Features | ROUGH CUT

Features

A Reflection on Pain and Glory

Sophie Gibson ponders Pedro Almodóvar’s latest in a series of gentle and personal reflections.

Cinemascopes

Cinemascopes: Scorpio

It’s the spookiest, sexiest, silliest time of the year.

Features

Why The Boss Still Works

In the past year, Bruce Springsteen’s music has been the subject of four films ― what is it about The Boss that still resonates with audiences today?

Features

Guide to The Great Astor Spooktacular of 2019

From psychosexual body-horror filth to satanic panic frights, Jamie Tram steps through the line-up of Melbourne’s most anticipated Halloween filmgoing event.

Features

Video Essay: Big Duck Richie

A celebration of those times when a guy just comes into your workplace and dances.

Features

Ride Like a Girl is an Affront to Feminism

Rachel Griffiths’ Melbourne Cup biopic ignores the cruelty through which its female protagonist achieves her so-called ‘success’.

Features

Pubic Hair and Other Lies: The Farewell

Amidst the noise of diversity and representation discourse, filmmaker Hyun Lee reflects on why she loved The Farewell.

Cinemascopes

Cinemascopes: Libra

Keep your ego in check, and stand up for your beliefs (if you can decide on them).

Cinemascopes

Cinemascopes: Virgo

Get organised, team up, and listen to your instincts this season.

Features

Video Essay: Hae-Mi Monroe

Ivana Brehas presents a side-by-side comparison of two pivotal dance scenes from Burning (2018) and The Misfits (1961), finding parallels between characters decades and continents apart.

Features, Melbourne International Film Festival

And Then We Danced: A Facebook Chat

Claire White and George Kapaklis reflect on the highlights of a tender, queer love story set in Georgia.

Features, Melbourne International Film Festival

Baby, or The Politics of Performance and Pain

Kai Perrignon challenges the state of political art in the age of cancel culture.

Cinemascopes

Cinemascopes: Leo

The sun is in Leo, so get glowing and dress the part.

Features

Huge Ackman: The Curious Case of Hugh Jackman’s Career

Sam Twyford-Moore delves beneath the shiny surface of one of Australia’s most beloved yet ‘bifurcated’ entertainers.

Features, Melbourne International Film Festival

Melbourne International Film Festival 2019: Top Picks

The Rough Cut team pick out the weird, the compelling, and the essential out of this year’s 375-strong MIFF catalogue.

Features

Scarlett Johansson: A Tree is Born

André and Jack unpack ScarJo’s tree-related acting catalogue, past, present, and future.

Features

Parasite: A Group Chat

Rough Cut contributors, Zach, Michael, and Claire discuss this year’s witty, biting, and wildly unpredictable Palme d’Or winner.

Features, Sydney Film Festival

Populism Projected in The Brink and Reason

Faraaz Rahman examines truth and accountability in two documentaries charting the rise of populism.

Features

Mother Knows Best: I Am Mother, and Searching For Non-Sexualised AI

The AI at the heart of Netflix’s latest sci-fi plunge opens up provoking questions of femininity and motherhood.

Cinemascopes

Cinemascopes: Cancer

Be the Mom and embrace your sensitivity this season.

Features

Merchant of Melodrama: Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Traumatised Characters

Zach Karpinellison examines the timeless brutality of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s cinema.

Cinemascopes

Cinemascopes: Gemini

Get weird, embrace your duality, and lighten up this season.

Features, Sydney Film Festival

Sydney Film Festival 2019: Top Picks

The Rough Cut team are here to help you compile the must-sees of the Sydney Film Festival, which have unveiled their biggest program yet.

Features

The LEGO Movie 2 Wants You To Break The Cycle

Samuel Harris tracks back to his own childhood LEGO obsession to untangle the clever commentary that lies beneath the innocuous optimism of The LEGO Movie’s sequel.

Features

This Is It, We’re Finally Leaving Neverland

Matilda Dorman reflects upon the revived abuse allegations against Michael Jackson in 2019’s two-parter documentary, Leaving Neverland — through a personal comparison to the 2009 concert film This Is It.

Features

Thank You For The Music: Coming Of Age in Muriel’s Wedding

P.J Hogan’s 1994 cult classic might just be the most honest Australian coming-of-age film ever made.

Cinemascopes

Cinemascopes: Taurus

Luxuriate in earthly delights, but stay grounded this season.

Features

The Halphabet: 26 Vital Parts of Hal Ashby

Eliza Janssen alphabetises the ‘shaggy humanism’ of Hal Ashby, in light of a release of a documentary on the prolific American director.

Cinemascopes

Cinemascopes: Aries

Channel Aries’ headstrong energy this season.

Features

Making Bigotry A Thing of The Past

Why is Hollywood so obsessed with looking backwards, rather than addressing today’s injustices?

Features

Moving and Shaking: Embracing the Uncertainty of Teen Sexuality in Giant Little Ones

Michael Sun investigates the state of teen queer cinema after the feel-good optimism of Love, Simon.

Alliance Française French Film Festival, Features

Video Essay: ‘Last Year At Marienbad’ and The Doobie Brother’s ‘What A Fool Believes’ Are About The Same Thing

Eliza Janssen finds an unlikely connection between Alain Resnais’ 1961 arthouse drama and a 70s yacht-rock single.

Features

A Cat Jumps Out From The Darkness: In Defence of Jump Scares

Why hasn’t the jump scare graduated to the same respectability as the horror genre?

Features

Oscars 2019 Round Table: A Group Chat

The Rough Cut team bring to you an unconventional chat ahead of the 2019 Academy Awards, bantering predictions, conflicts as critics, and Oscar campaigns.