BFI London Film Festival: New British Cinema Screening - Love Live Long October 16, 2008

The Gumball 3000 Rally has never had the best of press, attracting attention mostly on the basis of its celebrity involvement. Its notoriety grew further in 2007, when two British participants were involved in a fatal accident with two locals. When Mike Figgis was invited to make a film about Gumball, rather than focus on the event itself he responded with a story about the effect of the rally on two people caught up in it, creating a love story of sorts shot across three countries. The starting point was a one-page treatment and two actors cast shortly before filming, with Figgis and his three fellow crew members completing shooting in just seven days. Built around a chance sexual encounter between a married rally driver and a self-destructive young woman he meets en route, Love Live Long is a bold study of desire and moral boundaries, its raw intimacy sometimes unsettling to watch. As we would expect, Figgis is expert at exploiting the creative capabilities of digital technology, and at providing the narrative twists which subvert our expectations.
Sandra Hebron

Directed by: Mike Figgis
Written by: Mike Figgis
Cast: Sophie Winkleman, Daniel Lapaine
Country: UK
Year: 2007
Running time: 75min