Wednesday, 29 April 2026

April 30 2026

Wolfram
The Mastermind (streaming on MUBI)

The Aussie film industry is alive and well, with Warwick Thornton directing his latest. And streaming service MUBI continues to deliver fine arthouse fims. 

Wolfram
Dir: Warwick Thornton
Length: 100 mins
© Bunya - impressive Aussie outback "Western"
that reinforces our sad racist history
It's the 1930s in an outback town called Henry. Two little Aboriginal children Max (Hazel Jackson) and Kid (Eli Hart) have been stolen from their mother and are forced by a white master (Matt Nagel) to work in the tungsten mines. (Note: tungsten used to be called wolfram.) When their boss dies, they are left abandoned. The mother of the two children, Pansy, (Deborah Mailman) now lives far away with her Chinese partner Zhang (Jason Chong). Two evil outlaws Casey (Erroll Shand) and Frank (Joe Bird) ride into town. They look like trouble incarnate. Max and Kid become separated, one being stolen by the outlaws, who visit their cousin Kennedy (Thomas Wright), father to an Aboriginal son, Philomac (Pedrea Jackson), who is treated like a servant. Enough of plot reveal! As you can see, there are a host of characters in this story, and gradually all their story lines become intertwined. While presenting like a real outback "western", this is the story of so much more: the cruelty inflicted upon our indigenous people by whites, and the search to reunite with family. Thornton, who grew up in Alice Springs, knows how to wield a camera and capture the stark beauty and colours of his homeland, making the film a visual treat. The plot is also inextricably linked to his own heritage, as his forbears worked in the tungsten mines. Wolfram also addresses the issues of racism as experienced by early Chinese immigrants, and the linking of  the Chinese and Aboriginal themes works really well. Jackson is a young actor to watch - he has serious charisma as Philomac. This is yet another important film that tells the shameful history of the colonisation of our country.
4 - highly recommended

The Mastermind
Dir: Kelly Reichardt
Length: 110 mins
Streaming on MUBI
© MUBI - failed architect, failed criminal! 
James Mooney (Josh O'Connor) is a failed architect, now unemployed carpenter. He decides to stage a heist at his local museum, targeting four paintings. But everything that can go wrong does go wrong. Reichardt is definitely an indie director, with films that are slow-moving and often subvert one's expectations. So if we are expecting a traditional glamorous art-heist film, this one is anything but. As things go from bad to worse for our main character, we cannot help but feel he deserves what he gets. His planning is pathetic, he teams up with dropkick dishonest accomplices, and he barefacedly lies to his mother (Hope Davis), to extract money from her. His wife Terri (Alana Haim) is definitely wise to his tricks by the film's conclusion. Set against the backdrop of protest against the Vietnam War, and with a memorably cool jazz soundtrack throughout, this understated film is one for the patient viewer who may well delight in seeing a very foolish person get his come-uppance.
3.5 - well recommended
MUBI positions itself as presenting films for the discerning viewer. Often curated as collections, by director, or genre, there are plenty of alternatives here to mainstream streaming channels. 

Link to alphabetical index of reviews August 2015-Dec 2025
Here's the index of all the films I've reviewed on this site over the past ten years. This year's index will come separately at the end of 2026, as it is all becoming somewhat unwieldy size-wise! 
Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, 22 April 2026

April 23 2026

Michael
Calle Malaga
Alphabet Lane

This week I'm definitely at odds with several other critics, especially on the Michael Jackson biopic, and the new Aussie film. However, the Moroccan film Calle Malaga seems a winner for everyone. Ah well, thank heavens we don't all have the same taste in films! It makes life more interesting. 

