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Revisiting this gorgeous example of an era in Hollywood when women’s films gave women agency, though with limitations, was an indulgent treat. It is one of my favourite films of the time and beautifully captures how women can be contained and yet will always seek to subvert their boundaries. Continue reading
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The Tale is based on the experiences of writer director Jennifer Fox who discovered a story written by herself at age 13 that recounts her relationship with her 40-year-old running coach. Having remembered it for 30 years as a benign and normal experience, reconnecting with her words as a 13-year-old forces her to confront the reality. Continue reading
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The chance to see Marlena Dietrich, in a tuxedo, kiss a woman was enough to get me to Morocco. I love punctuating my MIFF experience with the nostalgia of a classic and any of the 30s black-and-white dramas and melodramas are like entering a different universe. Continue reading
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An intriguing albeit flat documentary by Irene Lusztig, Yours in Sisterhood has contemporary women reading unpublished letters sent to Ms magazine in the 1970s. Continue reading
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Slick, dark and thoroughly watchable, Thoroughbreds is an accomplished first feature from Corey Finley about privilege and morality. Touted as American Psycho meets Heathers, it has an affinity with both in its exploration of the heartless self absorption that can come with wealth and entitlement. Continue reading
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Dear Paul Schrader,
I have just finished watching your latest film, First Reformed, which starts Ethan Hawke as the Reverend Ernst Toller, a man facing a personal crisis. I am wondering, did you intend this to be an ode to the ills and delights of patriarchy or did you think you were telling a universal story? Continue reading
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With horror, you often buy a ticket for the ride, not the destination. With Hereditary, director Ari Aster cranks up the suspense, ensuring the convoluted plot can’t be properly deciphered until the helpfully explanatory final scene. This is really what you expect in a film of this ilk but I often feel a sense of disappointment when the climax doesn’t live up to the drama and thrills of the journey. Continue reading
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If you have experienced the sleepless nights of parenthood or the mental fragility that can come with it, it’s hard not to feel a connection with this story. Even if you haven’t, the powerhouse performances of Charlize Theron as exhausted mother Marlo and Mckenzie Davis as Tully, the night nanny she hires, will hook you in. Continue reading
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The Room is a must-see Melbourne cinematic experience. Two cinemas are packed out at 11.30pm on a Saturday night and the audience is armed with plastic spoons. Beginning with a montage of dated ‘candy bar’ ads and images of frolicking puppies and kittens, the noise from the audience reaches a crescendo until the lights go down and a Cinema Nova employee exhorts everyone, in the words of The Room director Tommy Wiseau, “You can laugh, you can cry, you can express yourself, but please don’t hurt each other.” Continue reading
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Get it? And if you love dogs AND Wes Anderson movies, it’s likely that you’ll find more enjoyment in this clever and quirky but ultimately disappointing animation than I did. Continue reading
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