Only Lovers Left Alive
M, 2014
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, Anton Yelchin
What's it about?
Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston are ageless, star-crossed vampire lovers, in Jim Jarmusch's festival gem. He's fed up with human foibles and depressed at the direction human society has taken, so he seek out his undead muse. Their love is interrupted and tested by her wild and uncontrollable little sister (Mia Wasikowska).
[link title="Only Lovers Left Alive Review" url="node/15786"]
[link title="Tilda Swinton interview: Only Lovers Left Alive" url="node/16003"]
The Lunchbox
PG
India, 2013
Genre: Drama, Romance
Language: English, Hindi
Director: Ritesh Batra
Starring: Nawazuddin Siddiqui
What's it about?
In Mumbai's famously efficient lunchbox delivery system, a meal made by an unhappy young housewife (Nimrat Kaur) mistakenly lands in the hands of a widower (Irrfan Khan). After realising the mix up, the strangers begin to communicate through a series of letters, revealing a little more of themselves each time.
[link title="The Lunchbox Review " url="node/18160"]
[link title="Irrfan Khan opens up about The Lunchbox, love letters and his favourite foods (interview)" url="node/18520"]
[link title="Dinner and a Movie: The Lunchbox" url="node/89715"]
Magnolia
MA15+, 1999
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Felicity Huffman, Jason Robards, John C. Reilly, Ricky Jay, Miguel Perez, Julianne Moore, Alfred Molina, William H. Macy, Luis Guzmán, Pat Healy, Philip Baker Hall, Melora Walters, Henry Gibson
What's it about?
The lives of a large group of characters intersect; some through direct connections and others through a combination of chance, circumstance and even divine intervention. At the centre is the wealthy Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) who lies dying of cancer and wishing to restore communications with his estranged son, Frank TJ Mackey (Tom Cruise), with the help of his nurse (Philip Seymour Hoffman). The events of the day significantly affect the lives of each of the film's characters.
[link title="Magnolia Review" url="node/3905"]
[link title="Tom Cruise's best performance is in 'Magnolia' as an MRA guru with daddy issues" url="node/167057"]
Love And Mercy
M
United States of America, 2015
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Bill Pohlad
Starring: Paul Dano, John Cusack, Paul Giamatti, Elizabeth Banks, Kenny Wormald, Jake Abel, Bill Camp, Erin Darke, Joanna Going, Brett Davern, Graham Rogers, Dee Wallace, Max Schneider, Dylan Kenin
What's it about?
Brian Wilson is the creative soul of the Beach Boys, but he paid a heavy price for his talent. The strain shows during his peak artistic years in the 1960s, as his inner demons and obsessions trying to please his abusive father drive him to a mental breakdown that would plague him for years. In the 1980s, with Brian barely functional under the domination of an unscrupulous manager, Brian meets and falls in love with Melinda Ledbetter. As their relationship grows, she observes Brian's crippling subservience to the abusive psychotherapist with growing alarm. Ultimately, she must take action with a love willing to stand up to oppression she cannot ignore.
We Have a Pope
M
Italy, France, 2011
Genre: Drama
Language: Italian, French, German
Director: Nanni Moretti
Starring: Nanni Moretti, Michel Piccoli, Jerzy Stuhr
What's it about?
What if a new Pope didn't want the job and went AWOL? Nanni Moretti explores this premise in this intriguing dramedy. A cardinal is chosen who seems unable to bear the weight of such a responsibility. Is it anxiety? Is it depression? Does he feel inadequate? The faithful are waiting for the new Pope to appear on the balcony in St Peter’s Square, while in the Vatican they seek ways to come through the crisis.
Charlie Countryman
United States of America, 2013
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance, Thriller, Action
Language: English, Romanian
Director:
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Mads Mikkelsen, John Hurt, Rupert Grint, Til Schweiger, Evan Rachel Wood, Vincent D'Onofrio, Melissa Leo, Aubrey Plaza, James Buckley
What's it about?
When his late mother appears in a vision and tells him to go to Bucharest, Charlie immediately boards a plane across the Atlantic. But when he meets a fellow passenger, Charlie finds himself with another promise to fulfil. Charlie does so - and falls head over heels in love with musician Gabi. However, a vicious gangster has already laid claim to Gabi, and has no intention of letting her go. Determined to protect her, Charlie enters into the hallucinatory, Romanian underworld filled with violence and, strangely enough, love.
Brotherhood of Blades
M
China, 2014
Genre: Romance, Action, Drama
Language: Chinese
Director: Lu Yang
Starring: Chang Chen, Wang Qian-Yuan, Liu Shishi, Li Dongxue, Chin Shih-Chieh, Nie Yuan, Zhou Yiwei, Zhu Dan, Ye Qing
What's it about?
