There are no simple truths in this bittersweet, confronting film of a delinquent Polish youth masquerading as a Catholic priest.
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Review: The Adolescent Panic of ‘Shiva Baby’
Emma Seligman’s debut feature is an affecting examination of the pressures, anxieties and insecurities of young womanhood.
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Review: Artificial Unintelligence in ‘Coded Bias’
Shalini Kantayya’s documentary is a methodical look at facial recognition algorithms which avoids being by-the-numbers.
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Review: The Dread of Waiting in ‘La Llorona’
This slow-burning Guatemalan ghost story deals with heavy questions about complicity and justice.
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Melbourne International Film Festival 2020 Shorts Round-Up: Animation
In this year’s impressive Animated Shorts line-up, three films elevate the mundane through style and tone.
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Melbourne International Film Festival 2020 Shorts Round-Up: International
In this year’s heavy-hitting International Shorts line-up, three women-centric films stand out, exploring separate facets of female isolation.
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Review: ‘The Plastic House’ Tends To A Garden of Isolation and Grief
The repetitive imagery and near silence of Allison Chhorn’s experimental film may cause pandemic-era viewers to reflect on their own daily routines.
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Review: Mortality Confronted in ‘Father to Son’
Hsiao Ya-chuan crafts a rewarding, if at times confounding tale of paternal love, politics, and temptation.
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Review: ‘Descent’ is a Cathartic Deep Dive That Takes Your Breath Away
Nays Baghai crafts an empathetic portrait of ice freediver Kiki Bosch, exploring how the traumas of her past led her to the extreme sport.
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Review: ‘Rosemary’s Way’ Introduces Audiences to the Australian Hero We Need Right Now
It’s hard not to fall for the community spirit and gentle charms of Ros Horin’s sophomore documentary feature.
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Review: Superstition as Anesthesia in ‘Zana’
Set in the aftermath of the Kosovo war, Antoneta Kastrati explores the stigmatisation of female psychology in her unflinching narrative debut.
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Review: ‘Sea Fever’ is a Moody Deep-Sea Sci-Fi
Watery characterisation and borrowed genre tropes leave this thriller down among the dead men.
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Sydney Film Festival 2020 Shorts Round-Up: Animation
Although ‘GNT’ and ‘The Quiet’ are animated, they’re far from two-dimensional.
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Sydney Film Festival 2020 Shorts Round-Up: Live-Action
‘Her Own Music’, ‘Mukbang’, and ‘Idol’ tell their stories of adolescence and social media madness sensitively – and quickly.
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Review: ‘The Weather Diaries’ Speaks to Parenting in an Environmental Crisis
In her documentary, Kathy Drayton affectingly examines the climate crisis in Australia and its influence on her relationship with her daughter.
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Review: ‘A Hundred Years of Happiness’ is a Marriage of Unfulfilled Potential and Slow Storytelling
Jakeb Anhvu’s observational documentary can feel more like an exercise in aesthetics than the fascinating cultural study it promises.
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Two Takes on ‘Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet’: A Bizarre Detective Satire
Claire White and George Kapaklis present two opinions on Oldřich Lipský’s absurdist drama.
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Review: Time Unspools in ‘Over’
UK filmmaker Jörn Threlfall’s short film crafts a stream of clues towards a pointy answer.
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Review: ‘Hope Gap’ is a Forgettable Addition to the Divorce Movie Genre
An acting dream team of Bill Nighy, Annette Benning and Josh O’Connor can’t save this tiresome familial drama.
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Review: The Active Listening of ‘In My Blood It Runs’
Maya Newell’s sublime observational documentary lends an ear to Indigenous youth struggling in the Western school system.
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Review: Step Back in Time with ‘La Belle Epoque”s Misplaced Nostalgia Trip
Lauren Ironmonger musters up little more enthusiasm than ‘ok boomer’ for this French rom-com.
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Review: How ‘The Last Thing He Wanted’ Went Wrong
Dee Rees’ highly-anticipated Joan Didion adaptation frustrates through what it chooses to keep, ignore, and change from the source novel.
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Review: The Divine Anguish of ‘Saint Maud’
Though fitting neatly into A24’s horror brand, Rose Glass’ debut feature takes the guiding principle – that pain should never be wasted – to harrowing extremes, striking a personal chord.
