Hursto's five minute films: November 2016

Wednesday 30 November 2016

December 1:
Monsieur Mayonnaise
Sand Storm
The Founder
Golden Years
The Legend of Ben Hall

I'm getting rectangular eyes from all the viewing. And still it continues with the forthcoming Boxing Day releases already being previewed to the media! Still, what a privilege to see so many fine films. I tip my hat to Eddie Tamir of Classic, Cameo and Lido cinemas who takes on such interesting films which we otherwise wouldn't get to see. Two of them are here this week, along with the excellent mainstream story of the rise of the Big Mac, a limited release of a fine film about bushranger Ben Hall, and a ho-hum Brit comedy about oldies behaving badly.

The Founder
Director: John Lee Hancock
Length: 115 min

a persistent man to be reckoned with.

The story of how McDonalds became what it is today is a fascinating one. Michael Keaton plays Ray Kroc, milkshake machine salesman, who stumbles across the McDonald brothers, who run a highly successful hamburger shop, based upon the concept of "speedie" service. Ray weasels his way into the business, sets himself up as head of franchising, and the rest is fast-food history. Keaton is masterful at playing an ambitious, ruthless man, who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. There is humour, pathos and food for thought in this highly entertaining film.

4 - wholeheartedly recommended!
For a full review from Bernard Hemingway:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=6141

Monsieur Mayonnaise
Director: Trevor Graham
Length: 95 min
Exclusive to Elsternwick Classic, Lido and Cameo

Fresh from this year's Jewish International Film Festival comes a limited release of this uplifting, surprising and simply fabulous doco. Intertwining humour, paintings, recipes, anecdotes, archival footage and interviews, the film lovingly sprawls its way through the lives of Georges and Mirka Mora, both of whom escaped the Holocaust. He became a renowned restaurateur and she an iconic artist in Melbourne. Their story is told through the eyes of their artist and film-maker son Philippe, who is creating a graphic novel of Georges' time in the French resistance. Find out how a recipe for home-made mayonnaise helped people escape the Nazis!

4 - wholeheartedly recommended!
For my full review:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=6145

Sand Storm
Director: Elite Zexer
Length: 87 min
Exclusive to Elsternwick Classic, Lido and Cameo

tough on women

Sand Storm has won well over a dozen awards from the Israeli Film Academy, along with a Grand Jury prize at Sundance. It tells of a Bedouin family living in southern Israel. When Jalila's husband Salim takes his second wife, life gets awkward, but things get seriously fraught when their daughter Layla decides she is in love with a boy from another tribe. With wonderful performances from the lead women (and indeed from the men), this is a powerful vision of a harsh society, one in which women must battle tradition to have a voice, and where modernity fights with long-held, repressive customs.

4 - wholeheartedly recommended!

The Legend of Ben Hall
Director: Matthew Holmes
Length: 134 min

We all know of Ned Kelly, but maybe not so much about bushranger Ben Hall. This epic film portrays the last nine months of the outlaw's life, as he tracks down his estranged wife Biddy and little son Henry. He is lured back into his criminal ways by an old partner in crime, and it's all downhill from there! I can't fathom why this terrific film is getting such a limited release. It is well researched, feels historically authentic, and the cast are uniformly excellent. It's a fascinating look into the human face behind a slice of iconic Aussie history.

3.5 - recommended!
For details of the limited screenings:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/benhallmovie/events/

Golden Years
Director: John Miller
Length: 96 min

Billed as Breaking Bad meets Best Marigold Hotel, Golden Years is firmly in the "oldies behaving badly" genre. Retired couple Arthur and Martha Goode find their pension fund has been savaged, thanks to a dodgy financial advisor, so they go on a crime spree to recoup some funds. There's some good old Brit talent in this - Virginia McKenna (from Born Free), Simon Callow, and Bernard Hill,. While the recurring theme of robberies performed with shopping trolleys, old fogey masks and cucumbers masquerading as guns starts off amusingly, it soon wears thin. With potentially serious themes relevant to many ageing folk, the film could have been a winner but suffers from a cliched gaucheness and politically incorrect jokes that wore thin years ago.

2.5 - maybe!

Wednesday 23 November 2016

November 24th:
The Fencer
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Japanese Film Festival (24 Nov - 4 Dec)

One fabulous European film, one underwhelming mainstream magical tale, and yet another festival are my offerings to you this week. Can't wait to get out to see The Founder, but you'll have to wait for that one!

