Click each image to play the film in full at SBS On Demand. Please note that the films on this list expire at various times throughout the month (If there is no 'play' button in the image, the film is no longer available).
The Deep Blue Sea
M
United Kingdom, 2011
Genre: Drama, Romance
Language: [language]
Director: Terence Davies
Starring: Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston
What's it about?
Hester Collyer (Rachel Weisz) leads a privileged life in 1950s London as the beautiful wife of high court judge Sir William Collyer (Simon Russell Beale). To the shock of those around her, she walks out on her marriage to move in with young ex-RAF pilot, Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston), with whom she has fallen passionately in love.
[link title="The Deep Blue Sea: Terence Davies interview" url="node/862"]
[link title="Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: interview" url="node/1425"]
[link title="The Deep Blue Sea Review" url="node/5804"]
Orlando
PG
United Kingdom, 1992
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Sally Potter
Starring: Billy Zane, Tilda Swinton
What's it about?
Tilda Swinton stars as Virginia Woolf's gender-bending hero, the noble Orlando who is commanded by Queen Elizabeth to stay forever young. Orlando experiences four centuries of sexual politics, initially through the eyes of a man, until one day Orlando wakes as a woman, struggling to retain her property and status.
[link title="Orlando review" url="node/58894"]
Blazing Saddles
M
USA, 1974
Genre: Comedy, Western
Language: English, German, Yiddish
Director: Mel Brooks
Starring: Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman
What's it about?
A town – where everyone seems to be named Johnson – is in the way of the railroad and, in order to grab their land, Hedley Lemar, a politically connected nasty person, sends in his henchmen to make the town unlivable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor, so Hedley convinces him to send the town the first black sheriff in the west.
[link title="Mel Brooks: 'Blazing Saddles' would never be made in today's 'stupidly politically correct' culture" url="node/157315"]
Shaft
MA15+
USA, 1971
Genre: Thriller, Crime, Adventure, Action
Language: English, Hungarian
Director: Gordon Parks
Starring:
What's it about?
Can you dig it? Cool black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.
Yolngu Boy
M
Australia, 2001
Genre: Drama
Language: [language]
Director: Stephen Johnson
Starring:
What's it about?
Three boys in Arnhem Land inhabit two cultures at once - that of North-East Arnhem Land and also western culture. Botj, Lorrpu and Milika are three Yolngu teenagers who once shared a dream of becoming great hunters. Now aged 14, only Lorrpu hasn\'t diverged. Botj is a lost soul in trouble with the law, and Milika is more interested in football and girls. One of the central themes of the film is the divide between the prosperity-driven, materialistic western ideal of life and the everyday reality faced by young Aborigines.
[link title="Yolngu Boy review: A truly impressive film" url="node/3720"]
[link title="This & That: 'Walkabout', 'Yolngu Boy'" url="node/157311"]
Full Metal Jacket
MA15+
USA, 1987
Genre: Drama, War
Language: English
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin
What's it about?
An examination of the Vietnam War and the dehumanising process that turns people into trained killers. Joker, Animal Mother, Gomer, Eightball, Cowboy and more all are plunged into a boot-camp hell pitbulled by a leatherlung D.I. (Lee Ermey) who views the would-be devil dogs as grunts, maggots or something less.
[link title="Full Metal Jacket review" url="node/22145"]
Samson and Delilah
MA15+
Austraila, 2009
Genre: Drama
Language: [language]
Director: Warwick Thornton
Starring: Rowan McNamara, Marissa Gibson
What's it about?
Samson and Delilah's world is small- an isolated community in the Central Australian desert. When tragedy strikes they turn their backs on home and embark on a journey of survival. Lost, unwanted and alone the discover that life isn't always fair, but love never judges.
[link title="Samson And Delilah: a symbol of things to come" url="node/174"]
[link title="Samson and Delilah Review" url="node/4587"]
Excalibur
M
United Kingdom, USA, 1981
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Language: English
Director: John Boorman
Starring: Helen Mirren
What's it about?
The myth of King Arthur brought to the screen. Uthur Pendragon is given the mystical sword Excalibur by Merlyn. At his death Uthur buries the sword into a stone, and the next man that can pull it out will be King of England. Years later Arthur, Uthur's bastard son draws Excalibur and becomes king. Arthur's evil half-sister Morgana sires a son with him, who may prove his downfall.
Big Wednesday
PG
USA, 1978
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: John Milius
Starring: Gary Busey, Jan-Michael Vincent
What's it about?
Three 1960s California surfers fool around, drift apart and reunite years later to ride epic waves.
Mad Bastards
MA15+
Australia, 2011
Genre: Drama
Language: [language]
Director: Brendan Fletcher
Starring:
What's it about?
In the frontier town of Five Rivers, TJ the urban street warrior meets his match in Texas, a former Mad Bastard turned local cop. He also finds Bullet, his estranged son, and his personal transformation begins.
[link title="Mad Bastards Review" url="node/5318"]
Waiting for Guffman
M
USA, 1996
Genre: Comedy
Language: [language]
Director: Christopher Guest
Starring: David Cross, Parker Posey, Christopher Guest, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy
What's it about?
