Of all of this year’s directors making their feature film debut, Josh Lawson has arguably the highest profile. Not only is he a respected comedian making us all piss our pants in home-grown shows like Thank God You’re Here and Kinne, he’s also made an impression overseas starring opposite Don Cheadle in House of Cards…
Matt Nable’s performance in the 2012 mini-series Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms gave us our first real taste of the ex-rugby leaguer’s impressive acting abilities. While he’s been equally as good as a supporting character in films like The Turning and Son of a Gun, it’s his lead performance as Thomas in Fell that cements…
If Robert Connolly’s Paper Planes was the Wagyu of this year’s CinéfestOZ then John Soto’s The Reckoning was the Chuck steak. It’s inconceivable that a film brimming with ridiculous inaccuracies and pure silliness was considered for a prize worth a hundred grand, because almost every part of Soto’s wannabe thriller is a dreadful mess. Robbie…
“With his uneasy playfulness the seemingly fearless director has created an uncomfortable, horrifying and atmospheric tale of redemption.” These Final Hours is one of the more conceivable apocalyptic genre films of late. Rather than getting caught up in an implausible fantasy of Earth’s gritty expiration it stays grounded and focuses solely on its characters and their…
In the beginning Billie narrates, ‘We were just kids’. It’s as though she’s using this to justify her misbehaviours like so many of us have done when remembering our past. Setting horse paddocks on fire, touching each other up at skate parks or sleeping with a friend’s lover is forgiven because we were just kids.…
The Rover has an incredible back story: It’s the near future and Western civilisation has fallen victim to economic collapse. The ancient Australian Outback has found itself host to desperate immigrants from all corners of the globe looking to make a buck in mining. Lack of authority makes it easy for the desperate to exploit…
It’s seldom such a high quality Australian film is released to a worldwide audience. It was unclear whether or not to get caught up in the international film festival hype, but now it’s official – The Babadook is the first great Australian film of 2014, if not the last couple of years. After his mother…
Jane (Del Herbert-Jane) is undergoing gender transition from a woman to a man. Because of the stresses this life-altering choice is going to have on her she’s asked her 16 year old daughter Billie (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) to move out and live with her father Tom (Beau Travis Williams). Over the course of a year Billie…
It’s the familiar story we’ve seen play out in movies a million times over; one of lust, forbidden sexual desires and a seemingly inseparable bond between two young lovers. More often than not these clichéd and formulaic films will conclude with a sickeningly happy ending obvious from the very beginning. That’s where Mekelle Mills’ Zoe.Misplaced…
Review by Stephen Pollock: Petticoats, flower pressing and Botticelli – not what a Brit usually expects from a movie made and set in Australia. Especially not in 1990, when my perception of Australian film was shaped by The Castle, Mad Max, Crocodile Dundee and other red-dust fare. Adverts for XXX (“I can see the pub…
Cinema Australia 