Michael
Dir: Antoine Fuqua
© Universal - energy and excitement - Michael
Jackson brought back to life
How can we have a biopic celebrating an accused child-molester, I hear you ask. How do we separate the man from his art? If you are able to put this aside, (some won't, and some will be influenced by negative reviews), you'll get real entertainment from this film. It's the first part in the story of an extraordinary young talent, whose father exploited, abused and terrorised him, but who goes on to become one of the biggest pop stars who ever lived. The film deals only with the early part of Michael Jackson's life, as child star of the Jackson 5, then as a solo performer. Ruthless father Joseph (Colman Domingo), sees his five sons as a ticket to fame and fortune. Young Michael is the real star of the five, and his immense talent and drive push him to forge his own path in life and break free. The film concludes with the singer's first solo concert Bad; the pedophile accusations, his bizarre marriages and his increasing eccentricity, came later. Yes, the movie borders on hagiography - MJ is portrayed in a relentlessly positive light, sweet-natured, generous-spirited and totally committed to his art. Yes, the film gives little insight into the rest of the Jackson siblings, and yes, maybe it simplifies everything. But, taken as a tribute to the soaring talent of MJ, it works really well. And we get an insight into the whys of the star's downfall-to-come - the tragedy that can arise from extreme talent, isolating stardom and never having had a true childhood. The film features two of the most extraordinary performances you'll see in the world of music biopics. Juliano Valdi channels Michael as a small boy, while Jaafar Jackson, real-life nephew of the star, astonishes with his recreation of the grown Michael: the voice, the gestures, the dance moves are all perfect.  And when the camera focuses on that lovely face, we see the loneliness, vulnerability and eternal inner child. Production values are impressive (Graham King also produced Bohemian Rhapsody) with slick editing and above all the driving energy and excitement in the recreation of the dazzling stage shows. Supporting cast of Miles Teller as Branca, MJ's manager, Nia Long as his loving but cowed mother, and KeiLyn Durrell Jones as Bill, MJ's loyal friend and bodyguard all add a little extra to the story. I would hope that the mooted sequel goes into MJ's dark side, though being authorised by the Jackson estate, that remains to be seen.  If you never got a chance to see Michael Jackson in concert, this could be the next best thing.
4 - highly recommended

Calle Malaga
Dir: Maryam Touzani
Length: 116 mins
© Potential - old age, despair, then
new joys discovered
79-year-old Maria Angeles (Carmen Maura) comes from a Spanish family, and was born and raised and lived her whole life in  the Spanish Quarter in Tangier, Morocco. She loves her daily routine, is obvously adored by the locals, and life is sweet. Then her daughter Clara (Marta Etura) arrives from Madrid, about to divorce and needing money. Bluntly Clara tells her mother she intends to sell the family home in which the aging woman has spent her life. A home full of happy memories is something Maria Angeles will not lightly give up. In battling to retain her autonomy, she will find a new and unexpected life along the way. Secondhand furniture dealer Abslam (Ahmed Boulane) will be integral to Maria Angele's rediscovering of a part of herself she thought long gone. The film captures a lovely balance between heartbreaking events (putting an independent woman into an aged-care home), joyous uplifting sequences (hosting raucous soccer viewing events at home), and the tenderness of getting in touch with love and sensuality in one's older years. Maura, a veteran of Spanish cinema, creates a gorgeous chemistry with Boulane. Touzani, who directed a favorite of mine, The Blue Kaftan, has a way of tapping into the small but critically important things in life. There is a delicacy to her direction with nothing ever rammed home. Even the final scene leaves the viewer to decide what the ultimate outcome might be. With many audience awards (and more) to its name, this is certainly a film for lovers of gentle but truthful story-telling.
4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended

Alphabet Lane
Dir: James Litchfield
Length: 80 mins

© Screen Inc - a couple let their 
imaginary friends overrun their lives
Anna (Tilda Cobham Hervey) and Jack (Nicholas Denton) have moved to Cooma for his work on a hydroelectricity project. They live on an isolated country property and seem excited about the tree change. She works nightshift as a doctor at a local hospital and they sometimes cross paths, meeting up for a quick kiss on a country road. When Jack announces one day he met a farmer on the road, the couple start to elaborate on the imaginary friendship they have with said farmer, Joe, and his wife Michelle. Shot on the director's farm near Cooma in NSW, the film looks lovely and conjures up the loneliness of remote country living. The unexpected twist at the end, involving Jack's actual work colleague also named Michelle (Bishanyia Vincent) certainly comes as a surprise, but that's after a fairly plodding plot up to this point. Something about the film really jars with me. The couple use their letters to the imaginary friends to work through issues in their own relationship, but their constant conversations about Joe and Michelle, and the pretence, even with a pair of real friends visiting from the city, simply feels false. I find Hervey's acting style offputting (again she fails to convince me), so overall this film left me generally uninspired. 
2.5 - maybe

Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, 16 April 2026

April 17th 2026

The Stranger
Under a Bamboo Sky
Man on the Run (streaming on Prime)
Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere (streaming on Netflix) 

Anzac Day is looming, and an impressive Aussie doco throws a compelling light on Aussie POWS who were brutalised by the Japanese. Master French auteur Francois Ozon brings his interpretation of a classic novel, and streaming services tempt you with a couple of terrific docos. 

