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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What Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ Tells Us About Film In 2019
Elroy Rosenberg spotlights Scorsese’s creative ambition in the midst of 2019’s slick, focus-group filmmaking.
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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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You Tried: Richard E. Grant in ‘Spice World’
Grant’s highly-strung manager nearly turns a 90s cinematic wannabe into girl group gold.
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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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Cinemascopes: Capricorn
These glamorous GOATs are already married – to their work.
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Star Wars Should’ve Let the Past Die
Madeleine McRae interrogates blockbuster filmmaking through the legacy of Star Wars and reckons with its Disneyfied future.
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Let’s Fix ‘Cats’!
Eliza Janssen knows how to make 2019’s biggest critical failure less of a cat-astrophe.
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Rough Cut’s Best of the Decade (2010-2019)
To mark the end of the decade, the Rough Cut crew reveal their favourite films of the 2010s.
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Paris Window: An Interview with Amanda Kramer
Ivana Brehas reunites with Amanda Kramer to discuss the release of her film Paris Window.
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Pedro Almodóvar and Quentin Tarantino: A Tale of Two Directors
Bina Bhattacharya reflects on two of her favourite directors’ latest films, and finds unlikely parallels between their filmmaking styles.
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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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Yesterday Is Gone: Sondheim in ‘Marriage Story’ and ‘Lady Bird’
The music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim mean something to both Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig – Claire White figures it out.
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Cinemascopes: Sagittarius
They’re breathtaking, they’re elegant, and they’re everywhere.
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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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Not Trying to Be Beautiful: An Interview with Selina Miles
Ivana Brehas talks to Martha: A Picture Story’s Selina Miles about joyful art, documenting graffiti and working with legendary art photographer, Martha Cooper.
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Disney Princesses and the Women Who Made Them
Tansy Gardam searches for a fairytale ending in Disney’s first century of female animators and characters.
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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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Common Threads: An Interview with I Am No Bird’s Em Baker
Ivana Brehas speaks with director Em Baker about the myth of the bride, documentary ethics, and the resilience of women.
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A Reflection on Pain and Glory
Sophie Gibson ponders Pedro Almodóvar’s latest in a series of gentle and personal reflections.
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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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Cinemascopes: Scorpio
It’s the spookiest, sexiest, silliest time of the year.
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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?
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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.
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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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Video Essay: Big Duck Richie
A celebration of those times when a guy just comes into your workplace and dances.
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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’.
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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.
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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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Cinemascopes: Libra
Keep your ego in check, and stand up for your beliefs (if you can decide on them).
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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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Finding Your Voice: An Interview with Lulu Wang
Debbie Zhou talks to The Farewell’s Lulu Wang about cross-cultural communication, building tension in a scene and coming to terms with her personal voice as a filmmaker.
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Cinemascopes: Virgo
Get organised, team up, and listen to your instincts this season.
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Taking Back the Culture: An Interview with And Then We Danced’s Levan Akin
Claire White speaks to And Then We Danced director Levan Akin about same-sex desire, claiming a traditional culture for your own, and the queering of John Hughes.
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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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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.
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Getting a Kick Out of It: An Interview with Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks’ Veronica Fury
At the Melbourne International Film Festival, Hunter Keeble talks with producer Veronica Fury about what makes an engaging documentary, the cultural impact of martial arts cinema, and the future of “films about films”.
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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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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.
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#Big Truths: An Interview with Rolf de Heer
André Shannon speaks to Rolf de Heer about environmental filmmaking ahead of The Waiting Room’s VR premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival.
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Review: Present.Perfect.
Shengze Zhu foregrounds humanism in this pensive internet-age documentary about streaming and voyeurism.
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Review: The Day Shall Come
Chris Morris targets American intelligence with acid-laced humour in this off-kilter, spitfire satire.
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Review: In Fabric
Peter Strickland’s killer dress movie wears its influences proudly on its sleeve, but its competing stories are sloppily stitched together.
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Baby, or The Politics of Performance and Pain
Kai Perrignon challenges the state of political art in the age of cancel culture.
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Review: Beanpole
Kantemir Balagov’s sophomore feature hangs heavy with the maternal emptiness of post-war Russia.
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Review: The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão
The colours, the colours, the colours.
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