Hitting Adelaide this Friday is the twentieth anniversary of WOMADelaide. Just one more year until it’s legally allowed to drink in the USA. How exciting! WOMADelaide brings together innovative musical artists from around the world, with a lean towards the folksy end of the spectrum.

Most artists will be performing on a couple of the days, so there’s no need to attend the whole thing. But with so much on offer, that’s what I’ll be doing. Highlights include: First Aid Kit (Sweden), with their clean harmonies and simple melodies; Mahala Rai Banda (Romania), from the town of Ciejani, which is well known for producing quality gypsy musicians; and Kimmo Pohjonen (Finland), who does things to an accordion that defies belief [watch him perform above].

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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.

With films, there’s also the inherent problem of narrative, as at some stage, the stupidity can no longer be sustained and you have to get on with the story. It’s a movie after all, not a sketch comedy show. So the last third is where most comedies falter as they put substance over slapstick and try to eek out some meaningful conclusion. A Few Best Men sits in a curious comedy netherworld as it resists putting the comedy or the narrative at the forefront at any stage, making for a well-balanced laugh excursion. Great fun throughout, with a best man’s speech for the ages.

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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.

von Trier populates his film with characters that are given room to develop and breathe, and actors are required to act instead of running from explosions and delivering clever one-liners. It’s slow, thoughtful storytelling where much is left to interpretation and the story exists in the broad spaces. Less like a film, it’s more like the beautiful bastard child of a song and a novel.

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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.

Based on Lionel Shriver’s 2003 novel of the same name, Tilda Swinton is outstanding in the lead role, while John C. Reilly is also brilliant as the completely clueless father. The wonderfully uncomfortable closeness of son and mother is arresting, along with the agonizing storytelling pace. Similar in many ways to Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, the beauty in this story is in the hints, and what’s left unsaid.

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I’ve been to Woodford before. That’s why I’m going again this year. It’s a music and fringe festival all in one, with only one ticket. Well, there are day or season passes, but the idea is that one ticket gets you access to everything. So no messy ticket decisions. With over 400 acts from December 27 to January 1st.

So what to expect? Musical acts include Gotye, Xavier Rudd, Eagle and the Worm, Jordie Lane, Husky (video above), a heap of international acts, as well as many others.

There’s also Burlesque, a green debate titled, “The Plutocrats Now Run The Country,” as well as comedians, folk musicians, workshops, and a host of insightful lectures.

Also included is The Dreaming festival, which involves the planets’ oldest cultures sharing their timeless traditions and contemporary performing arts, all at The Dreaming’s dedicated venue, BlakDramatics. The Dreaming Gallery will then be offering workshops and exhibitions, while The Dingo Café hosts discussions and the Village Green dance performances.

The theme this year is Pieces of the Puzzle. Festival Director Bill Hauritz said: ‘Our beautiful planet is in need of some nurture and, like the festival, our people are the custodians If everyone can bring their little piece of the puzzle, the collective contribution would be special. It’s sort of like saving the world, one fantastic party at a time’.

You don’t even have to be a hippy to enjoy it. Promise.

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Fundamental Christians, with a big emphasis on the word ‘mental’, in a shootout with the police. Oh, and the Christians kidnap three local lads looking to get laid. There’s rampant homophobia, and heaps of people get it in a big blown apart, their heads are everywhere kinda way.

Then don’t forget the humour. While gory, shocking and full of suspense, this film is also very funny. So how did all this come together into such a neat package where the police and the Christians are all nuts? Director and writer Kevin Smith. The guy who did Clerks, Clerks II (duh), Chasing Amy, and about a dozen other awesome indie films.

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The true story of one morning on Palm Island, when Cameron Doomadgee allegedly swore at a policeman, and forty minutes later lay dead in a watch-house cell. This powerful and award winning documentary follows the inquest into Doomadgee’s death, talking to those involved and giving a real sense of this tragedy surrounding this event and those involved.

Never before in Australia has a policeman been tried as a result of a death in custody. On the evidence provided here, it’s extremely difficult not to share the outrage of those affected by the actions of policeman Chris Hurley.

It’s a complicated story, as Hurley is a policeman who’s gone out of his way to give back and integrate with Aboriginal communities, where alcoholism and all forms of domestic abuse are commonplace.

