Sweet Country is the latest film from director Warwick Thornton who gave us one of the great Australian films of recent times, Sampson and Delilah. Confronting, powerful and visually startling, Sweet Country is almost as remarkable a piece of filmmaking as Sampson and Delilah, only falling short due to a slightly loose and rambling script. Evoking films such as the Searchers,
Read moreAs a story of an Indian child victim of poverty desperately trying to recover a life taken from him, Lion will elicit immediate comparisons with Slumdog Millionaire. Lion, which is a true story, however, packs an even bigger emotional punch. The film reveals how, in 1986, five-year-old Saroo (Sunny Pawar) and his teenage brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate) became separated at
Read moreBuilt for Speed – 27th January 2017 THE CELIBATE RIFLES – Where the action is. (Aus) ROYAL HEADACHE – Never Again. (Aus) MEGAN WASHINGTON – Sunday Best. (Aus) BELLES WILL RING – Pallisade Alley. (Aus) JETT- Roll over DJ. (Aus) SPIDERBAIT – Footy. (Aus) NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS – Red right hand. (Aus) THE CLOUDS – Soul eater.
Read moreRed Dog was one of recent Australian cinema’s greatest success stories, an unassuming and charming family film that ended up being a box office hit. Red Dog proved (as we should have already known) that films about Australia and our national culture will find an audience. With that film’s success a sequel was inevitable. While unlikely to become as iconic
Read moreAlthough directed by Jocelyn Moorehouse, The Dressmaker has the stamp of its writer and producer P.J. Hogan all over it. Like Hogan’s classic Muriel’s Wedding, The Dressmaker is a quirky Australian comedy that pits a sophisticated outsider against prejudiced Aussie bogans, celebrates femininity and glamorous reinvention while satirising both, has a wedding scene but also makes frequent turns into darker
Read moreMany films have explored the idea of a person’s dark past coming back to haunt them like some monster from the Id; Sexy Beast and Cape Fear being two thrilling examples. New Australian crime drama Cut Snake, which is set in 1970’s Brisbane, revisits this theme with impressively tense and disturbing results. Alex Russell plays young factory worker Merv or
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