Qissa Indian/ German co-production Qissa (the title roughly means ‘fable’) is powerful and at times disturbing mix of family drama, social commentary and supernatural fantasy that provides a sobering view of the status of women in India. Set during the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan, the film features Life of Pi’s Irrfan Khan as Umber Singh an authoritarian and
Read moreBad Neighbours seems to have been spawned by a vaguely interesting idea, to mix Animal House-style frat boy comedy with the rambling, 30-something relationship comedy of Judd Apatow. Unfortunately, Bad Neighbours takes the worst aspects of both, namely the crass, juvenile gags of the frat boy movie and the unfocused momentum-free narrative of a Judd Apatow film to create a
Read moreFading Gigolo is the Woody Allen film you have when you don’t have a Woody Allen film. Apart from an appearance by Woody himself, the film features a romanticised upscale New York setting, Jewish humour and cultural insights and jaunty jazz music all built around a quirky yet moving romance. With its low-budget look and heavily filtered cinematography by Marco
Read moreDespite their serious artistic intentions Francois Ozon’s films, which often depict the sexual awakening of young women, can’t help but titillate the rain coat brigade. That will probably be the case with his latest film Young and Beautiful but it doesn’t diminish the fact that this is a sensitively acted, attractively shot exploration of the impact on a family of
Read moreGiven its unusual mix of genres, namely, period film, biopic, race-relations story, political drama and romance, Belle had the potential to be a fascinating film. Somehow, the whole is less than the sum of the parts as Belle, while handsome and well-made, is not the compelling story it should have been. Belle is a true story based on the early life
Read moreThe new Australian film 52 Tuesdays surprises with both its subject matter and the way in which it was constructed. The film depicts the events of each Tuesday afternoon for a year in the life of 17 year old Adelaide school girl Billy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) and her family. Billy’s mother Jane (Del Herbert-Jane) is undergoing gender transition treatment to become
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