Tag Archives: female directors

The Piano (1993)

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Yes I know this film is nearly 25 years old – can you believe that? – but I am implementing an ad hoc program to introduce my girls to significant films from the past. Ron’s doing the same, Terminator 2 has become Tallulah’s favourite action film.

I haven’t seen The Piano for about 20 years and I remember having mixed feelings about it. I was a serious photography student at the time and the visual aesthetic and music had a big impact on me and on many other visual artists at the time. I remember being a bit uncomfortable about the gender roles but not enough to think negatively about the film. Continue reading →

Putuparri and the Rainmakers (2015)

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I’ve seen a few films in the past two weeks that have changed my view on something or at least given me a profound insight. This Australian documentary joins those ranks. I mentioned that Don’t Tell Me the Boy Was Mad made me think of the displacement of Australian Aboriginal people and this commonality has been reinforced by today’s film, Putuparri and the Rainmakers. Continue reading →

Pioneer Heroes (Pionery-geroi) (2015)

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I got lost in this Russian film. Not lost as in ‘so absorbed with the story I lost sight of myself’, lost as in ‘I have no idea what’s happening’. It started well. We are in the 1980s Soviet Union watching children practicing to become Pioneer Heroes, the youth movement modelled on Lenin and the values of the Soviet Union. Three in particular we get to know – Sergeyev who wants to be like all the other kids but also wants to be a hero, Katya, who struggles to keep her grandfather’s bootlegging a secret as it is against the rules of the PH, and Olga, an anxious girl who relies heavily on Katya’s confidence and decisiveness. Continue reading →

Me Romantic Romani (2015)

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I added this film late to make up my 50 films and because I had a morning with no films booked. It looked like a light one, part of the Next Gen program aimed at teens and so there were the usual rows of uniformed school kids in front of me. It’s an Italian film and is set in the down-at-heel suburb of Falchera on the outskirts of Torino but it’s not really about Italians, it’s about Romani, or gypsies as we might know them. Continue reading →

Sherpa (2015)

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Did you know that the Sherpa people are an ethnic group? I didn’t, I thought sherpa was an occupational term for the Nepalese people who assist climbers on Everest. This Australian documentary delves in to the lives of the Sherpa people and how the bloated industry that has grown to enable wealthy foreigners to summit Everest affects their lives and community. We follow Phurba Tashi Sherpa as he leaves his family to lead a team of 25 Sherpa people who will assist an international group led by experienced expedition leader Russell Brice. If Phurba summits this year, it will be his 22nd time, a record. Continue reading →

Body (2015)

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Hmm. I quite liked this quirky Polish drama. Actually I liked it a lot up until the end. Of course I can’t tell you what happens at the end but I’m wondering if my disappointment was because a fellow MIFF-goer had recommended it, saying, “You don’t know where it’s going but it’s all brought together beautifully at the end.” The danger of having expectations. It is a nice ending but overstated, I think. For such a subtle film, it deserved better. Continue reading →

Graceful Girls (2015)

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It’s hard not to be won over by the girls and women of the callisthenics community. Callisthenics, it turns out, is uniquely Australian and developed with migrant populations as a way to promote physical fitness and gracefulness for young girls. Callisthenics is like a cross between gymnastics, ballet and synchronised swimming and (almost exclusively) girls and young women train and compete in solo and group events. The pinnacle, is the annual competition at Royal South Street in Ballarat, in particular the Most Graceful Girl prize. Continue reading →

Sworn Virgin (Vergine giurata) (2015)

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Sworn Virgin is another of those multinational coproductions but I’m going to call it an Albanian film. The thread of the story is about gender roles in rural Albania, and although it is set equally in Italy, it is Albanian life and culture that we experience. The story is set in two time periods, we see Mark traveling from Albania to Italy and reuniting with his sister and her family after 14 years. We can tell that Mark is actually a woman and we know that Lila, his sister, knows but everyone else is oblivious. We then flash back to Lila and Mark’s teenage years in Albania and we discover the story. Continue reading →

Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere (Dap cánh giua không trung) (2014)

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This quiet Vietnamese film tells the story of Huyen, a young girl, maybe 17 years old, who is pregnant and living alone in a small apartment in Hanoi. She can’t tell her parents, her boyfriend is a bit of an idiot, and she doesn’t have the money for an abortion. She’s afraid – of the pain of labour, of dying whilst pregnant, of the pain of an abortion, of telling her parents. She drifts from day to day, knowing she must make a decision but seemingly paralyzed in her doubt and immaturity. Her boyfriend’s idea of helping her is to fight his rooster in cock fights run by thugs and so win the money they need. This doesn’t go so well and he runs out on her. Continue reading →

The Silences (2015)

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Oh, Margot, I so wanted to like this documentary. I like Margot Nash. She’s a Melbourne filmmaker who was a bolshie anarchist feminist in the 70s and has made or written several films, such as Vacant Possession in the 90s, which I remember enjoying. Continue reading →