The Fencer
Director: Klaus Härő
Length: 99 min

In the early 1950s, Endel Nelis flees Leningrad to a far-flung town in Estonia, and takes up a school post as a sports teacher. With little equipment, he improvises and set up classes in fencing - his skill and passion. The children, many of them fatherless, flourish and see Endel as a quasi father-figure. When the pro-Stalinist headmaster starts to investigate Nelis' past, he unearths a story that could blow the teacher's new-found happiness out of the water.
Who knows why a Finnish director chose this true story, set in the Soviet era, but he sure does a great job with it. The true tale is moving, exciting, and an inspiring story about the influence adults can have for the good on children's lives. Beautifully shot and acted, this is a strong film in every regard.

4 - wholeheartedly recommended!
For a full review from Chris Thompson:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=6138

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Director: David Yates
Length: 133 min

What can I say? Generally critics seem favourable towards this spin-off from the Harry Potter franchise, but it left me underwhelmed. A British wizard Newt (Eddie Redmayne) arrives in New York with a suitcase of odd magical animals, many of which escape. In pursuit of them he meets members of NY wizardry, and does battle with an ultimate bad force of suppressed energy, the Obscurus, which has unleashed mayhem on the city. Not to mention the hunt for dark magician Grindelwald. Oh and did I mention the non-magician, Kowalski, who gets caught up in the shenanigans. But wait - there's more - so much more that too many characters and creatures have been crammed into this mildly entertaining, overly long manifestation of imagination let loose - wonderful special effects don't make up for a jumbled plot and overacting from Redmayne, with underacting from Colin Farrell and Jon Voight! Maybe I was just in a non-receptive bad mood when I saw it, but I'll take Potter any day over this one.

2.5 - maybe!

Japanese Film Festival
Melbourne: 24 November - see website for other states
Hoyts Melbourne Central & ACMI

The Long Excuse - poignant and heart-warming

The 2016 Japanese Film Festival brings a great selection of films that we don't usually get to see. While some readers may be mostly familiar with the Japanese horror genre, I'm a big fan of the heart-warming human interest stories that Japanese directors do so well - films like An, Departures and I Wish. (Each of these is among my favourites, and you can read my reviews at the Cinephilia links).
If you can't see many at the festival, but you want a strong story that depicts real life in modern Japan, try one of these excellent films:
The Long Excuse: After his wife is killed in a bus crash, Sachio helps out looking after the children of another man who also lost his wife in the same crash. Deeply affecting, beautifully acted and scripted.
After the Storm: A father, who has lost his family through his gambling habit, tries to reunite with them after the divorce. A typhoon may provide the opportunity. Some Japanese acting royalty in this one.

For more information, times, places and synopses:
www.japanesefilmfestival.net

Palestinian Film Festival
Melbourne: 25-27 November - see website for other states

With several features, documentaries and shorts, this Festival aims to bring viewers a cinematic journey through a land as old as time. The film 3000 Nights highlights the humanity and resilience of ordinary people living through extraordinary events, while the harrowing doco Ambulance takes viewers along with the paramedics trying to rescue people after a missile attack. These and many more films provide a window into a part of the world that we can do well to understand better.
For more information on times, films and places:
www.palestinianfilmfestival.com.au

Tuesday 15 November 2016

November 17th:
Arrival
I, Daniel Blake
Ella
German Film Festival

Finally caught up with the best sci-fi I've seen in years. This year's Cannes winner is finally out, along with a delightful dance film, and the German Film Festival, with a truckload of films for your delectation.

Arrival
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Length: 116 min

It's been a while since we had a thinking person's sci-fi film, but this could be it. Alien spaceships in the form of giant black pods arrive and hover over the earth in 12 different locations. The military co-opt linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) to join the "first contact" team in an attempt to find a means of communicating with the strange beings in the pod. Astrophysicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) is along to assist. Whether the beings have arrived in a hostile capacity, or perhaps to make positive changes upon earth, is for the humans to figure out, but given humans seldom manage to cooperate, this could be a tall order. What surprised and impressed me is the way the film absorbed me in thinking about the nature of communication, but also the unexpected emotionality derived from the fact that Louise is suffering grief from the death of a daughter. The whole issue of time/space continuum is explored in light of this, and aside from blowing my mind, it really brings something fresh and invigorating to the genre.

4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended!
For a full review from Bernard Hemingway:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=7408

I, Daniel Blake
Director: Ken Loach
Length: 100 min

Director Ken Loach is almost synonymous with films about the downtrodden classes in Britain, and this latest is no exception. Winning the top award at this year's Cannes Film Festival, the film tells the heartbreaking story of Daniel Blake, who is told by his doctor he cannot work until he is fully recovered from his recent heart attack. But the British welfare system demands he go job-hunting, otherwise his payments will be stopped. He's in a bind! He meets a struggling single mother, and the friendship they form gives them strength to battle the heartlessness of the welfare system. This is disturbing, anger-inducing and confronting film-making, and with Loach's choice of non-actors in the parts, it feels ultra-authentic.

