The straightforward plot of Baltasar Kormakur’s Beast sees big game poachers wipe out a pride of lions, only for one to get away and go rogue. To elaborate, Dr Nate Samuels (Idris Elba) has taken his two daughters from New York to visit his old friend Martin Battles (Sharlto Copley) in South Africa. Tension is…
The debut feature for Brisbane-based filmmaker Samuel Gay, A Guide to Dating at the End of the World is in essence a romantic comedy, albeit with a touch of sci-fi thrown in for good measure. Alex (Kerith Atkinson) is set up for a blind date by her friends, but she finds John (Tony Brockman) a…
Mark Hartley is a filmmaker whose specialty is the rather niche world of Ozploitation. His latest film, Girl at the Window, is in a similar vein. Troubled teenager Amy’s (Ella Newton) father died when he fell down a disused mine shaft two years ago. She was nearby when it happened, and blames herself. She’s still…
David Cronenberg’s first feature film in eight years sees the master of smart but visceral horror back in the groove. Crimes of the Future (2022*) is a gripping but gruesome exploration of how technology and the human body intersect. As such, this film can be considered the long-delayed (Cronenberg wrote it in 1999 but shelved…
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande is the third feature from director Sophie Hyde, and like her previous two films (Animals and 52 Tuesdays), it centres around a strong female character coming to terms with her sexuality and her body. This is the first feature script written by British comedian Katy Brand, best known for…
The Conference is a fictionalised account of what is unquestionably the most horrific conference in history. On 20 January 1942, high ranking Nazi officials met at a mansion southwest of Berlin to plot the Holocaust, referred to as the “Final Solution to the Jewish question”. It involved 90 minutes discussing how to rid Europe of…
Jordan Peele, the creative force behind Get Out! and Us, returns with his third feature film as director, Nope. This is one out of the box – a film that’s oddly both more conventional and more daring than his other work. And at a time when the box office is dominated by sequels and re-boots,…
People and cultures collide in David Leitch’s literally fast-paced action thriller, Bullet Train. Leitch (Deadpool 2) uses his stylised but often profuse violence to great effect in this rollicking tale of intersecting characters and agendas. And while the film is hardly cerebral, I found myself swept along by it. Screenwriter Zak Olkewicz adapts Kôtarô Isaka’s…
Vincent Peltier’s (Jerome Commandeur) life is on the line in the often-hilarious French comedy Employee of the Month. When travelling through the Ecuadorian jungle, he’s captured by a hostile tribe. It is up to the chief of the tribe (Jean-Louis Loca) – who doesn’t trust white people – to decide his fate and it looks…
She’s rude, belligerent and overbearing, and proud of it. She’s crippled and ailing, drinks like a fish and has been a war photographer. She’s Ruth (Charlotte Rampling), a straight-talking English woman, and the central character in Matthew Saville’s film Juniper. It’s 1992. Ruth is visiting her son Robert (Martin Csokas) and grandson Sam (George Ferrier)…
