Restraint

Animal Kingdom: Australian crime movie

Australia has been criticized for only doing two types of films well: the quirky comedy such as Strictly Ballroom, Priscilla or Crocodile Dundee, and the hardened drama that centres around crime such as Two Hands, Noise and Lantana. Animal Kingdom firmly sits in the second category and while lacking the humour of those mentioned, it makes up for it with some shockingly bleak scenes. Read more

Samson and Delilah, an Australian movie

This is not an enjoyable film, but it is excellent. Immediately after watching Samson and Delilah, I thought it was awful. Exactly because I thought it was awful, a week later I’m convinced it’s brilliant. There are many different types of films. Some are immensely entertaining, but immediately forgettable. Like Avatar. Others stick with you, no matter how much you wish they wouldn’t, because they show you a truth about the world that you wish wasn’t so spot on. Samson and Delilah is based around the real-life experiences of director Warwick Thornton and present a part of Australia that most people, myself included, suspected existed, but really wish it didn’t. Now, what the hell do we do about it?

Balibo: Australian documentary about East Timor

For a small country so close to Australia, so many of us know way too little about East Timor. Balibo makes it clear that the small nation was invaded by the Indonesians over thirty years ago, while Australia let it happen. This well paced, passionately acted portrayal of the events centres around the death of five young Australian journalists. Experienced Australian journalist Roger East tries to find out what happened to them, with the help of Jose Ramos Horta, who is still a pertinent figure in East Timorese politics. Anthony Lapaglia gives a spirited performance as East, who at one point comments, “Thousand of little brown people die; nobody back home (in Australia) is going to care. But five Australian journalists are killed and that’s front page news.” Which helps explain why their deaths were kept covered up for three decades. [read about more Australian pop culture at The Colour]

Australian movie A Few Best Men

With all the gross out jokes and silliness of the common comedy romp, you’d think making them would be easy. Well, it’s not. It’s actually really difficult. Writing a joke is one of the hardest tasks anyone can undertake. Read more

Melancholia: a film by Lars von Trier

I wish there were a lot more of the types of films made by Lars von Trier. Each is very different but still distinctly von Trier, and each is superb. Melancholia is the follow up to the wonderfully confronting Antichrist. This is all about the end of the world, and told with an honesty and pacing that is probably much closer to the actual end of the world than all the Hollywood crap would have you believe. Read more

We Need To Talk About Kevin: based on Lionel Shriver’s novel

A delightful uncomfortable film, told from the point of view of a broken woman. Kevin’s just not right, and that’s obvious from the outset as mother Eva battles to bring him up in a world where the onus is put squarely back on the mother. The intensity is poured on throughout, as tragedy seems imminent. Read more