4 - wholeheartedly recommended!
For a full review from Chris Thompson:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=7373

Ella
Director: Douglas Watkin
Length: 82 min
Exclusive to Cinema Nova

Fresh from this year's MIFF is a doco about the Australian Ballet's first Indigenous dancer, Ella Havelka. Growing up in Dubbo, Ella always had a burning desire to dance, and won a scholarship to study with the National Ballet School. In attempting to reconcile her roots with the more classical ballet style, she headed off to do a four-year stint with the Aboriginal Bangarra dance company, before being chosen for the Australian Ballet. While not a ground-breaking doco in its style, it is a compelling story of a personal journey, features an extremely appealing subject and some beautiful dancing. It should be a winner for fans of dance and stories of Indigenous empowerment and identity.

3 - recommended!

German Film Festival
Melbourne 17-30 November (see guide for other states)

This year's festival is chock full of excellent films- yet again!! Among the many dramas, comedies and documentaries are remakes of some favourites, like Heidi and The Diary of Anna Frank, as well as four old films celebrating 70 years of the former East German film studio DEFA. Among the many special events are a Swiss Soiree, a talk on queer identity in film, and panel discussions after selected screenings.
I'm lucky to have caught a few films in advance:
4 Kings: A challenging exploration of troubled young people spending Christmas Eve in a psychiatric unit. Despite the heavy subject matter, there is something gentle and ultimately positive about the the story, and the film showcases Germany's up and coming acting talent.
Hordur: something for all ages - a delicate and heart-warming story of a Turkish/German teen serving a community order at a horse stable. The effect the Icelandic pony Hordur will have on her life is immeasurable.
A Heavy Heart: I can see why Peter Kurth won Best Actor in the German film awards for his portrayal of a boxer, succumbing to a neurological illness and desperate to make amends with his estranged daughter. It's a really tough film to watch, but an expertly crafted one.
Original Bliss: Certainly not for everyone, but with outstanding performances by two of Germany's top actors Martina Gedeck and Ulrich Tukur, the film explores the interrelationship between faith, domestic violence and sexual degradation. Worriesome stuff!

For all the information on the films, dates and events:
www.goethe.de/ozfilmfest

Thursday 10 November 2016

November 10th:
Neon Bull
Nocturnal animals
Russian Resurrection Film Festival

Two blogs in one week!! It just goes to show the plethora of films and festivals releasing at present. The must-see is Nocturnal Animals - what a masterful film.

Nocturnal Animals
Director: Tom Ford
Length: 115 min

Prepare to be seriously impressed by this immaculately crafted story within a story. Susan (Amy Adams) runs a successful avant-garde gallery but is unhappy in her marriage. One day a manuscript arrives, written by her ex-husband Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal) and dedicated to her. The novel tells of a family travelling on a lonely West Texas highway, when they are terrorised by a carload of thugs, with devastating consequences. As she reads the story Susan becomes progressively affected, reflecting upon her life.
It's a long time since I've seen a film that engaged me so deeply, especially since it tells two stories. Gyllenhaal also plays the father in Edward's novel. His depiction of each separate character is nothing short of brilliant. This is also possibly Adam's best work to date, and with the amazing Michael Shannon as the Sheriff investigating the highway attack, you've got a near-perfect cast. The story within the novel is extremely tense and distressing, and raises many moral issues, especially about courage. But the resonance, obscurely, for Susan's real life is also disturbing, with so many layers of guilt, regret and sadness overlaid. I also love the look of the film, and its creative use of music and effects to seamlessly interlace the two plot strands.

4.5 - Wholeheartedly recommended!
For a full review from my equally impressed colleague Chris:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=6129

Neon Bull
Director:Gabriel Mascaro
Length: 103 min

It's always a privilege to be transported to another world via film, and this latest from Brazil is definitely in that category. We meet a small group of people who transport a herd of bulls to perform at rodeos. Iremar works with the animals, but his dream is to design costumes, which he already does in a small way for his fellow-traveller Galega, an exotic dancer. The lives of the people are dusty and dirty, yet the film has an earthiness and seething sensuality about it, which heads into full-blown sexuality towards its conclusion. Many scenes are confronting, whether it is regarding the animals, or the humans, but there is a warmth and fascination generated by this group of people, all hoping for something more than they have.

