March 14th
Hotel Mumbai
Sometimes Always Never
Pimped
Melbourne Queer Film Festival
Dillili in Paris (from the current French Film Festival) 

Another strong week for film. The much anticipated thriller Hotel Mumbai, along with Aussie film Pimped fire up the adrenalin. Veteran actor Bill Nighy stars in a superbly articulate family tale, while the Melbourne Queer Film Festival offers a smorgasbord of excellent features and docos. Plus a bonus French Film Festival treat: an award-winning animation.  

Hotel Mumbai
Director: Anthony Maras
Length: 125 min

© Icon - Gripping tension, great acting, in a
terrifying true tale of terrorism

In 2008 a group of 10 Islamic extremist terrorists from Pakistan launched attacks upon various sites in the city of Mumbai, India. This lasted four days with around 160 victims dead and 300 injured. The luxury Taj Mahal Hotel was one of the targets. |This film, based upon a memoir The Siege: The Attack on the Taj, gives an insider's view of the attacks and is focused around various staff members and particular guests (some characters are no doubt composite). The tension builds from the outset. The opulence and serenity of the hotel is in stark contrast to the grungy streets of Mumbai, and we see the terrorists berthing a small boat. Gradually the two plot threads draw together as the hotel is invaded and all hell breaks loose. Central to the plot are David (Armie Hammer ) and wife Zahra (Nazanin Boniani) who are there with their Aussie nanny (Tilda Cobham Hervey) and baby, along with Russian Mafia man Vasili (Jason Isaacs). Staff member Arjun (Dev Patel) and Chef Oberoi (Anupam Kher) risk their all to attempt to get the guests to safety. The acting is top shelf, the tension excruciating, and the cinematography splendid. The film is testament to self-sacrifice and heroism, as well as a damning indictment of the sort of senseless terror that seems so rampant in the world today.
4 - highly recommended!

Sometimes Always Never
Director: Carl Hunter
Length: 91 min

© Transmission  - Bill Nighy is his usual wonderful
self in this smart and touching comedy/drama

Scrabble-obsessed, dapper tailor Alan (Bill Nighy) has been grieving his missing son Michael for decades. He has a strained relationship with other son Peter (Sam Riley). Together they make a journey to identify a body that may or may not be the long-lost son. This film sneaks up on you slowly then wallops you with an emotional clout. The central conceit is that all of Alan's family are great with words on a Scrabble board, but can't seem to relate to each other or communicate in real life.  This gently understated story is beautifully played out with pathos, humour, clever scripting, and of course yet another riveting performance by Nighy. (The man seems to have something that the screen just loves!)  The film is deliberately stylized, making great use of country and seascapes, and also of interior settings that reflect how the characters are stuck in the past emotionally. All this is cleverly set against a modern online Scrabble game that may mark the turning point for familial reconciliation. A true delight for lovers of words, and of something quirkily different.
4 - highly recommended!

Pimped
Director: David Barker
Length: 90 min

© Bonsai Films - be careful who you go home with!

Encouraged by her danger-loving alter ego, conservative Sarah (Ella Scott Lynch) heads out to a bar where she meets suave smooth-talking Lewis (Benedict Samuel) who takes her home.The promised sexual delights soon turn ugly with the unwelcome involvement of Lewis's flatmate Kenny (Robin Goldsworthy). But things are to get even uglier, as Sarah reveals a hidden side to herself. This is a taut thriller, which capitalises on the very popular theme of late (Revenge, Greta) of women being in the power seat). It also examines the rather delicious concept that we all have a hidden side that would like to behave a certain way, but doesn't due to societal expectations. Sometimes, when those darker forces are unleashed within us, who knows what could happen? With themes of desire, rape, murder, revenge etc, this film encourages some thoughtful questions, but also allows for a good dose of hedonistic mayhem. Lynch is terrific in her dual role, and the stylish cinematography builds tension and makes for a good-looking, if at times, uneven movie.
3 - recommended!

