The gig economy has grown exponentially in recent years. So much so, concerns are now being forcefully voiced about its actual and potential dangers. Director Noah Hutton taps into those fears as he takes audiences on an intriguing and sometimes frightening journey into a digitised future in Lapsis. Lapsis has something in common with one…
French cinema icon Isabelle Huppert displays her comedic side in Jean-Paul Salomé’s crime caper The Godmother (La Daronne). The film starts out as a conventional crime drama with the cops looking to intercept a shipment of drugs, but ends up in some pretty wild territory. Huppert plays Patience Portefeux*, a translator with the Paris police….
The German Film Festival brings the best new films from Germany showcasing festival favourites, works of auteurs and the best new talent. This year’s program, presented in association with German Films, kicks off from 25 May at Palace Cinemas across the nation. Opening night is Next Door, the darkly comic directorial debut by Daniel Brühl…
Pablo Larraín is a Chilean filmmaker of distinctive style. Much loved in art house circles, his films are often marked by slow narratives punctuated by arresting visuals – and occasionally violence. His latest film to reach these shores, Ema (actually made in 2019) follows a similar pattern. Larraín’s Jackie (2016) was one of my favourite…
In 2015, Robert Eggers played with the intersection of the real and the fantastic in the horrifyingly effective The Witch. Now writer-director Emily Harris treads similar territory in the creepy Carmilla. Like The Witch, Harris explores the line between reality on one hand, and fear and superstition on the other. But where Eggers left a…
If you’ve heard of the slow cinema movement, Kelly Reichardt could be considered its high priest. Her exacting, often dramatically beautiful films are the antithesis of, say, modern superhero movies. Often set on the American frontier, her work features long static shots and minimal dialogue. And Reichart’s new film, First Cow, follows much the same…
Taking on important historical figures in cinema can be fraught. Too much detail, and the film gets bogged down; too little and it’s dismissed as superficial. In recent years, a new vehicle has emerged – the snapshot biopic. Darkest Hour used it with Churchill, as did Hitchcock (2012) with, well, Hitchcock. These films take a…
It might just be me, but I feel like I’ve seen a lot of films lately about overcoming past trauma. Noted actor Robyn Wright makes her directorial debut in Land, another entry in that canon. She demonstrates a strong aptitude for visual storytelling. But her distinctive style can’t hide the thinness of the script. As…
If you want to see basically every space-movie trope collected in one neat package, Neil Burger’s highly derivative Voyagers could be it. This outwardly beautiful but shallow film tries hard, but ultimately falls short. The obvious starting point – as it often tends to be – is Stanley Kubrick’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey. From…
The Moro Spanish Film Festival 2021 brings you a sensational selection of new and recent Spanish language films. The films feature some of Spain and Latin America’s leading stars along with exciting new acting talent. The festival opens from April 20 at Palace Cinemas around the country. The rich program consists of 20 feature films…
