Good films set in London

September 15, 2006 9:25 AM

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.)

posted by fire&wings to Media & Arts (38 answers total)

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)
posted by pdb at 9:27 AM on September 15, 2006

Match Point appears to fit all of your criteria.
posted by The Gooch at 9:28 AM on September 15, 2006

Oh, and Harold & Maude. Don't remember whether it was set in London but it's effing genius.
posted by pdb at 9:29 AM on September 15, 2006

I second Match Point. Also, Layer Cake was pretty entertaining.
posted by sbrollins at 9:32 AM on September 15, 2006

The Long Good Friday
The Krays

Lots of Mike Leigh's films are set in London. Career Girls is excellent, as is High Hopes.
posted by essexjan at 9:32 AM on September 15, 2006

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!
posted by merocet at 9:35 AM on September 15, 2006

St Etienne's film "Finisterre: A Film About London"
posted by patricio at 9:38 AM on September 15, 2006

Oh and Blow Up while we're arty 60's London bound!
posted by merocet at 9:41 AM on September 15, 2006

Beautiful Thing

and I second Fever Pitch, but maybe that's just because of Colin Firth.
posted by pyjammy at 9:42 AM on September 15, 2006

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...
posted by jrb223 at 9:43 AM on September 15, 2006

shoulda previewed, merocet beat me to Blow Up
posted by jrb223 at 9:43 AM on September 15, 2006

Two zombie movies set in London:
28 Days Later
Sean of the Dead
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:46 AM on September 15, 2006

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
posted by londongeezer at 9:52 AM on September 15, 2006

Semi-obligatory wikipedia link
posted by Luddite at 9:54 AM on September 15, 2006

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
posted by hydrophonic at 10:00 AM on September 15, 2006

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

But Wonderland is ... and it is brilliant.
posted by grabbingsand at 10:15 AM on September 15, 2006

My Beautiful Laundrette
posted by amarynth at 10:19 AM on September 15, 2006

Another vote for Alfie -- the original!
posted by scody at 10:26 AM on September 15, 2006

Green Street Hooligans
posted by dogwalker at 10:35 AM on September 15, 2006

Nil by Mouth - very realistic working class, inner city Londoners.
posted by selton at 10:36 AM on September 15, 2006

Croupier.
posted by deadmessenger at 10:47 AM on September 15, 2006

Oh, my - it's almost too obvious, but I can't believe no one has mentioned Snatch.
posted by deadmessenger at 10:53 AM on September 15, 2006

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.
posted by bendybendy at 11:09 AM on September 15, 2006

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!
posted by RoseovSharon at 11:33 AM on September 15, 2006

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
posted by Hogshead at 11:56 AM on September 15, 2006

The daddy of them all is The London Nobody Knows

Watch it with St Etienne's film.
posted by the cuban at 1:05 PM on September 15, 2006

Nil by Mouth
Truly Madly Deeply
posted by ceri richard at 1:16 PM on September 15, 2006

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.
posted by amestoy at 1:16 PM on September 15, 2006

Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Frenzy
A Fish Called Wanda
The Crying Game
posted by rob511 at 2:36 PM on September 15, 2006

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
posted by legotech at 3:08 PM on September 15, 2006

London Kills Me
Naked
Up The Junction
posted by goshling at 3:36 PM on September 15, 2006

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.
posted by -harlequin- at 4:21 PM on September 15, 2006

The Tall Guy, with Emma Thompson and Jeff Goldblum. Damned funny movie.
posted by John Smallberries at 6:02 PM on September 15, 2006

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
posted by Dr.Pill at 6:11 PM on September 15, 2006

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.
posted by TiredStarling at 11:48 PM on September 15, 2006

Creep. Decent horror set in the London Underground.
posted by jobby at 12:55 PM on September 16, 2006

I first fell in love with London watching Absolute Beginners (the book is even better)
posted by smoakes at 8:57 PM on September 16, 2006

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.
posted by lukemeister at 1:11 PM on September 22, 2006