For a deeper understanding of this situation, read the book on which the film is based, ‘The Tall Man’ by Chloe Hooper. Non-fiction at it’s finest, the book delves much deeper than the film, to examine and honestly portray the many sides of a
situation where there are no easy answers.

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Animated plastic toys. Peppered with brilliant slapstick. A storyline that makes the most wondrous stupid sense. Too excited to form proper sentences. Amazing animated film from Belgium. Hilarity that just builds and builds until your head explodes.

Deep breath. Okay, this film is weird, but it’s amazing weird. The animation techniques are as original and innovative as the narrative, which just leaves you staring at the screen going, ‘I have no idea how they came up with that, but I’m so glad they did’.

For me, this film ended with a very awkward television hug, and a sloppy kiss. It’s that good. So join Indian, Cowboy and Horse as they try to get their walls back from the sea people. You’ll regret it forever if you don’t.

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Films don’t get any funnier than this. Dotted throughout are laugh-out-loud moments as Brendan Gleeson perfectly plays an eccentric Irish policeman, with Don Cheadle as his straight-faced FBI sidekick. What makes a good comedy great is the supporting cast, and real effort has gone into making even the smallest parts shine.

The most successful independent Irish film of all time in terms of box-office receipts, this cutting brand of humour might offend those who call themselves ‘politically correct’, but really, they need to just get over themselves.

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The treatment of women in war torn and impoverished countries usually lags way behind first world standards. Most horrifying of all is when people from developed countries take advantage of the opportunities in these disadvantaged places to perpetrate horrible abuses against women.

The film is based on the actual experiences of Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska cop who served as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia, who uncovers a wide-scale, child sex-slave and human-trafficking scandal. It involves people at all levels throughout the UN and a US military contractor.

I’m not sure what’s more shocking: that those who are supposed to be there to help are involved in such horrible abuses, or the way those in positions of authority continue to let them to get away with it. Why aren’t we doing more about this?

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LAEM: Where did the inspiration for the graphics, graffiti and cartoons seen throughout the film come from? MM: ‘I went to art school, not film school, so this kind of open filmmaking comes quite naturally to me. It’s how I instinctively solve problems in production, story, or just film boredom. The reason the graphics and drawings worked is because they were a real way to understand what Oliver was thinking and feeling. And while they are quite straightforward and declarative, they end up feeling strange and lyrical, and deliver information in a way that doesn’t feel dialogue driven’.

Length explanation at pivotal moments seems purposefully left out, drowned out by music, etc. What drove this artistic decision?
‘What you leave out in film can actually have the most substance for the audience, and I think mimics the way we don’t understand so much of what we live through. Life is so much more confusing, unexplained, multilayered and paradoxical than even the most mysterious and artful films. I guess I’m trying to point to all that flux, rather than pin everything down’.

How did the comparison of the external factors influencing the father, Hal, and the internal factors affecting the son, Oliver, emerge?
‘This is the great conflict between me and my real father. When my dad came out, we began having much more interesting conversations about what can and can’t happen in relationships, and he had a new understanding about how “internal” blocks can be quite real. He was born in 1924 and part of a generation that was taught to not talk about their interior lives, especially their interior fears’.

Do you feel that you would’ve been able to write this picture without the personal experience?
‘There are always amazing writers that don’t seem to need to come from such a personal place. Or they are so good at transforming their real experience that you don’t see the connection. For me, I do really like other artists who work from what “really” happened, or who try to process issues that are alive and not understood. But also, even the most concrete memories with my dad, by the time it’s made into a film, it’s a fiction, your version, your dream’.

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Not a horror, thriller or romance, but with elements of all three, this is a curious film where an explanation of the theme, characters and setting do nothing to convey the strength of the story. Instead of providing a glossy version of lives and events, with characters full of clever quips and insights, you’re thrown into quiet lives trying to deal with the messy reality of tragic events.

It’s thoughtful storytelling with real power, and fully realised characters that, through their roundness, transcend the need for set-ups and neat endings. There’s a literary festival in Ireland, some great scenery and some supernatural stuff as well.

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Steve Coogan playing up his narcissistic on-screen persona with long-time companion Rob Brydon in the passenger seat. The banter is, at times, hilarious, and then uncomfortably, squeamishly hilarious, and then just a bit sad. Which is funny, too. The impersonations are the highlight, while the substance comes in the comparing of Coogan’s supposedly lonely but more successful career with Brydon’s stable home life and solid body of work.

