Tag: drama
Wuthering Heights
Saturday, October 13th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,Wrap up warmly for this plunge into the wilds of old Yorkshire. Andrea Arnold’s new adaptation of Wuthering Heights is so bleak, wet, cold and gloomy it chills one to the bone. After about fifteen minutes I felt like calling for gloves and a muffler. Ten minutes later I could feel my feet sinking into […]
Arbitrage
Saturday, October 6th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,Readers of the AFR probably don’t need to have the word “arbitrage” explained, but for the record, according to Wikipedia, it is “the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets.” In Nicholas Jarecki’s film, the term functions as a metaphor for a series of trade-offs conducted by hedge fund […]
Lore
Saturday, September 29th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing, Uncategorized,Cate Shortland enjoyed such extravagant success with Somersault, her debut feature of 2004, that it is no surprise she has taken her time to come up with film number two. The surprise is that she has made a German movie, not an Australian one. Although Shortland has drawn on Australian production skills and funding, Lore […]
On the Road
Saturday, September 29th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,For a book that defined a generation, On the Road has waited a long time for a definitive screen adaptation. Jack Kerouac, who launched his literary career with this benzedrine-fuelled chronicle of the Beats, imagined the story as a movie from the moment it was published. In 1957, Kerouac wrote to Marlon Brando suggesting he […]
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Saturday, September 15th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,This is a week that restores one’s faith in contemporary cinema. Left gasping by Monsieur Lazhar, I was completely floored by Beasts of the Southern Wild, the debut feature by young American director, Benh Zeitlin. This is a film that has everything: consummate story-telling, great performances from a largely non-professional group of actors, drama, pathos, […]
Monsieur Lazhar
Saturday, September 15th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,One approaches Monsieur Lazhar with the knowledge it has won numerous awards and gathered plaudits all over the world. If this wasn’t enough to raise one’s suspicions, the fact that the film was made in Canada is another cause for alarm. I don’t think any country is more adept at producing movies that promise so […]
Holy Motors
Saturday, August 25th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,It has been an excellent year for French cinema, but Holy Motors brings back memories of the brittle, self-consciously ‘poetic’ malaise that has infected so many gallic directors of the past. How alarming for all red-blooded Aussies that Our Kylie should be embedded in this piece of Parisian pastry. Kylie Minogue’s appearance comes at the […]
Cosmopolis
Saturday, August 11th, 2012 Film Reviews,If ever a film might be used to demonstrate how not to adapt a novel, that film is Cosmopolis. Don DeLillo published his tale in 2003, but set it “In the year 2000 – A Day in April.” Director, David Cronenberg, has taken this black satire on global capitalism, and let us believe the action […]
Magic Mike
Saturday, August 4th, 2012 Film Reviews,Mainstream films about strippers are often surprisingly anodyne. Many a poor male must have been disappointed in Gypsy (1962) when it first hit the cinemas, while The Full Monty (1997) could cheerfully be described as a family film. There are sleazier variations, such as Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls (1995), but it has to be admitted that […]
The Dark Knight Rises
Saturday, July 28th, 2012 Film Reviews,To say Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy is “dark” is a dismal understatement. It is pitch-black, numinous. Christian Bale’s Batman appears to be permanently depressed, wracked with guilt and self-loathing. Gotham City, which he strives to rescue from one apocalypse after another, is so corrupt and ugly it is barely worth saving. With Heath Ledger’s death […]