Blaine, Missouri, may be small, but Corky St. Clair (Christopher Guest) always dreams big. Determined to get back to the lights of Broadway, he’s created Red, White and Blaine, a musical celebration of the burg’s 150th anniversary.
[link title="Waiting for Guffman Review" url="node/3625"]
[link title="This & That: 'Waiting For Guffman' & 'A Mighty Wind'" url="node/154413"]
A Mighty Wind
PG
USA, 2000
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Mock-umentary
Language: [language]
Director: Christopher Guest
Starring: Larry Miller, Fred Willard, Parker Posey, John Michael Higgins, Bob Balaban, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Ed Begley, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Jennifer Coolidge
What's it about?
On the death of folk music manager Irving Steinbloom in 2003, his son Jonathan (Bob Balaban) orchestrates a memorial concert at New York’s Town Hall to reunite perfomers who Irving helped make almost famous in the 60s. The romantic duo Mitch & Mickey (Eugene Levy & Catherine O’Hara) are no longer on speaking terms but they agree; The Folksmen (Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer) are no longer good looking youngsters, but they also agree; and so do the scattered members of the colour co-ordinated 'neuftet’ The New Main Street Singers (featuring John Michael Higgins, Jane Lynch and Parker Posey).
[link title="This & That: 'Waiting For Guffman' & 'A Mighty Wind'" url="node/154413"]
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
MA15+
USA, 1999
Genre: Comedy, Musical, Animation/3D
Language: English
Director: Trey Parker
Starring: Minnie Driver, Trey Parker, Matt Stone, George Clooney
What's it about?
After sneaking into an R-rated /Terrance and Phillip/ movie, the boys of South Park are announced as 'corrupted' and their parents pressure the United States to wage war with Canada.
The Pack
MA15+
France, 2009
Genre: Horror
Language: French
Director:
Starring: Yolande Moreau, Benjamin Biolay, Émilie Dequenne
What's it about?
Charlotte (Émilie Dequenne) is alone on a road trip. On an isolated side road, she picks up Max (Benjamin Biolay), a hitchhiker, who disappears in the bathroom of a truck-stop restaurant a few miles later. Puzzled, Charlotte comes back at night to look for him but gets caught by La Spack (Yolande Moreau), a singular woman in charge of an odd pack. Charlotte quickly realises she’s next on the menu.
[link title="The Pack Review" url="node/5390"]
Graffiti Bridge
PG-13
USA, 1990
Genre: Drama, Music
Language: English
Director: Prince
Starring: Prince
What's it about?
It's got that Purple Rain feeling through and though. And it's got The Kid, too! For the first time since Purple Rain, Prince is back as The Kid. And where he goes , there's music! With Thieves in the Temple, New Power Generation, Elephants and Flowers and more red-hot Prince tunes from the Platinum-selling Graffiti Bridge soundtrack. What time is it? Party time! Morris Day and the Time play Release It, Shake! and more. And you'll also see and hear George Clinton, Tevin Campbell, Robin Power, Mavis Staples and other hot performers, too. Graffiti Bridge is where the movie meets the music. Cross over on it now.
[link title="Learning to Love Prince’s 'Graffiti Bridge' and 'Under The Cherry Moon'" url="node/138955"]
The Maid
M
Chile, 2009
Genre: Drama
Language: Spanish
Director:
Starring:
What's it about?
Fiercely loyal and compulsively hard-working, Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) has been serving the same family for more than 20 years. She is keenly observant and has sneakily implemented her own kind of order; deferential to the bumbling parents, affectionate to the two sons and increasingly resentful of the daughter who, it seems, can see through her game-plays. When her employer decides Raquel needs additional help after a series of dizzy spells, she rejects assistance and her vengeful (and frequently amusing) diversions with each incoming maid reach evermore audacious heights. Then someone different turns up and unexpectedly her contracting world within the house begins to ever-so-gently expand.
[link title="The Maid Review" url="node/4652"]
In the House
[classification]
France, 2012
Genre: [genre]
Language: [language]
Director: François Ozon
Starring: Kristin Scott Thomas, Fabrice Luchini, Emmanuelle Seigner
What's it about?
A 16-year-old teenager (Ernst Umhauer) sneaks into a classmate’s (Bastien Ughetto) house. He then writes about the event in stories for his French teacher (Fabrice Luchini). Inspired and confronted by the student, the teacher finds renewed joy in his job. Yet the teenager’s intrusion unleashes a series of uncontrollable events. Inspired by the Spanish play /The Boy in the Last Row/.
[link title="Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God: Alex Gibney interview" url="node/1417"]
[link title="Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God Review" url="node/6144"]
[link title="In the House Review" url="node/6242"]
Hairspray
PG
USA, 1988
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance, Family, Music
Language: English, French, Russian
Director: John Waters
Starring: Sonny Bono, Ruth Brown
What's it about?
Ample teen Tracy Turnblad wants nothing more than to be on the hip local TV dance program, "The Corny Collins Show" - and when her dream comes true, her lively moves and bubbly personality meet with unexpected popularity. But after witnessing firsthand the terrible state of race relations in 1960s Baltimore, Turnblad becomes an outspoken advocate for desegregation.
