Comments on: Good films set in London

Question: Good films set in London

fire&wings — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:25:06 -0800

Moviefilter: Recommend some good films set in London?

Looking for films set and filmed in London that feature a decent amount of the city streets/locations or that give a "feel" of the city. Not a huge fan of the Sliding Doors/Notting Hill end of the spectrum, but I have enjoyed Dirty Pretty Things and Naked. All eras and nationalities welcome, and the more offbeat the better (not interested in Blockbusters much.) Foreign films set in London, or films made by foreigners living in London are of particular interest. The IMDB listing for London is way too vast to navigate so I thought I'd look for some personal recommendations. Thanks! (availability on DVD obviously a bonus.)

By: pdb

pdb — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:27:27 -0800

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Fever Pitch (the proper one, not the gawdawful Red Sox one)

Withnail & I (not entirely set in London, but it starts there)

By: The Gooch

The Gooch — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:28:42 -0800

Match Point appears to fit all of your criteria.

By: pdb

pdb — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:29:02 -0800

Oh, and Harold & Maude. Don't remember whether it was set in London but it's effing genius.

By: sbrollins

sbrollins — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:32:24 -0800

I second Match Point. Also, Layer Cake was pretty entertaining.

By: essexjan

essexjan — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:32:36 -0800

The Long Good Friday
The Krays

Lots of Mike Leigh's films are set in London. Career Girls is excellent, as is High Hopes.

By: merocet

merocet — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:35:42 -0800

The knack and how to get it. Classic 60's off beat art flick about a girl moving to London so you get to get a very surreal feel for the city. Very stylised. Bloody fantastic!

By: patricio

patricio — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:38:47 -0800

St Etienne's film "Finisterre: A Film About London"

By: merocet

merocet — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:41:15 -0800

Oh and Blow Up while we're arty 60's London bound!

By: pyjammy

pyjammy — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:42:02 -0800

Beautiful Thing

and I second Fever Pitch, but maybe that's just because of Colin Firth.

By: jrb223

jrb223 — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:43:11 -0800

um Harold and Maude definitely does not take place in London..... Great movie though you're right, it's definitely set in the states and I always put it in california somewhere...

Early Hitchcock has great noirish shots of London: The Lodger and Sabotage are the first two that come to mind.

Oh and Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow Up, I'm pretty sure that's set in London.

um, how bout the Harry Palmer spy movies, like the Ipcress File those are great too, with good London scenes...

okay, gotta go update my netflix queue...

By: jrb223

jrb223 — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:43:39 -0800

shoulda previewed, merocet beat me to Blow Up

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:46:09 -0800

Two zombie movies set in London:
28 Days Later
Sean of the Dead

By: londongeezer

londongeezer — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:52:26 -0800

some older ones:
hue and cry, for children but excellent images of post-war london
poor cow (i think was set in notting hill)
performance, also in a flat in notting hill
alfie (the original, he ends up somewhere like waterloo bridge, musing bitterly)
there are as you indicate gazillions

By: Luddite

Luddite — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:54:35 -0800

Semi-obligatory wikipedia link

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 10:00:10 -0800

American Werewolf in London
Georgy Girl
I'll Never Forget What's'isname, which I hated, but the London settings are cool.
Sid and Nancy

By: grabbingsand

grabbingsand — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 10:15:22 -0800

For what it is worth ... Harold & Maude?
So not set in London.

But Wonderland is ... and it is brilliant.

By: amarynth

amarynth — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 10:19:26 -0800

My Beautiful Laundrette

By: scody

scody — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 10:26:50 -0800

Another vote for Alfie -- the original!

By: dogwalker

dogwalker — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 10:35:13 -0800

Green Street Hooligans

By: selton

selton — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 10:36:55 -0800

Nil by Mouth - very realistic working class, inner city Londoners.

By: deadmessenger

deadmessenger — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 10:47:51 -0800

Croupier.

By: deadmessenger

deadmessenger — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 10:53:56 -0800

Oh, my - it's almost too obvious, but I can't believe no one has mentioned Snatch.

By: bendybendy

bendybendy — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 11:09:03 -0800

Might be hard to find, but The Chain is a fey little English movie about moving day for 8 people, as they move up the social ladder and into new neighborhoods.

By: RoseovSharon

RoseovSharon — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 11:33:51 -0800

Lots of people hated it, but I loved Reign of Fire, which is set in a destroyed future London. Lots of cool images of London in ruins being scortched by dragons!

By: Hogshead

Hogshead — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 11:56:24 -0800

Restoration (1660s London)
Hope and Glory (London in WWII)
Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (London in WWII)
Passport to Pimlico (post-war London)
Wondrous Oblivion (1950s London)
Gangster No.1 (1960s London)
1984 (1984 London)

And proudly reprazentin' South London:
The End of the Affair
The Lavender Hill Mob
The Ladykillers

By: the cuban

the cuban — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 13:05:34 -0800

The daddy of them all is The London Nobody Knows

Watch it with St Etienne's film.

By: ceri richard

ceri richard — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 13:16:49 -0800

Nil by Mouth
Truly Madly Deeply

By: amestoy

amestoy — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 13:16:59 -0800

The Lost Son sounds right up your street (haven't seen it myself though). I have just seen Cronenberg's Spider which has wonderful production design by Andrew Sanders who beautifully captures the dark seamy side of of 1960s and 1980s London.

This Happy Breed is not by a foreigner but splendid all the same.

By: rob511

rob511 — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 14:36:28 -0800

Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Frenzy
A Fish Called Wanda
The Crying Game

By: legotech

legotech — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 15:08:19 -0800

Notting Hill was actually filmed in Notting Hill and you can wander around and see alla the spots.

101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians? :) Ok, not really helping there, but the live action was set in and shot in London.

reg

By: goshling

goshling — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 15:36:47 -0800

London Kills Me
Naked
Up The Junction

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 16:21:37 -0800

Neverwhere adds a fantasy "London Below" to the "London Above" that we're familiar with. The "London Below" concept is based on how in the real world, how willfully unseen and so in a way, almost secret, is the world that London's homeless live in, despite being right out in plain view.

By: John Smallberries

John Smallberries — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 18:02:05 -0800

The Tall Guy, with Emma Thompson and Jeff Goldblum. Damned funny movie.

By: Dr.Pill

Dr.Pill — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 18:11:33 -0800

A Kid for Two Farthings
The Optimists of Nine Elms
Party Party
The Fallen Idol
Passport to Pimlico
Fires Where Started
10 Rillington Place
Quadrophenia
Jubilee

By: TiredStarling

TiredStarling — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 23:48:17 -0800

Well there's always that film called... London. It's more or less a narrative over still shots of London: there are no people starring in it; the star is the city itself.

By: jobby

jobby — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 12:55:27 -0800

Creep. Decent horror set in the London Underground.

By: smoakes

smoakes — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 20:57:57 -0800

I first fell in love with London watching Absolute Beginners (the book is even better)

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 13:11:50 -0800

Another vote for My Beautiful Laundrette. I got to see Stephen Frears talk about it after a recent screening. He didn't think he could make it today because different communities would be too sensitive about how they're portrayed, as in the recent hubbub abound filming Brick Lane.

Here's a list of films set in London that are showing at a festival in the city this month.