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My daughter is teaching herself Korean and before I left for MIFF, she taught me how to say, “I’m tired. However, I want to watch a movie” in Korean. I thought of her when I saw Burning in the sumptuous Versailles that is the Regent Theatre. Continue reading
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This exquisite and heartbreaking film by Christophe Honoré felt like a more whimsical but no less real partner to last year’s BPM. The Anglicised title doesn’t do it justice, and I prefer the original that loosely translates as “pleasure, love and run fast.” Continue reading
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Sparse and visually poetic, Milko Lazarov’s Ága immerses us in the spartan life of elderly Yakut reindeer herders, Nanook (Mikhail Aprosimov) and Sedna (Feodosia Ivanova), living a harsh and contented life in the Siberian tundra. Continue reading
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I love a quirky Icelandic drama and Benedikt Erlingsson has created an engaging and tongue-in-cheek story with a mostly subtle but effective message. Continue reading
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Director Alex Proyas calls this an apocalyptic Western and it’s a good description. Forgotten for 30 years, a restoration (thanks to Umbrella Entertainment and Roar Digital) has prompted its rescreening and a re-release on DVD. Continue reading
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Asghar Farhadi is an accomplished director and he knows how to tell a good and complex story. His films often show us people who have a veneer of success – jobs, wealth, relationships, family – and are confronted with a moral dilemma that slowly unravels their comfortable lives. Everybody Knows is no exception and, once again, Farhadi has created a film outside of his native Iran. Continue reading
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The Bay City Rollers was my boyband obsession. Tartan scarves were banned from my primary school because we used to wear them tied to our wrists to show our devotion. My cousin called them the Bay Shitty Rollers, just to annoy me. Continue reading
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This one was a last minute swap when I couldn’t face racing to Hoyts to be potentially disappointed by Robert Pattinson in the farcical, some say feminist western Damsel. That’s one of those films that can be a delight or a travesty and I didn’t feel like risking it. Dark River was a good choice. Directed by Clio Barnard it’s a dark and brooding tale of abuse as seen through the eyes of a survivor. Continue reading
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Agnieszka Smoczynska’s credentials as the director of 80s musical about killer mermaids The Lure, got me along to Fugue, her next feature. They couldn’t be more different in tone and style but both have stories that recast women out of familiar stereotypes. Continue reading
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Blending just the right amount of bleached Eastern European realness with surreal metaphor, Scary Mother is a dark and brooding tale of female autonomy. Continue reading
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