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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
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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
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The chance to see Marlena Dietrich, in a tuxedo, kiss a woman was enough to get me to Morocco. I love punctuating my MIFF experience with the nostalgia of a classic and any of the 30s black-and-white dramas and melodramas are like entering a different universe. Continue reading
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My film before this one, Ukrainian Donbass, was an unrelenting, grubby onslaught of caricature, corruption and violence. Following it with 100 minutes with Ryuichi Sakamoto was like a balm for the heart and soul. Continue reading
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Director Alex Proyas calls this an apocalyptic Western and it’s a good description. Forgotten for 30 years, a restoration (thanks to Umbrella Entertainment and Roar Digital) has prompted its rescreening and a re-release on DVD. Continue reading
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Asghar Farhadi is an accomplished director and he knows how to tell a good and complex story. His films often show us people who have a veneer of success – jobs, wealth, relationships, family – and are confronted with a moral dilemma that slowly unravels their comfortable lives. Everybody Knows is no exception and, once again, Farhadi has created a film outside of his native Iran. 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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This slow and absorbing Israeli allegory of the futility of war and the inevitability of fate isn’t quite what it seems. The synopsis – “a troubled family must face the facts when something goes terribly wrong at their son’s desolate military post” – somehow undersells a story that is much richer and more poignant than this. Continue reading
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Like a time capsule of white Australian society in the 50s, They’re a Weird Mob shows the challenges faced by immigrants in a culture that will give anyone go, as long as they’re a good bloke. Continue reading
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What if you’re a decent man, with an affinity for children, and you are accused of being a paedophile? This is the dilemma that faces Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) when a misinterpreted remark by a young pupil at the kindergarten where he teaches sparks a flawed investigation. Continue reading