In the late Ming Dynasty, three close friends who serve as Jinyiwei guards are dispatched to hunt down Wei Zhongxian, a eunuch politician who had been forced to resign from his influential post and exiled from Beijing. The Jinyiwei brothers return successfully from their quest, only to find that their task was but the beginning of a strange conspiracy.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
M
United Kingdom, 2013
Genre: Thriller
Language: English
Director: Mira Nair
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Liev Schreiber, Om Puri, Martin Donovan, Kate Hudson, Adil Hussain, Nelsan Ellis, Kiefer Sutherland
What's it about?
Changez (Riz Ahmed) is living the American dream; at the top of his class at Princeton, The Pakistani is snapped up by an elite 'valuation' firm. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with the beautiful Erica (Kate Hudson) promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past...
[link title="The Reluctant Fundamentalist: The film bridging the divide between east and west" url="node/1564"]
[link title="The Reluctant Fundamentalist Review" url="node/6194"]
Diner
United States of America, 1982
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: English
Director: Barry Levinson
Starring: Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Tim Daly, Ellen Barkin, Paul Reiser, Kathryn Dowling
What's it about?
Set in 1959, Diner shows how five young men resist their adulthood and seek refuge in their beloved Diner. The mundane, childish, and titillating details of their lives are shared. But the golden moments pass, and the men shoulder their responsibilities, leaving the Diner behind.
Tudawali
Australia, 1988
Genre: Biography
Language: English
Starring: Ernie Dingo, Peter Fisher
What's it about?
Ernie Dingo delivers an outstanding portrayal of Robert Tudawali, the first Aboriginal film star, whose lead role in Jedda is iconic in Australian cinema.
Dheepan
France, 2015
Genre: Drama
Language: Tamil, French
Director: Jacques Audiard
Starring: Antonythasan Jesuthasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan
What's it about?
Three strangers in conflict-ridden northern Sri Lanka band together as a makeshift family in order to flee to the suburbs of Paris: Dheepan, an ex-Tamil Tiger (Antonythasan Jesuthasan, author, activist, and former child soldier); lost young woman Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan); and orphan girl Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby). As they struggle to find stability, they are forced to improvise their relationships. Soon they find they must cope with new violence and intolerance in their adopted home.
[link title="Cannes: Jacques Audiard's 'Dheepan' wins Palme d'Or" url="node/39377"]
[link title="Dheepan review" url="node/39397"]
Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story)
MA 15+
France, 2015
Genre: Drama
Language: French
Director: Eva Husson
Starring: Finnegan Oldfield, Marilyn Lima
What's it about?
George, a pretty teen girl, falls in love with Alex. To get his attention, she initiates a game with their friends, discovering, testing and pushing the limits of their sexuality. When the nature of their activities is revealed, each of them deals with the scandal in radically different ways. Faced with the implosion of their value systems, they move on by reassessing their priorities, finding love and their real desires.
The World According to Garp
M
USA, 1982
Genre: Comedy
Language: English
Director: George Roy Hill
Starring: John Lithgow, Robin Williams, Glenn Close, Mary Beth Hurt
What's it about?
Academy Award winner Robin Williams, Glenn Close and John Lithgow star in this film based on John Irving's expansive, offbeat best-selling novel. When Jenny Fields decides to become a mother, she has no intention of finding a husband or of having marital sex. She avails herself of an unconscioius, mortally wounded soldier's libido. And so begins Garp's life, destined to be anything except what Garp desires most: normal.
Teenage Kicks
[classification]
Australia, 2016
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Craig Boreham
Starring:
What's it about?
Miklós is at the age when everything feels high-stakes. He is coming to terms with his own sexuality, and when his best friend Dan reveals that he has a new girlfriend, this puts an end to their plans to run away together.
[link title="Multicultural love drama Teenage Kicks starts shoot in Sydney" url="node/18596"]
Joe Cinque's Consolation
M
Australia, 2016
Genre: Drama, Crime
Language: English
Director: Sotiris Dounoukos
Starring: Maggie Naouri, Jerome Meyer
What's it about?
In late 1997, Anu Singh, an attractive law student in Canberra, made plans to kill her boyfriend Joe Cinque after throwing a series of macabre farewell dinner parties. The dinner guests, most of them university students, had heard various rumours about her plan, but nobody warned Joe. Joe's death and the subsequent trial drew the attention of the whole country, as the broader community struggled to come terms with how a life could fall through so many hands.
