What starts as a talking heads documentary about North Korean defectors becomes a gripping race to safety as we follow a family who have crossed the border into a hostile China.
Continue readingBeyond Utopia (2022)
StandardCategory Archives: Reviews
Monolith (2022)
Standard
South Australian director Matt Vesely worked with a development lab and funding specifically for first-time feature directors to create a film on a defined, small budget to create this tense, one room, one character, sci-fi thriller.
Continue readingKayo Kayo Colour (2023)
Standard
As the first gorgeous black-and-white scenes unfolded, I thought I had stumbled into a documentary.
Continue readingThis is Going to be Big (2023)
Standard
I was waiting in the lounge of the Capitol cinema, when a previous screening of this homegrown documentary finished. The foyer filled with a joyful throng of participants and their families, whose faces I now recognise for their starring turns in Thomas Highland’s skilful documentary.
Continue readingBirdeater (2023)
Standard
This smart, funny, and scary exploration of toxic relationships was a delightful surprise.
Continue readingCasa Susanna (2022)
Standard
A ‘talking heads’ documentary can be a bit of a chore when it’s your 33rd film of a festival but the subject matter in Sébastien Lifshitz’s heartfelt documentary keeps you engaged.
Continue readingBlackbird Blackbird Blackberry (შაშვი შაშვი მაყვალი)(2023)
Standard
Four Daughters (Les Filles d’Olfa) (2023)
Standard
This is one of the most heartfelt and inventive documentaries I ever remember seeing.
Continue readingShut Eye (2022)
Standard
A mental health crisis and ASMR collide to create a portrait of two lonely people in Auckland at night.
Continue readingThe Eternal Memory (2023)
Standard
Maite Alberdi allows us to travel back-and-forth through the life of writer Augusto Góngora. Part of the documentation and reconciliation after Chile’s fascist junta, his own memories are now scattering with Alzheimer’s.
Continue reading
fillums 