Image via miff.com.au
Ten minutes into this sophomore feature by Kaili Blues (2015) director Gan Bi, I remembered how much I struggled to engage with his first film. Continue reading
Long Day’s Journey Into Night (地球最后的夜晚) (2018)
StandardTag Archives: 3 stars
Daffodils (2019)
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I was primed for this New Zealand musical as a line of Maori singers serenaded the queue as we waited and they walked into the cinema. I was a tad disappointed when I realised they were there for For My Father’s Kingdom in Kino 1 and Daffodils was going to be a bit more pakeha. Continue reading
The Juniper Tree (1990)
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A black and white oddity, this restored copy of the 1990 film by American Nietzchka Keene is known primarily as singer Björk’s first feature film. Continue reading
Young Ahmed (2019)
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The Dardenne brothers are respected auteurs for their social realist dramas but it feels like they weren’t the right ones to tackle this story of young idealism turned into fundamentalism. Continue reading
Funan (2018)
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The Killing Fields (1984) was an influential movie for me. I was 19 when it came out and it was my first experience of the atrocities of Pol Pot in Cambodia and the eradication of 2 million people. Funan covers the same story, focusing on one family who are forced to flee Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge (or Angkar). Continue reading
Hotel By The River (Gang-byun Hotel) (2019)
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A credible source told me that director Hong Sang-soo doesn’t mind if you nap in his films. Hotel by the River’s quiet contemplation lulled me into a few lengthy blinks so I missed a little of its wry, slow narrative. Continue reading
Thunder Road (2018)
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Image via http://www.statecinema.com.au
It was worth a shot. This oddball indie film is a tour de force by writer, director and star Jim Cummings. I enjoyed the ride and only felt let down by its denouement that seems to undermine the realities of family violence. Continue reading
The Chaperone (2018)
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Image via http://www.statecinema.com.au
Written by Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) and starring our favourite Countess, Elizabeth McGovern, this gentle bio pic of female friendship and emancipation delivers what it promises. Continue reading
The Sisters Brothers (2018)
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Jacques Audriard (Personal Shopper) has created a serviceable yet unremarkable Western that seems to delight in perpetuating well-worn tropes. Continue reading
Green Book (2018)
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This feelgood, cookie cutter movie barely scratches the surface of its topic; racism in the deep south of the US in the 60s. A good example of a white saviour movie, it centres its story firmly and unapologetically on the experiences of a good-hearted, racist white guy. Continue reading