Melbourne Queer Film Festival
Melbourne March 14- March 25
Village Jam Factory, cinema nova, ACMI
For other states, times and ticketing visit  https://www.mqff.com.au

I look forward to this festival greatly every year. Films that are thought-provoking, emotionally wrenching, or simply fabulous are thick on the ground, and there are always plenty of excellent docos among the offerings. 

© MQFF - Rafiki is a powerful  and touching film
from Kenya, where being gay is still unacceptable

Rafiki: This is a dynamic and touching story of forbidden love in ultra-conservative Kenya. Kena and Ziki, the daughter of two rival politicians, fall in love, but being openly gay in Nairobi is fraught with danger. The two leads have blistering chemistry, and the sweetness of their love is compellingly portrayed. This marvelous film has won worldwide awards, but remains banned in Kenya. It's also an intriguing vision of a society I know so little about.

Trans Military: This brilliant doco looks at the vexatious situation for transgender people serving in the US military, now that the dreaded Trump has clamped down on their ability to serve.  It closely follows a number of trans men and women in their working and personal lives. The film is a scathing indictment of using people's sexual identity against them, when it is totally irrelevant to their competence. The film is never less than engaging and inspiring.  

Love, Cecil: Cecil Beaton was a man of many talents - artist, set and costume designer, writer, and photographer (including war photography, Vogue magazine and even the Queen's official photographer). This wonderful documentary captures his creative legacy, with readings from his diaries, archival footage,  interviews with other creative folk, as well as excerpts from such iconic films as Gigi and My Fair Lady. 

Mapplethorpe: Robert Mapplethorpe was one of the 20th century's most controversial and trailblazing photographers. In 2016 we saw the doco Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures; now here's the feature film tracing his life's work, (from Polaroids to galleries worldwide) his relationship with Patti Smith, and how he brought his deepest fetishes and and love of the male body into brilliant black and white shots. Lead actor Matt Smith is terrific as the driven genius.

Making Montgomery Clift: This documentary about the Hollywood matinee idol is made by his nephew. Using plentiful archival material and copious audio recordings from the day, it examines the career and loves of the man - was he a tormented closet gay who drove himself to drink or someone actually quite together about his sexuality? This is a must for lovers of Hollywood queer history, or simply of Clift himself.

Black Divaz: Among the short films program is this entertaining doco about a group of Indigenous drag queens battling it out for the title of Miss First Nation in Darwin. The contestants speak about their lives and relationship to their heritage, and to drag, and there is both insight and fun to be had here. 
   
Knife + Heart: Vanessa Paradis plays Anne, a producer of third-rate gay porn. When the stars of one of her films are murdered one by one, she finds herself caught up in a bizarre investigation. This is an odd mixed bag of comedy, slasher film, love story, the retro gay porn scene and perhaps a commentary on a genre of film I fail to fully understand. (also in the French Film Festival) 

Dillili in Paris
More from . . . Alliance Francaise French Film Festival
Melbourne March 6 - April 10
For other states, times and ticketing visit  https://www.affrenchfilmfestival.org/
Palace Cinemas Astor, Westgarth, Balwyn, Brighton, Como

© FFF - a treat for Paris-ophiles

Here's a real treat for lovers of animation and of Paris. Winner of the French Cesar award for Best Animated  Film, Dillili in Paris is a naive, quirky and touching film about a feisty little Kanak girl, and her friend, a delivery boy, who set about busting a gang of rogues in the business of kidnapping little girls. On the way they meet the Who's Who of Belle Epoque Paris from the Impressionist masters, to Madame Curie, Proust, Baron von Zepellin and more. A very art-naif style collection of animated characters is set against an almost photographically realistic and exquisite backdrop  of Paris of the era. Every scene is a feast for the eyes. Viewers can learn much about the cultural milieu of Paris in the iconic era, with architecture, artists, musicians, and writers of the period as a backdrop. There are also many feminist implications with more than fleeting echoes of The Handmaid's Tale. Have I piqued your interest?
4 - highly recommended!