Judy and Punch is a real mixed bag. This Australian production from actor-turned-director Mirrah Foulkes is something of a breakthrough for the local industry. It proves Australian cinema can be more than just sunshine, beaches and gritty dramas. But its wildly uneven tone and confronting themes will test audiences’ patience. Domestic violence presents a huge…
In Emu Runner, nine-year old Gemma (played by newcomer Rhae-Kye Waites) is a Ngemba aboriginal girl growing up in the NSW town of Brewarrina, some 800 kms north of Sydney. She is devastated when her mother dies during a fishing expedition to the local river. Gemma’s father Jay Jay (Wayne Blair, a filmmaker in his…
These two documentaries opened on 31 October 2019 in limited release. Both are worth searching out. Happy Sad Man An empathetic look at a number of ordinary Australians struggling with mental health issues, Happy Sad Man is a beautifully composed and moving documentary. The focus is on five men aged from their 30s to 70s,…
Well, there’s always the “Disappointment of the year” award. I’m afraid this year Little Monsters will take this. I had regained confidence in the combination of horror and comedy after watching Monster Party and The Dead Don’t Die. I’ve always had a problem with it when moviemakers mix these two genres. But these last two…
As a filmmaking culture, Australia has a lot of people with great ideas. But small budgets and stingy government funding mean sometimes those ideas aren’t fully realised. And sadly, Promised is one of those. Writer-director Nick Condi’s somewhat unconventional family drama is apparently based on a true story, but its heart gets lost in a…
Janine Hosking’s The Eulogy provides a compelling portrait of an virtuoso Australian pianist who died far too young. This intriguing film is among the finest documentaries of the year. The starting point is the controversial eulogy former Prime Minister Paul Keating delivered at Geoffrey Tozer’s memorial service (which the ex-PM agreed to re-enact for this…
I got a lump in my throat when I watched Teresa Palmer – as Michelle Payne – cross the line to become the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup. That’s despite remembering a great deal about that fateful day on the first Tuesday in November 2015. I was concerned that knowledge might detract…
Just as all families are unique, it’s safe to say that all have their own individual issues and, accordingly, suburban family life has long been fodder for theatrical works. In the case of From Darkness Steven Oliver’s take comes with humour but so much more; the darkly funny drama is, at its core, about bigger…
Bill Bateman, author of the Vince Hanrahan series, was a rural based GP himself, and that shows. Both in his affection for the town, the people and the depiction of the day to day life of the slightly harried GP, but mostly in the way that some presentations are never quite what they seem and…
– Ride Like a Girl – Only in cinemas from 26 September 2019 We have 5 double in-season passes thanks to Transmission Films. *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE As a little girl, Michelle Payne dreams of the impossible: winning the Melbourne Cup — horse-racing’s toughest two-mile race. The youngest of 10…
