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 City of Lost Children
M
France, 1995
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Language: French
Director: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring: Ron Perlman, Judith Vittet, Jean-Claude Dreyfus
What's it about?
On a mist-shrouded rig in the sea, beyond an old minefield, Krank ages prematurely because he lacks one vital function: the ability to dream. And so he kidnaps children from the harbour town, to steal their happy dreams from them...
[link title="The City of Lost Children Review" url="node/2685"]
Viva
M
Ireland, Cuba, 2015
Genre: Drama
Language: Spanish
Director: Paddy Breathnach
Starring: Jorge Perugorría, Luis Alberto García, Héctor Medina, Renata Maikel Machin Blanco, Luis Manuel Alvarez, Laura Alemán, Paula Ali
What's it about?
Jesús, a young hairdresser, works at a Havana nightclub for drag performers, and dreams of being a performer himself. Encouraged by his mentor, Mama, Jesús finally gets his chance to take the stage. But when Angel, his macho estranged father, abruptly re-enters his life, his world is quickly turned upside down. Shot in a gritty neighbourhood far from the Havana most tourists know, Viva is a heartrending story of music, performance and survival.
Under the Skin
MSA 15+
United Kingdom, 2013
Genre: Sci-Fi
Language: English
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWilliams, Michael Moreland, Jessica Mance, Scott Dymond, Robert J. Goodwin, Paul Brannigan, Krystof Hádek
What's it about?
Scarlett Johansoon plays an alien that takes on human form, who commences a quest of seducing men as 'she' travels throughout Scotland.
Let's talk about that time Scarlett Johansson played an otherworldly serial killer
[link title="Under the Skin: Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Glazer interview " url="node/17190"]
Kill Your Darlings
MA15+, 2013
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance
Language: [language]
Director: John Krokidas
Starring: Dane DeHaan, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Daniel Radcliffe, Ben Foster, Jack Huston, Elizabeth Olsen, Michael C. Hall, David Cross, Kyra Sedgwick
What's it about?
An untold story of murder that brought together a young Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe), Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) and William Burroughs (Ben Foster) at Columbia University in 1944, providing the spark that led to the birth of an entire generation – their Beat revolution.
[link title="Sex, Murder and Daniel Radcliffe in 'Kill Your Darlings' at Sundance" url="node/1262"]
[link title="Daniel Radcliffe talks about breaking loose with the Beat generation in 'Kill Your Darlings' " url="node/1724"]
[link title="Kill Your Darlings Review" url="node/6393"]
Radiance
M
Australia, 1998
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Rachel Perkins
Starring: Deborah Mailman, Rachel Maza, Trisha Morton Evans
What's it about?
Three sisters reunite after some years apart, for their mother’s funeral. Cressy (Rachael Maza), the eldest of the three, is a diva - an opera singer who is reluctant to visit the past and definitely doesn’t want to share it with her sisters. Mae (Trisha Morton-Thomas), has stayed behind looking after mum, and believes that Cressy hasn’t shared enough. Nona (Deborah Mailman), the youngest and the party girl, just wants them to all be one happy family.
[link title="Radiance Review" url="node/3803"]
Nightcrawler
MA15+, 2014
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Language: English
Director: Dan Gilroy
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton
What's it about?
Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an ambitious man desperate to forge a career in L.A. crime journalism. He spes an opportunity in the nocturnal underbelly of Los Angeles and joins a group of freelance camera crews who are always on the lookout for crashes, fires and murders to film. Aided by Nina (Rene Russo), a veteran of local TV news, Lou blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story.
[link title="Jake Gyllenhaal Wrecked Himself for Nightcrawler, and Here’s Why" url="node/26591"]
[link title="Nightcrawler review: Journalism as blood sport " url="node/25893"]
Offside
PG, 2006
Genre: Comedy
Language: Farsi
Director: Jafar Panahi
Starring: Golnaz Farmani, Ayda Sadeqi, Shayesteh Irani, Sima Mobarak-Shahi
What's it about?
