A surprisingly wholesome, bloody revenge movie that sees a father’s suppressed rage wreak havoc when he thinks his wife’s death was part of an assassination plot.
Continue readingRiders of Justice (Retfærdighedens Ryttere) (2021)
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Ablaze (2021)
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Ostensibly a deep dive by singer, and now filmmaker, Tiriki Onus into the history of his grandfather, Bill Onus, the result gives us important insight into the difficulties faced by Australia’s First Peoples over the past century.
Continue readingPreparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (2020)
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Full of slow twists and turns and existential ruminations on the intersections of physiology, memory and personality, Lili Horvát’s enigmatic drama gives us no easy answers.
Continue readingSmooth Talk (1985)
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Beginning as a familiar story of a rebellious teenager pushing against the confines of her family, Joyce Chopra takes us down a dark path that perfectly captures the strength and vulnerability of a young woman.
Continue readingNew Order (Nuevo Orden) (2020)
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I wanted to like this confronting, dystopian thriller but it is so unrelentingly cynical and brutal that it felt it had nothing new to say.
Continue readingChess of the Wind (1976)
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A glimpse into Iran between two revolutions, Mohammad Reza Aslani’s long-lost first feature manages to meld Vermeer-like drawing-room drama with gothic horror.
Continue readingMadalena (2021)
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A worthy but meandering elegy to the many transgender people murdered in Brazil, the highest per capita in the world, according to the end credits.
Continue readingFreshman Year (A.K.A. Shithouse) (2020)
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This odd and meandering meditation on adolescent vulnerabilities slowly warms your heart as you watch college freshman Alex (writer, director and star Cooper Raiff) get a grip on life.
Continue readingComing Home in the Dark (2021)
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James Ashcroft’s ‘family terrorised in the wilderness’ horror is much more than it seems, revealing layers that explore human frailty and New Zealand’s dark past.
Continue readingDear Comrades! (Dorogie tovarishchi) (2020)
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In carefully composed black and white imagery, we watch the Soviet propaganda machine go into overdrive to cover up 1960s labour strikes and a subsequent, ill-advised massacre.
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