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Tag: Australian film

Film Reviews

Force of Nature: The Dry 2

Friday, February 9th, 2024 Film Reviews,

 “Rarely, rarely comest thou, Spirit of Delight!” wrote Shelley, in a remarkable premonition of the Australian film industry. “Wherefore hast thou left me now, Many a day and night?” Australian cinema has reached such an impasse that I go along to each new feature hoping for something worthy and tradesmanlike. Occasionally there appears a film […]

Film Reviews

Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story

Sunday, September 3rd, 2023 Film Reviews,

Michael Gudinski was a serious burner of candles at both ends. In describing the flamboyant record executive and concert promoter, most of his friends talk about his “energy” and “passion”. Director, Paul Goldman, who admits to a spiky relationship with his subject, says he set out to avoid making a hagiography. Nevertheless, this is what […]

Film Reviews

The New Boy

Friday, June 16th, 2023 Film Reviews,

Last week, at a screening of Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy, Nashen Moodley, the director of the Sydney Film Festival, recalled how “exhilarated” he was by Thornton’s debut feature, Samson & Delilah (2009). That film was widely praised, frequently spoken of as a landmark in local cinema, but it’s hard to believe it would leave […]

Film Reviews

Limbo

Friday, May 26th, 2023 Film Reviews,

For the Catholic Church, Limbo was literally the outskirts of Hell, inhabited by those good people who died before Christ was born, and by infants without experience of baptism or sin. In common parlance, the word has come to mean a state of indecision, of forced inaction with no clear path in sight. For filmmaker […]

Film Reviews

The Survival of Kindness

Thursday, May 4th, 2023 Film Reviews,

Plenty of people will tell you that Rolf de Heer’s The Survival of Kindness is a “weird” film. That’s probably an understatement considering that all the dialogue is muttered in an incomprehensible language – or set of languages, and that most of the characters walk around wearing large, clunky gasmasks. Nobody has a name, and […]

Film Reviews

Of an Age

Friday, March 31st, 2023 Film Reviews,

Goran Stolevski announced his arrival as a force in Australian cinema with his debut feature of last year, You Won’t be Alone – a gender bending horror movie set in 19th century Macedonia. Those who responded enthusiastically to that weird, very original production, may find themselves less enamoured of his follow-up, Of an Age. You […]

Film Reviews

You Won’t Be Alone

Thursday, September 22nd, 2022 Film Reviews,

If your idea of a sorceress is Elizabeth Montgomery in Bewitched, you may find Goran Stolevski’s debut feature, You Won’t be Alone, a disturbing experience. The witch we meet in the first scenes of this film, Old Maid Maria, AKA. “the Wolf-Eatress” (Anamaria Marinca), is not a pretty sight. Bearing the scars from a burning […]

Film Reviews

Blaze

Friday, August 26th, 2022 Film Reviews,

It was inevitable that Del Kathryn Barton’s debut feature, Blaze, would gather a swag of rave responses. Every new Australian film, no matter how bleak, depressing or sadistic, finds plenty of people willing to sing its praises. Too often this compulsive need to support the local product only helps perpetuate the artistic mediocrity that has […]

Film Reviews

Elvis

Friday, June 24th, 2022 Film Reviews,

There’s no mystery about a film by Baz Luhrmann. We know it’s going to be big and brassy, fast-moving, wilfully superficial, and packed with over-the-top theatrics. As a result, I go along to each new Baz film with a sense of diminished expectations. For me, everything started to go wrong with Moulin Rouge! (2001), which […]

Film Reviews

Sydney Film Festival 2021

Friday, November 19th, 2021 Film Reviews,

It was a long intermission between June 2019 and this month, but the 68thSydney Film Festival finally made it to the cinemas – and came through with every sign of success. My own attendance was more sporadic than usual but the overall impression was bouyant. I’m not sure if this was because of the program, […]