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Pema Tseden’s gorgeous and enigmatic Tibetan road movie has the bleached understatement of Sergio Leone and the lush intimacy of (producer) Wong Kar Wai.
Jinpa (2018)
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Greener Grass (2019)
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What a delight this wacky film is, steeped in saturated pastels and sharp, contemporary satire. Continue reading
Song Without a Name (Canción Sin Nombre) (2019)
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It’s hard not to leave this sparse and atmospheric Peruvian drama feeling desolate. Likened to Roma (2018) for its lush black-and-white cinematography and focus on an indigenous woman in central America, it is profoundly moving but a more fragmented and opaque experience. Continue reading
Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen (2018)
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“Compromise is part of being colonial. You have to compromise to survive.” This underlying message, spoken by filmmaker and director Hepi Mita’s mum, Merata Mita, plays out in this lovingly constructed homage to whanau (family), Maori culture and Merata. Continue reading
The Nightingale (2018)
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I can’t get this film by Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) out of my head. I went to it with some trepidation after tales of mass walkouts at the Sydney Film Festival. Continue reading
In My Blood it Runs (2019)
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I loved Maya Newell’s Gayby Baby (2015). She has a knack of removing herself from the frame and immersing us in the intimate world of family. It can seem like a commonplace tale until you slowly realise that she is personalising key social concerns, allowing us a window into the impact of prejudice, racism and institutionalised apathy. Continue reading
Swallow (2019)
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Like God Exists, Her Name is Petruniya, this is a stylish and absorbing tale of a sheep becoming a wolf. Continue reading
