We seem to have been getting more European – specifically French – films in Australian cinemas recently. That might be a hangover from Hollywood’s troubles over the past year or two, but it provides an opportunity for more diverse offerings. And few films could be further from a Hollywood blockbuster than Catherine Breillat’s enigmatic Last…
Like Alan Parker’s fantastic 1991 drama The Commitments, Kneecap tells the story of an Irish band from humble working-class beginnings. But unlike that film, which was based on a Roddy Doyle novel, Kneecap is drawn from a real-life story. Kneecap is a profane, hyperenergetic drama about an Irish hip-hop trio who found themselves at the…
Thomas Bidegain’s tension-filled thriller Suddenly involves a couple marooned on a remote Antarctic island. Their hopes of survival diminish as days turn to weeks and months. Ben (Gilles Lellouche) and Laura (Melanie Thiery) have been together for five years as they embark on a global sailing voyage. Their next populated port of call is a…
Bookworm is the sophomore directorial feature from New Zealand filmmaker Ant Timpson, who is better known as a writer and producer on a number of weird and often gory horror film such as The Greasy Strangler and The ABCs of Death. Bookworm is more of a family friendly adventure and marks something of a change…
Revenge is at the heart of the dark fantasy romance, The Crow. This is a remake of Australian Alex Proyas’ 1994 film of the same name. Both movies are based on the comic book series by James O’Barr. This time, Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) is in the director’s chair. Eric (Bill Skarsgård)…
Of all movie sub-genres, the music biopic seems particularly resistant to change. With perhaps a couple of exceptions, they all follow the same basic structure – humble beginnings, meteoric rise, success and inevitable decline (often with a dose of 12-step redemption). Midas Man – Joe Stephenson’s portrait of The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein – is…
Sensitive and affecting, Touch is a love story that spans the ages. The central characters meet at a Japanese restaurant in the UK. On principle, young Icelander Kristofer (Palmi Kormakur) gives up his place at the prestigious London School of Economics to work as a dishwasher at the busy eatery. He meets the restaurant owner’s…
Writer and director JT Mollner (Outlaws and Angels) crafts a tightly wound, stylish, horror-thriller with Strange Darling. Shot entirely on 35 mm, it’s one of the most compelling movies I’ve seen in a long time. It concerns a serial killer with a kink who operated in the US between 2018 and 2020. More specifically, it…
I couldn’t help thinking about the warped Jeffrey Epstein while watching Zoe Kravitz’s psychological thriller Blink Twice. The film concerns billionaire tech mogul Slater King (Channing Tatum), who steps aside after a major error of judgment. He ups his philanthropy, buys a private island and makes a series of very public apologies for his actions….
Among Alien fandom there’s a broad consensus that the canonical films are the first two: Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and James Cameron’s Aliens (1986). Fede Alvarez’s new instalment Alien: Romulus is perhaps ideally placed between the two. So it serves as a kind of sequel to Alien and a prequel to Aliens. For me at…
