Search Results for: sydney film festival

Perfect Days examines the beauty of living life one day at a time: Sydney Film Festival Review

There are few films as meditative and rhythmic as what Wim Wenders managed to achieve here with Perfect Days. Known for his past documentaries and dramas, this German auteur presents a celebration of living a beautifully present life that is fresh out of Cannes and was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or, where it…


Freedom Is Beautiful speaks to the value in equality for all citizens living under the same rule: Sydney Film Festival Review

Originally conceived as a long short by director Angus McDonald, Freedom Is Beautiful is a timely documentary about the refugee experience in Australia, the cruciality of human rights, and the value in equality for all citizens living under the same rule. Shining a necessary light on the brutal processing regime that takes place on the…


How To Blow Up A Pipeline is a topical thriller that’s very much of the now: Sydney Film Festival Review

An eco-terrorism thriller where the bombers are the good guys, Daniel Goldhaber‘s How To Blow Up A Pipeline is structured as if it’s playing to a heist movie temperament, but it’s layered with a topical, current commentary that lends the film a young freshness; very much a movie of the “now”. Relying on ideas realised…


Reality is an unnerving reminder of the precarious times we live in: Sydney Film Festival Review

Described as a “verbatim description” of what happened to Reality Winner (yes, that’s an actual name), an American Air Force veteran, who was suspected of leaking classified government information to the media while she was working as a translator with top-secret security clearance in June 0f 2017, Tina Satter‘s stage play “Is This A Room”…


Chevalier; Kelvin Harrison Jr dominates serviceable period drama with swagger and charm: Sydney Film Festival Review

A historical figure whose achievements are all the more remarkable due to the obstacles faced as the son of a white father and black mother, Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, is highlighted, but not quite as richly celebrated in Stephen Williams‘s Chevalier. And given the extraordinary details of his life story, it’s a shame that…


The New Boy tackles religion and colonisation with an allegorical mentality: Sydney Film Festival Review

The themes tackled throughout Warwick Thornton‘s The New Boy are presented with symbolic, almost-magical and allegorical physicality.  And though its 1940’s Australian setting lends interesting conversation to its religious outlay and the clashing of beliefs at the time, the film itself doesn’t quite contain the spark needed to earn true impact; though it’s not for…


Past Lives is an impeccable drama of human connection and quiet complexity: Sydney Film Festival Review

Despite the simple premise of Celine Song‘s Past Lives and its romantic comedy connotations, the film is anything but.  Burning slow and composing its emotions until it knows when to release them in a flood of responsive passion, Song’s impeccable debut is a drama of humanism and quiet complexity. Set over the span of 24…


I Like Movies celebrates the film bro, video store rentals and auteur filmmakers with a genuine gaze: Sydney Film Festival Review

In this era of streaming taking priority (unfortunately), there’s a whole generation of movie watchers – if they aren’t on their phone during said watch – who are unaware of just how special a time the video store truly was.  I Like Movies indulges in that time. Set amongst the backdrop of teen angst, Blockbuster…


Sisu is visually exciting, shamelessly playful, and always, always unpredictable: Sydney Film Festival Review

There’s both a sense of adhering to the temperaments of action films gone by and embracing the current and future state of the genre present in Jalmari Helander‘s Sisu. Matching its dark sense of humour (and I mean dark) with a violently bloody mentality (and I mean bloody!), Sisu manages to present the simplest of…


Asteroid City; Wes Anderson’s visually lush comedy is heavy on star wattage, but light on substance: Sydney Film Festival Review

Another Wes Anderson creation, where the sheer cast alone is unfathomable in their collective talent and the twee is as twee as can be, Asteroid City, with its distinct colour pallet and deadpan performances, won’t convert any viewers over to the Wes way of watching, but those that have stuck with the auteur through his…


Scrapper is an impossibly charming dramedy made all the more so by its central performances: Sydney Film Festival Review

Whilst it’s easy to pick how Scrapper – Charlotte Regan‘s impossibly charming comedy/drama – will end when all is said and done, the central performances from newcomer Lola Campbell and Harris Dickinson as a feisty, self-reliant 12-year-old and her man-child father, respectively, are what keeps the quirky narrative continually engaging. It’s one of those “message”…


Late Night With the Devil has occasionally nasty, always unbridled fun with the “found footage” horror genre: Sydney Film Festival Review

“Before we continue I’d like to apologize to anyone who might be upset or offended by what you saw before the break. It’s not every day you see a demonic possession on live television.” Not the most typical sentence you’d expect to hear from a late night host, but such is the statement made by…


Carmen is a haunting and isolated tale that will entrance with its unconventional tempo: Sydney Film Festival Review

Though the title of Benjamin Millepied‘s feature directorial debut Carmen – the dancer-turned filmmaker having cut his teeth on short films and music videos – suggests a connection to Georges Bizet‘s French opera of the same name, his script – co-written with Alexander Dinelaris Jr. and Loïc Barrere – only mildly references its narrative mentality and…


Sydney Film Festival unveils stellar program for its 70th anniversary

“A film festival is a gathering of diverse perspectives that offers a collective snapshot of the global zeitgeist, allowing us to delve deeper into our present reality,” said Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley as he unveiled this year’s stellar line-up of programming, running from June 7th – 18th. “For 70 years, Sydney Film Festival has…


Sydney Film Festival 2022 Dispatch #1 – Family Dinner, As in Heaven and Fire of Love

Family Dinner (dir. Peter Hengl) Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Family Dinner tells the story of a reticent and obese teenager Simi who is spending her Easter Weekend at her auntie’s house. Her aunt Clara is a popular nutritionist and comes across as passive-aggressive toward her. Her partner Stefan comes off as a ladykiller as…


Please Baby Please is a sleazy, insufferable drama that loses its commentary in high camp: Sydney Film Festival Review

