Tag Archives: Australia

Emo the Musical (2016)

Standard

4.0_orange_sm

Harold and Maude meets High School Musical in this messy, funny, teen romp of a film by Australian Neil Triffett. Ethan (Benson Jack Anthony) is a misfit in his school. Identifying as an emo with black eyeliner and a melancholic preoccupation with death, he is expelled after trying unsuccessfully to hang himself from a tree in the schoolyard. As the new kid at scruffy Seymour High, he finds his tribe with wannabe emo band Worst Day Ever who are vying for a prize in a regional band competition. Trouble arises when Ethan falls for Trinity (Jordan Hare), singer in rival Christian band Hope. Continue reading →

The Family (2016)

Standard
THE-FAMILY-2

Image via MIFF

I wasn’t expecting this documentary about the Melbourne suburban and Victorian rural sect The Family and leader Anne Hamilton-Byrne to pack such an emotional wallop. It begins as a blow-by-blow retelling of the investigation into the cult in the 80s and takes a while to build a coherent story but ends as a devastating insight into the repercussions for the children involved and the inability of investigators to breach the protective wall of privilege around the cult to obtain justice. Continue reading →

Jasper Jones (2017)

Standard

This is a warm and sensitive adaptation by director Rachel Perkins of Craig Silvey’s excellent Australian novel of the same name. The film aims squarely at a mainstream and younger audience than the book, pulling its punches to just touch on the themes of racism and abuse that are central to the story of Charlie Bucktin’s awakening from childhood innocence in the rural town of Corrigan in the 1960s. Continue reading →

Lion (2016)

Standard
lion-sunny-pawar-greig-fraser-cinematographer

Image via cinemathread.com

This is an unexpectedly beautiful and thought-provoking film based on the true story of five-year-old Indian boy, Saroo, who becomes separated from his family. He is lost amongst the millions, one of 80,000 Indian children who go missing every year, and it is a 25 year journey before he has the chance to reconnect with his home. Continue reading →

Sleeping Beauty (2011)

Standard
sleepingbeauty

Image via thevacantpage.com

Not the Disney film. Definitely not the Disney film. This surreal meditation on the fragility of one young woman is a mannered but metaphorically profound film by Australian director Julia Leigh. Don’t expect titillation, as many seem to from a superficial reading of the synopsis; university student Lucy begins work at an exclusive club where wealthy men can spend the night with her while she is drugged asleep. Continue reading →

Virtual Reality: Collisions (2015)

Standard
nyarri-mr_8i05vfc

Image via collisionsvr.com

Virtual Reality is cool. Not technically great yet but it is impossible not to be personally and emotionally engaged with a genuine story when you are suddenly within arm’s reach of the story teller. Collisions is a small and resounding tale, a conversation with Nyarri Nyarri Morgan, a Martu man director Lynette Wallworth met in the Pilbara. Continue reading →

The Devil’s Candy (2015)

Standard

THE-DEVILS-CANDY-2

I chose another 11.30pm horror movie just because I could. By Australian director Sean Byrne, this is his second feature, the success of the first giving him the leverage to set this film in Texas. Part serial killer, part demonic possession horror type, it didn’t scare me as much as take me for an enjoyable and occasionally exhilarating ride. Continue reading →

Virtual Reality: VR Noir A Day Before the Night

Standard

VR-NOIR-A-DAY-BEFORE-THE-NIGHT-1Okay, maybe not all VR is brilliant. This overly complicated and clunky 20-minute ‘pilot episode’ of a private eye noir-esque story left me unsatisfied. Our group was worded up beforehand that there would be clues to observe, a puzzle to solve and moments where we must make a choice between two elements of the story. I was a bit worried that I would miss things and maybe I did because it didn’t really make much sense to me. Continue reading →

Virtual Reality: The Turning Forest

Standard

TURNING-FOREST-1I love virtual reality! Wow, what an experience. The Turning Forest is a short (10 minute) animation and the virtual reality goggles insert you right into the middle of it. MIFF has a series of VR experiences this year and for this one, I was ushered into a curtained off space and seated on a stool that swivels 360 degrees. With goggles and headphones on, the blackness suddenly falls away and I am in an iridescent forest with orange trees towering above me. Continue reading →