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The Impossible (2012)
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Lantouri (2016)
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Lex talionis; this is a judicial term I will not quickly forget. In the Iranian justice system it is the right of a victim to retaliation, to demand that the punishment inflicted correspond in degree and kind to the offence. This was touched on in Sound and Fury, where a victim’s family had the power to forgive or to ask for the death penalty. In Lantouri, retribution and forgiveness are at the core of the story and we get to see it from many viewpoints. Continue reading
The Light Between Oceans (2016)
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Fukushima, Mon Amour (Grüße aus Fukushima) (2016)
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Screening as part of the German Film Festival (that finishes this week in Melbourne), Doris Dörrie writes and directs this homage to the Alain Resnais film Hiroshima Mon Amour and a love letter to the people of Fukushima. Shot in black and white, this begins as a slight tale of a German girl, Marie (Rosalie Thomass), trying to escape her memories amongst those cast adrift in the wastelands of Fukushima, two years after the earthquake and nuclear disaster. Continue reading
The Handmaiden (2016)
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This Korean adaptation by Chan-wook Park of the novel Fingersmith by Sarah Waters was a delightful surprise. Skipped at MIFF because it seemed a bit trivial, I discovered it is a beautiful exploration of the power of women and the many guises of oppression and truth. Continue reading
Sleeping Beauty (2011)
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Not the Disney film. Definitely not the Disney film. This surreal meditation on the fragility of one young woman is a mannered but metaphorically profound film by Australian director Julia Leigh. Don’t expect titillation, as many seem to from a superficial reading of the synopsis; university student Lucy begins work at an exclusive club where wealthy men can spend the night with her while she is drugged asleep. Continue reading
Interstellar (2014)
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Ah Matthew McConaughey, have I ever really loved any film you’ve been in? You’re often a charmer but it’s a smug, chauvinistic sort of charm, especially in those dreadful romcoms you did back ten years or more ago. Mud was okay but I’ve just scrolled through your filmography on IMDb and the answer, really, is no. So why did I bother with Interstellar? I had a vague impression that it was interesting and, being about space, I thought it might interest my Starship Troopers-loving husband whilst also engaging our brains. It did neither. Continue reading
Virtual Reality: Collisions (2015)
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Virtual Reality is cool. Not technically great yet but it is impossible not to be personally and emotionally engaged with a genuine story when you are suddenly within arm’s reach of the story teller. Collisions is a small and resounding tale, a conversation with Nyarri Nyarri Morgan, a Martu man director Lynette Wallworth met in the Pilbara. Continue reading
Embrace of the Serpent (El Abrazo de la Serpiente) (2015)
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I recommend seeing a film you know nothing about on a Sunday morning. I was the only person in one of Nova’s subterranean cinemas for this black and white Colombian journey into the Amazon and a history of cultural decimation. There are two overlapping stories, both of white scientists on a search for a rare healing plant, guided through the jungle by loner Karamakate and separated by 30 years. Continue reading
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)
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“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” And so begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I had low hopes for this film as it came and went at the cinema within a few weeks, never a good sign. It combines two excellent genres though – Austen and horror – and was much, much better than I’d hoped. Regardless of it’s occasional flaws in logic and pacing, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies reimagines a classic where women are socially powerless and makes them warriors. Continue reading
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