A gaudy game of cat-and-mouse and pseudo-philosophical musings on sexual orientation and gender sit at the core of Amanda Kramer‘s Please Baby Please, a wild but, sadly, insufferable drama that’s more sleazy than it is stylish. Set in 1950’s New York, the film reveals its bizarre, sexualised tone in its early minutes when bohemian couple…


Incredible But True is so bombastically silly that it’s somehow brilliant: Sydney Film Festival Review

The type of filmmaker who’s able to create stories so bombastically silly that they are somewhat brilliant, Quentin Dupieux once again expresses straight-faced frivolity in Incredible But True, a tightly-paced (a lean 74 minutes) twilight-zoned comedy that, somehow, is one of his more level-headed features in spite of its ludicrous plot. Said ludicrous plot revolves…


Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet balances that delicious tone between the eccentric and the perverse: Sydney Film Festival Review

Nobody quite does obscure like director Peter Strickland.  Finding that delicious balance between eccentric and perverse, Flux Gourmet – set over a month-long period in an institute for sonic caterers (yes, that’s a thing) – is perhaps his funniest yet, indulging in the mischief that comes with his unique blend of deadpan dialogue and a…


Good Luck To You, Leo Grande is deliriously charming and strikingly emotional: Sydney Film Festival Review

Whilst there’s no surprise revealed in the fact that Emma Thompson truly deserves to be considered one of the greatest living actresses working today, it’s always appreciated when a performance solidifies such a statement.  And in the deliriously charming and strikingly emotional Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, Thompson turns in career-best work that leans…


Emily the Criminal; if it’s wrong to root for the bad guy then you won’t want to be right!: Sydney Film Festival Review

They say crime doesn’t pay, but whoever stated as such may want to have a chat with the titular criminal in John Patton Ford‘s scrappy, oft intense thriller, one that furthers Aubrey Plaza‘s hold on chaos personified characters in the off-kilter subsect of cinema. Plaza’s Emily is a former art student with a $70,000 debt…


Sissy is a queer, female-strong chiller that deepens Australia’s connection with the horror genre: Sydney Film Festival Review

Whether we like them (or follow them) or not, influencers – sorry, “content creators” – are a cultural mainstay in our society that often extends beyond the environment of social media.  In Australian horror effort Sissy, co-writers/directors Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes seem all too aware of the faux importance influencers place upon themselves, a…


Sydney Film Festival announce opening night feature film

The 69th Sydney Film Festival has announced it’s opening night film, presenting the world premiere of We Are Still Here as its Gala event at the State Theatre on the 8th of June. The film, which will be followed by a post-screening celebration in the Sydney Town Hall, is a multi-genre First Nations collaboration that…


Sydney Film Festival announces 2022 in-cinema return with sneak look at its programming

The 69th annual Sydney Film Festival has announced a sneak peak look at 22 film titles that will be featured during this year’s event, running 8th-19th June, 2022. Ahead of its full program announcement on 11th May, this first taste of of programming “gives audiences a snapshot of the selection and flavour of films featured…


The Eyes of Tammy Faye is an uneven, yet entertaining biopic driven by a show-stopping Jessica Chastain: Sydney Film Festival Review

A film that’s likely to resonate with, or at least feel more familiar to American audiences, The Eyes of Tammy Faye does its best to clue in local Australian viewers as to just who was the larger-than-life personality Tammy Faye Bakker Messner.  An only-in-America type tale, Tammy Faye’s small-time Minnesota upbringing, where she “found Jesus”…


The Power of the Dog marks a triumphant return to cinema for acclaimed filmmaker Jane Campion: Sydney Film Festival Review

“He’s just a man, Peter. Only another man.” – Rose (Kirsten Dunst) Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons star as Phil and George Burbank; brothers who work as reputable cattle ranchers. George is a simple, upstanding and honest man while Phil is boastful, malevolent and manly. While Phil is happy with their routine of continuing the…


After Love rises above the sum of its parts to deliver an affecting drama: Sydney Film Festival Review

“We all break the rules we set for ourselves in the end.” – Genvieve (played by Nathalie Richard) Joanna Scanlan stars as Mary, a widow who is undergoing a period of grief after the sudden death of her sea captain husband Ahmed (Nasser Memarzia). Going through his belongings to attain some sort of closure, she…


Memoria is one of 2021’s best films thanks to its undeniably immersive nature that is cinematic morphine: Sydney Film Festival Review

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” – Anonymous According to writer/director Apitchatpong Weerasethakul’s latest film Memoria, the answer to the question above is a resounding yes. The acclaimed filmmaker is best known for works including Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His…


The Justice of Bunny King is a stellar directorial debut from Gaysorn Thavat; Essie Davis and Thomasin McKenzie shine: Sydney Film Festival Review

“You never even asked me if it was true!” – Tonyah (played by Thomasin McKenzie) Essie Davis stars as the titular role of Bunny King; a poverty-stricken mother of two who is struggling to fight the social system to get her kids back. During her battle, she crosses paths with her niece Tonyah, who is…


The Worst Person in the World is a compelling film that defies the tropes of the romantic comedy genre: Sydney Film Festival review

As much as The Worst Person in the World adheres to many of the standard ingredients of the “romantic comedy”, to refer to Joachim Trier‘s as one would be doing it a massive disservice. Detailed over 12 chapters (and both a prologue and epilogue), the film gives us a look into a certain period of…


Blue Bayou is a deliberately heartbreaking drama about the intricacies of immigration: Sydney Film Festival review

Immigration is a topic that’s quite intensely debated across the world, particularly in the United States.  And in Blue Bayou, a spotlight is shone on a specific group of immigrants, those that come to a country as infants with little to no recollection of their homeland and, quite often, had no other choice. Such is…