Comedies, dramas and dramedies, with breakout performances and revelatory turns by Hollywood stars alike - and three Oscar nominees for Best Picture - in this selection of character-driven contemporary American indies, playing every Saturday in July on SBS Viceland.
Saturday 1 July
50/50
SBS VICELAND, 8:30PM
M
United States of America, 2011
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: English
Director: Jonathan Levine
Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Anna Kendrick, Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anjelica Huston
What's it about?
A 27-year-old writer (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) of radio programs is diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer. With the help of his best friend, his mother, and a young therapist at the cancer center, Adam learns what and who the most important things in his life are.
[link title="Why the non-toxic male relationships of '50/50' matter" url="node/139426"]
[link title="50/50 Review" url="node/5780"]
followed by:
5050_627_185222834
Everything Must Go
M
United States, 2010
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Language: English
Director: Dan Rush
Starring: Will Ferrell, Rebecca Hall, Christopher Jordan Wallace
What's it about?
The story of Nick Halsey (Will Ferrell), a career salesman whose days of being on top are long gone. The same day Nick gets fired, for falling off the wagon one last time, he returns home to discover his wife has left him, changed the locks on their suburban home and dumped all of his possessions on the front lawn. Faced with his life imploding, Nick puts it all on the line—or more properly, on the lawn—reluctantly holding a garage sale that becomes a unique strategy for survival.
[link title="Why You Should Watch: Everything Must Go" url="node/16387"]
Saturday 8 July
People, Places, Things
SBS VICELAND, 8:30PM
M
United States of America, 2015
Genre: Comedy
Language: English
Director: Jim Strouse
Starring: Jemaine Clement, Regina Hall, Stephanie Allynne, Jessica Williams, Michael Chernus, Aundrea Gadsby, Gia Gadsby
What's it about?
Will Henry is a newly single graphic novelist balancing being a parent to his young twin daughters and teaching a classroom full of college students, all the while trying to navigate the rich complexities of new love and letting go of the woman who left him.
followed by:
Frances Ha
MA15+
United States of America, 2013
Genre: Comedy
Language: English
Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver, Michael Zegen
What's it about?
Frances (Greta Gerwig) is a gangly 20-something who lives in New York, but is perennially broke, unfocussed and prone to mildly self-destructive behaviour. An apprentice for a dance company, Frances is also a klutz, but that does not stop her from chasing her dreams.
[link title="Frances Ha: Noah Baumbach interview" url="node/1689"]
[link title="Frances Ha review: Greta Gerwig is luminescently 'undateable'" url="node/6268"]
Source: SBS Movies
Saturday 15 July
Boyhood
SBS VICELAND, 8:30PM
M
United States, 2014
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Tamara Jolaine
What's it about?
Richard Linklater directs a story of childhood, in real-time. We follow the ordinary dramas of a kid called Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and his parents (Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke) over a 12-year period.
[link title="Boyhood: Richard Linklater, Patricia Arquette and Ellar Coltrane interview " url="node/17778"]
[link title="Boyhood review: A wonderful portrait of a life, uninterrupted" url="node/17840"]
followed by:
Boyhood Source: SBS Movies
Beasts of the Southern Wild
M
United States, 2012
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Benh Zeitlin
Starring: Quvenzhane Wallis, Dwight Henry, Jonshel Alexander, Marilyn Barbarin, Kaliana Brower, Joseph Brown, Nicholas Clark, Henry D. Coleman
What's it about?
Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis), an intrepid six-year-old girl, lives with her father, Wink (Dwight Henry), in 'the Bathtub," a southern Delta community at the edge of the world. Wink’s tough love prepares her for the unraveling of the universe; for a time when he’s no longer there to protect her. When Wink contracts a mysterious illness, nature flies out of whack—temperatures rise, and the ice caps melt, unleashing an army of prehistoric creatures called aurochs. With the waters rising, the aurochs coming, and Wink’s health fading, Hushpuppy goes in search of her lost mother.
[link title="Beasts of the Southern Wild review: A Hurricane Katrina fantasy tale, set on the other side of the levees" url="node/5860"]
Source: SBS Movies
Whiplash
SBS VICELAND, 8:30PM
MA15+
United States, 2014
Genre: Music, Drama
Language: English
Director: Damien Chazelle
Starring: J.K. Simmons, Paul Reiser, Miles Teller, Melissa Benoist
What's it about?
In New York, a young musician (Miles Teller) who aspires to become a top jazz drummer is pushed to his limits by a ruthless teacher (J.K Simmons).
[link title="Whiplash treats music school like a warzone (interview) " url="node/24087"]
[link title="Whiplash Review " url="node/23289"]
followed by:
Source: SBS Movies
The Wrestler
MA15+
United States of America, 2008
Genre: Drama, Music
Language: English
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei
What's it about?
Back in the late '80s, Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) was a headlining professional wrestler. Now, 20 years later, he ekes out a living performing for handfuls of die-hard wrestling fans in high school gyms and community centres around New Jersey. Estranged from his daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) and unable to sustain any real relationships, Randy lives for the thrill of the show and the adoration of his fans. However, a heart attack forces him into retirement. As his sense of identity starts to slip away, he begins to evaluate the state of his life - trying to reconnect with his daughter, and strikes up a blossoming romance with an aging stripper (Marisa Tomei). Yet all this cannot compare to the allure of the ring and passion for his art, which threatens to pull Randy back into his world of wrestling.
The-Wrestler_627_1292346766
Saturday 29 July
Prince Avalanche
SBS VICELAND, 8:30PM
M
United States of America, 2013
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: English
Director: David Gordon Green
Starring: Gina Grande, Joyce Payne, Lance LeGault, Lynn Shelton, Paul Rudd, Emile Hirsch
What's it about?
Two highway road workers (Paul Rudd, Emile Hirsch) spend the summer of 1988 away from their city lives. The isolated landscape becomes a place of misadventure as the men find themselves at odds with each other and the women they left behind.
[link title="Prince Avalanche: David Gordon Green interview" url="node/1592"]
followed by:
prince-avalanche_640_1707552812
Tiny Furniture
MA15+
United States, 2010
Genre: Comedy
Language: English
Director: Lena Dunham
Starring: Jemima Kirke, Grace Dunham, Lena Dunham
What's it about?
22-year-old Aura returns home to her mother’s NYC loft with a useless film theory degree, a boyfriend who’s left her to find himself, a dying hamster, and her tail between her legs. Luckily, her childhood best friend never left home, the restaurant down the block is hiring, and ill-advised romantic possibilities abound. Written, directed and starring Girls creator and ‘voice of a generation’ Lena Dunham, across from her real life mother Laurie Simmons, sister Grace Dunham and Girls co-stars Alex Karpovsky and Jemima Kirke.
[link title="Tiny Furniture Review" url="node/5566"]
Source: SBS Movies
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