The surfeit of talent on show tonight at the London Evening Standard British Film Awards is a great indication of the place British film finds itself at the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century.

Andrea Arnold’s tough tale of life on a council estate and winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes last year, Fish Tank, was named as the Best Film while the Actor and Actress awards were handed out to Andy Serkis for his role as Ian Dury in the biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll and Anne-Marie Duff for her exceptional turn in Nowhere Boy. Clearly the music biopic industry is producing some amazing work…

Other notable awards include In The Loop as the worthy winner of the Best Screenplay award and Nicolas Roeg was honoured for his contribution to film.

You can read the BBC’s report here.

Here’s a movie that I can’t claim to know too much about but LoveFilm have a brand new poster for the movie, The Last Station.  It has a great cast which includes, James McAvoy, Helen Mirren, Paul Giamatti, Christopher Plummer, Anne-Marie Duff and is directed by Michael Hoffman.

Here’s the synopsis from LoveFilm:

The Last Station is a love story set during the last year of the life of the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. As his health deteriorates, Tolstoy (Plummer) is tended to by his wife Sofya (Mirren), daughter Sasha (Duff) and devoted disciple Valentin Bulgakov (McAvoy)

However, having rejected his title and embraced an ascetic lifestyle, Tolstoy finds himself increasingly at odds with Sofya. As he considers signing a new will leaving the rights to his work to the Russian people rather than his family, the conflict between husband and wife grows to breaking point.

The Last Station is released 19th February. Click the image above to enlarge.

The British Independent Film Awards held its ceremony in London tonight and Duncan Jones was awarded The Douglas Hickox Award for his direction of his debut film, Moon.

As if to compound this triumph Moon was also announced as the best British independent film of 2009, and in taking the two top awards of the night Duncan Jones has been recognised as one of this country’s foremost talents.

We loved Moon, and its success is well deserved and the other winners of the ceremony show that the independent scene in Britain is capable of some truly amazing cinematic feats.

While Carey Mulligan’s success in the leading role of An Education was a foregone conclusion, I was pleased to see Anne-Marie Duff winning Best Supporting Actress for her role as Julia, John Lennon’s mother, in the sublime Nowhere Boy.

The BBC are running a report here, and you can keep up to date on all things Moon by following @manmademoon on Twitter and the excellent ManMadeMovies blog.

Now, let’s see if we can get Sam Rockwell that Oscar…

Nowhere Boy marks the feature debut of director Sam Taylor-Wood, from a script by Matt Greenhalgh, who wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed Ian Curtis biopic Control. The film, which closes the 53rd London Film Festival tonight, deals with the coming of age of John Lennon and the complicated domestic turbulence between his Mother and her Sister, John’s guardian, Aunt Mimi. It chronicles the passions and pains of a young, angry man in a society on the brink of a revolution.  It is an impressive work, with a magnetic central performance from Aaron Johnson and a plethora of magnificent support from some of the finest British actors working today.

Based on the memoir Imagine That by Lennon’s sister, Julia, Nowhere Boy is a fresh and emotionally taut drama which captures the rage and excitement of the post war years; a time of inherited austerity feeling the initial tremors of the Rock and Rock seismic change just around the corner. It is a playful and moving character study of the young Beatle, whose life is struck repeatedly with tragedy and who searches for a foundation in the fractured family unit consisting of Aunt Mimi and her sister, John’s Mother, Julia.

John Lennon is an icon recognisable the world over and his music, with The Beatles and his tragically short solo career, influenced millions of people. Where Taylor-Wood and Greenhalgh succeed is in taking the mythology of Lennon and his fellow Beatles and find an ocean of emotional turmoil to dive into. The early tragedy of his Uncle’s death sparks the touchpaper of an already unstable young man and the film follows his life through the rebelliousness and euphoria of teenage life with a care and sensitivity which is gripping and captures the excitement of the time.

Beatles fans will spot the customary Liverpool landmarks of Strawberry Fields and The Cavern club but these are cursory nods and the film eschews the conventions of the music biopic and allow the characters, so familiar to us, to form. The streets of Liverpool are awash with dockers and bus-surfing teddy boys, and the dialogue crackles with Scouse wit and backchat dripping with sarcasm, lifting the inherent melodrama and bringing the story to life. The cold, stifled atmosphere of Mendips, home to Lennon and Aunt Mimi contrasts perfectly with the riotous colourful abode of Lennon’s Mother Julia and both are beautifully realised and peopled with actors of great capability.

