In 1972, at the pinnacle if her career, Aretha Franklin chose to record an album of the gospel music she had sung as a young girl in church with her father. Rather than turn to the recording studio, Aretha decided to record it in a church with a congregation as the audience. That venue was the New Temple Missionary Baptist
Read moreAri Aster made an immediate and profound impression with his disturbing feature-length directorial debut Hereditary. A creepy supernatural thriller, Hereditary introduced a film-maker with an aesthetic style that was strikingly distinct but in its meticulous framing and vivid pristine images, also informed by legends such as Stanley Kubrick. His follow-up Midsommar exudes similar menace and boasts much of Hereditary’s visual
Read morePalm Beach, the new Aussie relationship drama from director Rachel Ward, builds its story around a very familiar template: A group of older middle-aged, upper middle-class friends come together for a weekend where amiable socialising gives way to people venting hidden resentments, revealing past infidelities and lamenting personal disappointments. At the screening, star Bryan brown said the story was inspired
Read moreIn her breakthrough horror film, The Babadook, writer director Jennifer Kent used a supernatural menace to represent the threat and anxiety experienced by a single mother played by Esse Davis. Her latest film, the gruelling historical drama, The Nightingale, sees a woman and an indigenous man confronted by a more realistic threat in the brutal racist patriarchy of a British
Read moreIt’s just over a year since the world lost one of the greatest singers of all time, Aretha Franklin. This week sees the release (after many decades) of ‘Amazing Grace’ a film by Sydney Pollack that documents Aretha’s performance at a Baptist church in 1972 and this Friday ‘Built For Speed’ will tell you all about that film. We also take
Read moreWritten by Stan Grant and directed by Daniel Gordon, the documentary The Australian Dream, which recounts Sydney Swans champion Adam Goodes’ tumultuous career and confrontation with racist attitudes, has generated considerable attention prior to its release. Let’s hope this attention translates into attendance as this is not only a moving personal story but an important lesson in Australian history. Adam’s
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