The Stranger  (L'Etranger)
Dir: Francois Ozon
Length: 122 mins
© Palace - strong interpetation of 
a classic novel
Based on Albert Camus's late 1930s novel, L'Etranger is set in Algeria at that same time, an era of French colonialism and oppression of the Arab population. French clerk Mersault (Benjamin Voisin) is a man of little emotion. At the funeral of his mother in the early scenes, he shows no emotion. Shortly after, he starts a relationship with Marie (Rebecca Marder), but he retains a level of detachment. One day Mersault and his friend Raymond (Pierre Lottin) are harrassed by some Arab youths, because Raymond has been abusing his Arab girlfriend. Subsequently, on the beach, Mersault kills one of the youths and must stand trial. His fate will be strongly influenced by testimony as to his total lack of emotion, and seeming lack of remorse. The film looks absolutely stunning with its evocative black and white cinematography. And even though Mersault is such an alienating character, Ozon manages to have his story capture our interest. I have no insight into the original novel, but this adaptation certainly shows colonialism in a negative light, with the Arabs being almost invisible to the white population. And as for Mersault, is he on the autism spectrum? Are we ultimately judged by our emotional responses? Some challenging issues to ponder in an intriguing film.
4 - highly recommended  

Under a Bamboo Sky
Dir: Serge Ou
Length: 77 mins
Screenings at selected venues now until -24 April: https://www.underabamboosky.com/
© Widbear Entertainment - more real-life, wartime horror
than any horror movie
Aussies throw around the terms Burma Railway and Changi Prison, often with little knowledge of what our troops endured as prisoners of war at the hands of the Japanese military during World War II.  15,000 Australian troops were imprisoned in Changi, with most of them then being forced to work on the construction of the Thai Burma Railway. Some were even sent as far as Japan, to work in coalmines. This short, but incredibly powerful doco, is quite a technical tour de force, combining voice-overs of men who lived the horrific experience, with colorised old photos that bring the past into sharp relief, and portraits of the men involved subtly brought to life through modern technological magic. As the men speak, and we witness the brutality and deprivation they suffered, we are intensely aware of the resilience of so many of these Aussie soldiers, and the power of mateship; that supportive bond the men formed to get them through. I didn't expect to become very involved in this war story, yet found myself sitting on the edge of my seat, totally immersed, impressed, distressed and enlightened.  It's so imprtant that these criticial moments in history are not forgotten, with emphasis on the human beings involved, not merely the historical facts. This film will ensure these remarkable soldiers live on.
4 - highly recommended


Man on the Run
Dir: Morgan Neville
Length: 155 mins
Streaming on Prime

© Amazon - from a Beatle to the band Wings - 
a legend examined
What can I say to any die-hard Beatles/McCartney fan? Maybe you already know most of what this doco has to tell you, but if you're a fan you can't help but be charmed, impressed and entertained all over again by one of the world's most talented musicians. This is not a comprehensive Paul biography; rather, it deals with his exit from the Beatles, when he asks himself, "Who am I if I'm no longer a Beatle?" And so, with beloved wife Linda, he goes about setting himself up first with a solo career, then creating several incarnations of a new band, Wings. The insight into their modest lives on the Scottish farm is rather enlightening, his solid family dynamic unexpectedly inspiring, and the music is, of course, great!  
4 - highly recommended

Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere
Dir: Adrian Choa
Length: 91 mins
Streaming on Netflix
© Netflix - repulsive men on the rise!
Oh dear! The outrageous content of this doco will have feminists (and most reasonable people) simply gobsmacked. Yes, we've heard of high-profile misogynists like Andrew Tate, but who knew there were so many others of his ilk out there? Theroux, known for his many (around 70) incisive docos, often on controversial topics, interviews several young men who subscribe to the idea that men rule the world, and women are there to serve them.  A motley assortment of pumped-up male influencers are coaxed along by Theroux to reveal their repugnant ideologies. What I love about this interviewer's style is that he doesn't go for the jugular, just asks the gently probing questions and gives his subjects enough rope to hang themselves. (The little sideways looks he gives the viewer says it all!) This is an entertainment, and a worrying eye-opener.  
4 - highly recommended

Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, 9 April 2026

April 10th 2026

All That's Left of You
The Deb
The Drama
My Father's Shadow (streaming on MUBI)

Depending on your mood, there is something to suit you all this week, from political/historical dramas set in Palestine and Nigeria, through to Aussie comedy, and a rom-com turning the genre on its head. 

