June 27, 2009 | New Film | by Xavier Toby |

Based on the Booker Prize Winning novel by J.M. Coetzee, John Malkovich is superb as David Lurie, a poetry professor without much of a moral compass. He is dismissed from his university in South Africa for taking advantage of a student, and moves to the country to live with his daughter, where the crimes she suffers through forces him to analyse his own mistakes. Disgrace is a wonderfully layered film, filled with complex characters and almost requires repeated viewing to fully appreciate the many issues covered. Despite the lack of action the piece never drags. At its worst, film is disposable and boring. At its best, film informs, inspires debate and forces each viewer to question their own moral code. This is film at its best.

June 24, 2009 | New Film | by Xavier Toby |

An Australian film that focuses on the hardships suffered by a typical lower-class family. I can feel you cringe, but there’s no need. This isn’t another clanger that relies on clichés and lame jokes, that portrays average Australians as simple and backward. Here are intelligent, warm, loving people struggling with a series of hardships with individuality, honesty and strength. Read more

June 18, 2009 | New Film | by Xavier Toby |

A few years ago, a few German high school students went a bit nuts. The students had been adamant that fascism could never again take hold in Germany. So the teacher started a social experiment to prove that it could, and the students got a little caught up in it, to say the least. In reality, the whole thing was shut down before it got too out of control. This film is a fictionalised version of that out of control experiment and does an excellent job of showing, in a contemporary setting, just how easily fascism can develop support and discriminate against those involved, with even the teacher caught up by the amount of power he has over the students.

June 15, 2009 | New Film | by Zolton |

I watched the excellent documentary Popaganda on Friday night about counter-culture art savant Ron English and his longtime habit for reclaiming billboard space for his subversive, anti-corporate, anti-advertising statements. It’s a fascinating portrait of what is really a contemporary art genius, tackling the likes of McDonalds and Camel with his clever wordisms and cheeky characters. Ron English is a guest contributor to Lost At E Minor and you can read about his favorite new artists, bands and places by subscribing to our free weekly email newsletter.

June 9, 2009 | New Film | by Kate Barnett |

How does a film of models swirling bakery products from under a pane of glass sound? It’s ethereal and intoxicating. If you’re lucky enough to be in New York City, Marilyn Minter’s Green Pink Caviar is displayed in Times Square. For everyone else, you can see the documentary-like film on her website. Enamel on metal stills of the film are also on show at Salon 94 until June 13th.

May 28, 2009 | New Film | by Xavier Toby |

A compelling film starring two of Hollywood’s finest, Merryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt is based on an award-winning play of the same name and analyses how the Catholic Church deals with the problem of paedophilia and priests. Much more than simply condemning the act, this movie delves further, examining how the hierarchy of the church often protects its perpetrators, and how those with the best interests of the child at heart are often virtually powerless. The weighty topics are then complicated with complex characters and surprising twists, making this a rare movie where the issues and consequences linger with you long afterwards.

New Film / What Just Happened?

May 26, 2009 | New Film | by Xavier Toby |

Is Hollywood as ramshackle, dysfunctional and self-obsessed as celebrity gossip magazines and news programs would have us believe? Apparently, yes. This brilliant new comedy stars Robert De Niro as a producer dealing with all of Hollywood’s pressures, which include an enigmatic and headstrong director, a ruthless studio boss, a demanding actor, a neurotic agent, and a personal life packed with ex-wives and children. Read more

May 21, 2009 | New Film | by Mike Daly |

A visually stunning short 3D-animated film directed by Antoine Perez, Celine Desrumaux, Francois Pons and Gary Levesque, Yankee Gal took a year to complete and was produced at the always formidable French computer graphics school, Supinfocom.

New Film / Surveillance

May 11, 2009 | New Film | by Xavier Toby |

Written and directed by Jennifer Lynch, daughter of David Lynch, who went into hiding after writing and directing Boxing Helena, which received a toweling from the critics. Surveillance is her first film since — a horror-thriller that has a more solid thread than Lynch senior’s latest offerings. It also features fine performances, great twists and plenty of psychotic characters. Since seeing it a film festival, I haven’t heard much about this movie, but it’s packed with interesting ideas and subtle, tense scenes. Read more

April 30, 2009 | New Film | by Xavier Toby |

This film proves again that Penelope Cruz can act, Ben Kingsley is one of the best actors of our time, and men, regardless of their age, never stop lusting after young women. Kingsley plays an aging lecturer and literature critic who falls for a student, played by Cruz. To his surprise, his affections are returned and he finds the love that has avoided him his entire life. It’s his own insecurities that then create problems with this relationship, not helped by the advice from his peers and a son who has never forgiven Kingsley for abandoning him. This film perhaps should’ve been shorter, but three-dimensional supporting characters with their own problems, philosophies and histories add real depth and thoughtfulness to this compelling meditation on love and relationships.

New Film / Donkey Punch

April 28, 2009 | New Film | by Xavier Toby |

Taking an urban legend about a violent sexual manoeuvre is an interesting starting point for any movie, especially a thriller. When it’s then followed with clever plotting that involves friends constantly turning on each other, what you have is ninety minutes that is far better than a lot of the supposedly titillating and nauseating rubbish that reaches a much wider audience. Three young British girls head off to Ibiza to party. Four lads lure them onto a boat, and a sexual misadventure leads to carnage, via a variety of weapons. It’s bloody brilliant. Literally. Read more

New Film / Blindness

April 23, 2009 | New Film | by Xavier Toby |

A disaster film meets Lord of the Flies. Set in a nameless, present day city, hinting that this is a tragedy that could occur at any time or place, people are suddenly infected with blindness. This feature again explores the depraved depths to which humans could quickly descend given the slightest change in circumstances. Read more

April 17, 2009 | New Film | by Xavier Toby |

Written and directed by Australian, Adam Elliot, the Mary and Max stop-motion animation is his follow-up to the Oscar winning 2003 short, Harvie Krumpet. He’s a man dedicated to his art, with each scene individually shot using real figurines. It took him ages to create, and while the sombre storyline is directed squarely at adults, it’s an enriching, gripping and beautifully told meditation of a film that you simply must see. A momentous artistic achievement that’s also a great yarn.

April 16, 2009 | New Film | by Xavier Toby |

This Japanese anime feature is likely part of a series with similar storylines or animation, but that’s irrelevant because this superb film stands apart from the mass of recently released full-length anime movies in terms of story, character and animation. The ending does feel a little rushed, but that seems a problem common to many anime features, and apart from that small flaw, this film takes an inspired idea and cleverly realises it. Read more

New Film / Where The Wild Things Are

March 30, 2009 | New Film | by John Malloy |

After hearing a year’s worth of speculation that this film might not see the light of day, the new Dave Eggers [McSweeney's] and Spike Jonze adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s vividly imaginative story Where The Wild Things Are is finally hitting the big screen. And I can’t wait! The subtle use of CGI on the faces makes the creatures even more eerily believable. Read more