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Review: ‘Suicide Tourist’ is Chillingly Shallow
This weak-kneed thriller revolves around one of the most infuriating reality versus fantasy mysteries in recent memory.
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Review: The Daunting Loneliness of ‘Away’
Gints Zilablodis’ animation parable follows a young boy who runs from a physical and metaphorical darkness.
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Review: ‘S He’ is a blistering commentary on systemic sexism
Nothing is left unscathed in Shengwei Zhou’s debut stop-motion animation.
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Hail ‘Sator’, a Cabin-in-the-Woods Horror Flick Made From One Filmmaker’s Blood, Sweat, and Tears
While effectively ‘nerve-shredding’, Jordan Graham’s painstaking effort is too similar to other arthouse horror movies released during its five years of production.
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Review: Destabilised Representation in ‘Searching Eva’
Director Pia Hellenthal has provided her subject the opportunity to engage in a unique form of on-screen introspection — but it’s an approach that yields limited insight.
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Review: ‘L.A. Tea Time’ Soaks up Life like a Sponge
A pair’s road trip to meet filmmaking hero, Miranda July, turns into a dreamy journey of observation and self-discovery.
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Review: ‘AIDOL’ is the spawn-point of a new cinematic age, for better or worse
Part machinima, part musical; Lawrence Lek synthesises together something totally original.
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Review: Travel Deconstructed in ‘Tourism’
Daisuke Miyazaki questions the merit of travel as two Japanese micro-influencers document their vacation to Southeast Asia.
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Review: The Beautiful World of ‘Emma.’
Autumn de Wilde’s Austen adaptation is a female fantasy, and it’s all the more better for it.
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Review: Going Downriver with ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon’, a Lyrical Ode to Friendship
Sophie Gibson reflects on the fascinating, frustrating story of time and place hidden in this indie dramedy.
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Review: ‘Underwater’ is a theme park movie par excellence
The Kristen Stewart deep-sea disaster movie is a comforting B-movie indulgence.
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Review: ‘Like A Boss’ Accidentally Argues For Its Own Irrelevance
There’s definitely a story to be told about struggling small businesses relying on charity from billionaires to succeed in an increasingly stratified financial class system, but Like A Boss isn’t interested in telling it.
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Review: The Quiet Wisdom of ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood’
Tom Hanks gives a miraculous performance as Fred Rogers. Unfortunately, he’s not the main character.
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Review: The Blindingly White Feminism of ‘Bombshell’
This exposé on the ruthless power dynamics of Fox News has surprisingly little to say about the media corporation itself, let alone its complex real-life protagonists.
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Review: Doctor Sleep
Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King adaptation is kinder and less focused than the Kubrick film it cribs from.
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Review: Seven and a Half
This tapestry display of individual lives highlights the disparate gender inequality in Iran, but falls victim to its otherwise dry thematic explorations.
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Review: Reza
There’s an empty quality to this otherwise impressive, lyrical Persian drama about life after divorce.
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Review: Judy & Punch
Mirrah Foulkes’ audacious, violent debut puppeteers together tense domestic drama with a cartoonish shock comedy.
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Review: Blinded by the Light
Like its starry-eyed protagonist, Gurinder Chadha’s teen film is far too obsessed with Springsteen for its own good.
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Review: Beats
Brian Welsh injects this coming of age tale, set against the last hurrah of Scotland’s rave scene, with visual energy and electric nostalgia.
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Review: The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt’s modern classic is adapted faithfully ― and misguidedly ― in this bloated cinematic adaptation.
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Review: Buoyancy
This urgent, authentic coming-of-age tale that takes a devastating look at the exploitative Thai fishing industry is vital viewing.
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Review: The Souvenir
Joanna Hogg’s fragmentary portrait of an emotionally abusive relationship is both painful and distancing.
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Review: Alternate Endings: Six New Ways to Die in America
This HBO documentary offers up some alternative perspectives on death rituals, but remains limited by its Western perspectives.
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Review: Sequin in a Blue Room
A high schooler navigates the world of queer online dating in this hypnotic coming of age tale.
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Review: The Wild Goose Lake
Diao Yi’nan’s expressively shot Chinese neon-noir is a pointless exercise in hard-boiled posturing.
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Review: Hotel By The River
Two occupants reflect on their pasts in a sleepy, snow-side hotel in this gentle, even-handed entry into Hang Sang-soo’s oeuvre.
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