DVD Review: Rabid
David Cronenberg built a reputation as a filmmaker through the establishment of what was to become classed as the “body horror” genre. The Canadian director’s fascination with the effect of scientists’ experimentation on humans was a recurring theme through much of his early work; most famously in the remake of The Fly and Videodrome. His …
Film Review: Love Is Strange
Given the amount of money spent on advertising for Valentine’s Day, you could be forgiven in thinking that love consists of handcuffs, whips, expensive dining or tacky cards. Cinema itself often concentrates on extremes or confrontation when dealing with the subject of romance or love. Ira Sachs is more interested in quiet affirmation in his …
Incoming: Dancing in Jaffa
Pierre Dulaine, four-time ballroom dancing world champion, is fulfilling a life-long dream when he takes his program, Dancing Classrooms, back to his city of birth, Jaffa. For generations, Jaffa has been a city divided by two communities that continue to grow increasingly apart. Over a ten-week period, Pierre teaches Jewish and Palestinian Israeli children to …
Film Review: Coherence
All too often films fall into the nasty habit of replacing the need for a well-written and intelligent script with eye-popping visuals. However, there’s been many examples of mind-bending low budget films becoming cult hits. Cube, at its sequels, are probably the best examples of this. However, Fermat’s Room, Pi and Primer demonstrated that there’s …
Blu-ray Review: The Killing + Killer’s Kiss
Stanley Kubrick is one of the greatest film directors of all time. He’s been widely acclaimed for his later post-Dr Strangelove work, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, A Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket. However, his earlier work is often overlooked. It didn’t take Kubrick long to find his feet as a director …
Film Review: Selma
Many of the most important and famous people throughout history have been subject of a biopic. Some of the most successful include American Splendour, The Aviator, La Vie en Rose, Raging Bull, The Elephant Man and I’m Not There. Political figures are also well-represented – JFK, Gandhi, Nixon, Milk and Malcolm X, to name but …
Film Review: The Turning
Australia have produced more than its fair share of famous actors over the last few decades. Cate Blanchett, Mia Wasikowska, Naomi Watts, Mel Gibson, Guy Pearce, Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, Geoffrey Rush, Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth are all firmly established in Hollywood. Behind the camera there’s a similar story. Baz Luhrmann, James Wan, Peter …
DVD Review: The Great Museum
There’s something simply fascinating about being a fly on the wall. Especially when that wall belongs to a famous historic institution like the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. What is completely ordinary to those who work there, can be entirely fascinating to others. Director Johannes Holzhausen spent two years gathering material together for The Great Museum. …
DVD Review: Manakamana
If you take the cable car up to The Manakamana Temple in Nepal, it will take you eleven minutes. I know this because in Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez’s film Manakamana we repeat the journey up and down the mountainside. Filmed under the patronage of the Harvard University’s Sensory Ethnography Lab, whose 2012 documentary Leviathan was …
Incoming: Selma
Selma is the story of a movement. The film chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) signing the Voting Rights Act …