Film and culture. Not content.
203 posts
There’ve been a lot of dog movies– a sad one about a Labrador retriever, a scary one with a St Bernard, a trilogy of Beverly Hills chihuahuas, and endless animated ones – but Strays is the first adult…
Fallen Leaves forms the fourth part of Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s ‘Proletariat’ series, after Shadows in Paradise, Ariel, and The Match Factory Girl. Although it is centred around a love story…
Lake Michigan Monster in 2018 by Mike Cheslik and Ryland Brickson Cole Tews was a lo-fi indie comedy homage to all things nautical and creature features. Reuniting once again for Hundreds of Beavers t…
When the news that Greta Gerwig was going to co-write and direct a movie based on Barbie the collective response appeared to be a baffled “What?” (Whereas the news that Margot Robbie would be playing…
We are all imperfect beings. We all have our negative peccadillos, our bad days, our petty resentments, our self-doubt, our pretentions. In Randall Park’s Shortcomings based on Adrian Tomie’s graphic…
Adele Lim’s hilarious Joy Ride was originally titled The Joy Fuck Club, which is pithy and biting in its own way, but implies a one-dimensionality to the film which it steadfastly avoids. Yes, it is c…
In Australian Cinemas on June 1. When one sees the title card “Based on a True(ish) Story” and brought to the screen by the creative team behind Fisherman’s Friends there isn’t much doubt what kind o…
A little under five years ago I opened a review of the first Book Club film stating that it’s not a perfect film, noting that it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I had that year. And, to my c…
When Ari Aster was a boy, his mother took him to watch The Piano Teacher; a psychosexual drama with twists of sex, loneliness, cruelty, and an overbearing mother. He has since declared that this was o…
There is no doubting that the titular Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) is most certainly afraid in Ari Aster’s dark absurdist comedy Beau is Afraid. Beau has every reason to be afraid in Aster’s mashup of The B…
Catherine Hardwicke’s career as a director is hard to pin down. Her brilliant first film Thirteen (2003) co-written by Nikki Reed was a blistering investigation into disenfranchised teenagers. Her fol…
Nitin Vengurlekar, the star and screenwriter (based on his play of the same name) of Platon Theodoris’ The Lonely Spirits Variety Hour has spoken in an interview how he abhors metaphors. He has some g…