Emma Dante has created a beautiful and affecting film version of her play about five Sicilian sisters, forever changed by a tragedy.
Continue readingThe Macaluso Sisters (Le Sorelle Macaluso) (2020)
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Wife of a Spy (2020)
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Refreshing in its portrayal of the good and evil of Japan’s part in WWII, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s mystery has some decent twists and turns amidst the melodrama.
Continue readingLittle Tornadoes (2021)
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Despite the authentic feel of rural Australia in the 1970s, Aaron Wilson’s exploration of masculinity and Australian identity is a rather flat and depressing journey.
Continue readingJames & Isey (2021)
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A well-meaning but underwhelming documentary that fails to paint a compelling portrait of its quirky Maori subjects.
Continue readingSisters with Transistors (2020)
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An interesting documentary about the female pioneers of electronic music that succeeds in elevating their names without necessarily providing a context for their work within the wider genre or their impact on contemporary music.
Continue readingWoodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021)
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First-time feature documentary director Kier-La Janisse gives us a fascinating deep dive into the world of ‘folk horror’ films and what they say about fear, colonialism and the ‘other’.
Continue readingDays (Rizi) (2020)
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You need to be immersed in slow cinema to really feel its beat and emotion and Tsai Ming-Liang’s mood piece about urban loneliness was lost on me on a small screen.
Continue readingPalazzo Di Cozzo (2021)
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It’s hard not to like this unashamed hagiography of furniture salesman and Melbourne icon, Franco Cozzo.
Continue readingThe Nowhere Inn (2020)
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Messy, arty and wry, this mockumentary by Bill Benz weaves the true-life friendship of Carrie Brownstein and Annie Clark, stage-name St. Vincent, with a rumination on fame, identity and artifice.
Continue readingBandar Band (2020)
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This simple and joyful film, ostensibly about a young band trying to navigate flood waters to get to Tehran for an audition, hides a deeper meaning about the challenges for young Iranians.
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