Freedom and identity are in play in Looking for Alibrandi. It is the 1990s and 17-year-old Josie Alibrandi (Chanella Macri), of Italian origin, is a clever student in her final year at school, looking to pursue law. She isn’t enamoured by the tight reign being kept on her by her mother, Christina (Lucia Mastrantone), who fell pregnant…
Just how good are you at keeping secrets? If you hear something juicy, do you immediately rush off to tell your partner or best friend, or do you keep it to yourself? Let’s face it, secrets by their very nature are tantalising and, at times, it feels good to share them with someone. The five actors in…
Mexican writer-director Michel Franco’s slow-moving existential drama Sundown stars Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Roth plays Neil Bennett, who is spending a relaxing holiday in an exclusive resort in Acapulco with his sister Alice (Gainsbourg) and her two teenage children Colin (Samuel Bottomley) and Alexa (Albertine Kotting McMillan). Neil is the scion of a family…
In Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment No. 6, the journey counts, not the destination. The film opens in Moscow in 1996. Laura (Seide Haarla) is a Finnish archaeology student in her 30s staying with Irina (Dinara Drukarova) in a beautiful flat. The pair are also lovers. Irina has forged a good life, full of friends, parties, laughter…
Australia: The Lucky Country. And through the eyes of a teenage, orphaned girl in Singapore, it represents her dream, her hope for a better life and an escape from the emotional shackles that the death of her mother has dealt her. Although inspired by the early years of its writer Merlynn Tong, Golden Blood is…
– Juniper – Only in cinemas from 4 August 2022 We have 10 double in-season passes thanks to Transmission Films. *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE Sam (17) has been on a self-destructive spiral that could lead to his death. He returns home from boarding school to find his wheelchair-bound English grandmother,…
The French tend to make fine films about food, family and fashion. While Haute Couture is set against the backdrop of the high-end fashion industry it primarily deals with complex mother/daughter relationships and class issues in contemporary France. Ester (Cesar winning actress Nathalie Baye) is the head seamstress at Dior Avenue Montaigne workshop in Paris,…
Naturalistic performances mark writer-director Clio Barnard’s new film Ali & Ava. She crafts a gritty, working-class story born of pain. Ali (Adeel Akhtar) is a Pakistani-British landlord who enjoys a strong relationship with his tenants in Bradford. He also loves his music with a heavier edge. After a tragedy in their lives, Ali and his…
The Carlsberg Scandinavian Film Festival is back to warm your mid-winter at Palace Cinemas around the country from 12 July to 10 August 2022. The 2022 program includes a superb selection of the best new cinema from the Nordic region encompassing Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. It also features a number arriving direct from…
The Kitchen Brigade is a modest but generally upbeat French comedy and underdog drama from filmmaker Louis Julien Petit, who has worked as a second unit director on a number of popular and successful Gallic comedies like Welcome To The Sticks. The film centres around Cathy Marie (Audrey Lamy), a sous chef who works in…