3.5 - recommended!
For my full review:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=6130

Russian Resurrection Film Festival
Melbourne 10-20 November - ACMI
(see guide for other states)

Russophiles rejoice - the Festival is back with quality films new and old. There are comedies, dramas, horror and more, along with iconic classics like Ivan the Terrible.
If you are a fan of the blockbuster action adventure there is one notable offering called Flight Crew. (two screenings to come). It's an edge-of-your-seat suspense about an aircraft that heads into an earthquake/volcano zone to rescue people, but itself gets into strife. It stars Russia's biggest name in acting today - Danila Kozlovsky - and the quality of the nail-biting action, with its believability (well, near enough!) could teach Hollywood a thing or two. I almost shredded my blouse with the suspense.

For more on the films and times:
www.russianresurrection.com

Sunday 6 November 2016

November 7th: BLOG EXTRA

More JIFF: Dark Diamond, Our Father, Monsieur Mayonnaise
Elle
The Accountant

JIFF (Jewish International Film Festival) - ongoing - some recommendations

I managed to see several films and so far my Numero Uno pick is Monsieur Mayonnaise, the uplifting, fascinating, and totally enjoyable doco by Phillippe Mora, about his mother, Mirka, and father George, their family history and their escape from the Holocaust. Phillippe obviously had much fun with his film, injecting humour into a serious topic. He employs a multitude of media from paintings, graphic novels, film-making within a film, and historic narrative, to create a sense of a bygone era both in Europe and Melbourne. It is also a warm and wonderful picture of two much-loved and talented people.

Our Father: Nominated for 12 Ophir awards in Israel, this is an uncompromising and disturbing thriller about Ovadia, a nightclub bouncer, who is hopeful of becoming a father. Needing more money he chooses the wrong people to do some "extra work" for. The film's pace is relentless the acting excellent, and the narrative a salutary lesson.

Dark Diamond: An engaging thriller about Pier, the black sheep of an Antwerp diamond dealing family. Inspired by revenge he inveigles his way into the family business, with terrible consequences. It should please lovers of a good heist film.

JIFF, with its 68 new films, is wholeheartedly recommended!
Monsieur Mayonnaise plays on 20 Nov
Our Father plays on 13, 17 19 Nov
Dark Diamond plays on 18 Nov

For a full JIFF program, running until Nov 23, go to:
http://www.jiff.com.au

Elle
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Length: 130 min

Huppert is at her ice-queen best as a woman who, in the opening scene, is raped by an intruder. She chooses to continue as if nothing has happened. As the story progresses and her character unfolds, we suspect she also is a bit of a psychopath, with a very murky past. In fact, all the characters seem off-kilter in their own ways. This is the sort of psychological thriller than has me enthralled throughout, with uniformly great acting (especially by Huppert) and a tense plot with twists and turns to keep the viewer on edge.

4 - wholeheartedly recommended!
For a full review from Andrew Lee:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=6123

The Accountant
Director: Gavin O'Connor
Length: 128 min

Ben Affleck is back, as an accountant with Asperger's Syndrome. His attention to detail makes him excellent at his job, and he does a lot of work for criminals. But when he takes a "straight job" with a robotics company to track down some missing millions, things get muddied, and he finds himself fighting for his life and the life of one of the company's employees (Anna Hendricks). Cinema goers who like the action genre seem to love it, critics not so much. I confess to being entertained, even though the film doesn't quite know if its thematic focus is Asperger's or high-level action (the sort which is always so implausible). The plot has some neat twists, set-ups and payoffs, and with a supporting cast of the likes of JJ Abrams and John Lithgow it makes for reasonable viewing.

2.5 - Maybe!
For a full review:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=6124

Tuesday 1 November 2016

November 3rd: Releasing
The Light Between Oceans
Hacksaw Ridge

EXTRA - my catch up - 4 more films
Hell or High Water
Equity
Neon Demon
Joe Cinque's Consolation

Talk about film addiction. Not only have I been previewing new releases but also desperately trying to catch up with many I've missed in my absence. So, here's a couple that are releasing this week, and another four that have either just released or are near the end of their run. My top picks? Hacksaw Ridge and Equity. Catch 'em if you can!!