Tehran, and possibly the whole of Iran, is galvanised by a match to be played at the Azadi stadium between Bahrain and Iran, the victor of which will qualify for the World Cup. Although women are banned from watching, a number, undeterred, attempt to buy tickets and enter disguised as men. Half a dozen of them are apprehended and delivered into the hands of the authorities, in this case a group of soldiers more interested in the match and their approaching leave than in the women's misdemeanour. Similarly, most of the women are feisty, and manage to give the soldiers as good as they get. Meanwhile, the game commences, and captors and captives all find themselves caught up in the excitement. Filmed during the actual Iran versus Bahrain match in Tehran in 2005.
Jedda
PG
Australia, 1955
Genre: Drama, Adventure, Action
Language: English
Director: Charles Chauvel
Starring: Ngarla Kunoth, Robert Tudawali, Betty Suttor, Paul Reynall, Rosalie Kunoth-Monks
What's it about?
A classic of Australian cinema, in which an aboriginal girl is brought up by a white family that adopts her. As a young woman, she is mysteriously drawn to go "Walkabout" as people of her tribe have for hundreds of years.
The Black Balloon
M
Australia, 2008
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Elissa Down
Starring: Gemma Ward, Rhys Wakefield, Toni Collette
What's it about?
Toni Collette, Rhys Wakefield & Gemma Ward star in this Australian comedy-drama about a 16-year-old boy as he tries to navigate the world of teen romance. Directed by Elissa Down.
Beginners
M, 2011
Genre: Drama, Romance, Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Transgender, Queer
Language: [language]
Director: Mike Mills
Starring: Christopher Plummer, Ewan McGregor, Mélanie Laurent
What's it about?
Explores the hilarity, confusion, and surprises of love through the evolving consciousness of Oliver (Ewan McGregor). Oliver meets the irreverent and unpredictable Anna (Mélanie Laurent) only months after his father Hal (Christopher Plummer) has passed away. This new love floods Oliver with memories of his father who – following 44 years of marriage – came out of the closet at age 75 to live a full, energised, and wonderfully tumultuous gay life. The upheavals of Hal’s new honesty, by turns funny and moving, brought father and son closer than they’d ever been able to be. Now Oliver endeavors to love Anna with all the bravery, humor, and hope that his father taught him.
[link title="Beginners Review" url="node/5552"]Interview with director Mike Mills
Attila Marcel
M
France, 2013
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: French
Director: Sylvain Chomet
Starring: Guillaume Gouix, Anne Le Ny, Bernadette Lafont
What's it about?
Oscar-nominated director Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville, The Illusionist) makes his live-action debut in this effervescent, musical, candy-coloured charmer about a mute piano prodigy unlocking his repressed childhood memories. Thirty-something Paul lives a sheltered, shy existence. He spends his days playing piano and being taken care of by his two overbearing aunts. But when an eccentric neighbour offers Paul a hallucinogenic herbal brew, he unlocks his buried childhood memories and the great mystery of his life: what really happened to his parents.
Amateur
MA15+
United Kingdom, France, Estados Unidos, 1994
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Crime
Language: English
Director: Hal Hartley
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Martin Donovan, Elina Löwensohn
What's it about?
Isabelle is an ex-nun making a living writing porn. She meets Thomas, a sweet amnesiac who can’t remember his sordid history as a pornographer, responsible for turning his wife into the world's most notorious porn queen. Together, Isabelle and Thomas set out to discover his past, a past waiting to catch up with him. Directed by Hal Hartley and stars Isabelle Huppert and Martin Donovan.
[link title="Amateur review: A crazy eccentric world" url="node/92557"]
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
G
USA, 1964
Genre: Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Adventure, Action, Science Fiction
Language: English
Director: Nicholas Webster
Starring: John Call, Leonard Hicks, Vincent Beck
What's it about?
