Rather matching the nature of its city, the London Film Festival (LFF) always feels vast and unwieldy, an ever-evolving beast that never seems to stop. This year, preceding each film, was a stark reminder: a title sequence boasting of its girth - 248 films playing across 17 cinemas in 12 days.
That's a monster movie marathon in anyone's book.
Artistic director Clare Stewart has done a fine job in opening up the LFF to the London public, with cinemas in Hackney, Brixton and Islington all very much a part of the festival now. The LFF has always been one for the people: an end-of-year round-up of the year's best movies seasoned with a smattering of A-list stars.
This year was no different, with the fest's 58th edition opening with The Imitation Game and closing with David Ayer's Fury - two very different second world war movies, one about Enigma code-cracker Alan Turing, the other centring on a Sherman tank crew. When your red carpet is graced by Benedict Cumberbatch and Brad Pitt, those films' respective male leads, there's always going to be excitement.
Other luminaries included Steve Carell (for Foxcatcher), Reese Witherspoon ( Wild) and Jennifer Lawrence ( Serena). Of those films with famous faces attached to them, it was Wild that proved the most interesting. Scripted by Nick Hornby, it's based on the book by Cheryl Strayed, a former heroin addict who, after a violent break-up, decides to reboot her life - by hiking the 1,700km Pacific Crest Trail that runs along the west coast of the US.
Flashing back to Strayed's past, there's a hypnotic quality to the biographical drama. The director is Jean-Marc Vallée, who was overlooked last year despite his Dallas Buyers Club ushering both Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto to Oscars. And you can envisage the same fortune for Witherspoon. It's been a while since she's acted in anything this compelling and it shows - she grasps the role with both fists.