Short Term 12
M
USA, 2013
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Starring: Brie Larson
What's it about?
Grace (Brie Larson), a 20-something supervising staff member of a residential treatment facility, navigates the troubled waters of that world alongside her co-worker and longtime boyfriend. Winner of the SXSW Grand Jury Award in 2013.
[link title="Short Term 12 review: Every heart-warming moment is completely earned" url="node/6406"]
Grace of Monaco
PG
USA, 2014
Genre: Drama, Biography
Language: French
Director: Olivier Dahan
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth
What's it about?
Set in 1962, six years after her celebrated her wedding, Grace of Monaco tells of a year in the life of one of the twentieth century's most iconic women – Grace Kelly – as she strived to reconcile her past and her present, a yearning for a return to the big screen with her newfound role as a mother of two, monarch of a European principality and wife to Prince Ranier III. Screened at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
[link title="2014 Cannes Film Festival: Grace of Monaco - exclusive scene clips " url="node/16869"]
[link title="2014 Cannes Film Festival: Grace of Monaco - press conference highlights " url="node/16990"]
Adoration
MA15+
France, Australia, 2013
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Anne Fontaine
Starring: Naomi Watts, Ben Mendelsohn, Robin Wright, Xavier Samuel
What's it about?
Lil (Naomi Watts) and Roz (Robin Wright) are two lifelong friends, having grown up together as neighbours in an idyllic beach town. As adults, their sons have developed a friendship as strong as that which binds their mothers. One summer, all four are confronted by simmering emotions that have been mounting between them, and each find unexpected happiness in relationships that cross the bounds of convention.
Out of the Blue
MA15+
New Zealand, 2006
Genre: Drama, Crime
Language: English
Director: Robert Sarkies
Starring: Karl Urban
What's it about?
A powerful and haunting film based on the Aramoana massacre of 1990 where local recluse David Gray shot 13 people dead before going into hiding on the outskirts of the small New Zealand seaside village. As he stalked his victims, the terrified and confused residents were trapped in the village for 24 hours, while a handful of under-resourced and under armed local policemen risked their lives trying to find him and save the survivors.
Vampyros Lesbos
Spain, Germany, 1971
Genre: Horror
Language: German
Director: Jesus Franco
Starring: Soledad Miranda, Dennis Price, Paul Miller
What's it about?
Count Dracula's descendant, Nadine Countess Korody, entices young women to her isolated island, then seduces and kills them in order to remain young. A lawyer, Linda Westinghouse, becomes fascinated with Nadine, when visiting her about an inheritance from the Dracula family. Linda becomes her newest victim, giving her blood to Nadine, but now she must try and save herself from joining the vampire world forever.
The Red Turtle
PG
Japan, France, 2016
Genre: Drama, Animation
Director: Michael Dudok de Wit
What's it about?
Gorgeously animated, this wordless story about a stranded castaway pays tribute to what's most important in life: companionship, love, family, and the stewardship of nature.
[link title="The Red Turtle review: Studio Ghibli's new animation a gorgeous island myth" url="node/87810"]
The Night Porter
MA 15+
Italy, 1974
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Liliana Cavani
Starring: Charlotte Rampling, Dirk Bogarde
What's it about?
Thirteen years after WWII, a Holocaust survivor (Charlotte Rampling) and the Nazi officer who tortured her (Dirk Bogarde), who is now a night porter at a Vienna hotel, meet again by chance and resume their sadomasochistic relationship.
Call Me Mum
Australia, 2006
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Margot Nash
Starring: Catherine McClements, Lynette Curran, Dayne Christian, Ross Thompson
What's it about?
Kate is on a plane taking Warren, her 18 year old Torres Strait Islander foster son, to meet Flo, his birth mother, who is gravely ill in hospital in Brisbane. Flo hasn't seen Warren since she took him to the hospital on Thursday Island when he was a toddler and the white authorities took him away. But as Warren, Flo and Kate all prepare themselves for the reunion, unbeknown to them, Kate's Brisbane based parents, Keith and Dellmay, are planning a different kind of reunion.
Lady Chatterley
M
France, 2006
Genre: Drama
Language: French
Director: Pascale Ferran
Starring: Marina Hands, Jean-Louis Coulloc'h
What's it about?
Set in 1921, this is the story of an adulterous affair between Lady Constance Chatterley, a sexually unfulfilled upper-class married woman, and the gamekeeper who works for the estate owned by her wheelchair-bound husband. Based on D.H. Lawrence's classic novel, and winner of five Caesar Awards in 2007, including Best Film.
[link title="Lady Chatterley Review" url="node/4644"]