A 1964 science fiction film that regularly tops the worst films ever made lists and regularly featured in the 'bottom 100' list on the IMDB. Worth viewing for these accolades alone. Best known as the screen debut of actress/singer Pia Zadora. Martians come to Earth to kidnap Santa Claus because there is no one on Mars to give their children presents. Earth kids Billy and Betty set out to save Santa and return him to Earth. The film is a baffling mixture of sci-fi, Christmas cheer and childish slapstick, all filmed in garish (or as the poster says, 'Space-Blazing') color. See all this, a bouncing ball 'Jingle Bells' sing-along and much more.
Alphaville
France, 1965
Genre: Drama, Science Fiction, Mystery
Language: French
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Starring: Eddie Constantine, Anna Karina, Akim Tamiroff, Howard Vernon, Christa Lang, Valérie Boisgel, Jean-Louis Comolli, László Szabó, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Michel Delahaye
What's it about?
An American private-eye, arrives in Alphaville, a futuristic city on another planet which is ruled by an evil scientist named Von Braun, who has outlawed love and self-expression.
Wild Reeds
France, 1994
Genre: Drama, Romance, Foreign
Language: French
Director: Andre Techine
Starring: Gaël Morel, Élodie Bouchez, Stéphane Rideau, Frédéric Gorny, Jacques Nolot, Eric Kreikenmayer, Nathalie Vignes, Michèle Moretti, Michel Ruhl
What's it about?
Set in rural France during the end of the Algerian war, and immersed in the music of the sixties, this film follows four students in friendship and love. Francois's best friend is a girl Maite, but instead he falls in love with a boy Serge, while Serge is falling for Maite. Henri is the outsider, an Algerian-born frenchman who has fled the war, and the catalyst for Francois to find his identity.
[link title="Wild Reeds review" url="node/105337"]
Place Vendome
M
France, 1998
Genre: Crime, Drama
Language: English, French
Director: Nicole Garcia
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Emmanuelle Seigner, Jacques Dutronc
What's it about?
Catherine Deneuve was a deserved best actress prizewinner in Venice for her portrayal of a widow who assumes control of her late husband's prestigious jewel brokerage.
Colonel Chabert
M
France, 1994
Genre: Drama
Language: French
Director: Yves Angelo
Starring: Gerard Depardieu, Fanny Ardant, Fabrice Luchini, André Dussollier, Eric Elmosnino
What's it about?
Colonel Chabert has been severely wounded in the French-Russian Napoleonic war to the point that the medical examiner has signed his death certificate. When he regains his health and memory, he goes back to Paris, where his "widow", Anne has married the Count Ferraud and is financing his rise to power using Chabert's money. Chabert hires a lawyer to help him get back his money and his honour.
Michael Clayton
MA15+
USA, 2007
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime, Action
Language: English
Director: Tony Gilroy
Starring: Sydney Pollack, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton
What's it about?
A law firm brings in its 'fixer' to remedy the situation after a lawyer has a breakdown while representing a chemical company that he knows is guilty in a multi-billion dollar class action suit. Stars George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Sydney Pollack.
[link title="Michael Clayton review: An intriguing and thought provoking thriller" url="node/4385"]
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
MA15+
USA, 2001
Genre: Music, Comedy, Musical
Language: [language]
Director: John Cameron
Starring: John Cameron Mitchell, Theodore Liscinski
What's it about?
An adaptation of the off-Broadway rock theatre hit, this is the story of an internationally ignored rock singer, Hedwig, and her search for stardom and love. Hedwig reluctantly submits to a sex change operation in order to marry an American G.I. and get over the Berlin Wall to freedom. The operation is botched, leaving her with the 'angry inch'. Finding herself high, dry and divorced in a Kansas trailer park, she forms a rock band and encounters a lover/protégé in young Tommy Gnosis, who eventually leaves her, steals her songs and becomes a huge rock star.
[link title="Hedwig and the Angry Inch: An anatomically incorrect rock odyssey" url="node/3471"]
[link title="Hedwig and the Angry Inch Review" url="node/4662"]
