The following movies expire at various times throughout the month. Click the image to watch each film in full at SBS On Demand.
GENRE: Comedy
A Pelada
M
Belgium, Brazil, 2014
Genre: Comedy
Language: Portuguese
Director: Damien Chemin
Starring: Kika Farias, Tuca Andrada, Karen Junqueira, Bruno Pêgo
What's it about?
This quirky Brazilian comedy centres on a young couple trying to spice up their sex life as a bid to save their marriage. Their efforts to increase the raunch in their lives take them to absurd places, and reveals their secret desires and lies.
Source: SBS Movies
Naked Ambition
MA15+
Hong Kong, 2014
Genre: Comedy
Language: Cantonese, Japanese
Director: Lee Kung Lok
Starring: Chapman To, Josie Ho, Tatsumi Yui
What's it about?
Hong Kong’s master of the comedic double-take, Chapman To, plays Wyman Chan, an unemployed writer who tries to get rich quick with some of his porn-loving buddies by investing in Japanese Adult Video production. But when their male lead quits on the first day, Wyman reluctantly accepts to step in. Turns out he's a natural, and before you know it, he's an international porn star.
[link title="Naked Ambition Review " url="node/16262"]
Best in Bed
MA15+
France, 2014
Genre: Comedy
Language: French
Director: Delphine de Vigan
Starring: Laurence Arné, Eric Elmosnino, Valérie Bonneton
What's it about?
A sexy French comedy about a woman, Emma, (Laurence Arné, The Perfect Date), who after two failed one-night stands, is convinced that she’s a dud lover. She vows to become the best lay in Paris, but her methodical approach doesn't factor in the involvement of a cynical colleague (Eric Elmosnino, Gainsbourg).
Source: SBS Movies
The Angels' Share
MA15+
UK, 2012
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: English
Director: Ken Loach
Starring: Paul Brannigan, William Ruane, Gary Maitland
What's it about?
With The Angels' Share, Palme d'Or winner Ken Loach (I, Daniel Blake) offers us a gentle heist caper which, while still bearing his trademark social realism, will leave you feeling a bit more optimistic than his other films. We follow a young Glaswegian tearaway who narrowly avoids a prison sentence and vows to make an honest living for his young family... until he visits a whisky distillery, and a fast track to fast money beckons.
[link title="The Angels' Share Review" url="node/5975"]
Talk to Me About Love
M
Italy, 2008
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Language: Italian, French
Director: Silvio Muccino
Starring: Carolina Crescentini, Silvio Muccino, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon
What's it about?
Silvio Muccino directs and stars in this steamy romance (based on his own novel) about an unlucky-in-love guy who embarks on an affair with an older, married woman.
Source: SBS Movies
GENRE: Documentary
Searching for Sugarman
M
UK, Sweden, 2012
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Malik Bendjelloul
What's it about?
Rodriguez was the greatest '70s US rock icon who never was. Momentarily hailed as the finest recording artist of his generation, he disappeared into oblivion – rising again from the ashes in a completely different context a continent away. This extraordinary film, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2013, offers a fascinating take on the nature of fame, and will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end.
Rodriguez was the greatest '70s US rock icon who never was. Momentarily hailed as the finest recording artist of his generation, he disappeared into oblivion – rising again from the ashes in a completely different context a continent away. This extraordinary film, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2013, offers a fascinating take on the nature of fame, and will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end.
Read ★★★★ ½ review
Source: SBS Movies
Bra Boys: Blood Is Thicker Than Water
M
Australia, 2007
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Sunny Abberton, Macario De Souza
What's it about?
This compelling documentary gives an insight into the cultural evolution of the Sydney beach side suburb of Maroubra and the social struggle faced by its youth: the surf gang the Bra Boys, known for its violence and criminal activities. Narrated by Russell Crowe and directed by Sunny Abberton (himself a Bra Boy).
This compelling documentary gives an insight into the cultural evolution of the Sydney beach side suburb of Maroubra and the social struggle faced by its youth: the surf gang the Bra Boys, known for its violence and criminal activities. Narrated by Russell Crowe and directed by Sunny Abberton (himself a Bra Boy).
Harmontown
MA15+
USA, 2014
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Neil Berkeley
Starring: Dan Harmon, Erin McGathy, Spencer Crittenden
What's it about?
Fasten your seat belts as we take a ride with TV writer and producer Dan Harmon and his cohorts on a 21-city bus tour across America performing the popular podcast, Harmontown. This funny and brutally honest documentary provides a revealing look at the complicated character behind TV’s Community and Rick and Morty.
Magic Trip
M
USA, 2011
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Alison Ellwood, Alex Gibney
What's it about?
Using unprecedented access to original raw footage, directors Alex Gibney (Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief) and Allison Ellwood offer a fascinating portrait of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ author Ken Kesey and his friends, as they embarked on their 1964 psychedelic tour across America. To many historians, this LSD-fuelled adventure marked the ground zero of 1960s counterculture and gave birth to the hippie movement.
