Image via miff.com.au
Based on the 2014 Israeli film of the same name (originally titled Haganenet) by Nadav Lapid, director Sara Colangelo casts Maggie Gyllenhaal as the eponymous teacher, Lisa, whose life changes when she hears a child in her class recite poetry. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
British TV director Michael Pearce does a more than decent job with his first feature. Like the best of British crime dramas, it takes its time to build the characters and the premise, has some top-notch actors, makes good use of the Jersey landscape and genuinely keeps you guessing right up until the end. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
If you are a fan of the films of Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer), you’ll know what to expect from this structured and sobering feature from Babis Makridis. Co-written by Lanthimos collaborator Efthymis Filippou, it has a similar sensibility and intensity. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
Director Pooya Badkoobeh’s first feature is an absorbing coming-of-age story about a complacent teenager who, like a fine dressage horse, has been protected from the realities of life. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
It is the unflinchingly scrutiny of the doleful Sofia’s face that made this film for me. Behind that impassive mask, that became animated only at certain moments, I could see the naivete that had brought Sofia to this untenable point in her life. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
I’m a bit partial to a zombie movie and this Irish take by David Freyne weaves an exploration of power and marginalisation with some satisfying action and horror. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
Director Yui Kiyohara’s debut feature, Our House, has a quite restraint that adds a lyrical quality to its abstruse narrative. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
Sari Braithwaite’s hour long introspective documentary built from clips cut out of films by the Australian Censor Board goes some way to exploring the notion of censorship. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
Revisiting this gorgeous example of an era in Hollywood when women’s films gave women agency, though with limitations, was an indulgent treat. It is one of my favourite films of the time and beautifully captures how women can be contained and yet will always seek to subvert their boundaries. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
The Tale is based on the experiences of writer director Jennifer Fox who discovered a story written by herself at age 13 that recounts her relationship with her 40-year-old running coach. Having remembered it for 30 years as a benign and normal experience, reconnecting with her words as a 13-year-old forces her to confront the reality. Continue reading
fillums 