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“Compromise is part of being colonial. You have to compromise to survive.” This underlying message, spoken by filmmaker and director Hepi Mita’s mum, Merata Mita, plays out in this lovingly constructed homage to whanau (family), Maori culture and Merata. Continue reading
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Documentaries like this one aren’t an easy ride. You are dropped into the middle of a cluster of stories with no context, narration nor exposition to help you understand where you are. You have to have the patience to sit back and let the stories unfurl and the characters to worm their way into your heart. Continue reading
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A disappointingly flat and somewhat tone-deaf treatment of an interesting topic. Continue reading
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The Dardenne brothers are respected auteurs for their social realist dramas but it feels like they weren’t the right ones to tackle this story of young idealism turned into fundamentalism. Continue reading
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The Killing Fields (1984) was an influential movie for me. I was 19 when it came out and it was my first experience of the atrocities of Pol Pot in Cambodia and the eradication of 2 million people. Funan covers the same story, focusing on one family who are forced to flee Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge (or Angkar). Continue reading
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A credible source told me that director Hong Sang-soo doesn’t mind if you nap in his films. Hotel by the River’s quiet contemplation lulled me into a few lengthy blinks so I missed a little of its wry, slow narrative. Continue reading
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I can’t get this film by Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) out of my head. I went to it with some trepidation after tales of mass walkouts at the Sydney Film Festival. Continue reading
