SUNDANCE 2019: Judy and Punch
Judy and Punch was the second of three Australian films I saw at Sundance (the other two being The Nightingale and Little Monsters) and has a surprisingly similar subject matter to The Nightingale – a woman seeking revenge against a violent and abusive man. Tonally, however,…
SUNDANCE 2019: The Nightingale
Director Jennifer Kent has gone in a somewhat unexpected direction as a follow up to her cult hit, The Babadook. Mining the uncomfortable corners of her country’s past, Kent has conjured a work full of relentless brutality, which will definitely prove too much for some,…
SUNDANCE 2019: Honey Boy
Honey Boy plays like a therapeutic passion project penned by Shia LaBeouf and thoughtfully directed by Alma Har’el. It’s a devastating confrontation of abuse, alcoholism, and the effects of waiting so long before you can find solace for yourself and the need to forgive those…
SUNDANCE 2019: Animals
Adapting her own 2014 novel of the same name, screenwriter Emma Jane Unsworth has teamed with director Sophie Hyde to tell the tale of two hedonistic women in their early thirties who are struggling with the concept of settling down and ‘acting their age.’ Starring…
SUNDANCE 2019: Love, Antosha
If a more beautiful, heart-shattering film is released this year, I will be surprised.. The second a five year old Anton Yelchin appears on screen, the tears start and they won’t stop for a long time after the credits roll. This film is about more…
SUNDANCE 2019: Greener Grass
Directors Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe have a tight, twisted grasp of society because they scrutinize and indulge it so effortlessly in their debut feature film Greener Grass. It’s absolutely bonkers. There’s no way around that and you’ll find yourself laughing obnoxiously at every cringe…
SUNDANCE 2019: Interview with Anne Sewitsky director of ‘Sonja – The White Swan’
Director of acclaimed Norwegian films Sykt Lykkelig and De Nærmeste, Anne Sewitsky returns to Sundance with her latest work – a biopic of one of Norway’s biggest stars. Sonja Henie was an Olympic ice skater who went to Hollywood and became a movie star. I…
SUNDANCE 2019: This Is Not Berlin
Politically fearless, individual, and deliciously subversive, Hari Sama’s fifth feature film This Is Not Berlin showcases a period of Mexico’s society, more specifically from its adolescent perspective, that’s in a state of wayward angst and yet finds the energy to make its case. It’s entirely…
SUNDANCE 2019: The Souvenir
Director of the amazing Unrelated (2007), Archipelago (2010) and Exhibition (2013) (all of which have gone under-the-radar, particularly in the US) Joanna Hogg now returns with the eagerly anticipated The Souvenir Part One. Those familiar with her work will be used to her slow-paced, but…
SUNDANCE 2019: Stieg Larsson: The Man Who Played With Fire
When we think of the popular and acclaimed “Millennium” crime novels we think of its film renditions and the indulgences of a good, steely read dipped in dark noir habits. However inviting those stories are, what is equally truer and stranger than the fiction that…