All That's Left of You
Dir: Cherien Dabis
© Cultural Media - the tragedy of displacement from oyu
home and your life
Right now could not be a more relevant time for a film like this to hit our cinema screens. This is an impressive multi-generational epic, tracing Palestinian history since 1948. It is a sweeping narrative, with heartbreak, tragedy, resilience, and most of all, humanity, at its core. The facts of Israel's creation in 1948 will remain a topic for great angst and debate, probably forever, and it is the background for today's troubles. Here the story is told through the eyes of an ordinary Palestinian family. The film flashes back from 1980, when a young man Noor is shot in a street uprising. From there his mother Hanan (played by director Dabis) speaks to camera telling viewers that, to understand, we must go back to 1948, and what happened to the boy's grandfather, Sharif (Adam Bakri). Sharif's comfortable life, with young son Salim and wife Munira (Maria Zreik) was upended when the family was evicted by Zionist militias from their comfortable home (with its lovely orange grove), and Sharif was subsequently imprisoned. Years later, now grown son Salim (Saleh Bakri), father of Noor and husband of Hanan live all together in a basic home in a refugee camp, the trauma of their experiences firmly etched in their psyches. No matter what your beliefs are as to the rights and wrongs of the Israel/Palestine conflict, I defy you not to be deeply moved by this story, beautifully acted, and powerfully depicting what it is like to live under constant oppression, dehumanised and denied many basic rights. The big plot point (which I won't reveal), cuts to the heart of what it means to be able to retain one's humanity in the light of unrelenting tragedy. This is a beautiful and profoundly important film. 
4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended

The Deb
Dir: Rebel Wilson
© Rialto - judgmental teens in a country town
So archetypically Aussie, so daggy . . . and yet so much fun, The Deb is an upbeat musical about two teenage cousins, as different as chalk and cheese, who find common ground in a country town's debutante ball. Taylah (Natalie Abbott) lives on a sheep farm with her Dad (Shane Jacobson),who is also the mayor of the tiny town of Dunburn. The trendy kids marginalise chubby Taylah, but she is determined to get herself a date for the debutante ball. But then Taylah's city slicker, outspoken, feminist cousin Maeve (Charlotte McInnes) is ousted from school and sent to live a while with them, and the whole town is turned on its head. Wilson's directorial debut should really hit the spot with teen girls, but it's also a fun entertainment for everyone. Its provocative song and dance routines are very creative and vibrantly performed, while the well-worn themes of "ugly duckling makes good" and "up-herself miss learns a thing or two" are always relevant. The lead actors are all terrific, and a lovely small role by Tara Morice as Shell, the town's old-fashioned seamstress, is a winner. Yes there's predictability. but also a whole heap of laughs, excellent song and dance routines, lump-in-the-throat moments and a good time to be had in this joyous and uplifting film. 
3.5 - well recommended

The Drama
Dir: Kristoffer Borgli
© VVS -  a silly tell-all game leads to doubts
which threaten true love
Charlie (Robert Pattinson) looks across a coffee shop and notices Emma (Zendaya), absorbed in her book. He is instantly smitten and engineers, via a lie, a way to meet her. Within a very short time they are dating, then cohabiting, engaged, and planning a wedding. While choosing the wedding menu along with friends Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and Rachel (Alan Haim), the foursome engage in a game in which each confesses to the others the worst thing they have ever done in their life. What Emma reveals (and I won't reveal it!) will set in train a series of emotional and real disasters that threatens to derail their wedding. Despite the meet-cute, this is not your ordinary rom-com. Clever scripting and superbly realistic performances make this film something to take notice of. Deeper questions are also raised: Is love unconditional? Does a person's revelations of their past change how you feel about them? Do many of us have bad thoughts but resist acting upon them? Does that make us bad humans? The confluence of deeper ideas and almost cringe-worthy real-life comic/tragic situations make for uneasy but totally involving viewing. Pattinson and Zendaya work so well on screen together, and even if the ending is possibly a little tame, this is a whole heap of thought-provoking fun. 
4 - highly recommended

My Father's Shadow
Dir: Akinola Davies
Length: 94 mins
Streaming on MUBI
© MUBI - compelling story of fatherhood and unrest in Nigeria 
A multi award-winning film (including a BAFTA), this Nigerian story is inspired by the director's true experiences. It is the story of a father, Folarin (Sope Disaru) and his two young sons, Akin and Remi. Folarin is not often home, but one day, after a brief return, he decides to head into Nigeria's capital city Lagos, to chase his outstanding salary. The boys are thrilled to be sharing a day with their dad. But this day in 1993 elections have taken place, and the military threaten a coup, making the situation in the city dangerous.  Beautifully shot, the film weaves together an intimate familial story, with broader underlying themes of political unrest and corruption. The father /sons relationship feels so real with great acting by all three. With its insight into a country we don't often see on film, it is a tense, poignant and impressive film, well worth the watch.
4 - highly recommended


Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)