be an intricate coming-of-age story. In the film’s opening segment, we see a preteen boy, Minato (sensitively played by Soya Kurakowa), who acts out at school, bullied by a teacher. His mother Saori (Sakura Ando) is increasingly frustrated by what she sees as the school’s inadequate response to the situation. The second segment explores the story from the teacher’s very different point of view. In the third section, the boy’s daily life is examined, a kaleidoscope of shifting, fractured moments, from dull daily routines to thrilling adventures with a secret friend at school (who is also bullied, but by fellow students). Monster is ultimately a tender, moving story that delves into childhood’s more painful, unbearable moments and sharply conveys the struggle of adults trying to meet unachievable expectations. (Monster will be released in the US on November 22)

A scene from Paradise Is Burning. Photo: Nadja Hallstrom

Paradise Is Burning is a powerful feature debut by Swedish filmmaker Mika Gustafson, who nabbed a prestigious directing award at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Three sisters (7, 12, and 16) live at home alone; their freewheeling mother has finally abandoned them completely. They manage somehow, thanks to eldest sister Laura’s fierce, protective love of her sisters, and her bold manipulation of the system. They steal groceries, lie to social workers who call, and, with other neighborhood girls, break into rich peoples’ houses when they’re not at home, just to enjoy a more luxurious life, if only for an evening.

Sisters Laura, Mira, and Steffi seem to think they’ll be able to carry on forever this way, but Laura realizes she’ll have to find someone to impersonate their mother to avoid her sisters being forced into a foster home. Laura meets a middle-class young woman, and their immediate connection with each other leads them to share disparate aspects of their lives. But the friendship distracts Laura from her responsibilities, while her sisters continue to hone their own scrappy survival skills. Naturalistic performances anchor this strong narrative that explores, without fanfare, the painful struggles of adolescence and the nature of familial love.

Peg Aloi is a former film critic for the Boston Phoenix and member of the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Critics Choice Awards, and the Alliance for Women Film Journalists. She taught film studies in Boston for over a decade. She writes on film, TV, and culture for web publications like Time, Vice, Polygon, Bustle, Mic, Orlando Weekly, and Bloody Disgusting. Her blog “The Witching Hour” can be found on substack.