The Light Between Oceans
Director: Derek Cianfriance
Length: 133 min

This visually stunning film is based upon ML Stedman's novel, set in a lighthouse off the coast of Western Australia. Tom (Michael Fassbender), the lighthouse keeper, and wife Isobel (Alicia Vikander) rescue a baby washed up in a rowboat. The decisions they make around that discovery will have heart-wrenching implications for them, as well as the baby's mother. (Rachel Weisz).
With plenty of home-grown talent in the supporting roles, I'm not sure why we have three overseas actors playing the leads, but they certainly look good! As does the cinematography, which is among some of the most beautiful I've seen of late. But I'm puzzled that I didn't cry more than I did. Perhaps the tear-jerker card was played too relentlessly, and that detracted from the emotional effect, making me see it ultimately as a mega-melodrama.

3 - Recommended! (if only for the romance and the beauty)
For a full review:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au

Hacksaw Ridge
Director: Mel Gibson
Length: 138 min

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As I write, this excellent film has just been nominated for 13 AACTA awards. (That's like the Aussie Oscars for those who don't know.) Yet another film based upon a true story, it tells of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), a young man with strong religious principles who wanted to serve his country (America) in WWII, but refused to handle a gun. He signed up as a medic, and the sheer selflessness and bravery he displayed in the battle of Hacksaw Ridge at Okinawa beggar belief. A US/Australian co-production, this is a compelling war film. It is to Gibson's credit that he has used so many fine Australian actors in the roles. Among them are Theresa Palmer as Doss's girlfriend, Hugo Weaving his drunken ex-World War I father, Rachel Griffiths his mother and Sam Worthington an army colleague. All are very impressive, as is Yankee Vince Vaughan as Doss's sergeant. The film comes with a warning for the squeamish - this is truly bloody stuff. But don't let that put you off, as this is a multi-layered film, with plenty of war action alongside thoughtful themes of pacifism, bravery, bullying, and friendship. Whatever we may think of Mel's politics, he has done one ultra-fine job of directing.

4.5 - Wholeheartedly recommended!
For a full review:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au

Hell or High Water
Director: David Mackenzie
Length: 102 min

How can you not enjoy a film starring Jeff Bridges? He plays Marcus, a good-natured, slow moving sheriff about to retire, but not until he catches two bank robbers. Brothers Tanner (Ben Foster) and Toby (Chris Pine) are robbing banks like there's no tomorrow (but they do have a good reason for their nefarious activities!) It's a pleasing enough story, which gradually reveals the characters and their motivations, with the relationships all nicely drawn. Behind the droll humour, there's a melancholy feel to the film, with the sense that a small town way of life is dying out, all underscored effectively by the broody soundtrack from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. It doesn't break new ground, but what it does, it does really well.

3.5 - Recommended!
For a full review from Bernard Hemingway:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=6122

Equity
Director: Meera Menon
Length: 100 min
Exclusive to Cinema Nova

Equity is about women who work in the world of high finance - stockbroking and investment banking - a world of competition, ambition, and getting ahead in a cut-throat world. This is a superbly crafted tense drama, with a top cast, and taut direction. Anna Gunn (who played Walt's wife in Breaking Bad) is a stand-out as Naomi Bishop, a banker, who faces serious personal and work crises when one of her projects is undermined by a colleague. You may have to be quick to catch this fine film, before its season ends.

4 - Wholeheartedly recommended!
For a full review:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=6105

The Neon Demon
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Length: 118 min
Exclusive to Cinema Nova

If you saw Drive or Only God Forgives you'll know that Refn is not a director to everyone's taste, but he certainly is one to be noticed. Here he tackles the world of high fashion, in the story of 16-year-old Jess (an angelic looking Elle Fanning) who heads to Hollywood to become a model. Her seeming innocence and virginal appeal seem to attract all types - predatory men, older jealous models and hopeful lovers. The film looks lush, stylised and vibrant, but in typical Refn style is violent, shocking and disturbing. It is sensational and voyeuristic, at the same time underscoring the brutality and shallowness of the world of fashion.

3.5 - Recommended (if you can handle it)!
For a full review:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=6118

Joe Cinque's Consolation
Director: Sotiris Donoukis
Length: 102 min

Based upon a true case, as told in Helen Garner's book of the same name, JCC is a truly shocking story of the fraught and ultimately tragic relationship between Joe (Jerome Meyer) and Anu (Maggie Naouri), his Indian girlfriend. As the film progresses, we become aware that something is terribly wrong with Anu mentally - her body self-image is distorted and she believes she has a terminal illness that has somehow been caused by Joe. With the help of her friend Madhavi, she hatches a devastating plan. Other university friends are somehow onlookers to Anu's paranoid schemes, yet they all seem too apathetic or self-absorbed to take a moral stand and speak out, when they see what could happen. What starts out as a seemingly bland narrative becomes progressively tense, raising many vexatious issues by the film's conclusion.

3.5 - Recommended!
For a full review:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=6113