While both performers are obviously in on the joke of tearing apart their perceived personalities, it is worth considering how close the onscreen personas are to real life. Just because you can play yourself onscreen and have a good laugh, it doesn’t make it any less real. Sure, it’s all a setup and we’re laughing at the celebrity machine etc, but it’s the inherent truth of the pretend nastiness that makes this compelling. And really, really funny.

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Have you been to the movies lately? I have. Horror movies are getting pretty shit aren’t they? It’s as if they’ve run out of ideas in the English-speaking world, and need to get all introspective and self-referential in order to be entertaining. Whatever.

Horror used to be heaps of fun. Like this French offering. The characterisations are hilarious, with each character being almost like a cartoon they’re so full of absurdity. Then it’s all wrapped up in a winning idea that lampoon’s mobile phone culture at the same time as keeping the body count satisfying high. Make the effort to find this film, it’s much more worthy of your time than all that sequel crap.

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Set in Adelaide, this film about an Aboriginal woman leaving jail and struggling to reconnect with society and her daughter isn’t the most amazing story ever told. It lacks big twists and big laughs. But that would only subtract from this lovingly told tale.

Film can do so many things, and one of the most important is to put the viewer in a story and life that is otherwise outside of their everyday. Here I Am does this superbly, showing a life that most of us only ever see from the outside, and are often too quick to judge.

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At a cost of about $2 a pot, The Good Brew beer comes from local microbreweries with solar or other environmental measures in place. It’s delivered by trike to the Melbourne CBD or inner northern suburbs, and served from reusable kegs into reusable glasses. Also, it’s delicious and wine is available.

At the moment they’re serving Buckley’s Beer, a range from a microbrewery in Healesville. It’s brewed to German purity laws, meaning no sugar or additives, traditional brewing techniques, and with all the vitimans and minerals of the yeast remaining in the beer.

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Rock/pop with an alt country twist, The Cliffords play hook filled songs with roaring choruses and lyrics that stick. ‘You guys would be the best pop band in Melbourne if ya pulled ya finger out’, a Melbourne publican told them. So they did, and finally produced their first full-length album.

They’ve been playing the pub scene for years, rocking out the sweaty, pounding gigs for which the Melbourne scene is renowned. It’s difficult to pick highlights out of this 13 track album as each song delivers an equally powerful but varied pitch. Personal favourites are Saturday Morning, Whiskey in the Water and Wagon Wheel.

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Not an easy film to watch. At all. Often in serial killer movies it’s clear who the bad and good guys are. But this is a true story, and told with all the comprise and messiness of the truth. Based on the Snowtown murders in Adelaide from 1992 to 1999, the characterizations are honest and real, along with the violence. What’s not given is much explanation or justification. To be honest, at the start I hated it. Then it got awesome.

It’s one portrait of what happened, and all the more forceful for the quiet moments where these downright depressing lives are wonderfully illustrated. These murders also inhabit a hazy area, where viewers of shows like Dexter will feel uncomfortable for the justifications given. What’s also astounding is the amount of people who must’ve had an idea what was happening, however did nothing. Want to see a real psychopath? Watch this.

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A nun that outsells Elvis and the Beatles. It’s a true story too, but I doubt that many who read this review will be old enough to remember the song, Dominique, by the singing nun, Jeannine Deckers. Interestingly, there was another film made long ago about the life of the singing nun that made it out to be a much rosier story, and had a lot less to do with truth.

This biography skilfully examines the life of a performer who struggles to recreate the success of her first single. Her frustration is palpable as she still has the talent that initially achieved her notoriety, but confronts ongoing problems achieving similar results.

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Did you know that up to 150,000 underprivileged children were forcibly deported from England to countries including Australia up until 1970? I had no idea. Sometimes a story is so compelling that the usual narrative drivers aren’t required.

The deportation scheme was uncovered by Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham, played with the perfect amount of reserve and emotion by Emily Watson. The complex issues around how to assist those so outrageously wronged by these deportations are handled with care and consideration, as are all the different viewpoints. What also struck me was how those claiming divine guidance often commit the most horrendous acts. But hey, that’s organized religion for you.

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