Blessed at the London Film Festival

In Leicester Square people were getting ready for the closing night gala of the 53rd BFI London Film Festival; Sam Taylor-Wood's debut, Nowhere Boy, about the early life of John Lennon.

However, I found myself across the square in the newest LFF venue, the Vue, in a cinema only two thirds full for a screening of Ana Kokkinos's Blessed.

A late addition to the festival programme (a listing for it does not appear in the festival brochure), this film grew out of the provocatively titled play Who's Afraid of the Working Class?, dealing with the relationships between people on the edge of society of Melbourne.

It is perhaps a good thing that Blessed has no opening credits: a personal prejudice leads me to worry about films with more than two credited writers, and Blessed has four. However, this was far from a hindrance to the film. You don't win the jury prize for Best Screenplay at the San Sebastián International Film Festival when too many cooks have spoiled the broth. The dialogue of the teenagers - so hard for many writers to master - is pitch perfect ("not a spare word", was what my mother said, with whom I saw the film).

The film is split into two sections, "The Children" and "The Mothers", both halves taking place over the same day and night, and telling the different sides of same stories and relationships.

Dealing with issues like child abuse and Australia's Stolen Generations, Blessed is perhaps not an easy film to watch, but it is one that is well worth the effort.

Moments that may appear confusing when first shown make sense when the story is told from the other perspective. A scene that could turn into a cliché (a teenage burglar befriended by his victim) turns into something much darker in a split second. Other than one scene that reminded me of the similarly themed US ensemble piece Where the Day Takes You (Will Smith's film debut, trivia fans), I really cannot recall a film quite like Blessed. I do not wish to give too much away, but I will say one particular plotline is incredibly moving.


Cezary Skubiszewski's somehow uplifting music is worthy of a particular mention.

I am unsure if the film has yet found a distributor in the UK. I hope it does. It also deserves recognition come awards season. Frances O'Connor, in particular should be rewarded for her performance.

During the Q&A Kokkinos that followed the screening, I asked what the reaction to the film had been in Australia. She said it had been largely positive, with a huge resonance for some people. I asked the question because I recall reading that the release of La haine led to questions in the French Parliament, followed by a screening for politicians. One could easily imagine Blessed having the same response in Australia.

Ana Kokkinos said in an interview (WARNING: slight spoilers in the link) that "People are thinking about the film days after." I saw the film on Thursday. It's Sunday now and I'm still thinking about Rhonda, Stacey and Orton.

One final point: The print I saw was the same one that had been shown at San Sebastián, and therefore had Spanish subtitles. It did not detract from the film in any way, but surely a film as important as this deserves more than one print in Europe? I know striking prints is expensive, but if it is prohibitively expensive, then the case for digital projection can only grow.