December 12th 2024
Under Streetlights
Joy (streaming on Netflix)
Two new reviews this week. One Aussie film in cinemas is well worth seeing, with a wonderful cast, good storyline, and great music. Couch watchers should get much joy from the story of the research that went into creating the first IVF baby.
Under Streetlights
Dir: Danielle Loy
Length: 90 mins
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© Fresh new talent in a lovely story
of young musicians bridging the gap |
In Alice Springs teenage Ella (Madison Hull) is grieving the death of her mother in a car accident. Her father Jack (Luke Scholes),the local cop, is progressively drinking himself into a stupor to cope with his grief. Izak (Jacob Harvey) is an indigenous lad who aspires to be a rapper and music producer. His father Clifford (Leighton Mason), once a talented dancer, is now an alcoholic. Ella is an aspiring singer-songwriter, and when she overhears Izak playing his music, the pair strike up a friendship. They decide to collaborate on musical projects together, but their alcoholic fathers, with a historical axe to grind with each other, threaten to derail the pair. The relationship between Ella and Izak is powerfully and movingly conveyed. Both actors are talented musos in their own right, each with a charming and striking screen presence. Alongside the plot of friendship are the ever-present issues of poverty, racism, and alcoholism. The director had her own battles with alcohol, and tries to counter many of the stereotypical views of indigenous people in this film. Music is of course an integral part of the story with Harvey and Hull having written and performed the excellent songs which creatively combine many genres of music. Cinematography is splendid with the red dust, isolation, and shimmering heat being powerfully captured. Moments of comic relief, possibly unnecessary, come from the banter between Izak's aunt and uncle, and the ending is a little too sudden, but overall this film is truly sweet, without ever being too saccharine. It is a refreshingly different addition to to the Aussie indigenous movie genre.4 - highly recommended
Joy
Dir: Ben Taylor
Length: 115 mins
Streaming on Netflix
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© Netflix - baby Louis Joy Brown was born
as the result of this inspired IVF research team |
New to Netflix is the somewhat sweet, but also intriguingly scientific story of how the first IVF baby was born. Researcher John Edwards (James Norton) teams up with top surgeon Patrick Steptoe (Bill Nighy) and nurse/embryologist Jean Purdy (Thomasin McKenzie) to work tirelessly for a decade to achieve a successful live birth. The film follows a fairly conventional time line starting in 1968 when Steptoe pioneered laparoscopic procedures to remove eggs from ovaries. Together with Edwards they managed to impregnate mice and rabbits and then convinced infertile women to volunteer as experimental subjects for the technique. Purdy ran the IVF lab for the doctors and also produced many important papers on embryology. Becasue of her religous background, she managed to alientate her mother who, along with many people, say IVF was akin to the devil's work. It's terrific that this film pays so much homage to the woman at the centre of this incredible breakthrough, and the strong story, along with excellent cast make it a worthy watch.3.5 - well recommended
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