Image via miff.com.au
Unrolling like a gentle dream, Beatriz Seigner’s Los Silencios takes the serious subject of the displacement of Colombian refugees and tells it in a lyrical and ethereal way. Continue reading
Los Silencios (2018)
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A Star is Born (2018)
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Image via http://www.comingsoon.net
It’s possible I am a lone reed in not loving the third remake of this quintessential film about the tragedies inherent in fame. A lone reed. Or a heartless wretch. I remained unmoved as Bradley Cooper heroically directs himself into every frame, leaving not enough room for the absorbingly wonderful Lady Gaga. Continue reading
Climax (2018)
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Image via miff.com.au
Climax is a drug-infused, sweaty and self-indulgent nightmare. It immerses you in a single night with a bunch of unlikable dancers as bad things happen to them. Continue reading
Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
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Image via Orion Pictures via collider.com
A Christmas-themed zombie musical set in a British high school? I couldn’t buy my ticket fast enough and John McPhail’s endearing comedy, packed with just the right amount of gore and catchy tunes, didn’t disappoint. Continue reading
The Merger (2018)
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Image via miff.com.au
If you’re in the mood for a feelgood Aussie flick that celebrates footy, country towns and mateship then The Merger will not disappoint. Filmed in around Wagga Wagga in the fictional town of Bodgy Creek, like its second-cousin-once-removed The Castle, it tells of underdogs fighting for a fair go. Continue reading
McQueen (2018)
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Image via miff.com.au
There is something to be said for a film that left me wanting to go home and make clothes. Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui’s documentary about fashion enfant terrible Lee (Alexander) McQueen is equal parts inspiring and devastating. Continue reading
Mary Shelley (2017)
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Image via http://www.irishtimes.com
This serviceable dramatisation of the life of author Mary Shelley (Elle Fanning) satisfies as much as it disappoints. Feeling a bit like a made-for-TV movie, director Haifaa al-Mansour (Wadjda) paints by numbers, giving us a long succession of plot points with a good dose of high emotion but little drama. Continue reading
Good Will Hunting (1997)
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Image via http://www.filmoteca.cat
It’s a long time since I last watched this movie, which has stuck in my mind primarily due to the unexpected Oscar win of then unknown actors and screenwriters Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. I’d forgotten it was directed by Gus Van Sant, a director I admire for films like Elephant (2003), Mala Noche (1986) and My Own Private Idaho (1991). Sitting down to watch this again for the first time in perhaps 10 or 15 years, I found myself underwhelmed. Continue reading
Three Faces (2018)
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Image via miff.com.au
Jafar Panahi is not one of my favourite Iranian directors. His self-conscious self-referential technique of centring his films around his persona as a director has always kept me at a distance from his films, although I understand the relevance given his 20-year travel and directing ban. Three Faces follows this same style but, for the first time, I felt he kept himself to the margins of the story and let the real star, Behnaz Jafari, shine. Continue reading
Jirga (2018)
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Image via miff.com.au
This unusual and well-meaning Australian film by Ben Gilmour follows an ex-soldier as he attempts to contact the widow and children of a civilian he killed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, whilst on deployment. Continue reading
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