Image via miff.com.au
A cinematic meditation and lyrical farewell from the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami that calmed my mind, reduced my heart rate and brought me to tears. Continue reading
24 Frames (2017)
StandardTag Archives: 4.5 stars
The Party (2017)
Standard
Image via miff.com.au
This clever and stylish black-and-white satire from Sally Potter plays out like a drawing-room comedy with on point performances from the cream of British actors. Continue reading
April’s Daughter (Las Hijas de Abril) (2017)
Standard
Image via miff.com.au
This is masterful storytelling by Mexican writer-director Michel Franco, showing the insidious damage an oppressive relationship can create. Continue reading
Let the Sunshine In (2017)
Standard
Image via miff.com.au
What begins as a slow and awkward study of a fragile and somewhat irritating woman transforms into an engaging and gentle satire of middle class and middle-aged angst. #MIFF2017 Continue reading
A Man of Integrity (2017)
Standard
Image via miff.com.au
Integrity doesn’t get you far in modern day Iran. Mohammed Rasoulof gives us a slow burn commentary on his country through the eyes of one man. #MIFF2017
Continue reading
Faces Places (Visages, Villages) (2017)
Standard
Image via miff.com.au
This whimsical and warm-hearted documentary tracks an inspired partnership, road trip and friendship between street artist JR and French New Wave cinema director Agnès Varda. #MIFF2017 Continue reading
Frantz (2016)
Standard
Image via http://www.moviefone.com
Some films seep into your bones and only slowly fade away. I wasn’t expecting this François Ozon film to have such poignancy. On the surface it seems conventional, not withstanding its artful and at first unnoticed shifts from black-and-white to colour. In a German village in 1919, families are freshly wounded from the recent war and anti-French emotions run high. Bereaved Anna (Paula Beer), whose fiance Frantz died on the front line, regularly visits his grave. One day she finds fresh flowers there and discovers that a French man, Adrien (Pierre Niney), is also marking his grief at the grave. Continue reading
The Bad Seed (1956)
Standard
Image via http://www.rue-morgue.com
“What will you give me for a basket of kisses? A basket of kisses? Why I’ll give you a basket of hugs.” A discussion with two good friends lead to an afternoon where each brought along their favourite ‘bad movie’. Bad movies are the ones you love to watch, even though you know they fail to meet many standards of cinematic quality. I had never heard of the 1956 The Bad Seed; it is based on a successful Broadway play and from where Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds took its name. What a melodramatic gem it is; predating Hitchcock’s Psycho in its Freudian exploration of horror that comes from within a family. Continue reading
Women Who Kill (2016)
Standard
Image via http://www.indiewire.com
The closing night Melbourne Queer Film Festival film had me the moment I saw it starred Sheila Vand (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night). It is writer, director and star, Ingrid Jungermann, though who steals the show. This is a comedy, albeit a dark one. Morgan (Jungermann) and Jean (Ann Carr) host a regular podcast called ‘Women Who Kill’ about female serial killers. They are exes who seem like an old married couple; they bicker and banter until Morgan meets the mysterious Simone (Vand) at the food co-op she volunteers for. Continue reading
Lovesong (2016)
Standard
Image via MIFF
Lovesong is one of the films I missed at MIFF and the Melbourne Queer Film Festival has given me another chance to see it. It won’t be to everyone’s taste but I loved this sparse, quiet tale of the significant loves we have in our lives and what steers our choices. Continue reading
fillums 