No Venice, no Telluride, no Toronto, no New York…a London Film Festival premiere is the kiss of death in an award-season context. Finito. Sidelined. Dead herring in the moonlight.

A few weeks ago a trusted friendo said he’d been told that Blitz is ”great”. The source of this viewpoint is either a gladhander or a denialist or a fucking liar.

London Film Festival premieres NEVER score in an award-season sense.

I’m not saying Steve McQueen has made a bad or seriously problematic film. He’s too good of a filmmaker. But there’s obviously something wrong with it. If it was all hunky-dory it would be premiering at Venice or Telluride or at the New York Film Festival.

We all understand the hometown sentiment aspect of debuting Blitz in London, and that’s fine. But it’s no Best Picture contender —- you can take that to the bank.