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Daigo Matsui directed Wonderful World End (MIFF 2015) and Our Huff and Puff Journey (MIFF 2016), both films I enjoyed for their mix of kawaii cuteness with social gravitas. Japanese Girls Must Die treads a similar path but feels more laboured and less whimsical in its telling. Continue reading
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This French drama, touted as being one of the most divisive films of MIFF 2017, was absorbing but ultimately lacked the punch I expected. Continue reading
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This oddball Polish genre non-conformist feature by Agnieszka Holland had lots to like about it but ultimately felt like less than the sum of its parts. Continue reading
Significant at the time for its cast and crew of women and it’s ‘girls own adventure’ theme, On Guard, screening as part of the Pioneering Women section of MIFF, reminds us of how little has changed for women in film in 30 years. Continue reading
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This groundbreaking superhero movie says a lot about the agency of women in what it contains and what it omits. My eyes welled with unshed tears of pride every time Diana (Gal Gadot) unleashed her fury and my heart sank at her high heeled boots and impractical, ‘designed for the male gaze’ outfit. Continue reading
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Do you love cats? Do you really love cats? If so, you’ll like this Turkish documentary about the many cats of Istanbul and the people who love them. Continue reading
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The book or the film, the film or the book? Like fellow literary bestseller and psychological thriller Gone Girl, I had read the book before seeing this US film adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train. Although the book is always better, when it’s a story that relies heavily on mystery and suspense, knowing the ending significantly affects enjoyment of the film. The subsequent lack of curiosity about what is going to happen also leaves too much time to notice differences. Continue reading
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This inoffensive hagiography of Australian actor Heath Ledger gathers handfuls of his family and friends to tell us what a good bloke he was. Combined with home movie footage shot by Heath, who obsessively documented his life, we build a picture of a talented young man with a generous heart and an unchecked manic energy that more or less guaranteed he would burn brightly but not for long. He died at age 28 of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. Continue reading
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On the surface, this is the kind of feel-good WWII movie that the British do so well. Made, though, by Danish director Lone Scherfig (An Education), it has a subtle complexity, a slightly contrived but interesting subtext and a feminist slant that makes it more interesting than it seems (and almost works). Continue reading
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South African director Neill Blomkamp’s 2009 film District 9 was an unexpected delight. Ostensibly a sci-fi about prawn-like aliens who have been accepted into the Johannesburg population, it is instead an endearing and sobering look at the plight of refugees. Chappie is his third feature film, after Elysium in 2013, and I was expecting the same wry observation of white South Africa. Instead I got a story that seemed to replicate District 9‘s edgy style but without the same substance. Continue reading
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