Johnson does a remarkable job as our leading man, bringing a charisma and tangible excitement to John Lennon as he rampages out of control on the stage and coolly dismisses a flick-knife in the face by a local bully. His chaotic genius  and energetic sadness is captivating. He is recognisably John Lennon, but with an unformed quality that is so necessary as he is buffeted by the forces of family loyalty and the wealth of secrets that lay in repressed memories of a grey Blackpool day out long ago.

While the narrative adheres faithfully (perhaps prosaically) to the story it succeeds in capturing the moments that matter beautifully. Lennon’s rowdy behaviour in school, the uncertain rebel trying to cope with the loss of family, the arrogant showman learning his trade from a fresh faced,  tea drinking Paul McCartney, the frustrated son searching in vain for a sense of harmony to his life; all shades of Lennon are rendered impressively by a brilliant performance. For the first time in a long while Aaron Johnson made me want to be the character I saw on screen.

I cannot praise the supporting cast enough. Anne-Marie Duff continues her startling rise with a nuanced and sympathetic performance as the trouble Julia and director Taylor-Wood wisely refuses to linger on the obvious traits of her character, instead Duff is able to bring a caricature to ebullient life. In contrast the third point of the triangle is Mimi, played with precision and outstanding depth by Kristen Scott Thomas, trying to bring up the wayward teenager with a sense of discipline while keeping dark secrets at bay. Her subtleties and understanding of the drama of the story is an essential component of why this film, at one crucial point, literally left me breathless.

Nowhere Boy takes a man whose life has transcended cultural boundaries and looks back as he struggles to become greater than the accident of his birth. The token scenes of the early Beatles performances excite and the dynamics of the characters are pitched perfectly and the final shock, when it comes, is devastating. Sam Taylor-Wood has earned the praise she is rightfully receiving as an artist and now as a film maker.

This film is a perfect end to a magnificent London Film Festival, and serves to remind the world that the talent of British film makers has never been greater and a new British cultural identity is being established here and now.

The trailer for the John Lennon biopic has been released on YouTube. It’s set to premiere at the London Film Festival tomorrow and our roving reporter Jon will be there so stay tuned for his review.

Nowhere Boy is directed by Sam Taylor Wood, is based on the memoirs of Julia Baird and stars Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Thomas Sangster, David Morrissey, Anne-Marie Duff and Ophelia Lovibond.

Imagine John Lennons childhood A spirited teenager, curious, sharp and funny, growing up in the shattered city of Liverpool. Two extraordinary sisters tussle for his love ““ Mimi, the formidable aunt who raised him from the age of 5 and Julia, the spirited mother who gave him up to Mimis care. Yearning for a normal family, John escapes into art and the new music flooding in from the US. His fledgling genius finds a kindred spirit in the young Paul McCartney. But just as Johns new life begins, the truth about his past leads to a tragedy he would never escape.

Nowhere Boy is released 25th December. Check out the trailer below.

The Weinstein Company have released the first photos and poster via (The Playlist and Zimbio) for upcoiming John Lennon Biopic, ‘Nowhere Boy’. The movie is set to premiere at the London Film Festival later this week where our roving reporters currently are (keep up to date on Twitter).

Nowhere Boy stars Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Thomas Sangster, David Morrissey, Anne-Marie Duff and Ophelia Lovibond.

Imagine John Lennons childhood A spirited teenager, curious, sharp and funny, growing up in the shattered city of Liverpool. Two extraordinary sisters tussle for his love – Mimi, the formidable aunt who raised him from the age of 5 and Julia, the spirited mother who gave him up to Mimis care. Yearning for a normal family, John escapes into art and the new music flooding in from the US. His fledgling genius finds a kindred spirit in the young Paul McCartney. But just as Johns new life begins, the truth about his past leads to a tragedy he would never escape.

Nowhere Boy is released 25th December. We’ll hopefully have our review up in the very near future.