[link title="Magic Trip Review" url="node/5638"]
Source: Magic Trip
GENRE: Drama
Grace of Monaco
PG
USA, 2014
Genre: Biography, Drama
Language: French
Director: Olivier Dahan
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth, Paz Vega
What's it about?
Nicole Kidman takes a gallant swing at portraying one the 20th century's most celebrated style icons - Hollywood superstar turned continental royal Grace Kelly. Set in 1962, six years after her wedding to European Prince Rainer III, Olivier Dahan's glossy biopic examines the former screen siren as she strives to reconcile her past and present, a yearning to return to the movies with her newfound role as mother and monarch.
Source: SBS Movies
Betty Blue
MA15+
France, 1986
Genre: Drama, Romance
Language: French
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Starring: Jean-Hugues Anglade, Béatrice Dalle, Gérard Darmon
What's it about?
The director's cut of the electrifying cult classic that sees a would-be writer fall for an unpredictable young woman, blinding him to her stormy destruction. A story of mad, bad, all-consuming passion not to be missed.
[link title="Quintessential french-movie 'Betty Blue' is back on SBS" url="node/93668"]
Source: SBS Movies
Rapt
M
France, Belgium, 2009
Genre: Drama
Language: French
Director: Lucas Belvaux
Starring: Yvan Attal, Alex Descas, Françoise Fabian
What's it about?
Yvan Attal (My Wife is an Actress) gives a visceral performance in this psychological thriller as a rich businessman, whose world is turned upside down when he is brutally kidnapped. A ransom of 50 million euros is put on his head, but as secrets about his personal life emerge, his family starts to think that maybe his life might not be really worth the asking price.
Source: SBS Movies
Slovenian Girl
MA15+
Slovenia, 2009
Genre: Drama
Language: Slovenian
Director: Damjan Kozole
Starring: Nina Ivanisin, Peter Musevski, Primoz Pirnat
What's it about?
A dark and gritty film about a student sex worker. When a politician dies during an appointment, she comes to the attention of the police, while also being threatened by two pimps who want her to work for them. Thing don't get better from there...
Omar
M
Palestine, 2013
Genre: Drama, War
Language: Arabic
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Starring: Adam Bakri, Leem Lubany, Iyad Hoorani
What's it about?
This unforgettable Oscar nominee by director Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now) interweaves a tragic love story with a political thriller. Adam Bakri gives a powerful and nuanced performance as Omar, a young Palestinian freedom fighter who is implicated in the death of an Israeli soldier and is forced to turn into an informant.
[link title="Omar Review " url="node/17278"]
Omar: Director Hany Abu-Assad interview
Omar: Director Hany Abu-Assad interview
Source: SBS Movies
What More Do I Want
MA15+
Italy, 2010
Genre: Drama
Language: Italian, French
Director: Silvio Soldini
Starring: Alba Rohrwacher, Pierfrancesco Favino, Giuseppe Battiston
What's it about?
This memorable drama by director Silvio Soldini (Breads and Tulips) follows the steamy, destructive love affair between a 30-something accountant who feels that the spark has gone out of her relationship, and her colleague, a very married father of two. Both actors are perfect as the adulterous couple, in particular Alba Rohrwacher (I Am Love), who captures perfectly the nuances of a woman caught in a vortex of desire, indecision and panic.
[link title="What More Do I Want ★★★★★ Review" url="node/5193"]
Source: SBS Movies
Genealogies of a Crime
M
France, Portugal, 1997
Genre: Crime
Language: French
Director: Raoul Ruiz
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Michel Piccoli, Melvil Poupaud
What's it about?
French icon Catherine Deneuve doesn't miss a beat, playing dual roles, in this psychological about self-determination, from late avant-garde Chilean director Raoul Ruiz. Deneuve portrays a child psychologist in pre-War Vienna, convinced that her five-year-old nephew has homicidal tendencies; 15 years on, she's back as the boy's lawyer, defending him in a murder case.
Female Agents
MA15+
France, 2008
Genre: Drama, History, War
Language: French
Director: Jean-Paul Salome
Starring: Sophie Marceau, Julie Depardieu, Moritz Bleibtreu
What's it about?
This gripping WWII spy movie celebrates the little-known heroics of French women in the Resistance movement. France's darling Sophie Marceau stars as Louise, a trained sniper and the widow of a Resistance leader, who leads a five-woman commando unit that is to be parachuted into occupied France in May 1944 on a dangerous mission to protect the secret of the D-Day Landings and eliminate the head of the German counter-intelligence.
[link title="Female Agents delves beyond the Mata Hari myth" url="node/1895"]
[link title="Female Agents review: Spy drama goes beyond the Mata Hari myth" url="node/4491"]
Source: SBS Movies
GENRE: Action
The Dead Lands
MA15+
New Zealand, 2014
Genre: Action
Language: Italian, Maori
Director: Toa Fraser
Starring: James Rolleston, Lawrence Makoare, Te Kohe Tuhaka
What's it about?
