Image via miff.com.au
A black and white oddity, this restored copy of the 1990 film by American Nietzchka Keene is known primarily as singer Björk’s first feature film. Continue reading
The Juniper Tree (1990)
StandardCategory Archives: MIFF
Song Without a Name (Canción Sin Nombre) (2019)
Standard
Image via miff.com.au
It’s hard not to leave this sparse and atmospheric Peruvian drama feeling desolate. Likened to Roma (2018) for its lush black-and-white cinematography and focus on an indigenous woman in central America, it is profoundly moving but a more fragmented and opaque experience. Continue reading
Papicha (2019)
Standard
Image via miff.com.au
“Don’t drink standing up. Satan will see you. And with your left hand too!” Continue reading
Judy and Punch (2019)
Standard
Image via miff.com.au
Except for a slight misstep in the third act, this darkly funny evisceration of violent men and mob mentality hits all the right notes (pun intended). It is a strong debut by director Mirrah Foulkes. Continue reading
For Sama (2019)
Standard
Image via miff.com.au
“He is my son. This is my love.” says a mother as she carries her young son, killed by an air strike. He was taken by his brothers to the makeshift hospital that Hamza, the husband of journalist and a writer/director Waad Al-Khateab has established in Aleppo during the siege of 2016. Continue reading
Sword of Trust (2019)
Standard
Image via miff.com.au
Lynn Shelton knows how to tell a good story. I loved Hump Day (2009) and Your Sister’s Sister (2011) and, like them, Sword of Trust is full of wry humour, great characters and cracking dialogue. Continue reading
Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen (2018)
Standard
Image via miff.com.au
“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
What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire? (2018)
Standard
Image via miff.com.au
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
Slam (2018)
Standard
Image via miff.com.au
A disappointingly flat and somewhat tone-deaf treatment of an interesting topic. Continue reading
Young Ahmed (2019)
Standard
Image via miff.com.au
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
