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Agnieszka Smoczynska’s credentials as the director of 80s musical about killer mermaids The Lure, got me along to Fugue, her next feature. They couldn’t be more different in tone and style but both have stories that recast women out of familiar stereotypes. Continue reading
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Blending just the right amount of bleached Eastern European realness with surreal metaphor, Scary Mother is a dark and brooding tale of female autonomy. Continue reading
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This low-key love letter to Tasmania made me want to hang out with director Ted Wilson and his engaging family. Continue reading
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What an unexpected delight Soda Jerk’s Terror Nullius: A Political Revenge Fable in Three Acts is. It is an odd and irreverent insight into Australian film, TV, society and culture. Continue reading
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With horror, you often buy a ticket for the ride, not the destination. With Hereditary, director Ari Aster cranks up the suspense, ensuring the convoluted plot can’t be properly deciphered until the helpfully explanatory final scene. This is really what you expect in a film of this ilk but I often feel a sense of disappointment when the climax doesn’t live up to the drama and thrills of the journey. Continue reading
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I like a film that makes you feel a bit emotionally wrung out by the end. Directed by Chilean Sebastián Lelio (A Fantastic Woman) and his first English-language film, this is a rich and absorbing story about religion, family and independence. Continue reading
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Upgrade is a slick and serviceable sci-fi that retreads the oft-used Frankenstein trope in a near future, with Melbourne convincingly masquerading as a futuristic USA. Continue reading
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I’m so glad I caught this heartbreakingly beautiful documentary about the late Dr. G. Yunupingu at the State Cinema in Hobart on its last day of screening. The story and the man alone is enough reason to see it yet you don’t have to be a fan of his music to enjoy it. It is made all the more rewarding by its respectful narrative and exquisite sound editing and cinematography. Continue reading
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Jacques Tati lives on in this featherlight slapstick farce from duo Fiona Gordon and Dominic Abel. Continue reading
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If you have experienced the sleepless nights of parenthood or the mental fragility that can come with it, it’s hard not to feel a connection with this story. Even if you haven’t, the powerhouse performances of Charlize Theron as exhausted mother Marlo and Mckenzie Davis as Tully, the night nanny she hires, will hook you in. Continue reading
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