This action-packed Maori martial arts movie set in pre-colonial New Zealand was a box office hit in its home country. James Rolleston (all grown-up since his Boy debut) stars as Hongi, a Maori chieftain’s teenage son, who looks to avenge his father's murder in order to bring peace and honour to the souls of his loved ones after his tribe was slaughtered through an act of treachery.
Source: SBS Movies
City State
M
Iceland, 2011
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
Language: English, Icelandic, Serbian
Director: Olaf de Fleur Johannesson
Starring: Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, Sigurður Sigurjónsson
What's it about?
This stylish thriller offers a realistic view of the Icelandic underworld by following several characters whose lives are connected: an immigrant, who vows revenge after losing his unborn child in an attack by a crime syndicate, a troubled policewoman, her corrupt police commander, and a crime lord who's losing his edge.
Rex: The Early Years
G
Austria, 1997
Genre: Crime
Language: German
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Starring: Tobias Moretti, Karl Markovics, Fritz Muliar
What's it about?
This is the "origin" story of beloved German Shepherd Inspector Rex, from his early days as a stolen puppy (yes, puppy!), until he finds refuge and friendship with Benny, the grandson of a carpenter. After discovering a toxic waste dumping ground, the two friends team up to put their detective skills to use. A legend is born.
Source: SBS Movies
Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends
MA15+
Thailand, Japan, 2014
Genre: Drama, Action, Adventure
Language: Japanese
Director: Keishi Ohtomo
Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Takeru Satoh, Yu Aoi, Yûsuke Iseya
What's it about?
The final instalment in the Rurouni Kenshin trilogy, The Legend Ends follows Shishio, as he sets sail in his ironclad ship to bring down the government and return Japan to chaos. In order to stop him in time, Kenshin trains with his old master to learn his final technique.
The Assassin
M
Taiwan, 2015
Genre: Martial Arts
Language: Chinese, Mandarin
Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Starring: Shu Qi, Chang Chen, Satoshi Tsumabuki
What's it about?
Hsiao-Hsien Hou won the Best Director award at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for this exquisite epic, in which a female assassin during the Tang Dynasty begins to question her loyalties when she is ordered to kill the cousin she was once betrothed to. A must-see.
Hsiao-Hsien Hou won the Best Director award at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for this exquisite epic, in which a female assassin during the Tang Dynasty begins to question her loyalties when she is ordered to kill the cousin she was once betrothed to. A must-see.
The Assassin review: Fleeting battles make way for exquisitely beautiful, lingering shots
Source: The Assassin
Once Upon a Time in Vietnam
M
Vietnam, 2013
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Language: Vietnamese
Director: Dustin Nguyen
Starring: Dustin Nguyen, Roger Yuan, Veronica Ngo
What's it about?
Witness the high energy directorial debut of Dustin Nguyen, who found fame alongside Johnny Depp in 21 Jump Street, and is also known for playing Cate Blanchett's love interest in Little Fish. Nguyen stars as Dao, a warrior monk who is embroiled in a deadly conflict raging between a tyrannical crime boss, and the peaceful town that he has under his thumb.
[link title="Once Upon a Time in Vietnam Review" url="node/6360"]
Source: SBS Movies
Princess
MA15+
Germany, Denmark, 2006
Genre: Action, Animation, Drama, Foreign, Romance, Thriller
Language: Danish
Director: Anders Morgenthaler
Starring: Thure Lindhardt, Stine Fischer Christensen, Jens Arentzen
What's it about?
This Danish animation is definitely not one for the kids. It tells the story of August, a brother grieving the loss of his porn star sister, known as The Princess. August embarks on a mission of vengeance to erase The Princess's pornographic legacy, for the sake of her young daughter.
GENRE: Mystery/Horror
Childish Games
M
Spain, 2012
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Language: German, Spanish
Director: Antonio Chavarrías
Starring: Juan Diego Botto, Bárbara Lennie, Nora Novas
What's it about?
This Spanish psychological thriller follows childless couple Daniel and Laura, who after a recently reacquainted childhood friend commits suicide, decide to care for his seven-year-old daughter. But the little girl’s presence in the house starts to have an adverse effect on the couple when fears and memories which Daniel thought he had long since buried start to come creeping back inside his head.
Body Melt
MA15+
Australia, 1993
Genre: Horror, Comedy
Language: English
Director: Philip Brophy
Starring: Gerard Kennedy, Andrew Daddo, Ian Smith, Regina Caigalas, Vincent Gil
What's it about?
In this gory, shlocky tongue-in-cheek horror film, a mad scientist has developed a vitamin pill with horrendous side effects. Soon the inhabitants of an entire Melbourne suburb are experiencing ghastly symptoms – hallucinations, splitting throats, exploding stomachs and body meltdowns.
[link title="In appreciation of Oz gross-out social satire 'Body Melt' " url="node/93382"]
[link title="Body Melt review" url="node/92836"]
The Aussie gross-out horror-comedy classic Body Melt (1993) Source: SBS Movies
