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Reviews

Melbourne International Film Festival, Reviews

Review: ‘The Macaluso Sisters’ paints the slow passage of grief

Emma Dante’s unconventional Sicily-set drama poignantly captures, over decades, the mourning between sisters after a tragic accident.

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Melbourne International Film Festival, Reviews

Review: Enriching Connection in ‘Language Lessons’

You might be sick of video calls by now, but ‘Language Lessons’ celebrates their awkward and intimate power to connect us.

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Reviews

Review: The Dematerialised Vistas of ‘Land’

Snow-capped peaks, rolling hills, pine trees, log cabin, woodchop block and axe, fire, middle-aged white woman staring pensively into the distance.

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Reviews

Review: The Bright, Waxy World of ‘Minari’

Lee Isaac Chung’s gentle tale of assimilation and cultivation steeps in something universal.

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Reviews

Review: David Byrne’s ‘American Utopia’ is an Electric Ride

Spike Lee’s filmed version of David Byrne’s Broadway show captures a feeling of infectious enthusiasm and energy.

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Reviews

Review: Disney + LEGO + Lucasfilm + Christmas = ‘The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special’

Tansy Gardam unboxes this curious brand-tastic product, which is at the very least an improvement on the ‘78 special.

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Reviews

Review: ‘The Twentieth Century’ is the Most Fun You’ll Have Learning About Politics All Year

Matthew Rankin’s debut feature is a surreal quasi-biopic set in a delicious nightmare world of Canadian politics.

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Reviews

Review: ‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ is a Softly Spoken Tale of Female Self-Determination

Eliza Hittman’s naturalistic drama is at its most tender, yet hard-hitting when it says nothing at all.

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Reviews

Review: The River Tale in ‘Voice of Siang’

In his debut documentary, Joor Baruah creates a delicate and stylised visual anthropological treat, foregrounding the controversy of dam construction with issues of frontierisation and borderlands.

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Reviews

Review: Violence’s Aftermath in ‘Jwlwi – The Seed’

This multilingual film sheds light on the conflict between various ethnic militant groups and the state armed forces across two decades in India, but finds hope in future generations.

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Reviews

Review: ‘I Am Woman’ is Your Semi-Annual Groovy Reminder of the Power of Music

The Helen Reddy biopic is firmly formulaic and second-wave, but it still manages to inspire.

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Melbourne International Film Festival, Reviews

Review: ‘Women Make Film’, and How, In This Epic Documentary Chronicling the Female Gaze

Mark Cousins’ gargantuan series on female directors is captivating and aspirational from every one of its 14 hours.

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Melbourne International Film Festival, Reviews

Review: Death, Lesbians, and Disappointment in ‘Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt)’

It may be a meaningful step forward for Australian queer cinema, but this lesbian teen rom-com offers little outside of representation.

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Melbourne International Film Festival, Reviews

Review: ‘The Tango of the Widower and Its Distorting Mirror’ is Little More Than A Fragmented Reflection of Former Greatness

Filmed in 1967 and reconstructed in 2020, Matilda Alexander ponders Raúl Ruiz’s Chilean cinépoem, which brims with visionary ambition.

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Melbourne International Film Festival, Reviews

Review: ‘Corpus Christi’ is a Clear-Eyed Drama about Faith and Fraud

There are no simple truths in this bittersweet, confronting film of a delinquent Polish youth masquerading as a Catholic priest.

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Melbourne International Film Festival, Reviews

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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Melbourne International Film Festival, Reviews

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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Melbourne International Film Festival, Reviews

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, Reviews

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, Reviews

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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Melbourne International Film Festival, Reviews

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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Reviews

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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Reviews, Sydney Film Festival

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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Reviews, Sydney Film Festival

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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Reviews, Sydney Film Festival

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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Reviews, Sydney Film Festival

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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Reviews, Sydney Film Festival

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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Reviews, Sydney Film Festival

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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Reviews, Sydney Film Festival

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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Reviews, Sydney Film Festival

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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